Posted by
JBDavis on Monday, March 26, 2007 10:18:06 AM
This is not new. It should not surprise anyone. It should make you sick though:
BAGHDAD -- Al Qaeda in Iraq is using kidnapped children to pick up weapons dropped in battle zones, get past checkpoints and die in car bombs, according to U.S. officials and Iraqis in Baghdad.
"Al Qaeda is using children to pick up weapons and ammunition knowing that U.S. troops will not shoot against children," said one U.S. military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
There has also been a reported incident in which children were used to drive safely past a checkpoint in order to detonate a car closer to a target.
"Men traveling with children in the back of their cars rarely get searched because they look like a family," said Hassan, a middle-aged Shi'ite living in one of the capital's older mixed neighborhoods.
"Then they leave the car and blow it up by remote control with the children in it," he said. Hassan, who did not want his full name used out of fear of retaliation, said at one point last year children with Down syndrome had been used to carry bombs.
Wonder why so many children are dying in Iraq?