Report: Marines wounded in fighting late Wednesday in Iraq (CHILDREN REPORTEDLY FIRING AT MARINES)

Raliegh News Observer ^

[sonsofliberty2000]

Report: Marines wounded in fighting late Wednesday in Iraq

The Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - At least 25 Marines from Camp Lejeune were injured during house-to-house fighting that began Wednesday night in An Nasiriyah, according to a WTVD-TV reporter traveling with the troops. Keith Garvin, reporting live Wednesday evening - about 2 a.m. in Baghdad - said the Marines were wounded over the past few hours in combat that had picked up "quite a bit in the last 10 minutes or so." He reported late Wednesday night that none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

Civilians living behind a Marine camp at An Nasiriyah were seen setting up bunkers in the afternoon, and military officials "said they had heard or felt that something bad was going to happen tonight," Garvin reported.

Intelligence reports indicated 2,000 Iraqi troops were advancing on the camp, and a two-hour fight with missiles and artillery ensued, ultimately augmented by aerial bombing, he said.

Garvin said some of the Iraqi fighters were using women as shields and had given guns to children.

"Unfortunately some of the children have been firing at our Marines and our Marines have been forced to defend themselves," he said.

The wounded appeared to be in addition to 15 Lejeune Marines who have been reported injured during the Iraqi conflict. Eleven Lejeune Marines have died, nine in combat in the An Nasiriyah area and two in accidents.

[nicko]

nothing new...did the same thing in Mogadishu...we had a serious ROE discussion concerning kids who tried to throw molotov cocktails...when do you shoot? As he throws the bottle, or when he lights the rag, etc...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

That was the message of the Pro-America rally that my family and I attended in Atlanta. We will NOT disrespect our soldiers when they come home, win or lose. This will not be like the aftermath of Vietnam. We owe our very lives to the men and women who serve in our military. May God bless them and grant them peace.

[judicial meanz]

The political side of this war needs to be won too. We can make all the wins we want on the battlefield, and they can negate it with their propaganda.

Its time we get just as driven about achieving total victory in the political side of this war. To win this war militarily, and then lose the political side of this conflict, would doom us to repeat this time and time again.

On the bright side, I see the beginning groundswell and outline of political victory beginning to form. Lets make it happen, for the guys over there!

[ingodwetrust]

Then so be it. The French believe they are somehow immune from an attack such as we experienced on 9-11. They are sleeping with the enemy.

If the Iraqi's can so easily turn on their own and inflict the savagery that they do, then the French may be in for a BIG surprise. My only hope is this. When their day of recconing comes, I hope we turn our backs on them as they have on us.

[ravingnutter]

Background info:

Children have participated in repeated and wide-scale mobilisation and training schemes carried out by the Iraqi government since 1991. In 1998, a military-preparedness project was adopted to equip all those aged between 15 and 65 with the basics of self-defence and the use of small arms. Iraqis were reportedly required to conduct drill exercises and to assemble and dismantle machine-guns and rifles for two hours every day over a period of forty days.[6]

In recent years, the Iraqi government launched campaigns to introduce military training for school children between the ages of 12 and 17. The Iraqi authorities have arranged two sessions, "Raad" and "Al Anfal", for a total of 23,000 children. Children are reportedly taken to boot camps for three weeks and are trained in light arms and Ba'ath ideology.[7] Iraqi opposition sources and the US State Department have reported that students who fail to join military camps face various sanctions.[8]

According to the Iraqi magazine, Alef-Ba, thousands of boys as young as 10 have graduated from a military training programme educating them in the use of weaponry. Col. Reza Mezal Hamd commander of the Baghdad camp claimed that "Some families tried to get their less then 10-year-old boys in the training course, but we refused to do that because they are too young." The training was designed to prepare boys for unspecified emergencies.[9]

Special militarised organisations for youths also exist. Founded in 1975, Futuwah (Youth Vanguard) was a Ba'ath party initiative aimed at creating a paramilitary organisation for secondary-school students. Boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 18 could join and receive training in the use of light arms. By early 1988, several thousand Iraqi youth had volunteered. Drafting young students became unpopular, and the loss of young life later created labour force shortages.[10] The Futuwah units took part in fighting against Iran between 1983 and 1985. During the Gulf War in 1990-91 journalists noted that boys as young as 12 were part of the Iraqi military and photographed them training with Kalashnikov rifles.[11] The Ashbal Saddam (Saddam Lion Cubs) youth movement was formed after the 1991 Gulf War. There are an estimated 8,000 child members of Saddam Cubs in Baghdad alone.[12] According to the US State Department, thousands of boys between the ages of 10 and 15 were recruited into a military training program called "Saddam's Youth". The programme operated from 14 camps in Iraq, and was designed to prepare boys for national emergencies.[13] Training courses reportedly include small-arms use, hand-to-hand combat, and infantry tactics for children from 10 to 15 years of age, for up to 14 hours per day.[14]

Child Soldiers.org

[ravingnutter]

Extensive info on child soldiers can be found here

[PsyOp]

I wonder if these kids were members of "Saddam's Cubs", his para-military version of the scouts? Hitler did much the same thing towards the end of WWII, training Hitler Youth to become fanatic little commandos who were meant to die fighting in the rubble of Berlin.

[alexandria]

OK now, anyone have that picture of the Arab-Israeli who, after being attacked in his car by Palies, was running for his life and saved by an Israeli soldier. However the media-left had shown the photo as the poor Arab being shot at while unarmed.

[gettingreal]

if it has a weapon, kill it...

they will learn to drop the weapons if they value their own life.

[gettingreal]

they will propagandize everything; sadly, the far left will always take the evil spin, blind maggots that they are, only seeing the dark black heart within themselves.

[Marysecretary]

I suppose they could aim for their legs? The thought of killing children is terrible to me, but they did the same in Vietnam, using children to kill American soldiers/marines. Sad world we live in, huh?

[Marysecretary]

It's the old Israel and Ishmael thing. Until Christ returns, it will remain. They hate us because we're a Christian nation and we stick up for Israel. That's the main root cause of their hatred. Well, in the end, they lose!

[Marysecretary]

I doubt we will turn our backs on them. This is America. We operate on a higher moral ground than Europe.

[Marysecretary]

And thousands of young men defended Berlin at the end of the war and died doing it. They were very young. The devil doesn't care who he uses to protect his assets.

[Marysecretary]

One of the saddest things I ever witnessed were the 10 year old brothers who headed up the Army of God in Thailand, I believe. These kids had their childhood stolen from them. I pray they can lead a normal life once more. Same with these Saddam cubs. May God abundantly pour His love over them and change their hearts.

[adx]

Unfortunately, we will likely have to put down the entire diseased generation and start anew.

Agreed. We're probably going to have to take up what Kipling so quaintly called the "white man's burden", and civilize these people at gunpoint. That's why I believe any effort to give these people democracy is folly, unless we stand over them for the next couple of generations.

[johnb838]

It's like this thing about not profiling I-slum-ics. As Buckley said the other night, just because all of them aren't terrorists doesn't mean none of them ARE. With all the talk we hear about not targeting civilians I think the point gets lost that not all of the civilians are innocent. Once again we're too focused on Saddam and miss the picture of what I like to call the al-Husseini regime, which has ruled or been a power in Iraq for at least 70 years, probably much longer. It is not one person. People in Iraq are probably either paid by the regime or suffer from the regime. The number who are part and parcel of it is probably far greater than we'd like to think. Among those suffering from it are many useful idiots who believe the propaganda about Americans that they get on the local TV.

Same with the French and Germans. What a surprise to find out that most likely France wasn't conquered by Germany, they were allied with them. No wonder they aren't grateful! We upset the nice little genocidal tea party they were having. And I don't believe the pacifist rhetoric I hear from these people, especially the Germans, for one minute. As soon as it fits their plans they will be on the warpath again. They say "We don't believe in war now... you can't blame us for our parents mistakes." I say "The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree." And while we're on the topic of secret alliances, the East Germans always seemed to be a lot more like partners in evil with the Russians than victims of it.

Thank God for the US military. We're going to be busy for a while. And with friends like the Turks it's a good thing we have a navy.

[amused]

War is truly hell.

All of us here at FR need to make a pledge to the veterans among us and those veterans soon to return home that they will be taken care of. This is a "social" program I think we all could get behind.

[adx]

Advice to USMC: Aim low, lead less.

Here ya go.

[johnb838]

We ARE all israelies now as far as the islamic world is concerned. I, for one, am proud to bear that appellation.