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Al Qaida Training Children To Kill
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Topic Started: Feb 6 2008, 11:05 PM (381 Views)
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Franko
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Feb 6 2008, 11:05 PM
Post #1
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Shower Moderator
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US: al-Qaida in Iraq training children By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD - Boys in soccer jerseys don black masks and grab weapons. They scramble over mud-brick walls, blast down doors and hold guns to the heads of residents inside. The U.S. military said videos seized from suspected al-Qaida in Iraq hideouts show militants training children who appear as young as 10 to kidnap and kill.
It's viewed as a sign that the terror network — hungry for recruits — may be using younger Iraqis in propaganda to lure a new crop of fighters.
"Al-Qaida in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis," said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman. "It is offering children as the new generation of mujahedeen," he added, using the Arabic term for holy warriors.
The video, shown to reporters Wednesday, depicted an apparent training session with black-masked boys — ammunition belts draped across their small chests — forcing a man off his bicycle at gunpoint and marching him off down a muddy lane. An off-camera voice, speaking with an Iraqi accent, instructs children how to take firing positions with assault rifles.
At one point, the boys huddle in a circle on a cement floor, solemnly pledging allegiance to al-Qaida.
U.S. and Iraqi officials said they could offer no estimate of how many children have joined the insurgency.
Young children are rarely behind insurgent attacks in Iraq, though they have been used as decoys. In March, police said children were used in a car bombing in which the driver gained permission to park in a busy shopping area after pointing out that he was leaving his kids in the back seat. The children were killed along with three Iraqi bystanders.
The military said the videos — seized in a December raid in Khan Bani Saad northeast of Baghdad — were filmed in Iraq and depicted Iraqi children, but offered no definitive evidence. Smith said the adult trainer's voice had an Iraqi accent. It could not be determined when the videos were made, he added.
The scenes included boys mimicking the violence and aggression that have become familiar to Iraqi children since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But the footage also appeared to show organized militant training sessions, suggesting an effort by al-Qaida-inspired insurgents to train ever-younger — and perhaps less conspicuous — militants.
The raw footage was likely to be incorporated into propaganda films for al-Qaida or other militant groups.
"We believe this video is used as propaganda to send out to recruit other boys ... and to send a broader message across Iraq to indoctrinate youth into al-Qaida," Smith said.
American soldiers frequently discover propaganda-style materials among the weapons and ammunition they confiscate daily in raids across Iraq.
In a Dec. 8 operation in Muqdadiyah, north of the Iraqi capital, U.S. troops found an Arabic movie script with scenes of terrorists training children, and children interrogating and executing victims, Smith said.
Both the videos and film script were found in Diyala province, a hotbed of Sunni militant activity.
Smith said the military decided to show the videos of children to expose al-Qaida's "morally broken ideology" and encourage Iraqi opposition. An estimated 80,000 Sunni tribesmen have already crossed lines to join the Americans in ousting militants from their hometowns.
Last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called al-Qaida in Iraq "the most brutal and bankrupt of movements" after twin market bombings carried out by women described by Iraqi authorities as mentally disabled. The U.S. military later backed the Iraqi account of the bombings, which killed nearly 100 people.
"Iraq's democratic and elected government is building schools ... and offers the children of Iraq hope for a peaceful and prosperous future. Al-Qaida in Iraq sends 15-year-old boys and mentally handicapped women on suicide missions, builds car bombs and is trying to teach children how to kill," Smith said.
In one scene, young trainees — toting guns as long as the children are tall — pile out of a van in military-style formation. They surround a car and force out the mock driver. One hauls along a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Another clip shows a young boy wearing a suicide vest and posing with automatic weapons.
Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said he believed insurgents were kidnapping an increasing number of Iraqi children, though he could not offer details or figures.
"This is not only to recruit them, but also to demand ransom to fund the operations of al-Qaida," al-Askari said. He aired another grainy video clip which he said showed Iraqi security forces rescuing an 11-year-old boy who had been kidnapped by al-Qaida.
Now that Terror Inc. is running out of steam and confronted with a more determined Iraq with each passing day, they've resorted to kidnapping and recruiting kids and exploiting handicapped and mentally ill people.
Like all ideologies with a foundation of hate and killing, Al Qaida is slowly losing credibility even with militant Islamic groups that formerly opposed the US led coalition presence and the building of a new Iraq.
I've always said that we will turn the corner in Iraq when the majority of Iraqis realize their only hope is with the process of organized government, police, and an organized legal system. Now, more than ever, this process should be encouraged and amplified, regardless of the debate as to whether "we" should have invaded in the first place.
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somerled
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Feb 7 2008, 08:27 AM
Post #2
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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If this is shown to be real , and I am not saying it isn't , if it is then al Quaeda will not be the first military or terrorist or insurgency organisation to train children to fight and to kill.
So why are we even surprised ?
Children are always victimised by war ..... landmines , cluster bombs , napalm kill children when used as weapons of terror and mass distruction.
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captain_proton_au
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Feb 7 2008, 09:30 AM
Post #3
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A Robot in Disguise
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- Franko
- Feb 6 2008, 10:05 PM
Al Qaida is slowly losing credibility even with militant Islamic groups that formerly opposed the US led coalition presence and the building of a new Iraq.
It would be nice if life was just that fair, wouldnt it?
Ok, so now, what do we do with the young christian children trained to do the same kind of stuff in Central Africa?
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somerled
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Feb 7 2008, 09:36 AM
Post #4
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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- captain_proton_au
- Feb 8 2008, 12:30 AM
- Franko
- Feb 6 2008, 10:05 PM
Al Qaida is slowly losing credibility even with militant Islamic groups that formerly opposed the US led coalition presence and the building of a new Iraq.
It would be nice if life was just that fair, wouldnt it?
Ok, so now, what do we do with the young christian children trained to do the same kind of stuff in Central Africa?
Or in Sril Lanka, or those central american countries, or those countries in SE asia where child soldiers exist.
Children can learn to hate just as much as adults can.
BTW : Been wet enough for you down there in The Gong. ?
It's getting pretty soggy here in Newcastle , and the mozzies are getting really bad here too ring now too , even during the day , especially if it is still and overcast, as it has been a lot lately.
My neighbour couldn't get his car out of his backyard today , too boggy and the ground just went to mush when he hit the accelerator. We both got sloping blocks. No such problem for me , I just engage 4WD in High Range (I don't even have to get out to lock the hubs, it's all done with the 4WD "gear" stick , and back out .... I was nice and gave him a tow up to the concreted part of his drive way.
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captain_proton_au
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Feb 7 2008, 09:59 AM
Post #5
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A Robot in Disguise
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- somerled
- Feb 7 2008, 08:36 AM
BTW : Been wet enough for you down there in The Gong. ?
Flipping rain is giving me the sh**s
We had something ridiculous like 170mm in 24 hrs earlier this week.
Got caught again today on the way to the train station, bucketing down so bad an umbrella was useless. Feet have gone past crusty toes, I now have Trenchfoot
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Fesarius
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Feb 7 2008, 10:22 AM
Post #6
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Admiral
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^^^ If nothing else, I will now think of Trenchfoot rather than Crusty Toe when I thiink of you.
Pineapple,
BTW, we started watching VOY last night. We plan to watch the entire series from beginning to end. Is production vs. air date order important when watching this series? (I am asking seriously, because I don't really know.) We saw some odd episode numbering on one of the discs to Season Two last night. It went something like 120, 121, 117, 118 (reading from upper left to right, and then from lower left to right). What's up with that?
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captain_proton_au
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Feb 7 2008, 10:29 AM
Post #7
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A Robot in Disguise
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- Fesarius
- Feb 7 2008, 09:22 AM
Is production vs. air date order important when watching this series?
Not Really
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Fesarius
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Feb 7 2008, 10:52 AM
Post #8
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Admiral
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^^^ Okay, thanks.
Franko,
Sorry for the Tangent.
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somerled
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Feb 7 2008, 07:12 PM
Post #9
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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- captain_proton_au
- Feb 8 2008, 12:59 AM
- somerled
- Feb 7 2008, 08:36 AM
BTW : Been wet enough for you down there in The Gong. ?
Flipping rain is giving me the sh**s We had something ridiculous like 170mm in 24 hrs earlier this week. Got caught again today on the way to the train station, bucketing down so bad an umbrella was useless. Feet have gone past crusty toes, I now have Trenchfoot
Well February is the peak of the Wet Season , it's just been particularly wet this February (so far) compared with the last several years , and the monsoon has effected the entire east coast this year.
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Franko
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Feb 7 2008, 08:40 PM
Post #10
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Sgt. Jaggs
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Feb 7 2008, 09:54 PM
Post #11
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How about a Voyager Movie
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- somerled
- Feb 7 2008, 09:36 AM
- captain_proton_au
- Feb 8 2008, 12:30 AM
- Franko
- Feb 6 2008, 10:05 PM
Al Qaida is slowly losing credibility even with militant Islamic groups that formerly opposed the US led coalition presence and the building of a new Iraq.
It would be nice if life was just that fair, wouldnt it?
Ok, so now, what do we do with the young christian children trained to do the same kind of stuff in Central Africa?
Or in Sril Lanka, or those central american countries, or those countries in SE asia where child soldiers exist. Children can learn to hate just as much as adults can. BTW : Been wet enough for you down there in The Gong. ? It's getting pretty soggy here in Newcastle , and the mozzies are getting really bad here too ring now too , even during the day , especially if it is still and overcast, as it has been a lot lately. My neighbour couldn't get his car out of his backyard today , too boggy and the ground just went to mush when he hit the accelerator. We both got sloping blocks. No such problem for me , I just engage 4WD in High Range (I don't even have to get out to lock the hubs, it's all done with the 4WD "gear" stick , and back out .... I was nice and gave him a tow up to the concreted part of his drive way.
What TH are Mozzies?????
Need Aussie Trailor Park encryption Key Rosetta Stone PLZ>.... :lol:
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somerled
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Feb 7 2008, 10:16 PM
Post #12
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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- Jag
- Feb 8 2008, 12:54 PM
- somerled
- Feb 7 2008, 09:36 AM
- captain_proton_au
- Feb 8 2008, 12:30 AM
- Franko
- Feb 6 2008, 10:05 PM
Al Qaida is slowly losing credibility even with militant Islamic groups that formerly opposed the US led coalition presence and the building of a new Iraq.
It would be nice if life was just that fair, wouldnt it?
Ok, so now, what do we do with the young christian children trained to do the same kind of stuff in Central Africa?
Or in Sril Lanka, or those central american countries, or those countries in SE asia where child soldiers exist. Children can learn to hate just as much as adults can. BTW : Been wet enough for you down there in The Gong. ? It's getting pretty soggy here in Newcastle , and the mozzies are getting really bad here too ring now too , even during the day , especially if it is still and overcast, as it has been a lot lately. My neighbour couldn't get his car out of his backyard today , too boggy and the ground just went to mush when he hit the accelerator. We both got sloping blocks. No such problem for me , I just engage 4WD in High Range (I don't even have to get out to lock the hubs, it's all done with the 4WD "gear" stick , and back out .... I was nice and gave him a tow up to the concreted part of his drive way.
What TH are Mozzies?????
Need Aussie Trailor Park encryption Key Rosetta Stone PLZ>.... :lol:
Mosquitos = mozzies.
Trouble with living in a coastal area with salt marshes and wetlands and mangroves nearby , is that when we have king tides in summer , followed by an extended period of wet , hot and humid weather , mozzies boom and become a real pest.
Ross River Fever is carried by local mosquitoes here , and you don't want to catch that as it can take months to get over it.Living with Mosquitoes in the Lower Hunter and Mid-North Coast Regions
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Fesarius
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Feb 7 2008, 10:34 PM
Post #13
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Admiral
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Well February is the peak of the Wet Season , it's just been particularly wet this February (so far) compared with the last several years , and the monsoon has effected the entire east coast this year.
Al Qaida doesn't train mosquitos too often, but I have heard that there are exceptions to this axiom.
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somerled
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Feb 8 2008, 04:08 AM
Post #14
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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- Fesarius
- Feb 8 2008, 01:34 PM
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Well February is the peak of the Wet Season , it's just been particularly wet this February (so far) compared with the last several years , and the monsoon has effected the entire east coast this year.
Al Qaida doesn't train mosquitos too often, but I have heard that there are exceptions to this axiom.
What , al Quaeda training mosquitos ..... ????
If you go outside at my place , and similarly at the lab , and stand still for couple of minutes , you'll need a transfusion afterwards.
I keep a can of RID or AEROGARD handy in the car , in my fishing gear, and in my attache case at all times.
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captain_proton_au
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Feb 8 2008, 07:57 AM
Post #15
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A Robot in Disguise
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Franko, Welcome to The Tangent Thread IV
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