Child Bombers

This story from the BBC shows how children are being groomed as suicide bombers from an early age. Disturbing stuff.

That is incredible stuff Purple. Tho not on the same scale, it reminds me of the blokes in Limerick getting kids to carry drugs and guns, and also that muderously insane outfit in Africa called the Lord's Army". I really hope there is a hell for whoever does this to kids.

horusd said:

That is incredible stuff Purple. Tho not on the same scale, it reminds me of the blokes in Limerick getting kids to carry drugs and guns, and also that muderously insane outfit in Africa called the Lord's Army". I really hope there is a hell for whoever does this to kids.

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The Lord’s Resistance Army are in Northern Uganda. They kidnap small children and turn them into psychopaths. Charming people. They get indirect support from the French and the Ugandans get support trying to stop them from those evil Americans.

I don't know how Limerick has managed to dragged into this one? There's a bit of a difference don't you think.

I saw a program a few months ago about some place that tried to rehabilitate the kids, maybe that's the American support you mean. Awful stuff they went thro, and the damage to the psyche is enormous. I also find very disturbing those images (usually Hamas or whoever) who dress the kids up in combat gear. The latest video's on Libya are also worrying on two fronts. Firstly you see the kids and the mammies & pappies climbing onto tanks etc as if conflict was something to celebrate, and secondly our own kids are treated to endless repeats of airstrike video footage glorifiying militarism, as an ambient background in our homes.

MrMan said:

I don't know how Limerick has managed to dragged into this one? There's a bit of a difference don't you think.

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Well, kids as young as 5 were being used in Limerick as carriers coz they could get past the cops. Not on the same scale as Pakistan, but child misuse nonetheless. Many of these kids, indoctrinated into gangs, maywell end up in prison or dead in gang warfare. It's the romanctisation of violence on vulnerable young minds, the only difference is degree.

I know that Orla Guerin is a top journalist (frontline in Chechnya, etc.) but until the source becomes clear I'd personally take it with a pinch of salt. Propaganda is at an all time high in the World at large.

What about these kids in Armagh?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12832306

They might not be actual guns but I think that this desensitises kids to extreme violence.

horusd said:

Well, kids as young as 5 were being used in Limerick as carriers coz they could get past the cops. Not on the same scale as Pakistan, but child misuse nonetheless. Many of these kids, indoctrinated into gangs, maywell end up in prison or dead in gang warfare. It's the romanctisation of violence on vulnerable young minds, the only difference is degree.

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It's not a new development and its not a Limerick phenomenom, and it is nowhere near child suicide bombers.

WicklowMan said:

I know that Orla Guerin is a top journalist (frontline in Chechnya, etc.) but until the source becomes clear I'd personally take it with a pinch of salt. Propaganda is at an all time high in the World at large.

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Stories like this have been reported on CNN, ABC News, The New York Times and the British media for years. It is most common amongst the Palestinian extremist groups in the Middle east. CNN did a great report a year or so back about how Hamas attacked UN run Summer Camps in Gaza because they were in competition with their own camps which thought small children to hate Jews, hate the West and glorify martyrdom. John Ging is the Irishman who heads things up for the Un in Gaza has been openly hostile to Israel and American the past so he can't be accused of being their patsy.
I can't find the CNN report but this report from the BBC discusses the specifics of the attacks.

This is a very worrying phenomen of the modern age. Pre WW1 and 2, war was generally between armies away from the civilian population. That all changed and conflict became truly all-inclusive with civilians now included as combatants. The phenomenon of terrorism also comes into the mix. It's not a surprise that children, with their malliablilty,lack of maturity, taste for adventure and innate romanticism, are dragged into it.

Whilst not justifying this in any way whatsoever, to claim that the problem lies with adults teaching kids to hate Jews or Arabs or Americans or whoever is to track to the source of the problem, but not track it back far enough. Widspread bombing (despite claims of smart technology), the use of drones, the attacks on Gaza which directly impact (sic) on the children draws them in as combatants, or to coin that awful phrase, as " collateral damage". If your family, village, mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, uncle, have been killed or mutilated by a vastly superior military force, there may be little option in a child's mind but to retalitate in whatever way possible. If you have seen your house violated by foreign troops, your brothers arrested, your land stolen,your house bull-dozed, your school burned out, your parents shamed and left powerless at a border-crossing or checkpoint, you may well see a visceral hatred in the child. What exactly about this radicalisation should really surprise us? If we consider it, we may conclude, that despite the heinous sight of watching children act out suicide missions, their attitude is perfectly comprehensible and rational in context.

All human behaviour is governed by reasons. We cannot act without them, we must look deeper into the reasons behind this, and not dismiss it or wrongly conclude that this is somehow the sole effect of radicalisation or islamicisation alone. I ask my Israeli friends to explain to me what exactly makes a young adult feel that their only option, their only act of resistance, can be brutal self-distruction? I still await a coherent answer.

horusd, you make some very good points and there was a very good documentary on Channel 4 a while back called "The Children of Gaza". It did show that there is another side to the story of active recruitment of child "terrorists". Some of the kids came straight out and said that when they were old enough they would seek to fight Israel as retaliation for all the killing of their friends and family. I hope I'm not coming across as condoning this behaviour, as I certainly don't. But there are underlying reasons why it is so easy for terrorist organisations to recruit young people.

I watched a movie called "Paradise Now" a few years ago, and while it was essentially a work of fiction it did suggest that a lot of grooming and recruitment takes place at quite a young age. It is truly sickening how young children are being treated by their own people.