Free Republic

And you shall not give any of your offspring to pass through the fire for Molech. Leviticus 18:21 The part of the war on terror that I do not understand is "How do you make peace with people who INTENTIONALLY put their children in the line of fire?" Last month the Washington Times reported that the Taliban in Pakistan are purchasing and/or kidnapping CHILDREN some as young as 7-Years-Old, then they force these kids to act as homicide bombers. Any homicide bombing is disgusting, but having little kids, elementary school kids, strap on a bomb and blow themselves up is...

"From Afghanistan to Pakistan, from Iraq to Palestine, [terror] organizations are recruiting boys (some under 15) and training them to carry out suicide bombings – and sometimes these are carried out. For diverse reasons and under diverse circumstances, children are stripped of their innocence and transformed into deadly weapons. Whatever the [reasons and circumstances], the result is the same: lost childhood, a bleak future, and the spread of terrorism... "The recruitment of children is a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly widespread. UNESCO estimates that a quarter of a million children have been recruited into armed organizations, behind whose banner of...

Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say. A Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said the going price for child bombers was $7,000 to $14,000 - huge sums in Pakistan, where per-capita income is about $2,600 a year. "[Mehsud] has turned suicide bombing into a production output, not unlike [the way] Toyota outputs cars," a U.S....

Pakistan's top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, is buying children as young as 7 to serve as suicide bombers in the growing spate of attacks against Pakistani, Afghan and U.S. targets, U.S. Defense Department and Pakistani officials say. A Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition that he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said the going price for child bombers was $7,000 to $14,000 - huge sums in Pakistan, where per-capita income is about $2,600 a year. "[Mehsud] has turned suicide bombing into a production output, not unlike [the way] Toyota outputs cars," a U.S....

Abdullah laughs like any other 11-year-old, but he is no schoolboy. He is being touted as the world's youngest terrorist following his arrest. Charged with carrying explosives, Abdullah is suspected of being a potential suicide bomber and is Afghanistan's youngest prisoner, reports the Mirror. Abdullah is an orphan and learned the principles of jihad at a religious school. His weapon of choice was the Kalashnikov. He says he also knows the difference between suicide and which God forbade, and sacrifice, which is what you become if you blow yourself up, killing the non-Muslims who want to kill your family.

A would-be suicide bomber aged 11 has been arrested alongside Taliban fighters. Known only as Abdullah, the youngster was caught crossing the mountains from Pakisrtan's tribal region into Afghanistan wearing a jacket packed with explosives. Police say he is the youngest terror recruit they have ever come across. Abdullah has also become Afghanistan's youngest prisoner but he is still being held at a top security prison in the capital, Kabul. Originally from Peshawar in Pakistan, Abudullah was training to be a suicide bomber and had learned the principles of jihad - holy war - at the religious school in Pakistan...

The use of teenagers as killers by the drug cartels is common in Mexico, and the kids are known as "narco juniors." Earlier this month CNN reported that Los Zetas, a paramilitary organization that provides enforcement muscle for the Gulf Cartel, has recruited U.S. teenagers as young as 13 years old to carry out its enforcement hits on the north side of the border. NPR now reports that "the cartels have begun seeking younger and younger recruits" as sicaritos or child assassins: Mexican drug cartels recruit children under 18 for the same reasons that armed forces conscript boy soldiers in...

BAGHDAD, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- A boy masquerading as a flower seller blew himself up last September before the house of Sheikh Imad Jassem, the joint-leader of the Sons of Iraq in Tarmiya, 25 km north of Baghdad. The boy, as young as 10 years old, had been stalking Jassem for three days before tripping on his flip-flops several meters away from his target. The bomb exploded prematurely, seriously wounding the leader. The innocent and immature young have been recruited and trained to be suicide bombers of the al-Qaida network in Iraq to attack Iraqi high-profile officials as well as...

The John Batchelor Show Sunday June 22nd , 2008 Listenlive from 7pm – 10pm ET (4pm – 7pm PT) on WABC AM 770 New York City 10pm – 1am ET (7pm – 10pm PT) on KFI AM 640 Los Angeles If you missed last week show, listen on John Batchelor On-Demand Podcast 705P ET: Brooke Goldstein, Middle East Forum, filmmaker, "Making of a Martyr." 720P: Clive Thompson NYT Magazine. 735P: Roundtable Jake Schlesinger WSJ re Obama landslide victory indicated in the Ohio and Pa. polls. Also re Nuke McCain, oil drilling flip flop McCan, re Nafta-gate and Obama. 750P: Continued....

LONDON – Officers in Britain's MI6 intelligence service, working alongside Pakistani intelligence officers in that nation's remote North West province, have located a training camp where children, some as young as six years old, were being trained as suicide bombers, according to a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The camp – one of several al-Qaida training camps in the region – is under the direct control of the terror group. The intelligence officers led Pakistani Special Forces to the children's camp outside the village of Spinkai in the mountainous region. An MI6 report on the school describes it as...

UNITED NATIONS, (AP) -- The top American envoy at the U.N. slammed terrorists and insurgents for using children to carry out violence, but said Tuesday that the U.S. tries to provide special treatment when it detains those young people. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's comments followed the release of a U.S. report that 2,500 people under age 18 have been detained, almost all in Iraq, since 2002 during the war on terror. Some had been held for periods up to a year or more. "We are heartbroken that terrorists and extremists use kids for their campaign of violence," said Khalilzad, a...

FURY erupted last night after it emerged that a boy of 12 who trained to be a suicide bomber is being allowed to attend school in Britain. Parents of his classmates are unaware of the Afghan child’s terrifying past. MP Philip Davies said the youngster should be removed from school immediately so a proper investigation can take place into any potential danger he poses. The Tory MP for Shipley, West Yorks, said: “This boy has had a tragic upbringing through no fault of his own. But there should be a detailed and thorough look at his past and the threat...

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 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....

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6, 2008 – Al Qaeda is recruiting and training boys -- some younger than 11 -- to kidnap and kill, a senior U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said today. Five training tapes recovered in a December raid show as many as 20 boys, most thought to be younger than 11 years old, carrying automatic weapons and grenades, storming homes in mock kidnappings and assassinations, and sitting in a circle chanting their allegiance to al Qaeda. Portions of the tapes were aired for journalists at a news conference in Iraq today. “Al Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the...

A children's program on Hamas television whose main character earlier was "martyred" has continued the theme, with a discussion that includes a child's statement, "we can all be sacrificed for the sake of the homeland." "Don't be sad, Nahoul. We can all be sacrificed for the sake of the homeland," Saraa responds. "May Allah help you. All we can say is that we place our trust in Allah against the enemies." The discussion then continues with comments about the slaughter of a sheep and a calf. The new character earlier had been highlighted by Palestinian Media Watch, an Israel-based monitor....

On Hamas TV Children's Program: Host Saraa Barhoum Sings 'We Will Meet Our Death with No Hesitation... Award Your Victory to Those Who Sacrifice Themselves, This is Your Wedding, Oh Martyr...' Below are excerpts from a song performed by child TV host Saraa Barhoum, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on December 20, 2007. Following that are excerpts from the children's show hosted by Saraa Barhoum, "Pioneers of Tomorrow," which also aired on Al-Aqsa TV on December 20, 2007. Past episodes of "Pioneers of Tomorrow" featured Mickey Mouse-lookalike character Farfour, who was "martyred" on the show in June 2007 and was...

MARDAN, Pakistan — The bomb that ravaged Benazir Bhutto's homecoming processional in October appears to have been rigged to the clothes of a baby who was held up for the former prime minister to embrace, Mrs. Bhutto said. A man approached her armored truck, Mrs. Bhutto recounted, and was trying to hand across a small child as her motorcade inched through the thronged streets of Karachi. She remembers gesturing for the man to come closer. "It was about 1 or 2 years old, and I think it was a girl," Mrs. Bhutto told The Washington Times in her first public...

The homicide terror bomb used in an assassination attempt on former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last month may have been strapped to a 1-year-old child who was being carried by his jihadist father, The Australian newspaper reported Thursday. The bomb, which killed 170 people and injured hundreds more, detonated during a crowded procession for Bhutto as she returned from exile. Investigators from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said the homicide bomber tried repeatedly to carry the baby to Bhutto's vehicle as it proceeded through the streets of Karachi. "At the point where the bombs exploded, Benazir Bhutto herself saw the...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Taliban fighters carrying machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades used children as human shields during a battle in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, forcing U.S.-led coalition soldiers to hold their fire for a time, the coalition said. The clash in Uruzgan province began when more than 20 insurgents attacked a joint Afghan and coalition patrol, the coalition said in a statement. As aircraft prepared to bomb the site, "coalition forces as well as the aircraft identified several insurgents in one compound using children as human shields," the statement said. Ground troops and the aircraft withheld fire to avoid...

SAIMA KHAN wants to die a martyr. Life is transient, she told her father in a telephone call last week, and the real glory is to sacrifice it for Allah. Her statement would be alarming at any age, but Saima is only 10. As she spoke, rifle shots rang out, the acrid smell of tear gas drifted over Islamabad and hundreds of troops surrounded the pro-Taliban Red Mosque, a religious school complex in the heart of Pakistan’s capital where Saima was among hundreds of children being held as virtual hostages in a stand-off between militants and the government. Saima and...

Speaking through an American interpreter, Lieutenant David Wallach who is a native Arabic speaker, the Iraqi official related how al Qaeda united these gangs who then became absorbed into “al Qaeda.” They recruited boys born during the years 1991, 92 and 93 who were each given weapons, including pistols, a bicycle and a phone (with phone cards paid) and a salary of $100 per month, all courtesy of al Qaeda. These boys were used for kidnapping, torturing and murdering people. At first, he said, they would only target Shia, but over time the new al Qaeda directed attacks against Sunni,...

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President, Mark Earley. For thirteen weeks, former child soldier Ishmael Beah has seen his memoir, A Long Way Gone, hover in the top-ranks of the New York Times’ bestsellers list. For a young man whose village and family were burned, who evaded capture amidst the war-torn landscape of Sierra Leone, and finally was given an AK-47 and coerced to join the government army, a best-selling book comes as quite a twist in the road. As a child soldier, Ishmael heard his commanding officer frequently tell him and his comrades, “Visualize the enemy,...

  Juma Gul tucks eats at the US-Afghan military command centre A six-year-old Afghan boy has claimed that Taliban militants tried to trick him into becoming a suicide bomber by dressing him in a vest they said would spray out flowers if he pressed a button.Juma Gul, from the southern province of Ghazni, said Taliban fighters forced him to wear the vest and told him that when he saw American soldiers "throw your body at them"."When they first put the vest on my body I didn't know what to think, but then I felt the bomb," Juma Gul said....

Shock Photo of Rosie Daughter Causes Stir at Her Own Blog... headline at Drudge

Picture of Rosie's daughter Vivi wearing an ammo belt is causing quite a stir on her site.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan The story of a 6-year-old Afghan boy who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into being a suicide bomber provoked tears and anger at a meeting of tribal leaders. The account from Juma Gul, a dirt-caked child who collects scrap metal for money, left American soldiers dumbfounded that a youngster could be sent on such a mission. Afghan troops crowded around the boy to call him a hero. Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan - The story of a 6-year-old Afghan boy who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into being a suicide bomber provoked tears and anger at a meeting of tribal leaders. The account from Juma Gul, a dirt-caked child who collects scrap metal for money, left American soldiers dumbfounded that a youngster could be sent on such a mission. Afghan troops crowded around the boy to call him a hero.

Children as young as six are being used by the Taliban in increasingly desperate suicide missions, coalition forces in Afghanistan claimed yesterday. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), to which Britain contributes 5,000 troops in southern Afghanistan, revealed that soldiers defused an explosive vest which had been placed on a six-year-old who had been told to attack Afghan army forces in the east of the country. The boy was spotted after appearing confused at a checkpoint. The vest was defused and no one was hurt.

NATO Accuses Taliban of Using Children in Suicide Missions · Troops say bomb defused on six-year-old boy · Claim follows 13 civilian deaths in air strike Chiade O'Shea Islamabad Saturday June 23, 2007 The Guardian Children as young as six are being used by the Taliban in increasingly desperate suicide missions, coalition forces in Afghanistan claimed yesterday. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), to which Britain contributes 5,000 troops in southern Afghanistan, revealed that soldiers defused an explosive vest which had been placed on a six-year-old who had been told to attack Afghan army forces in the east of the...

Hizbullah trains thousands for children's suicide corps Lebanese sources said Hizbullah has recruited more than 2,000 children to serve in its military wing. The youngsters are 10 to 15 years old and have received weapons and bomb training. The sources said the children are recruited at Hizbullah-sponsored schools and youth clubs in southern and eastern Lebanon. Fathers sign a waiver for their children to attend the Mahdi Scout camps and begin indoctrination and training. "They are literally sacrificed by their fathers. Their mothers have no say," a Lebanese security source said. __ Full Text, Subscribers See Story Focus on Missile...

Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - Hezbollah has begun replenishing its ranks after more than a month of war with Israel by recruiting the children of its fallen fighters, according to the Egyptian weekly Roz Al-Yusuf. The newspaper reported that in recent weeks Hezbollah has organized more than 2,000 children aged 10-15 into armed militias. The Mahdi Boy Scouts, a Hezbollah-affiliated youth movement, has been tasked with training the youngsters to sacrifice their lives attacking Israel. Today these children are referred to as "future suicides," the report said, adding that they can now be seen wearing "camouflage army uniforms, [painting] their faces...

"Young Israelis dream of being inventors, and their role models are the Israeli innovators who made it to the Nasdaq. Hezbollah youth dream of being martyrs, and their role models are Islamic militants who made it to the Next World." — Thomas Friedman, New York Times, August 9 The act of infanticide, the practice of intentionally causing the death of an infant, is rarely practiced today. Yet in the Middle East, it has taken on a new form. Under the direction of some leading Muslim religious figures, some parents in the region are encouraging their children to commit suicide as...

Israel caught a teenage boy, Husam Abu, trying to cross a checkpoint clad in an explosive suit, the Jerusalem Post reports: "He was fully aware of what he was to do and told us he received NIS 100 and was instructed to blow himself up near soldiers," .... "Blowing myself up is the only chance I've got to have sex with 72 virgins in the Garden of Eden," Abdu said his handlers had told him. The boy's age is in some question. Early reports said he was as young as 8, but the Post says he's 14, and Maariv reports...

ASIO fears home-grown terrorists may recruit children as young as 16 for suicide bombings. The security agency has told the Government it is conceivable minors could be involved in suicide attacks on Australian soil based on evidence of similar incidents elsewhere. Concerns about such a possibility led it to request the preventative detention powers for teenagers between 16 and 18, contained in the Government's anti-terror Bill due to go before Parliament before Christmas. Police would be allowed to hold minors aged 16 and over in custody for a maximum two weeks on the basis of evidence they are involved in...

The following are excerpts from an Iranian animated movie for children, which aired on IRIB 3 TV on October 28, 2005, at 8 a.m. Iran time. Karim: "This is not only in revenge for your father, mother, and brother. This bloodthirsty man must be held accountable for all his crimes. We must not allow these bloodthirsty Zionists to take even one inch of our holy land. If necessary, we will die this way." (Scene changes: A dirt road. Abd Al-Rahman, waiting for an Israeli military convoy to pass by, ties a string of grenades around his waist. The convoy approaches.)...

Iraq: a child kamikaze explodes himself with the passage of a General BAGHDAD - a child of ten years carrying a belt of explosives exploded himself with Kirkuk, in Iraq, with the passage of the convoy of a chief of the police force. The attack, which cost the life to its author, also wounded the person in charge and his driver. Aimed by this attack commits suicide perpetrated with Kirkuk (250 km in the north of Baghdad), the General indicated that an old child between ten and thirteen years, carrying an explosive belt, had approached while running towards his...

...And as the issue of child soldiers grows more important throughout the world, U.S. soldiers face a dilemma: whether to attack children who may pose a mortal threat to them in the War on Terror. U.S. forces faced child soldiers early in post-Sept. 11 conflicts. There were 8,000 child soldiers in Afghanistan when American forces invaded in 2002, according to the United Nations. Media outlets reported that Special Forces Sgt. Nathan Chapman (search), the first U.S. serviceman killed in combat in Afghanistan, was fatally shot by a 14-year-old boy. In Iraq, U.S. soldiers facing attack by armed children are permitted...

A 14-year-old Palestinian was arrested after he was caught carrying three pipe bombs through the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus Monday afternoon. The teenager set off the alarm of the metal detector positioned at the crossing, alerting soldiers manning the position. He was found to be carrying in a bag three pipe bombs that were to be activated by a friction type detonator. The bombs were packed with explosives, as well as shrapnel and glass balls. Border police sappers blew up the bomb and the youth was handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning. The Hawara checkpoint has become...

Fierce fighting in recent months has devastated the ranks of the Taliban, prompting the rebels to recruit children and force some families to provide one son to fight with them, a US commander said. The fighting has fractured the Taliban's command structure, preventing the militants from regrouping, even though there has been an upsurge in violence, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the US military operational commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview on Saturday. Despite the setback -- more than 500 rebels have been killed since March -- the militants are likely to step up attacks in the lead-up to crucial...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Fierce fighting in recent months has devastated the ranks of the Taliban, prompting the rebels to recruit children and force some families to provide one son to fight with them, a U.S. commander said Saturday. The fighting has fractured the Taliban's command structure, preventing the militants from regrouping, even though there has been an upsurge in violence, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the U.S. military operational commander in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press in an interview. Despite the setback - more than 500 rebels have been killed since March - the militants are likely to step up...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Taliban-led rebels have been hit so hard recently that they are being forced to recruit children and their command structure has been fractured, a U.S. commander said Saturday, despite a recent surge in violence. Despite the setback - more than 500 rebels have been killed since March - militants are likely to step up attacks in the lead-up to crucial Sept. 18 legislative elections, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya told The Associated Press in an interview. "The Taliban and al-Qaida feel that this is their final chance to impede Afghanistan's progress to ... becoming a nation," said...

For the first time, the United Nations’ annual report on children in combat this year mentions the Palestinian Arabs. It does not name the organizations — including Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement), Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade of Fatah — violating international law by recruiting or duping children into being combatants. And the report falsely equates Arab youngsters who were accidental casualties of Israeli counter-terrorism with Israeli children who were intentional victims of Palestinian terrorists. In any case, the report by the U.N.’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Undersecretary General Olara Otunnu, received little news coverage. What...

Some were baby-faced teenagers too young to grow facial hair. Others said they were snatched from their families and forced to work for Afghanistan's Taliban. The stories of the youngest detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, chart their journeys from childhood in the villages of Afghanistan to U.S. custody, according to military tribunal transcripts obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information lawsuit. Guantanamo officials released three Afghan boys ages 13 to 15 last year, but the transcripts of the hearings to determine whether prisoners were correctly classified as "enemy combatants" verify they weren't the only teenagers at the...

The family of the 15-year-old boy who was arrested last week by IDF soldiers when he tried to carry out an attack at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus has condemned those who sent him as "criminals." Mohammed al-Nadi, a ninth grader from Askar refugee camp near Nablus, was carrying pipe bombs and a lighter when he approached the soldiers at the checkpoint. The IDF and the family have accused Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, of dispatching the boy on a suicide mission. However, Mohammed Subuh, a senior official with the Palestinian Authority's Information Minister, claimed that Israel...

This is the text of a story-posted on a Yahoo message board,then disseminated via another message board. I imagine it will hit al-Jazeera soon !(The military's delayed entry program allows 17 year olds to delay entry while finishing high school.It is a prime target for the Left,which hosts numerous websites on how to "escape" from the program.)Cover Story: Soldier boy By Tim Schmitt Point Blank Des Moines http://www.pointblank-dm.com/archive/2005/mar/033105/ In an effort to increase its ranks for coming wars, the U.S. military is recruiting - and paying - children as young as 14 years old for future combat duty. Colin Hadley...

In an effort to increase its ranks for coming wars, the U.S. military is recruiting - and paying - children as young as 14 years old for future combat duty. By Tim Schmitt Colin Hadley spends most of his days after school skateboarding or playing Halo II on his new X-Box with friends. He sleeps until noon or later on weekends and rarely, if ever, does any schoolwork outside the classroom, where he pulls down solid C's and a few D's - just enough to get by. He's the typical 15-year-old American boy: cocksure in demeanor, certain the world revolves...

A 15-year-old Palestinian carrying five pipe bombs was arrested by soldiers at the Hawara checkpoint outside of Nablus when he attempted to detonate one of the bombs near them. Soldiers' suspicions were aroused when the youth reached the checkpoint wearing a coat despite the hot weather. The soldiers stopped him and asked him to remove his coat; he lit a match in an attempt to detonate one of the bombs but dropped it when a soldier aimed his weapon at him. Inside the coat soldiers found four other pipe bombs. The youth was handed over to the Shin Bet (Israel...

Sitting cross-legged on the mosque floor, the 12-year-old boys listen avidly as the tough-looking man in front of them holds up a rocket-propelled grenade. "Be careful of the Americans, but don’t fear their vehicles and technology," he says, turning the diamond-shaped warhead before a dozen pairs of widening eyes. "You see this small bomb? It can destroy any US Army Humvee and all the soldiers inside." Placing the missile back in a wooden box beside him, the teacher then passes a wrapped lump of plastic explosive around the class, sparking a flurry of grasping hands. "Come on! It’s my turn,"...

Amar was 19, but he had the mind of a four-year-old. This handicap didn't stop the insurgency's hard men as they strapped explosives to his chest and guided him to a voting centre in suburban Al-Askan. And before yesterday's sunrise in Baghdad, his grieving parents loaded his broken remains on the roof of a taxi to lead a sorrowful procession to the holy city of Najaf. There, they gave him a ceremonial wash, shrouded him in white cotton and buried him next to the shrine of Imam Ali, the founder of their Shiite creed. On Sunday we witnessed an act...

Amar Ahmed Mohammed was 19 years old. But the fact that he had the mind of a four-year-old did not stop the insurgency's hard men as they strapped explosives to his chest and guided him to a voting centre in suburban Al-Askan. Before dawn yesterday in Baghdad, his parents strapped his broken remains to the roof of a taxi to lead a sorrowful procession to the holy city of Najaf. There, they gave him a ceremonial wash and shrouded him in white cotton before burying him in the shadow of the shrine of Imam Ali, the sainted founder of their...