In Seized Video, Boys Train to Fight in Iraq, U.S. Says

[bemildred]

Source: NYT

BAGHDAD — The children in black — T-shirts, trousers and face masks — hoist AK-47s and pistols and rush toward an apparently unarmed man on a bicycle. In an instant they have surrounded him, shouting in the high voices of boys who are not yet men, “Put your hands behind your back.”

The man hesitates, looking confused. He is wearing a thin, untucked button-down shirt and looks vulnerable before the boys. They wave their guns, menacingly. As the video segment ends, he is kneeling on the dirt road as the boys close in and wave their guns at him.

The scene is from a video captured by the American military in December near Khan Bani Saad, a town in Diyala, a turbulent province northeast of Baghdad. The video, shown Wednesday by the military at a news conference, is believed to be part of a propaganda tape made by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown extremist group that American intelligence officials say has foreign leadership.

While this is not the first time that the military has found images of children in the insurgent group’s tapes and photos, the video has the largest volume of raw images that American forces have come across, a military spokesman said.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast&oref=slogin

[Sabriel]

1. So, let me guess, this will allow us to fire on children without provocation?

Hey, if we have a video of it, it must legitimize killing children.

I'm still waiting for the Al Qaeda "wedding party" video....

[bemildred]

2. I'm not sure what the motive is, for the story.

It made me think of GI Joe, but with black pajamas.

[jayfish]

3. These Things Usually Come In Two's

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3168891&mesg_id=3168891

[bemildred]

10. Good catch. nt

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

11. agreed

[ohio2007]

15. wedding crashers

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/26/iraq.bride/


what happened to the maid of honor?

Here you can find the wedding video ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ7UmkSIzVA

lol

[saigon68]

4. More Nonsense to "Fire Up" the sheep

And keeping in line with Cheney's policy of Dehumanizing "the enemy"

[bulloney]

5. Let me guess. This video was in VHS format?

Just how did we stumble across this video? Given the fact that much of what has passed as "intelligence" has wrongfully deepened our involvement in this clusterfuck of a war, call me dubious.

"They hate us for our freedoms."

"Fight 'em over there so we don't have to fight 'em over here."

Did it ever occur to these idiots that the fact that we've been imposing our puppet governments on several of these Middle East countries has contributed to their hostilities toward the U.S.?

Fast-forward to a time when the U.S. is not the economic and military superpower. And some country that just doesn't like us and has the military capabilities to do so just decides to invade our country and randomly blow things up and kill people. Just because we're us. Don't you think there would be some people who would be retaliating here?

[gratuitous]

6. Meanwhile, American society teaches its children

Meanwhile, our society very carefully teaches its children how to fight and kill by pushing a button and blowing apart a collection of pixels on a computer screen. Both training methods appear to have their practical applications.

[Magleetis]

7. Yeah right

like we can believe anything the US says. Since when do we need a reason to kill Iraqi kids or any Arab kids for that matter.

[Swagman]

8. thank God children can't get guns in the USA ..errr..is that right ?

[Beausoleil]

9. Then, there's this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2824824


Looks like both sides are in it for the long haul.

[LynnTheDem]

12. THANKS TO GEORGE W. bUSH!!!

Coz they had no reason to train to fight in Iraq until George W. bUsh illegally invaded & slaughtered Iraqis!

[KansDem]

13. I don't understand--why wasn't this tape destroyed just like the torture tapes?

Haven't we learned by now? No evidence--no problem. :silly:

Maybe we should send in the American military to "capture" the torture tapes...

[ohio2007]

16. er

AQ still has the beheading and torture vids up on the net. They are never allowed because they present a rather awkward
bias

[daleo]

14. I recall during the siege of Fallujah

That any male who appeared to be over the age of 15 was not allowed to leave the city, by U.S. forces.