Children doing battle in Iraq
Children doing battle in Iraq - LATIMES, 27 Aug.
Quote:
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 flow of 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 ...
Money Talks and Bravo Sierra Walks
Damn, talk about an IO campaign when we start seeing (and defending ourselves against) 11 year-olds with 155mm IEDs :mad:
The Estonian and Russian wires are all fired up regarding this, but the Russian's make the whole issue seem like nothing more than business as usual. Perhaps it is in Moscow.
Between 200 and 500 bucks for each IED placement, come back or not !
Reportedly a month's wage in a matter of hours, and an honorable thing to do for one's family in dire straits.
The Russian daily referred to an internet home page indicating "where one joins" but no links.
This one belongs in Jedburgh's recent Terrorist Targeting vs Military Targeting for those who still are not convinced that some folks don't always play by the rules :mad:
This is one of those win-win situations
for AQI - not us :(! At least that is the way I fully expect the spin to appear in the international and irhabi media.
This trend, however, has some excellent opportunities for our own spin operations. For example, AQI can be accused of hiding behind children because they have no honour. Time for a couple of cartoons methinks...
I would suggest a carton picture of an AQI organizer holding a child in his left (shield) hand and a fist full of dollars in his right (sword) hand with a caption something along the lines of "Honourable combat?!?"
