The summer camps, established by the popular mobilization forces, were opened from Baghdad to Basra. Boys and girls, after an edict issued by the country's top Shiite authority, were 'invited' to train for battle, should it be necessary.
To date there are more than a hundred students enrolled in these courses, but it is impossible to determine the extent of these fields where they are taught to fight against Sunni extremists.
It was just a matter of time. "Educating", "educating", "plagiarizing" and "indoctrinating" children is a well-known technique. These schools of hatred represent the basin from which to draw to perform any kind of action in defense of national interests (and it is not certain that these are always of noble principles).
According to an estimate by The Associated Press, who visited a class of 200 boys, about half had less than 18 years. Many fifteen year olds. Many among them, are eager to reach their relatives engaged in the front line against the Islamic State. At least that's what they tell him.
It's just another ploy to drag children into a brutal war without rules. Sunni extremists were the first to use 10-year-old children as suicide bombers. They were not the first to devise these "defenseless" weapons against enemies. Last June, twenty armed children, many of them packed with explosives, were seen on the front lines with Shia militias in the western province of Anbar.
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The use of child soldiers is seriously embarrassing the Obama administration and could also resize the US-led coalition. The United States, on the one hand, supports the Iraqi government, but on the other, they distance themselves from the popular forces. To these, however, Washington provides arms and support even if indirectly. The popular militias, in fact, receive funds and weapons from the loyalist government, which in turn gets them from the Americans.
We were embarrassed. The "Child Soldiers Prevention Act" of the 2008 obliges the United States to stop foreign military funding and direct sales to governments that recruit and use child soldiers.
We are very worried - comment the US Embassy in Baghdad to The Associated Press - we condemn this practice all over the world.
Last year, it was Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shiite religious authority in Iraq, who invited the people to defend the holy places. Hundreds of thousands of men joined the popular forces together with some Shiite militias, supported by Iran. Last 9 June, al-Sistani issued new fatwas urging young people to train during the summer holidays and prepare for the worst.
They defend themselves from the popular forces "We only give self-defense lessons and the minor volunteers will return to school in September, they will not go to the front". There may be isolated cases - the Iraqi government tells the PA - there has been no education of the Marjaiyah (top Shiite religious authority) to mobilize children.
Franco Iacch
(photo: US DoD archive)
