Chris Cuomo's Candid Comments on His First Days in Iraq

Jan. 22, 2007 — -- Reporting from Iraq for the first time, ABC's Chris Cuomo shared some insight on his time in the region.

In his first days in Baghdad, Cuomo experienced one of the deadliest weekends for American troops. Through the rainy, windy, winter weather, he watched searing bullets ricochet over his head and saw firsthand what human interaction can do to save lives.

Cuomo answered questions about how his experience had been thus far.

Question: What was your first night like in Baghdad?

Cuomo: People were shooting at each other near the ABC News Bureau our first night, about a mile or so away from where we were. The bullets shot in the air can come plinking down on our porch.

Question: Your first real experience with a casualty of this war was with an Iraqi boy our country has gotten to know: "Smiley" Ali Sadoon, the 13-year-old shepherd wounded by a coalition bullet and nursed back to health in a coalition hospital with the troops that shot him by his side. What was the combat hospital like, and what stuck out most to you there?

Cuomo: I saw some really ugly scenes at the hospital. It is amazing how bullets burn because of how fast they are moving.

Question: How did Ali react when he met you, and you gave him some gifts from America?

Cuomo: We brought him a bag filled with action figures, video games, pads, markers and crayons. He kind of liked the stuff, but he really likes math more. Education is really important to him.

Question: How is he dealing with his injury? Was he always so "smiley" when he came into the hospital?

Cuomo: He's getting better each day, but "Smiley" was not so when he came in. He was angry and saying he was shot on purpose, just like his dad.

He and his uncle say the father was shot by coalition forces as well. Ali could easily have turned into an insurgent, seeing how they are seeing more and more boys his age joining the insurgency.

In general, the kids here are in trouble. In schools in troubled areas, there is only 30 percent attendance. Last year it was at 75 percent. Half this country is 18 years old or younger, which is wild. Many of the schools in rural areas have not even opened, and teachers are some of the main targets, with 300 having been killed, 1,100-plus wounded. Many of those killed in the war were males, so many families are left without a breadwinner, putting pressure on kids to work instead of schooling.