"Boys, some as young as 11, now outnumber foreign fighters at U.S. detention camps in Iraq."

[ProSense]

Children doing battle in Iraq

As militants recruit more boys to plant bombs and fight, the number of youths in U.S. military custody grows.

By Alexandra Zavis and Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
August 27, 2007

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 flow of foreign fighters.

<...>

Insurgents typically pay the boys $200 to $300 to plant a bomb, enough to support a family for two or three months, say their Iraqi instructors at a U.S. rehabilitation center.

About 85% of the child detainees are Sunni and the majority live in Sunni Arab-dominated regions in the country's west and north. In these deeply impoverished, violence-torn communities, the men with money and influence are the ones with the most powerful arsenals. These are the children's role models.

The rise of child fighters will eventually make the Iraq conflict more gruesome, said Peter W. Singer, a Brookings Institution expert on child fighters.

<...>

Although some of their alleged offenses include kidnappings and killings, the vast majority are held for allegedly planting bombs in the road in exchange for money, authorities said.

The rise in young fighters compounds the savagery that has already shuttered many schools, left children wounded and hungry, and killed parents before children's eyes.

For their American captors, the apparent surge of child fighters confuses enemy and friend on the battlefield even further, and it causes renewed scrutiny of the military's detention policies and lack of judicial access for juvenile detainees in custody.

more

Bush: U.S. forces have killed or captured an average of more than 1,500 al Qaeda terrorists and other extremists every month since January.

[slipslidingaway]

1. K&R :( n/t

[peacetalksforall]

2. We ADMIT? that we imprison kids to PROPAGANDIZE the surge

by saying that the surge is responsible for fewer forseign insurgents, therefore, the kids stepped in?

There is NO CREDIBILITY in this admistraton.

We can believe that kids are fighting.
We can believe that we put some kidsin prisons.
We can believe that there are foreign insurgents.
But, we're supposed to believe that more kids are involved because the surge chased the foreisn insurgents out?
Gimme a break. Provide the statistics and timeline. This is crap until someone proves these wild words.

[ProSense]

3. That statement was made by a U.S. General.

Go figure!

[ProSense]

4. Kick! n/t

[Gabi Hayes]

5. why do those boys hate America?

[Disturbed]

6. We will be seeing reports of US Troops killing children soon.

This US Occupation of Iraq is obscene!