Al Qaeda: Youths of Heaven

Robbed of its recruiting pool in urban areas as most of its leaders are dead or behind bars, al Qaeda in Iraq has resorted to the recruitment of women and children as young as eleven years of age. Al Qaeda has been largely driven out from al Anbar province by the Sunni Awakening movement but now it has emerged in the unstable region of Diala, parts of Mosul, and the districts of al Amiriya and al Athimiya in the capital, Baghdad.

"Desperate people resort to desperate acts," according to a resident in Mosul who was tasked by tribal leaders to keep an eye on the children in his neighborhood.

In a reflection of the terror group's setbacks, al Qaeda has had little choice but to recruit these women and young children through threats, coercion, monetary enticement and kidnapping. In 2006, the terror organization created the al Qaeda Cadets to recruit suicide bombers among young Iraqi boys to compensate for the shortage of foreign fighters.

Today, the Dubai-based Al Arabiya channel aired a video showing young Iraqi boys reading their living testaments before carrying out a suicide operation. This new al Qaeda franchise is called "Youths of Heaven."

Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV

Comments

[KillTheMessenger]

We are making real "progress" in Iraq. Now we have created conditions that resemble Africa's civil war zones and their child soldiers. Way to go.

[Marlyn]

I was wondering how it could be that Al Qaeda was now using women as suicide bombers?

[jad114]

There were at least two suicide operations done by women in Iraq during the past 2 months. One was in Diala and claimed by Al Qaeda

[RedDogBear]

Al Queda are scum but I don't believe any news that comes through the Pentagon filter in iraq/Afghanistan. Remember the mentally retarded people who were supposedly coerced to be suicide bombers? That story went up in smoke on real investigation. Jessica Lynch? Pat Tillman? This smells like yet another bit of psy-ops propaganda.

[justice2008]

I heard that their leader is Saudi. Is it possible that the Saudis are exporting their Muslim Salafi ideas into Iraq the same way they did in Afghanistan?

[RoloTomassi]

Update (7/18/07): After years of reticence and equivocation by the Pentagon, they"ve finally decided to pull back the curtain on what the Saudis have been up to in Iraq. As reported in The Los Angeles Times this weekend:

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.

Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. . . . In the last six months, such bombings have killed or injured 4,000 Iraqis.

http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com/

[leonardox1]

I agree the Saudis are behind the Sunni insurgency to counter Iran's influence in Iraq. They do not want a Shia revival next door. They've done the same thing to destabilize Lebanon by supporting the Sunnis lead by Hariri against Hezbollah.

[jad114]

Wow this is crazy! I do not understand how these kids participate in the training without the knowledge of family members.