KEEP THIS IN MIND

As the rest of the media flood you with the prison images...know that this is more along the lines of what is happening every day, all over Iraq.

“I said, ‘For God’s sake, where are your parents?’” said Wisam Hashim, a security guard at the Palestine Hotel, where Sayf goes to rest sometimes in a chair in the air-conditioned lobby. “He said, ‘They beat me and they take my money.’”

Hussain Mohammed, 15, who sells cigarettes and beer outside the hotel each day after school until 11 p.m., said Sayf has been working the area since he was a very small boy.

“In Saddam’s time, he used to come and beg from the Iranian pilgrims,” Mohammed said.

No adult has ever come to claim him...

He also frequently picks up something new from the soldiers. His vocabulary of curse words, for instance, is said to be impressive.

But sometimes the soldiers sing to him. Staff Sgt. Michael Tucker taught him “Build Me Up Buttercup” recently. Tucker sang a verse, then Sayf repeated it, until they finished the song.

“That’s something I sing to my future stepdaughter,” Tucker said, a little embarrassed. “It just popped into my head.”

The soldiers often slip Sayf $5 or so but they said he prefers to earn money pushing carts or carrying foreigners’ bags in his skinny little arms.

Late one afternoon, Sayf had amassed 3,500 dinar — about $2.20 — and seven $1 bills.

“He comes up here some days and he wants to buy everybody a soda,” Lewis said. “I say, ‘No, Sayf. You have to save your money.’ ”