Hollywood rallies for Iraqi orphan
Hollywood launched a drive to bring a limbless Iraqi orphan, who became the symbol of civilian suffering in the US-led war, to the United States for medical treatment. A constellation of Tinseltown stars - including Arnold Schwarznegger, Angelina Jolie, Mariah Carey, Ashanti and Justin Timberlake - have already signed on for the effort to bring 12-year-old Ali Ismail Abbas to Los Angeles.
Other luminaries including Christina Aguilera are also on board and top names like George Clooney and Julia Roberts are expected to join their ranks, promoter Cheryl Shuman told AFP. "We've just launched this effort, but my hope is that with the help of these stars we can raise enough money to cover his medical treatment and then take care of this child for the rest of his life," she said.
"He needs prostheses and he is very, very badly burned and there's just no money to help him and maybe nowhere for him to go. Everybody knows that celebrities can get things done that other people can't, which is sad but true, so we are doing everything we can to help and to get him over here," she said as she began to rally the all-star effort.
Ali, who was last week undergoing medical treatment in Kuwait for burns that cover 60 per cent of his body, had both arms amputated above the elbow in Baghdad last month after he was caught in a US missile strike on March 30. He was the sole survivor among 20 killed, including his parents, brothers and sisters, when the deadly projectile hit his family home in Al Zafiriya and the world media quickly seized on him as a symbolic victim and launched a high-profile campaign to save his life.
Shuman, who said it was unclear whether the boy was still in Kuwait or had been returned to Iraq, and her army of stars, are spearheading the campaign launched by The Global Medical Relief Fund to bring him to Los Angeles. The fund is a non-profit organisation that helps children who have fallen victim to the horrors of war that operated in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
"We will bring him here where he can finally feel safe. A lot of these celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, will hang out with him and my ultimate goal is to do a benefit concert to raise cash for him," Shuman said. (NineMSN)
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