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WASHINGTON D.C. (February 6, 2008) - Al Qaeda is recruiting and
training boys -- some younger than 11 -- to kidnap and kill, a
senior U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said today
Five training tapes recovered in a December raid show as many as
20 boys, most thought to be younger than 11 years old, carrying
automatic weapons and grenades, storming homes in mock kidnappings
and assassinations, and sitting in a circle chanting their
allegiance to al Qaeda. Portions of the tapes were aired for
journalists at a news conference in Iraq today.
"Al Qaeda in Iraq wants to poison the next generation of Iraqis
and hopes to continue the cycle of violence they have brought upon
Iraq," Multinational Force Iraq spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J.
Smith said.
In the videos, with what appears to be a July 13, 2007, date
stamp, the boys carry weapons, including pistols, machine guns and
rocket-propelled-grenade launchers. Pictures show a small boy in a
checkered head scarf, carrying a pistol. Another boy with his face
covered brandishes an automatic weapon.
As the children carry out training sessions, adults can
sometimes be seen providing instructions from the background. In
one scene, seven children with their heads and faces covered stop
and capture an adult twice their size riding a bike. Another shows
the children, again with their faces covered, scaling a courtyard
wall, attacking a house and taking its occupants prisoner. Later,
in what appears to be the same house, seven boys sit in a
half-circle on the floor chanting and singing their allegiance to
al Qaeda.
Smith said that this not the first such recovery of videos and
photos showing al Qaeda training children, but that the "the volume
and content was the most significant and disturbing we've found to
date."
Smith said the videos most likely were produced as training and
recruiting films.
Forces also recovered in December a proposal to produce a film
showing terrorists training children, Smith said. The script was to
include children interrogating and executing victims, planting
bombs and conducting sniper attacks, he said.
Al Qaeda often refers to children as the "new generation of the
Mujahidin," or warriors engaged in a jihad, he said. There are also
reports of al Qaeda entering schools and distributing its
propaganda. Thousands of al Qaeda-sponsored Web sites target
children, Smith said.
Recently, two 15-year-old boys were used in suicide bombings in
Iraq.
Al Qaeda also appears to be increasing the use of women as
suicide bombers. Before 2007, only five women had reportedly
carried out suicide attacks. In 2007 there were 10, and four such
attacks already have taken place in 2008, Smith said.
The two women suicide bombers in last week's deadly attack in
Baghdad were mentally handicapped and likely were unwitting pawns
in al Qaeda's efforts to ramp up violence there, he said.
"The events in recent weeks further remind us of the morally
depraved nature of Iraq's enemy," Smith said.
Smith contrasted al Qaeda's motivation with that of Iraq's
government.
"Iraq's democratic and elected government is building schools,
training engineers, police officers and doctors, and offers the
children of Iraq hope for a peaceful and prosperous future," Smith
said. "Al Qaeda Iraq, on the other hand, sends 15-year old boys and
mentally handicapped women on suicide missions, builds car bombs
and is trying to teach children how to kill."
Iraqi Maj. Gen. Mohammad al Askari, a spokesman for Iraq's
Defense Ministry, also briefed reporters alongside Smith. He said
there has been a recent trend by al Qaeda to kidnap children and
hold them for ransom to fund their operations. He showed a video of
a rescue of an 11-year-old boy who had been kidnapped. Al Qaeda had
asked for $100,000 for the boy's return or, they said, he would be
beheaded, Askari said.
Askari said that these acts showed the signs of desperation on
the part of al Qaeda.
"Al Qaeda is losing not only his safe havens, but also his
resources like funding. … This could be the end of al Qaeda in
Iraq," he said.
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