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.

[Ditter]

I fired it off to him, thanks Hal.

[Publicus]

EXACTLY! Leftists are selfish bastards. Support is not based on any principles only if the pain affects them PERSONALLY.

"George Orwell once remarked that political thought, especially on the left, is a sort of masturbation fantasy in which the world of fact hardly matters..."--Avram Noam Chomsky, 1969.

[TLBSHOW]

PC even has the Gop in its grip! Sad to say!

[RightWingConspirator]

Yeah, those Frogs really know how well peace works. Didn't Petain use peace to take out the Nazis in 1940?

[Publicus]

What do you mean tacit? The sick bastards encouraged Saddam's intransigence! They are DIRECTLY responsible for all the deaths and injuries AND the property their "peaceful" protests caused.

[Publicus]

Are you really surprised? That evil bastard slaughtered people for merely asking questions. I hope ALL the details of his sadism and brutality are FULLY exposed to the American public so that ALL can see the wickedness and why it must not be allowed to flourish.

[Publicus]

People like Gore are part of the problem. They worm themselves into positions within our institutions of commerce and governance and undermine our country from within.

[madison10]

So for Ritter's sensibilities he couldn't talk about the imprisoned children? What a beast! War freed the children...NOT peace.

[Publicus]

But Bush 41 DID finish the job we set out to do- i.e. expelling Saddam's forces from Kuwait.

However, it was indeed very sleazy for certain officials to incite people to rise up and rebel against Saddam and the Ba'athists but then failing to help them like we promised we would. JFK and other jackasses pulled the same stunt against the Cubans...Bay of Pigs.

Hopefully, from now on, we will not allow individuals to bs like this ESPECIALLY when people rise up in the name of freedom and are told they can rely on us to assist them.

Hpoefully, our helping the Afghans and Iraqi's permanently put us back in the saddle of American virtues- keeping your word.

Another problem was that Clintoon never enforced the terms of the ceasefire agreement- thusly encouraging Saddam and making W's job all that much more difficult.

[Publicus]

Once Saddam and the Ba'athists are gone, peace will have a chance.

[madison10]

Living in a totalitarian state is probably much like a woman staying in a marriage even though she is physically, emotionally and mentally abused. She sees no way out and she is very (so she thinks) dependent on the husband.

Iraq, poor creature, was married to Saddam Hussein and suffered for it.

[Publicus]

BRILLIANT IDEA! Pen-pals! Helping them learn english and our kis with Arabic! What better to gain knowledge and understanding.

[Publicus]

L-O-L!!! BEAUTIFULLY SAID!

[Publicus]

It is VERY important, no it is VITAL the atrocities be FULLY exposed so that EVERYONE can see the monstrousness of these sick bastards.

[SamAdams76]

This is the most disgusting thing I have ever read. The pro-Saddam left should be held accountable for their tacit support of this ruthless dictator.

I'm right there with you. This is just the tip of the iceberg. As the people of Iraq gradually become liberated, there will be tales of atrocities just as bad as this. We will hear how young daughters of government officials were drugged and raped and then videotaped so that Saddam could "blackmail" them. We will hear of how Saddam slaughtered the families of people who were accused of "making jokes" about Saddam and even those who heard the jokes but didn't report it to the "proper authorities." We will hear of accused dissenters of the regime being literally bathed in acid and subjected to other horrible methods of torture. We already know how Saddam gassed 100,000 Kurds in northern Iraq (Kurds say it was closer to 200,000). The Kurds in the north and the Shi'tes in the south were saved from extermination after Gulf War I only by our no-fly zones in those areas.

One would think that the anti-American left would put their hatred for President Bush aside and join us in our war against this brutal regime. After all, they proclaim themselves to be such humanitarians and all. But no, they have decided to side with the dicatator Saddam Hussein. They would rather see the Iraqi civilians continue to be raped, tortured and murdered than to see President Bush get (in their minds) a political "boost" from a successful war effort to free these people.

[madison10]

So who hijacked the pictures?

[TLBSHOW]

War freed the children...NOT peace

BUMP

[Publicus]

Don't worry. The moronic tyrants over there are next.

[Publicus]

Morons like him said the same thing about Hitler.

[TLBSHOW]

here is a good one from Ritter-barf alert needed..


Why it always pays to know your enemy
April 5 2003


The neat files of a library in Baghdad reveal just how the city will meet the army now at its gates, writes Scott Ritter.


There is a complex of buildings in downtown Baghdad - if it still exists after coalition bombing - that contains a dark secret unknown to, or ignored by, the US military when it developed the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" battle plans. Called the Al Bakr Institute for Higher Military Studies, it is the Iraqi version of the American War College and Army General Staff College rolled into one.

As a chief weapons inspector for the UN, I studied this institute for seven years, inspecting it twice. My interest stemmed from a concern that if Saddam Hussein's regime was to continue to maintain chemical and biological weapons (CBW), it would need a corresponding doctrine of employment. The Al Bakr Institute was the place in Iraq where doctrine was developed. I found no evidence of a CBW doctrine, but I did find something that should be of greater concern.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/04/1048962934805.html