BAGHDAD (AFP) - US troops are holding nearly 950 children and teenagers in a military prison at a Baghdad base, some as young as 10, a top commander said Monday. Brigadier General Michael Nevin of US military police said many of these youngsters, mainly 15, 16 or 17 years of age are illiterate and have been detained for planting bombs and even for "picking up a gun and firefighting."The juveniles are being held in Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport and are part of the nearly 26,000 detainees held by the US military across Iraq. But these youngsters, dressed in red jumpsuits, make up almost 25 percent of the 4,000 detainees held at Camp Cropper in Baghdad.
The US military currently holds detainees in two prisons in Iraq, Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca in the southern port city of Basra. Camp Bucca holds most of the detainees. "These juveniles have been involved in something that is a perceived as a security threat to Iraq or coalition forces," Nevin told AFP during a tour of Camp Cropper.
The number of juvenile detainees has skyrocketed since the surge in US troops was launched in February. "In January we had around 100 juveniles. Now we have around 950," Nevin said.
Like Germany in WWII, you can tell the end is near when they through in the children.
Most of the youngsters have been sucked into the insurgency with threats or offers of money from Al-Qaeda, he said. "There is a lot of Al-Qaeda influence on these youngsters."
One of the commanders at Camp Cropper, Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm McMullen, said the juveniles were now part of a wide-ranging educational programme launched by the military. "Many of them come from broken homes with no education," he said.