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Children Doing Battle in Iraq(The surge is working!)
Los Angeles Times ^
| August 26, 2007
| By Alexandra Zavis and Garrett Therolf
Posted on 08/26/2007 8:56:19 PM PDT by kellynla
BAGHDAD Child fighters, once a rare presence on Iraq's battlefields, are playing a significant and growing role in kidnappings, killings and roadside bombings in the country, U.S. military officials say.
Boys, some as young as 11, now outnumber foreign fighters at U.S. detention camps in Iraq. Since March, their numbers have risen to 800 from 100, said Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, the commander of detainee operations. The Times reported last month that only 130 non-Iraqi fighters were in U.S. custody in Iraq.
Stone attributes the rise in child fighters in the country, in part, to the pressure that the U.S. buildup of troops has placed on the influx of the foreign fighters.
Fewer of them are making it into the country, he said, and the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq is having a difficult time recruiting adults locally. Thus, it has turned to children.
"As our operations have increased, Al Qaeda [in Iraq] and others have used more minors in the fight against us, and in the process we have detained more and more juveniles," Stone said.
He said the children make effective fighters because they are easily influenced, don't experience fear in the same way as adults and don't draw as much scrutiny from U.S. forces.
Other causes for the increase in detentions may be that U.S. forces are simply coming into contact with more children because of the troop buildup, and that financial pressures may have pushed some Iraqi families toward the militants.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: iraq; surge; terrorists; war
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"Stone attributes the rise in child fighters in the country, in part, to the pressure that the U.S. buildup of troops has placed on the influx of the foreign fighters"
1
posted on
08/26/2007 8:56:22 PM PDT
by
kellynla
To: SandRat; freema
2
posted on
08/26/2007 8:56:53 PM PDT
by
kellynla
(Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
To: kellynla
Other causes for the increase in detentions may be that U.S. forces are simply coming into contact with more children because of the troop buildup, and that financial pressures may have pushed some Iraqi families toward the militants. For all you liberals out there who don't want to think of us winning . . . . . .
3
posted on
08/26/2007 8:58:47 PM PDT
by
neodad
(USS Vincennes (CG-49) Freedom's Fortress)
To: kellynla
Iraqi Children Turn on US Troops.
Film at 11:00.
/s
4
posted on
08/26/2007 9:01:34 PM PDT
by
Rb ver. 2.0
(Reunite Gondwanaland!)
To: kellynla
The most dangerous thing on the battlefield is no longer a second lieutenant with a map - it’s a pre-teen Mooj boy with a cel phone.
They watched the gate as we rolled out, and called their contacts. They begged for candy and watched our reactions. The kids can be wired to command-detonate just as easily as any martyr.
5
posted on
08/26/2007 9:02:19 PM PDT
by
Old Sarge
(This tagline in memory of FReeper 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub)
To: kellynla
Of course MSM is going to claim that our soldiers are killing innocent children just playing soldier with real AK-47s.
6
posted on
08/26/2007 9:04:39 PM PDT
by
NY Attitude
(You are responsible for your safety until the arrival of Law Enforcement Officers!)
To: NY Attitude
Shades of Vietnam. Kids throwing snakes and grenades into US and ARVN trucks and bivouacs.
To: neodad
Ahhhhhh,this is Free Republic.How many liberals do you think you’re talking to ???
8
posted on
08/26/2007 9:22:35 PM PDT
by
Obie Wan
To: kellynla
Why are we holding prisoners? Just shoot the little b@st@rds in the back of the head and be done with it.
Otherwise the little sh@ts will grow up and try to kill you a second time (or third, or fourth).
Give the rat b@st@rds the ‘paradise’ they crave. ASAP!
9
posted on
08/26/2007 9:24:48 PM PDT
by
gogogodzilla
(Republicans only win if they are conservative.)
To: kellynla
They are having the captured boys taught to read Arabic and English, taught Iraqi history and civics, and letting them read Harry Potter in Arabic. The latter is a stroke of genius. Harry is proven to be addictive for young readers and is a much more interesting and better written story than the Deatheater’s manual they’ve been force fed. Harry is not only a healthy addiction (anyone who says otherwise is as deluded as those expecting 72 virgins) he is a great teacher for all the good things we value.
To: NY Attitude
More Vietnam analogies as the Left will now start calling our troops baby killers?
-PJ
11
posted on
08/26/2007 9:31:53 PM PDT
by
Political Junkie Too
(Repeal the 17th amendment -- it's the "Fairness Doctrine" for Congress!)
To: JohnBovenmyer
Harry (Potter) is not only a healthy addiction (anyone who says otherwise is as deluded as those expecting 72 virgins) he is a great teacher for all the good things we value. I don't know about *that* one. I value a 90-120 minute movie w/ no sequels. :)
12
posted on
08/26/2007 9:33:29 PM PDT
by
Triggerhippie
(Always use a silencer in a crowd. Loud noises offend people.)
To: JohnBovenmyer
HP even managed to have a Cincinnatus moment at the end. I loved the series. You said it right too. All the better virtues are highlighted in that series.
13
posted on
08/26/2007 9:37:58 PM PDT
by
Grimmy
(equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
To: kellynla
This is their battle of Berlin.
14
posted on
08/26/2007 9:39:34 PM PDT
by
counterpunch
("The Democrats are the party of slavery." - Cindy Sheehan)
To: kellynla
"As our operations have increased, Al Qaeda [in Iraq] and others have used more minors in the fight against us, and in the process we have detained more and more juveniles," Stone said.
The LA Slimes has now taken to altering the context of the comments of our military Generals in the field, as if they don't know what they really meant to say. Maj Gen. Stone said
Al Qaeda and that is what he meant, because whether they are in Iraq or elsewhere, they are one and the same.
If this isn't proof that the MSM's prime objective is to separate Iraq from the War on Terrorism, then I don't know what is.
15
posted on
08/26/2007 9:51:39 PM PDT
by
counterpunch
("The Democrats are the party of slavery." - Cindy Sheehan)
To: Political Junkie Too
You are so correct. They have already spit on returning troops. Since the advent of AIDS that is an assault with a deadly weapon and the spitter deserves to have his a$$ handed to he/she big time.
16
posted on
08/26/2007 10:03:04 PM PDT
by
NY Attitude
(You are responsible for your safety until the arrival of Law Enforcement Officers!)
To: Triggerhippie
Some subjects can be adequately handled in short presentations and in those cases I agree with Rush, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” However complicated, multifaceted presentations require more time and repeated examples to be learned. Otherwise our education could be completed by the end of kindergarten. Even the Old Testament has a sequel and IMHO the better movie adaptations of even parts of it are longer than 90-120 min. Like most other good books Harry Potter works better as a book than as movies although its movies try harder to stay with the spirit of the books than most movie adaptations, while not being the 4-6 hour movies that precise adaptations would require. As books they can be put down and resumed more conveniently than movies and you can easily flip back to check on points you’ve forgotten. Or at least they can be put down after the first couple frenetic readings.
To: JohnBovenmyer
I was fairly sure, upon waking up from my second nap, a scant five hours before the final credits rolled, that I was in the Harry Potter movie (one was *plenty* for me, thanks.) for a week and a half.
If going to the movies is going to be in an endurance event, I’d like to know ahead of time. That’s all I’m saying.
18
posted on
08/26/2007 11:13:05 PM PDT
by
Triggerhippie
(Always use a silencer in a crowd. Loud noises offend people.)
To: JohnBovenmyer
I agree with Rush, Brevity is the soul of wit.
Rush? Wrong. You agree with Shakespeare.
To: Triggerhippie
You wanna talk about one HELL of a long movie, go endure Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. I thought it would never end.
And they even clipped out one of the most important bits of all, that would’ve taken only 30 seconds or so to show.
I don’t know who directed that film, but whoever it is he ought to be made to walk the plank.
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