BAGHDAD, Feb. 6, 2008
U.S.: Al Qaeda In Iraq Training Children
Seized Videotapes Show Young Boys Learning How To Kill And Kidnap, Officials Say
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Play CBS Video Video Al Qaeda Videos Target Kids Children as young as six-years-old are being turned into killers, after being recruited through al Qaeda training videos that make war look like a game. Mark Strassmann reports.
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Video The New Mujahedeen "CBS News RAW:" U.S. military Rear Admiral Gregory Smith explains a video recovered from a raid on an al Qaeda hideout, depicting Iraqi children in a mock raid carrying guns.
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Video Iraqi Kids In Terror Training Seized video shows children in training to be the next generation of terrorists. Maggie Rodriguez talks to CBS News Terrorism Analyst Paul Kurtz about what the video represents.
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U.S. and Iraqi officials said they could offer no estimate on how many children have fallen under al Qaeda in Iraq's control. (AP Photo/US Military)
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This undated image made from video released by the U.S. military in Iraq which it says shows an apparent al Qaeda training operation. The videotapes seized during U.S. raids on suspected al Qaeda in Iraq hide-outs show the terror group training young boys to kidnap and assassinate civilians, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008. (AP Photo/US Military)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
Footage aired for reporters showed an apparent training operation with black-masked boys - some of whom appeared to be about 10 years old - storming a house and holding guns to the heads of mock residents. Another tape showed a young boy wearing a suicide vest and posing with automatic weapons.
It's no game, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. One recent killer in Iraq was just 11 years old.
"He went into the home of a sheikh in the Anbar province with a box of candy that blew up, killing several," said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman.
U.S. and Iraqi officials said they could offer no estimate on how many children have fallen under the terror group's control. They named just a handful of attacks blamed on women or children.
CBS News terrorism analyst Paul Kurtz discussed the new Al Qaeda-related development on The Early Show. To see the interview, click here.
The American military said some of the tapes were found in December during a U.S. raid in Khan Bani Saad, northeast of Baghdad, and said it indicated a pattern that al Qaeda in Iraq was increasingly using children for sinister means.
"Al Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis," Rear Adm. Smith told reporters Wednesday inside the heavily guarded Green Zone. "It is offering children as the new generation of mujahedeen," he said, using the Arabic term for holy warriors.
"We believe this video is used as propaganda to send out to recruit other boys ... and to send a broader message across Iraq to indoctrinate youth into al Qaeda," he said.
Kids have often been used as props and pawns, reports Strassmann. In one jihadi video, a boy carries a mortar round. He's 6 years old - too small to reach the mortar without a boost.
Other scenes from the Khan Bani Saad video showed masked boys forcing a man off his bicycle at gunpoint and stopping a car and kidnapping its driver along a dusty country road. At one point the boys - wearing soccer jerseys with ammunition slung across their chests - sit in a circle on the floor, chanting slogans in support of al Qaeda.
Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari told reporters that militants are kidnapping more and more Iraqi children, though he could not offer details or numbers.
"This is not only to recruit them, but also to demand ransom to fund the operations of al Qaeda," al-Askari said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said Wednesday that its troops, along with Iraqi forces, detained 20 suspected insurgents in four days of raids across Iraq.
In other developments:
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 337 Comments
- This is so sad, Life just starts when your this young, why would you even think to train such young kids, These people in this country are nothing but a bunch of schizophrenic loosers that shood just shoot themselfs and get it over with.
- Reply to this comment
- ...and the lack of martyrdom tapes for all of the alleged suicide bombings in Iraq means that....? PRINZOWHALES
Speaking of toons, to have seen the tapes and claim they are a work of fiction speaks volumes of your moral depravity; either that or you live in an imaginary world. - Reply to this comment
- speakinup,,,,, Fleas are safe ?? Good, the generals will be happy to know that, so will McCain who still can''t define victory.
- Reply to this comment
- ...and the lack of martyrdom tapes for all of the alleged suicide bombings in Iraq means that....?
There are apparently some silly heads in the world who believe that a US-created mystery group whose name variously means ''the base'' or ''the toilet'' is trying to win friends and influence people in Iraq by randomly blowing them up...and--GET THIS!!--modest Moslems that they are...they don''t want to brag about it...
Instead, I believe, these are members of the a very secretive and feared sect of Moslems...the dreaded TOON TOWN MOSLEMS!... these Moslems can do whatever the cartoonist or propagandist wants them to do...child warriors?--you got it!...mentally deficient burqa-wearing suicide bombers who hate pet markets?--Boom!...Take over the world and kill all the infidels?--We got ''em for you! Fly giant passenger planes into buildings?--Can''t fly?--NO problem-o for a TOON TOWN MOSLEM!--They can even walk away from the catastrophe!--AND!!--magically remain on the FBI list of those who suicided into the WTC!...The only way you can kill them is with "Dip"...best alert Fearless Leader... the recipe calls for "Dip"...not "Dipsh*ts" like the men and women he has around him... - Reply to this comment
- Here''s my thinking cap feelfree,
Videos are made of the martyrdom operation as proof to the family that their loved one is going to heaven. And the family will brag about it. Apparently you don''t understand how Al-Qaeda works. - Reply to this comment
What''s next from Mark Strassmann?
Retarded children "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq" fighters?
Maybe they can use the ones that were "rescued" in the Lara Logan reports, as actors for the video.- Reply to this comment
- dare you to find a single verifiable claim that this man has ever made about the imaginary group known as "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq".
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Posted by FeelFree1 at 09:59 PM : Feb 07, 2008
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The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza...
Hadi Mizban -- Associated Press
...The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, is shown on video during a 2006 briefing by Iraqi national security...
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you want me to go to al-jazeera website and get you more?..I can get tons - Reply to this comment
- I dare you to find a single verifiable claim that this man has ever made about the imaginary group known as "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq".
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Posted by FeelFree1 at 09:59 PM : Feb 07, 2008
+ report abuse
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I dare you to find a single verifiable claim that al queda is NOT in Iraq.. - Reply to this comment
- sevenveils,
Did you figure it out yet?
Re: "Feelfree1, again you weakly challenge the validity of this news and again you offer nothing to support your propaganda."
O.K. Here are a couple of observations for you, just off the top of my head, just looking at one B.S. segment of this rancid propaganda piece from Mark Strassman-
Re: "It''''s no game, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. One recent killer in Iraq was just 11 years old."
"He went into the home of a sheikh in the Anbar province with a box of candy that blew up, killing several," said Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman."
Why would this alleged child be invited into this house, unless they knew him?
If they knew him, and were friends with him, why would this alleged child blow them up?
If they didn''''t know him, how would they know that he was 11 years old?
If the candy box exploded, strongly enough to kill the people in the structure, how could there be anything left of the box to identify it as a box, much less a candy box?
If the occupants were killed, then who described the event?
Please put on your thinking cap, "sevenveils".
My best evidence that this is a black propaganda article?
It was written by Mark Strassmann. I dare you to find a single verifiable claim that this man has ever made about the imaginary group known as "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq". - Reply to this comment
- But, but, we all KNOW children are so innocent!
Look at these poor angels. They''ve been forced to hold weapons. They were forced to go to madrasa.
They wouldn''t hurt a flea - ok - a US solder or two - but fleas are safe.
We all know 15 year olds that are thrown into Gitmo are waterboarded daily! I mean that poor Canadian citizen that was 15 and just happened to be in the area where the fire fight was taking place in Afghanstan, oh that poor soul. He is SO very innocent.
I say he''s lucky co1 didn''t decide to shoot him in the head too. - Reply to this comment
- "A VOTE for McCain is a VOTE for a war...."
Naive Nancy,
Yea, your right. It''s McCain and Bush''s fault that that Al Qaeda is training kids to use machine guns and chop people''s heads off. Your right, NONE of this was going on before Bush.
Nancy, you really seem to have a grasp onmm history AND Reality.
Radical Muslims Predators and Parasites. Why does a Why does snake stike and eat a mouse? The same reason a leech latches onto its host? Because it''s God tells it to. And there is nothing you or negotiations are going to do about it. - Reply to this comment
- [Maybe this is why our American Muslims are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities. ]
[Posted by Gaye5 at 07:48 AM : Feb 07, 2008]
the average muslim does not have the role to speak for islam ... that role is reserved for their religious leaders. - Reply to this comment
- the same way christian children are trained to hate by the KKK.. no different,
Hate is Hate.....
Politics are Politics..... - Reply to this comment
watcher269,
Re: "I see the U.S. led rebuilding of Iraq is going well and right on target for Bush and Cheney."
These new child-labor brigades should have it all fixed up in a jiffy!
Good thinking, George!- Reply to this comment
Gaye5,
Let me see if I have this straight....you are an Australian, asking someone who lived in Saudi Arabia for 20 years, about who can be a good American?
Is that right?- Reply to this comment
- I see the U.S. led rebuilding of Iraq is going well and right on target for Bush and Cheney.
- Reply to this comment
Gaye5,
Have you ever been to Jesus Camp?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bB2rt3IKJc- Reply to this comment
- Intellectually - no . . . Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically - no. . . . Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran does not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually - no. . . . Because when we declare ''onen ation under God,'' the Christian''s God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran''s 99 excellent names.
Therefore after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. - - - They obviously cannot be both '' good'' Muslims and good Americans.
Call it what you wish..it''s still the truth. You had better believe it. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future. The religious war is bigger than we know or understand. . ...
Muslims have said they will destroy us from within.....Hello!!!! and there is NO Muslims standing there and denying this or stopping the hundreds of clerics from teaching this,. if it was a Christian minister teaching hate the church would take him out ex communicate him.. - Reply to this comment
- CAN MUSLIMS BE GOOD AMERICANS?
This is very interesting and we all need to read it from start to Finish......... and send it on to anyone who will read it
Maybe this is why our American Muslims are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities.
Can a good Muslim be a good American?
This question was forwarded to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years.
The following is his reply:
Theologically - no. . . . Because his allegiance is to Allah, The moon God of Arabia .
Religiously - no. . . . Because no other religion is accepted by His Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256) (Koran)
Scripturally - no. . . Because his allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.
Geographical ly - no . . . Because his allegiance is to Mecca , to which he turns in prayer five times a day.
Socially - no. . . Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him To make friends with Christians or Jews.
Politically - no. . . Because he must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America the great Satan.
Domestically - no. . . Because he is instructed to marry four Women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34), even be it that clerics are now saying that the Quran means to only beat them lightly and some say with a hankie, but the Quran says to beat them, and beat means beat..
more to come - Reply to this comment
- Yep, we sure see that all Muslims are against terrorism, and the clerics of the world are out in force to stop this training and teaching which is being done by hundreds of clerics in every country including the west.. Thank goodness we have a world of dedicated clerics making sure that there is no hate taught in their schools, TV, mosques, homes, magazines, and school materials, and we can see the Muslim population world wide pushing their errant clerics out or putting fatwas on them to rid their religion of such hatred teaching... Of course I am being cynical, this teaching by clerics is not stopped as it is part of Islam, and any Muslim who says that it is not part of Islam either hasn''t read the last three quarters of the Quran and others of their books or he is a straight out liar. They are of course allowed to lie to the infidel, in times of war, to further allah''s cause etc, as long as they don''t mean it in their hearts...
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