political : YOUNG CHILDREN FIGHT U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ [+] serious ballot by herzog created Wed Sep 27, 06 BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite militias are encouraging children — some as young as 6 or 7 — to hurl stones and gasoline bombs at U.S. convoys, hoping to lure American troops into ambushes or provoke them into shooting back, U.S. soldiers say. Gangs of up to 100 children assemble in Sadr City, stronghold of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia, and in nearby neighborhoods, U.S. officers said in interviews this week. American soldiers have seen young men, their faces covered by bandanas, talking with the children before the rock-throwing attacks begin — and sometimes handing out slingshots so the volleys will be more accurate, the troops said. "It's like a militia operation. They'll mass rocks on the last or second-to-last vehicle" in a U.S. patrol, said Capt. Chris L'Heureux, 30, of Woonsocket, R.I. "There's no doubt in my mind that they're utilizing these kids in a deliberate, thought-out way." Al-Sadr's followers insist they are not organizing attacks by children. "Such behavior by Iraqi children is spontaneous and the natural reaction from innocent children who are witnessing horrible deeds committed by the occupation forces in Iraq," Ali al-Yassiri, an aide to al-Sadr, told The Associated Press. Militants have used children before. Marines in the volatile city of Ramadi say Sunni Arab insurgents often send children to check out U.S. defenses or warn of approaching patrols. And Israeli troops have long faced stone-throwing Palestinian kids. But the increased use of children in the high-profile Baghdad battle poses a new challenge to American troops seeking to curb Iraqi militias. The tactic also shows the lengths to which militants will go in confronting U.S. troops in a high-stakes fight for control of the capital. The incidents have seemed to increase since U.S. soldiers moved their security crackdown into Shiite neighborhoods surrounding eastern Baghdad's Sadr City. The U.S. crackdown in the capital is aimed at curbing the power of the Mahdi Army and other sectarian militias. At one checkpoint, soldiers said hundreds of rocks rained down on their vehicles as they sealed off a neighborhood during a house-to-house search for weapons and militants. U.S. officers believe the militias are trying to provoke American soldiers into firing on the children or chasing the soldiers into areas where snipers lie in wait. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Using children to illicit of firefight, hoping that some will be killed in the process for propaganda purposes. Are these actions similiar to the american revolutionaries, the minutemen, as some have claimed the insurgents are modeled after. Or are they more like the actions of terrorists who don't care about the Iraqi people at all? Freedom fighters, no different than american revolutionaries Terrorists Sick, barbaric, questionably human, terrorists Ballot #102600 : SEE RESULTS Comment: show your vote with comment?

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