News Ltd lends a helping hand

Grateful orphan Ali Ismail Abbas waves to his rescuers as he is rushed to a Kuwaiti hospital and a happier life in the West.

Gosh it's hard to be humble, especially if you're The Courier-Mail out to impress with your war efforts.
On Wednesday, April 16, the Brisbane broadsheet told of its heroic role in saving the life of 12-year-old Ali Ismail Abbas, orphaned when a not-so-smart US missile slammed into his house.
Ali had both arms blown off and suffered burns to one-third of his body.
We'll let The Courier-Mail's man in Baghdad, Peter Wilson, take up the story.
"His rescue was organised by The Courier-Mail team in Baghdad after a reader in Australia telephoned another newspaper in the News Ltd group to ask if he could help after reading that Ali's nurse and doctors believed he could die any day from blood infections.
"Photographer John Feder and I returned to the Saddam City hospital which had been caring for Ali to discover that previous offers of assistance and attempts by foreign aid and media groups to get him to a safer environment had come to nothing."
Wilson concludes his piece with: "Ali's uncle was travelling to Kuwait City with him and The Courier-Mail will assist him in Kuwait."
Isn't The Courier-Mail wonderful?
Of course, Wilson in Sydney's Daily Telegraph on April 17 reported that "the Daily Telegraph had brought the parties together" to ensure Ali was whisked away from a certain death to hopefully lead a full and normal life, sans arms of course.
So what did Peter Wilson report from Baghdad on Wednesday April 16 in The Australian?
"His rescue was organised by The Australian when a Perth reader ….phoned to ask if he could help after reading in Monday's (The Australian's) editorial that Ali's nurse and doctors believed he could die any day from blood infections.
"The Australian returned to the Saddam City hospital, where Ali was being treated, to discover that previous offers of assistance and attempts to get him to a safer environment had come to nothing."
Getting the picture? Just about every major paper in the News Limited stable claimed Ali's rescue as their own.
Indeed, we heard on the grapevine that the story came across the wires with "insert your own masthead name here".
To insert an individual masthead's name for the generic New Limited stable is tacky enough but forgivable.
But what possessed The Courier-Mail to find it necessary to boast that it alone had been responsible for Ali's rescue?