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| Iraq |
| Al Qaeda Trains Young Boys as Terrorists, Film Shows |
| 2008-02-06 |
| Coalition forces acting on a tip from a local Iraqi planned a surprise raid last week on a home in Kirkuk, where an 11-year-old boy, the son of a Kurdish mechanic, was being held for $100,000 ransom by Al Qaeda. The kidnappers had held the boy, Ammar, for four days. Kidnapping and extortion are how Al Qaeda in Iraq finances its attacks. It is big business. But this time there was a happy ending. “As he came out from under that curtain you could tell he looked terrified,” Rear Admiral Greg Smith, a spokesman for Multinational Forces Iraq, told FOX News in an interview. “He gave his name and they said, ‘You’re the one we are looking for,’ and you could tell he was much relieved at that point.” The raid began before dawn. “They approached on foot,” Smith said from Baghdad. “They knew precisely what door they needed to go to. They came down a small alleyway. The door was locked, they yelled inside for it to be unlocked, it was not unlocked so they broke the door down.” The security forces entered a small room. “The Al Qaeda member who had custody of this young boy was also in shock by the entrance and the quick operations by the Iraq security forces,” Smith said. One of the kidnappers was caught inside the room where the boy was hiding. All of the shooting and shouting left the boy terrified, according to those who participated in the raid. “They got him into the car,” Smith recalled. “They handed him a cell phone so he could call his mother, and he was very composed. He just said, ‘Hello, this is Ammar.’ He said, ‘I am here. I am safe.’” An officer on the other end of the line could hear the family screaming and shouting. Soon after, the boy was delivered back to cheering neighbors and family members. This story had a happy ending, but most kidnappings in Iraq do not. Ammar was from a simple family, and his father never could have paid the $100,000 ransom. In an interview after his son was returned to the family, Ammar's father said, "The kidnappers told us that if we fail to pay the ransom, they will behead my son and put his head in the garbage can in front of my house. We told them that we don't have money." The raid netted five kidnappers and led the coalition forces to another boy being held in a hideout nearby. He was freed on Sunday. Al Qaeda’s networks are not difficult to unravel once a successful raid has been completed. Its operatives' obsessive need to keep accurate books, such as an accountant might, has provided Coalition troops with a treasure trove of intelligence. Much like the Nazis in World War II, Al Qaeda operatives document their every action, be it a suicide bombing or kidnapping. It is the way they get paid by the organization. The kidnapping ring that was broken last week had recorded 26 previous kidnappings. Coalition forces did not know how many had ended in release, and how many in death. But another capture during a December raid in Khan Bani Sad — about halfway between Baghdad and Baquba — gave even greater insight into the organization. That raid netted five propaganda videocassettes that would have made Nazi propaganda filmmaker Heinrich Goebbels proud. They were training videos showing Iraqi children between the ages of 6 and 14 being taught how to hold AK-47s, how to stop a car and carry out a kidnapping, how to break into a house, and how to break into a courtyard and terrorize the individuals living there. They are also seen being taught to use rocket-propelled grenade launchers. “These were young boys all masked and hooded, all outfitted with weapons; adults were doing the training,” Smith said. “Al Qaeda is clearly using children to exploit other children to get the interest of Jihad spread among teenagers far and wide. They use this footage on the Internet to encourage other young boys to join the jihad movement.” The group included about 20 children being “trained.” At the end of the hourlong video they are sent into their parents’ arms, suggesting the training has parental approval. “We don't think they were being trained precisely to go out and conduct operations any time soon," Smith said. "But clearly there is a pattern of training and a pattern of indoctrination that is being used by Al Qaeda. Very young individuals who are very obviously innocent and impressionable, these videos convince them early on that the jihadist movement, the Al Qaeda movement, is something they should belong to and look up to.” All of this suggests that Al Qaeda in Iraq is planning to continue its recruiting operations for years to come, Smith said. “In this instance we believe it was for a greater purpose than trying to produce footage for film,” Smith said. “That footage can be used again on the Internet to convince other young boys around the world to join the movement.” |
| Posted by:ryuge |
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| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-02-06 17:40 |
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| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-02-06 16:02 |
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| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-02-06 13:52 |
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| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-02-06 13:47 |
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| Posted by: Lastdaywatchers 2008-02-06 13:46 |
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| Posted by: danking70 2008-02-06 12:33 |
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| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-02-06 12:27 |
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| Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-02-06 10:33 |
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| Posted by: sinse 2008-02-06 09:17 |
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| Posted by: Frank G 2008-02-06 08:37 |