Jailed Iraqi children run free as Marines roll into Baghdad suburbs

Agence France-Presse ^ | April 8, 2003

[HAL9000]

BAGHDAD (AFP) - More than 100 children held in a prison celebrated their freedom Tuesday as US marines rolled into northeast Baghdad amid chaotic scenes which saw civilians loot weapons from an army compound, a US officer said.

Around 150 children spilled out of the jail after the gates were opened as a US military Humvee vehicle approached, Lieutenant Colonel Fred Padilla told an AFP correspondent travelling with the Marines 5th Regiment.

"Hundreds of kids were swarming us and kissing us," Padilla said.

"There were parents running up, so happy to have their kids back."

"The children had been imprisoned because they had not joined the youth branch of the Baath party," he alleged. "Some of these kids had been in there for five years."

The children, who were wearing threadbare clothes and looked under-nourished, walked on the streets crossing their hands as if to mimic handcuffs, before giving the thumbs up sign and shouting their thanks.

It was not clear who had opened the doors of the prison.

Civilians also took advantage of the collapse of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's authority to grab weapons from an army base, said Group Sergeant Jeff Treiber.

As marines were alerted by radio that civilians had seized weapons, Treiber warned that anyone seen to be armed could be a target of US-British coalition forces.

"With the weapons they are becoming combatants," said Treiber. "If they don't take the weapons they will be fine."

Other residents stole air conditioning units, television sets and furniture from government buildings in an echo of the looting that was seen in the southern city of Basra.

A 19-year-old called Haider said people had been ransacking government compounds since the morning to steal weapons and furniture.

"Since the morning, nine o'clock, they have been looting. They are stealing weapons and I took three doors," he said.

At one stage the marines opened fire after coming under attack from snipers, leaving at least two civilians wounded.

One man needed treatment for gunshot wounds to his stomach and left arm.

But his friend, Abdul Amir Jaffa, said he did not resent the Americans despite the shooting.

"Americans are coming to free us," he told AFP.

The marines became increasingly edgy as crowds of people took to the streets to observe their progress.

"It's a problem with so many people in the area. Its hard to tell if there are enemy forces among them. You have to be careful returning fire with civilians all over the place," Lieutenant Anthony Sousa said.

Troops from the Marines' 1st Expeditionary Force also entered Baghdad on the east of the city Tuesday as thousands of armoured vehicles and Humvees poured into the capital for a showdown with Saddam Hussein's troops.

[Dirk McQuickly]

These pictures need to be on every front page in America...

[Cachelot]

Could you please post some sources regarding Burma and your claims of Islamic infiltration?

Sure. Just type in "Burma" in google, and the first hit you get should be the CIA World Fact Book. It's a fairly good barebones overview, although you may want to go elsewhere for the nitty-gritty detail.

And Bangladesh isn't the only country that Burma has "issues" with, there's Thailand too :).

But I also don't appreciate being forced to answer that question in the first place.

Too bad. But things have reached the point regarding folks who have isolationist views, that I sort of expect to find them in that camp. Nice to see that you're not one of those.

[KantianBurke]

Too bad? How about the discussions pertain solely to the issues that are raised and questions that are put forth rather than engaging in character assualts. Of course if one starts blathering about black helicopters etc then an issue can and should be raised regarding their identity. My question did not meet that standard btw.

[dnandell]

The NOW gang is going to have a field day with this. If all these Iraqi children has just been aborted.......

[mwl1]

Everyone should call their local affiliates and demand this be reported. I saw one tiny UPI story and this story, from the French press.

Do you think that CNN, CBS, ABC will ask Daschle about this?

[m1-lightning]

... and another succesful victory for the good guys. Praise God that there are still good people on this Earth willing to fight evil, for he would wipe out mankind once again.

[agrace]

Ugh, I just read through that thread. One voice of reason (I think there were only 2 or 3 on the whole long thread) posted the Scott Ritter quote about the children's prison he witnessed. I also saw the pic of the poor boy without arms, but I'm not even convinced it was from recent events in Iraq - the properties of the jpg (http://patsified.com/images/pol/disarmament.jpg) say nothing about the photo, and it's hosted by a Patsi Cline tribute site of all things, and I couldn't find the page where it originated from. Maybe it's there, but it wasn't readily apparent.

[techcor]

I'm afraid the photo of the boy is real but they don't have to act like it proves our military are targeting children. Saddam probably killed more children in a week just normally.
They just don't seem at all rational over there.
Check out a thread over here about why we fight. It has some of the pictures of Iraqis that are happy we are there. And one picture of a little girl with an American flag that really should make the cover of a magazine somewhere (not Time or Newsweek).

[Publicus]

Put Ritter into the prisons and subject him to the same treatment those poor little kids received at the hands of Saddam & Co. for a few years. When he is let out, you can be sure the next time he learns of such abominable activities he will not conceal the truth but report it like he is supposed to.

ONLY when leftists personally feel the pain do they THEN understand what the Founders, FREEPERS, and other serious minded, freedom loving, ethical Americans are talking about.

For example, if Pelosi, Dean, and the rest of those morons were gang raped by Saddam and his goons, I seriously doubt they would be opposing the war against them. In fact, those spineless rodents would probably be more vehement toward regime change than FREEPERS are. That's why a growing number just can't take these flaky, unpatriotic- repeat UNPATRIOTIC- democrats seriously.

[Grampa Dave]

RE BUMP!

[Publicus]

Ritter is just another sniveling anti-American.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Those people know who we are.

[Mark Felton]

thanks much!

[RightWingConspirator]

Perhaps that is the reason that Ritter, who prior to 1995 was insisting that the inspectors were not being allowed to do their jobs, suddenly changed and became pro-Saddam. Perhaps Saddam had some good videos of Scottie Boy, the pedophile, in full living color and surround sound that Scotty Boy didn't want to get out to his friends and family.

[Publicus]

Good questions. Our integrity and moral leadership definitely take big hits when we deviate from American virtues- honesty, hard work, accountability, and compassion.

Our support of sleazy characters over the years since WWII was justified with the excuse of not having anyine clean to work with on the ground. We also subordinated human rights, free markets, and free political systems to those who were anti-communist.

As more and more people around the world awaken to the benefits of free markets and free political systems, our need to rely on tyrants to help protect our interests also diminishes.

[Publicus]

...the same one who torments citizens for merely asking questions. You can't be partially free anymore than being partially pregnant. Either you are a free citizen living in a free republic (no pun intended) or you are a slave to the whims of others.

[VRWC_minion]

to be a prison for children — toddlers up to pre-adolescents

Wouldn't the pre-adolescent girls be right up his alley ? One wonders why he was there.

[Publicus]

GORGEOUS PIX! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THEM!

[TLBSHOW]

he is a sick sick person and I wonder what ever happened to the Fed charges on his sex at burger king with little girls?

[Luna]

I'm just wondering why the Iraqi people didn't rise up against Saddam and his henchmen.

Just something to think about: Why didn't the Jews rise up against Hitler and his Nazi regime?

We have no idea what it's like to live under a dictator like Saddam, nor the fear that such a dictator puts into the hearts of his people. Perhaps the people just became apathetic after so many years of tryanny. Who knows?