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efreedomnews War on Iraq: Operations Begin   Teach Your Children WellJonathan RhodesSeptember 4, 2002 Saddam Hussein has sent thousands of boys aged 12 to 17 to training camps where they spend a minimum three weeks learning light weaponry and basic soldiering, along with political indoctrination and "religious" classes. Once they have graduated and are successfully integrated into the organization these schoolchildren are further selected for special schools, military institutes and universities.  Hitlerjugend:  In December of 1941, Adolph Hitler created the Wehrertüchtigungslager or WELS (Defense Strengthening Camps). They  went into operation in Germany providing three weeks of mandatory war training...

Camps for 'Saddam's Cubs' Offer Gun and Political Training for Boys Preparing to Defend Iraq By Waiel Faleh Associated Press Writer Published: Aug 11, 2002 BAGHDAD, Iraq, (AP) - Thousands of boys in Iraq have swapped soccer practice and tennis lessons for light-weapons training and religion lessons as they prepare to defend Iraq, they say, from "our enemies." Firing pistols and AK-47s while studying Islam and history, 1,800 boys aged between 13 and 16 are getting three weeks of training at "Saddam's Cubs Training Camp" in a southern Baghdad suburb, one of about 30 such camps scattered across the country....

For the fifth year running, thousands of Iraqi schoolboys, dubbed the "lion cubs of Saddam", gathered Saturday to spend three weeks of their summer holidays at military training camp. The boys, aged 12-17, were dropped off by their parents at collection points in Baghdad run by the ruling Baath party and taken by bus to the camps to receive three weeks of "military and cultural training", according to AFP. This year's program has been named the "Al-Aqsa intifada" in solidarity with the Palestinian uprising against Israel that erupted in September 2000. Saddam's Cubs were launched in 1998 to prepare young...