tonight on "nightline," when dan met dan. the extraordinary story of our abc reporter and the boy whose life he changed forever. he came to the u.s. from a war zone. what happened next was shocking. how a fairy tale turned into a nightmare. all on tape. a special edition of "nightline" starts right now. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," december 1st, 2010. >> good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. and tonight, we bring you a special edition of "nightline," the extraordinary story of a

reporter and the iraqi boy he tried to help. and how it all went terribly wrong. the story begins in baghdad in 2006, two weeks before saddam hussein was hanged, with sectarian violence raging in the runup to the u.s. troop surge. life took an unexpected turn. here's his account of when dan met dan. >> reporter: it all starts with a chance meeting at a school in baghdad in the middle of a gun fight. >> shots. a lot of shots. >> reporter: you're how old? >> me? 18. >> reporter: what's your name? dan. shooting again. >> yeah. we're used to it. >> reporter: you're used to it? >> yeah. >> reporter: that's sad. >> yeah, i know. i know. what we can do? nothing. >> reporter: it's in this moment that i decide that i'm going to do a story about this kid who

has got the same name as mine, about one teenager's life in a war zone. dan lets us into his family's apartment. >> here's where i live. this is my room. >> reporter: where he's learned english from consuming american mu movies and hip hop. he shows me his treasures cell phone where he keeps pictures of new york city. and he tells us about his best friend, who he saw shot by a sniper. >> i just hear gunshots. i see blood on the ground. so i told him, stand up, so he didn't answer. i know what to do. just screaming, my friend is shot, my friend is shot. he's dead. >> we are going to take s"a closer look tonight." >> reporter: when the story aired, we got e-mails from

hundreds of viewers. including one from a small school in maine, thomas college. they want to give dan a scholarship, which seems like a great idea to me. >> how is it going, man? give me a hug. >> reporter: so, i get permission to do something very unusual. to intervene in the story and actively help this kid come to america. >> enrolled? >> reporter: while you're a student. >> thomas college. okay. >> reporter: dans parents are very enthusiastic about all of this, but it takes two anxious months and white house intervention to get him a visa. finally, on march 2nd, 2007, dan arrives at new york's kennedy airport. you all right? welcome. how do you feel? >> very happy. very excited. at the same time, very scared. >> may i help you? >> i need a whapper.

>> reporter: whopper. >> very good. >> reporter: that night, we fly up to maine, and the next morning, we drive to thomas college. >> how was the trip? >> very fine. good to see you. >> what do you think of the snow? >> yeah, i couldn't believe it. >> this wing and the wing above us are primarily where all the classrooms are held. >> reporter: it feels a little surreal and makes me feel a little bit giddy to watch this kid, fresh out of baghdad, touring the safe, sterile halls of an american college. >> this is your room. >> this is going to be my home. >> reporter: he's overwhelmed by the abundance. >> cool. >> reporter: and taken by the novelty of his first snowball fight. >> oh! >> reporter: so what do you think? >> we made it. >> reporter: we made it, dude. looking back at this video now, my unbounded optimism seems ragingly naive. what appears to be a quint essential hollywood happy ending

turns out to be infin it inially more complex. >> my shoes right here. >> reporter: after two semesters, dan has been kicked out of thomas college and i've come back up to help him move out. what do you think went wrong? >> couldn't make it, i think. >> reporter: dan is a changed young man. he's got a deep voice, double earrings and ripped jeans. he may look the part, thoroughly americanized on the outside, but on the inside, he's totally confused. isolated and cut off from his culture. today you seem pretty sad. >> yeah, i am sad, actually, because i love this place a lot. like, a lot. but -- things didn't work out, i

think. it's complicated. it is complicated. >> i'm here for the week, so -- >> come see you again. >> all right, boys. >> reporter: dan's time at thomas college had been a disaster. his reaction to his newfound freedom was to take a crash course in partying. part of the problem was that school officials overestimated his english skills and put him in classes he couldn't handle. but dan geeted eve egreeted eveo help him with a stubborn refusal to do any hard work and a come pull five habit of dishonesty. he lied to me and school officials from everything to going to class and driving a friend's car illegally. finally, the school expelled him. >> reporter: would it make sense for me to just go into your office -- at this point, i realized i have a responsibility i never expecked. i am now truly part of this

story. when he leaves thomas college, on the 14th of december, he's homeless, and penniless, without any education going on. i got to deal with finding him a place to lay down at night. my fear is that if dan goes back that baghdad, where the insurgency is still in full swing, he'll be killed as an american sympathizer, and that will be partly my fault so, i bring him to new york city where he crashes on my couch. >> lazy. >> let me get up and prove you wrong. >> reporter: what are you going to do? dishes? as a human, i felt compelled to help here. as a reporter, i also felt compelled to pick up a camera and start documents this story. a store write where i had no idea what was going to happen next. while we try to figure out his next move, we have a series of tough talks. don't you want to do something with your life? >> oh, man. >> reporter: as dan toggles between blaming himself and blaming everybody else. >> so, all the bad things in my

life, all the horrible things, actually, and you expect me to live here normally in the united states without problems, without anything? absolutely not. >> reporter: as i deal with dan's healmeltdown, i learn fro mental health officials that young refugees often act out in inprompt w inappropriate ways. and dan, i'm told, is a classic case. >> life sucks without family. >> reporter: in fact, and this is a largely untold story, some of the iraqi ref ewe deeps who came to america at the height of the insurgency have ended up going home in frustration. >> i don't know, this is a message for all iraqis. don't come here. this is not the place to be for us. it's not the place. >> reporter: really? you think they're better off in the middle of the war? >> that's our destiny, man. we have to deal with it.

that's what's right for us. >> reporter: it dawns on me that this situation is a metaphor for the idealism and dashed expectations of the larger american experience in iraq. >> george bush said, iraq has nuclear weapon and we have to get there and take it all. okay, where is it? did they find it? no, they didn't. it was -- it was a big huge lie. okay, we lie, iraqis lie, but george bush lie, too. >> reporter: dan may have mixed feelings about mention, but he knows it's extremely unsafe for both him and his family if he goes back to iraq. though, we go out to talk to several arab and muslim organizations that might be able to help dan stay here. >> so, what do you want to do? >> i want to find a place to live for me with a place where there is arab people. find a job. >> reporter: as we go from meeting to meeting, it becomes increasingly clear that dan's only option may be to stay for awhile in a homeless shelter. >> i see your eyes swelling up on me, little brother.

you understand me? it's okay to let them out. >> i do. >> you understand me? because that's part of being human, when you're hurt and confused, it's okay. we're going to make it with us. >> reporter: as dan prays with the group, the dire reality of his situation is setting in. but he's about to get a surprise second chance. ah, it's stinging a little bit more than usual! yeah, you'll get used to it. the longer you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage. it helps engines last longer by fighting the main causes of engine failure. i think a dime went up my nose. yeah, it happens.

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we return now to the story of when dan met dan. dan harris, the abc reporter, has helped to bring dan, the iraqi teen, to the u.s. but the young man almost immediately runs into trouble. he parties his way through college until finally he's expelled and suddenly he's on the brink of homelessness, with his options running out. at this moment of extreme peril for dan, both of us are at a loss. do you think you can make people proud still? now? >> with what? how am i going to make you proud? tell me and i might do it. i'll tell you if i could or not. tell me how am i going to make you proud of me right now. >> reporter: but then we catch a break. after making dozens of phone calls, i manage to convince some generous people i know up in maine to help dan get into a group home for troubled teenagers. >> if i ruin this one, that's

it. >> reporter: if you ruin this one -- >> if i got kicked out of this one, my life is done. this is my room. >> reporter: it quickly becomes clear that there are many more rules here than dan experienced at thomas college. you think you'll be able to adjust here, though, without all the freedom that you used to have? >> i'm not going to like it, that's for sure, i'm not going to like it, but that's what's going to help me. >> reporter: well -- i think you're going to make me proud here. i think you can do it. >> i will. >> reporter: i'm really confident that you can do it. >> i'm saying it on camera. >> reporter: this for lower cholesterol and stuff. >> are you saying you're fat? >> old an fat. >> reporter: i come back to maine to see how dan is doing.

>> she fell asleep in the class. >> very good. he's got a great personality. >> reporter: sometimes maybe he has too much personality. >> yes. >> reporter: while he seems to like his classes and also his volunteer job at the local salvation army, it's clear that his problems have not all magically disappeared. is it weird to live in a country that invaded your country? >> yes. it is. my country have war with america. how is that not weird? put yourself into my position. where you can imagine how -- you would be able to live here? you will? >> reporter: i don't know. >> exactly. >> reporter: we meet with dan's support team and it becomes immediately obvious that he's having disciplinary problems, including allegations of pot smoking. >> i would ask you if you could sign a consent with c.j. to be urine screened, so we can test

you and that will prove that you didn't. if you didn't smoke, that's fine. >> i really don't want to do it. >> reporter: after some cajoling, dan agrees to take the test. >> okay. >> it's your choice. >> yeah. i'm do it. i didn't smoke yesterday. i did not. >> reporter: but you know, if you're me, i do have some reason to be suspicious because you have lied to me in the past. >> exactly. exactly. so, i don't care. >> reporter: but what if it comes back positive, what am i supposed to think? >> so what? big deal? >> reporter: within days, we get the results. dan has tested positive for marijuana. this is the incident report. he stole a bunch of things from the salvation army where he was volunteering and they searched his room and found all the stuff, which is not good. so -- we're going to have a chat.

dude, what happened with the theft thing? >> the what? >> reporter: the steaming from salvation army? >> oh, that's [ bleep ]. >> reporter: so, dan, seriously, are you seriously telling me you did not steal anything from there? >> i did not. i'm not friends with anybody, if you believe me or not, i really don't care. i'm always in my room trying to avoid trouble and -- but the thing is, trouble keeping following me. okay. >> reporter: that's my question. dan -- dan, that's my question. why does trouble keep following you? at thomas, here. >> you know why? because i'm iraqi. i'm from a different country. i'm from a different country. i'm international student. that's why. >> reporter: the reports of bad behavior just continue to pile up. teams of dan disobeying rules, fighting, skipping class, disrespecting the staff and running away to his girlfriend's house. >> that's my baby right here.

>> reporter: the final straw comes when school officials accuse dan of receiving pot to younger students, which he denies. yet again, he's kicked out. now he has to make it on his own in america. ah, it's stinging a little bit more than usual! yeah, you'll get used to it. the longer you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage.

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we return again to the story of when dan met dan. and despite moments of hope, the iraqi teen's prospects in his new american home have once again grown dim. booted out of a home for troubled kids after testing positive for drug use, the young man faces a moment of truth and a life changing decision.

>> reporter: one year after dan was kicked out of the home for troubled teens, i go visit him at his new home, an apartment outside of boston. >> sorry, bro, my room is messy as hell. because i don't care anymore about anything. anything. >> reporter: he seems very depressed. his room is a mess. he's not eating well. he is beyond home sick. now, he says, he wants to go home immediately. >> you know, i made a mistake coming over here. >> reporter: you feel sort of like you hit a low spot. right now. >> oh, yeah, i'm at my worst time ever being like. that i've never been like that in my life. in my life. like, i've never been so depressed and so sad in my life like that, like i am right now. >> happy birthday to you! ♪ happy birth day to you >> reporter: he's been watching

this video his family sent him when they celebrated his 20th birthday without him. how often do you watch it? >> every other day. >> reporter: interestingly, during much of dan's year in boston, he'd actually done surprisingly well, living on his own in a house filled with older immigrant men. >> see how hard it is? >> reporter: he had studied for the ged and toyed with the idea of joining the american army. but when he narrowly failed the ged and the army thing didn't work out, he spiraled downward. by the time i got here, he was smoking weed every day. did you smoke today? >> i did. >> reporter: this mowhen? >> this morning. >> reporter: i plead with dan to hang in there. and his mother. >> why don't you wait for him to get a green card. he has the option to come home and come back. i'm thinking about his long-term interests, not just his

short-term -- >> i'll think about it, mom. i'll think about it. let me think about. >> reporter: we're going to jfk, terminal four. two years and four months after he arrived, dan and i are heading back to the airport. dan has decided to go home. when i first met you two and a half years ago in baghdad, you were carrying around a picture of new york city in your cell phone and now we're in new york city and you're saying, i don't want this, i want to go home. >> when you see the reality and stuff, the whole thing changes. i didn't know it was going to be like this. >> reporter: i am conflicted. on the one hand, i fear for his safety and i feel like i failed him. but on the other hand, i will admit that i also feel a twinge of relief that it's finally over. >> my heart is beating nonstop,

man. this is it. >> reporter: yeah. he gives me a hug and heads home. >> see you later, man. >> reporter: in the movies, when the reporter swoops in to help somebody, there's usually a happy ending. this, however, is not a movie. that's it. >> no, it's no movie, it's all too real. and it's far from over. when we come back, the touching final chapter of when dan met dan. but first, here's jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next. >> jimmy: jimmy. >> jimmy: tonight, larry king, kate bosworth and greg fitz similar mon. it's going to be the best hanukkah ever. "jimmy kimmel live" is next. hey, you got groceries! = =

yeah! i thought we'd eat at home. save some money. $200 bucks? that's not saving! [jacks voice] at my place i'm bringing back the bonus jack. two patties, melting cheese and my secret sauce plus fries and a drink for only $3.99.

i get it. you can eat lot cheaper atouar placthan y c]n at home. but do have this? i have dessert. what about this? ohhh. ohhhhhh. jack. that's for max. and now, a final chapter of our story, when dan met dan. after an arrival full of hope, a