If America is fighting the terrorist organizations like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, than why does US held children in its prisons?

What's going on here?.....

yeah like he is believable. not.

It is not the fault of the United States if the enemy commits warcrimes by using children as weapons in war. If your enemy is 14 and you capture him and he really beleives in his cause, he's as much a threat as any other enemy. These are the "children" Russia is speaking of,

The Associated Press: Iraqi army: 6 teens trained as suicide bombers
This is one story, but theres hundreds of others on the internet, speaking for thousands of children influenced by criminal and terrorist gangs in Iraq.

__________________
"...Follow the crystal star to the pyre of the flame; there exists the dwelling of the spreading fire. The heart of this life rests upon the fate of that place, and what begins there sends a contagion to the rest of the universe.
As long as the fire burns we shall never be free..." (The Shadows of Yavara, Final Reclamation)

Thank you NGOA for bringing this issue to the attention of this forum. Children soldiers have been a problem ALL around the world for a very long time, not just in the Middle East. If they fire upon regular troops, then fire is returned without knowing that they are children. When caught, they are either killed or imprisoned. It is a difficult situation in a combat zone. Some blame parents and some blame the system. Either way, the child loses.

Children soldiers come in many shapes and sizes, as you can see. I have no doubt that there are children soldiers in our custody. It's a shame that people like the man in the linked video would further exploit these children soldiers by using them as propaganda to sell his book.

Unfortunately these children are the REAL casualties of war, even if they survive the hostilities. Putting them in prison for now is much better than putting a bullet in them on the battlefield. Sometimes there is no choice.

Here are some of the faces of these children soldiers that have become an epidemic on the battlefields around the world:































"Someday this war will be over..."

What are we supposed to do if our troops encounter a child wielding an AK and shooting the place up? Send him to bed without his dinner?

Unfortunately you have to kill or be killed. Thats the nature of war. But I'm sure the libs would see it differently though. It would be another opportunity to call the troops baby killers.

dc2ga, are you saying that Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin is not a credible source of information?

RussiaToday : News : U.S. held hundreds of children in Iraq: Russia’s UN ambassador

It seems that the person making these accusations, Murat Kurnaz, is a former Gitmo detainee. Yes, it seems he was innocent and should have not been detained. But this fact is independent of the accusations he is making. Here are his words from the video:

"The worst thing that I saw...I saw children over there...9 years old, 12 years old...and many kids who were 14. They got tortured in the same way...they got beaten up and they had to live in small cages for many years."

Anyone can see that he has a major grudge with the US government, and that is understandable. It is obvious that this is his attempt to vilify US Military, coming from someone with an agenda.

And why is this the first time he has ever mentioned children being held at Gitmo? Once again, the allegations seem to coincide with his book release. Simple propaganda IMO. If you read about him you will notice that there is NO mention of children detainees, or reference to children being tortured at any time prior to these allegations.

Murat Kurnaz
MotherJones Blog: Murat Kurnaz Details His Plight Before House Subcommittee
Murat Kurnaz has been released from Guantánamo! | Amnesty International

Here is a 60 Minutes interview with him, and NOWHERE is his interview does he mention children being held captive at Gitmo.

Murat Kurnaz - Mahalo

In the OP's video link he stated that that the children being beaten was "The worst thing that he saw". If so, why never mention it until now? I empathize with what he went through at Gitmo, but it is no reason to play the "child card" in an attempt to promote his book.

Russia's ambassador stated the following:

"900 youngsters have been held in coalition prisons in Iraq."

First off, where does he get these numbers?? From a former detainee that is promoting his book? If not from him, then from where. Sounds like propaganda to me.

Regardless, if these "900 youngsters" were all carrying weapons and fighting the coilition, than them being in a prision is probably better for them than the world that they were pulled from, a world that told it's kids to fight and die for something that they likely didn't understand.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

I agree wholeheartedly.