U.S. doctor to treat Iraqi baby

ATLANTA, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- An Atlanta neurosurgeon has agreed to treat for free an Iraqi infant with spina bifida who was handed over by her family to U.S. troops.

The incident occurred earlier this month when troops from the Georgia National Guard were searching a Baghdad home, CNN reports. As the parents of the infant girl, named Noor, watched, the grandmother brought the baby to the Americans to show the purple pouch protruding from her back, the report said.

"Well, I saw this child as the firstborn child of the young mother and father and really, all I could think of was my five children back at home and my young daughter," Lt. Jeff Morgan told CNN from Baghdad.

Morgan and his fellow soldiers decided it would be their responsibility to get help to Noor. Efforts are now under way to speed up the process of getting a visa for Noor's grandmother, who will accompany her to Atlanta.

Dr. Roger Hudgins at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, who will perform the delicate operation, says while the surgery will probably help Noor, there's no guarantee it will cure her of her condition.