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Jailed Iraqi children run free as Marines roll into Baghdad suburbs
Agence France-Presse ^ | April 8, 2003

Posted on 04/08/2003 9:55:33 AM PDT by 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.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: atrocities; baghdad; boysoldiers; children; iraq; iraqicivilians; iraqifreedom; liberators; marines; pictures; prison; ritter; saddamhussein; war; warlist; welcome
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To: Use It Or Lose It
It sure wasn't Martin Sheen or Susan Sarandon or Mike Farrell.

Every time I picture Sheen in my mind, marching with that piece of duct tape over his mouth and carrying that cross... What a sick, twisted freak. What the hell does he stand for? Does he seriously think that he's religious in any way, shape or form? That cross he carries will never free him. His abuse of it to further his satanic agenda has condemned him instead. He needs an exorcism, followed by some serious psychiatric treatment.

"Not In Our Name". I can assure these degenerates that their names most certainly aren't written in the Book of Life.

321 posted on 04/08/2003 10:14:43 PM PDT by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: lilylangtree
Heard this earlier in the day while at work.

I'm amazed at the people who haven't heard of it before today. Why....even Tom Brokeshaw hasn't heard of it, didn't mention a thing about it on the evening news. They showed a little boy who lost both arms in a bomb blast, caused by those meanie soldiers. A horrible horrible thing. The child prison is JUST as horrible, but we can't expose the sheeple to things that might swing opinion in a direction opposite that of the media oligarchy, now can we?

322 posted on 04/08/2003 10:27:47 PM PDT by PistolPaknMama
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To: Brad's Gramma
Do you remember when the federal building in OKC was blown up, and every single night, Geraldo had a picture of a victim....and the children....on his show? Wonder if old Gerry will get pictures of all these tiny prisoners and beam them all over the world with their story.
323 posted on 04/08/2003 10:30:59 PM PDT by PistolPaknMama
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To: auggy
And Liberals are suppose to be compassionate?

Liberals are indeed compassionate. The trouble is they display compassion toward criminals and evil men, never toward the innocent and righteous. Sympathy for the devil is their fatal flaw.

324 posted on 04/08/2003 10:50:16 PM PDT by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: N. Theknow
We don't need to find any WMD.

---

we still do, to knock down the last shred of credibility of the 'anti-war' folks.

325 posted on 04/08/2003 10:57:33 PM PDT by WOSG (Liberate Iraq! God Bless our Troops!)
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To: 7thson
And then the Vatican has the audacity to say that Bush has to answer to God

The Vatican has become just another extension of the UN, just another part of the global socialist cabal. Anyone who appeases evil for ANY reason, rather than fight it, is not working on God's behalf. The love of the Catholic Church has grown cold, very cold. Think about the seven letters Jesus wrote to early churches in the Book of Revelations, and imagine what kind of letter He would write to today's Catholic Church. No wonder He said He would hardly find any faith upon His return, and that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" will see the Kingdom. Satan has corrupted everything he touches. He has filled the Church with his operatives just as he has filled the media, the schools, and the government with them. And the Church did little to nothing to expose the leftist infiltrators within it and beat them back. The Vatican is currently run by a mafia of socialist, Old Europe cardinals who are perverting the Church, but they will be held accountable by God as the worthless shepherds they are, and for staining His holy name.

326 posted on 04/08/2003 10:59:50 PM PDT by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: TLBSHOW
To set the captive free...a mission worthy of a good and great nation.

A good and great nation that despite its faults, and despite the cancer of liberalism that permeates it, is still an instrument of God in the battle against Evil. If this war were spoken about in Old Testament terms, God could be quoted as saying something like:

"I will lead the captives of Iraq from bondage through my servant George Bush, and I will plant the flower of freedom in the desert and the desert shall bloom."

327 posted on 04/08/2003 11:15:04 PM PDT by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: techcor
The DUh's are one of the sickest groups around.

I refuse to consider them fellow human beings. They are a sick and twisted mutant subspecies. They may look like everyone else on the outside, but the darkness that resides within is satanic. If you want to know what Satan is like, just look at a DUer. Each is a bitter malcontent consumed by hatred, jealousy, and envy. Satan was the first rebel, and ever since his act of rebellion he has been nothing more than a bitter malcontent consumed by hatred, jealousy, and envy of God. The soul within your basic leftist is but a carbon copy of Satan's essence. And it is to these freaks that the Democrat party panders to, because its current leadership are freaks as well. To the leftist, Satan is the ultimate victim rather than a criminal, and so they reserve their sympathy and compassion for everyone who is evil.

328 posted on 04/08/2003 11:43:38 PM PDT by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: Marysecretary
This is not just a war between right and left in this nation. This is a spiritual war of huge proportions for the souls of mankind.

Absolutely. This is a spiritual war masquerading as a political war. All the minions of Satan, the tares, have organized on the left side of the political spectrum. They talk of separating church and state, but the truth is their corrupt and evil political ideology is a false doctrine created by Satan, and this false doctrine is their substitute for religion. They are as religiously fanatical about their ideology as the islamic extremists are about theirs. That is why I call socialism the religion of the atheist, and liberalism the gospel of the Antichrist.

329 posted on 04/08/2003 11:49:25 PM PDT by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: RepPhil

The poster boy of the Left. The perfect example of the sick and twisted mutant freak that looks human on the outside but is all manner of depravity and corruption on the inside. He should be made an honorary member of DU.

330 posted on 04/09/2003 12:06:45 AM PDT by laz17 (Socialism is the religion of the atheist.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
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.

Yeah, no to war, yes to peace... only their peace and only yes to Saddam's war on his people's freedom.

Sick bastards.

331 posted on 04/09/2003 12:07:21 AM PDT by lavaroise
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To: WillVoteForFood
Remember it was Scott Ritter who stated he had seen proof of Hussein's abusive conduct toward children, but tried to keep it quiet as he stated he was for peace, not war. I'm sure I saw that article posted here but don't remember a title.

Ritter was only for his personal peace and Saddam's personal war.

332 posted on 04/09/2003 12:10:57 AM PDT by lavaroise
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To: RadioAstronomer; longshadow; PatrickHenry
"Hundreds of kids were swarming us and kissing us," Padilla said.

This alone is a damned fine reason for war, fellas...let the stupid French try and minimize the impact of this little event.

333 posted on 04/09/2003 12:29:29 AM PDT by Aracelis
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To: TLBSHOW
Scott Ritter: "...Actually I'm not going to describe what I saw there because what I saw was so horrible that it can be used by those who would want to promote war with Iraq, and right now I'm waging peace."

Note to Satan: Remember that Scott Ritter is scheduled for the cell in between Hitler and Saddam.

334 posted on 04/09/2003 12:36:34 AM PDT by Aracelis
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To: TLBSHOW
Actually I'm not going to describe what I saw there because what I saw was so horrible that it can be used by those who would want to promote war with Iraq, and right now I'm waging peace.

I'm tempted to suggest revoking this thing's citizenship, but it's already left the human race, so there's no point.

Next time some sack-of-Schumer peace puke complains about the war, we need to ask it, "Would you rather we just left those children in jail?" and see what kind of shift-and-shuffle casuistry it starts dribbling...

335 posted on 04/09/2003 1:05:07 AM PDT by fire_eye
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To: AmericanPhoenix911
That sign is doctored, isn't it? The one that says "Saddam only kills his own people, it's none of our business"...Doctored. Gotta be...Yes?

No, it's for real. Two clever guys infiltrated the *peace* protestors with signs like this, and took pictures of themselves doing it. I forget the name of their website. They were so far over the top with their signs the peaceniks often didn't get it.

336 posted on 04/09/2003 3:18:28 AM PDT by Grani
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To: laz17
"Liberals are indeed compassionate. The trouble is they display compassion toward criminals and evil men, never toward the innocent and righteous. Sympathy for the devil is their fatal flaw."

True! Very True!

337 posted on 04/09/2003 3:20:30 AM PDT by auggy
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To: piasa
Thank you kindly for your post to me.

hawk

338 posted on 04/09/2003 5:09:36 AM PDT by hawkaw
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To: Publicus
Not all tyrants aspire to dominate the world. Should our military forces be thrown at each and every one indiscriminantly? Besides if Hitler had been stopped early by local EUROPEAN powers, we never would have had a need to get involved.
339 posted on 04/09/2003 5:31:18 AM PDT by KantianBurke (The Federal govt should be protecting us from terrorists, not handing out goodies)
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To: laz17
Most people just don't realize this. We are fighting powers and principalities of the air (such as the Prince of Persia over Iraq) not the people. Hussein and other sold themselves to the devil. They will reap their reward but it won't be what they think it is. surprise! God is as concerned about the souls of the Muslims as He is ours. I believe this war will set many Muslims free and they will know the truth.
340 posted on 04/09/2003 6:04:57 AM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD is still in control!)
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