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| Video: 9-year-old at US prison in Iraq | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 20 2008, 01:44 PM (403 Views) | |
| Sayf Udeen Ismaeel | Aug 20 2008, 01:44 PM Post #1 |
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ
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9-year-old at US prison in Iraq David Edwards and Muriel Kane A video released on YouTube (BELOW) shows American soldiers taking a group of Iraqis on a tour of a prison camp. The soldier guiding the group tells them that all the cases are currently being reviewed and says, “I’m sure if someone didn’t do anything wrong, they’ll be released.” At 5:47 into the video, the group approaches a barbed wire enclosure where the inmates tell them, “We are all under 18. … We all have been here for more than a year.” The guide hastens to explain, “We have juveniles from 14 to 18. … They’re IED makers. They are dangerous people.” One young inmate calls out, “I swear to God, some were just walking in the streets or sleeping and they brought us here. I swear to God we are all innocent.” “I am my mother’s only child,” says another, at which the American soldier breaks in, “And he is the most dangerous. We know about him.” “I am only a child,” says a third, more youthful, voice. “How old are you?” he is asked. “Nine years old.” “How long have you been here?” “Five months. … They wanted to take my father. I told them take me instead.” The inmates are not shown clearly enough to tell if the speaker does appear to be that young. However, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the former commander at Abu Ghraib, testified in 2005 that there were several juvenile prisoners there, including one who said he was almost twelve but looked no more than eight and was crying for his mother. “These juveniles are treated very well,” insists the soldier. “We invite their parents to come and visit with them. They actually have movie nights. … We have looked through every one of these files. These juveniles are dangerous.” The original YouTube link is available here. http://freedetainees.org/1771#more-1771 |
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| zexxaar | Aug 20 2008, 03:02 PM Post #2 |
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Of course they are. But when we take the press away what atrocities may take place? That's not to say that soldiers are heartless morons - only that people forget that people opposed to them happen to be human beings too. Sad. If that nine year old really had enough courage to go in his father's place, I hope that he feels it was worth it - and that his father is free, as opposed to also being locked up somewhere, leaving his wife, and this nine year old's mother without anyone to look out for her. Another bye-bye-breadwinner story. /sigh |
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| Redneck | Aug 20 2008, 04:10 PM Post #3 |
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unfortinately young people do tend to be the ones stupid enough to be tricked into doing criminal stuff by older people. We see it all the time with street gangs, they pick up these young kids wanting to belong somewhere and they end up endoctrinating them into doing horrible things. I expect Al-Qaida is no different. It is horrible to have to lock children up, but this is a war. these children are likely much safer in a prison camp than on the streets. also, how do you know these children are innocent? Criminals say they are innocent too, it doesn't make it fact. I'm sure there are some in there that were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the US military has much better things to do than going around and rounding up children to throw in prison. these kids had to have been doing something to end up there. |
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| Sing-The-Sorrow | Aug 23 2008, 01:28 PM Post #4 |
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Its completely inhumane to lock up a child.. I find it sick and cruel to even consider locking up a human, let alone to lock up a nine year old child. So what if he did something? At nine, he hardly went and murdered someone. I somehow doubt a nine year old is capable of anything worthy of a prison sentence. If an American nine year old were to commit an equal crime in America (For example.. stealing, as it seems likely, plausible, and something he would be actually capable of) he would be told off by his mother, slapped on the wrist, and sent home. |
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| Redneck | Aug 23 2008, 10:59 PM Post #5 |
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Actually no, if the child was caught by authorities he'd be arrested. The US, especially the larger cities, have had a huge problem with gang members recruiting kids and having the kids do the crimes because the kids wouldnt get in as much trouble. 9 year olds are capible of doing a lot. here in the US we've had kids as young as 5 kill classmates. In Palastine, Hammas has strapped bombs to children and had them blow up a school bus. The backlash from even the Muslim community forced them to stop doing this, but it has been done. Obviously the 9 year old isn't the ring leader and is just a pawn. but even the pawns must be put behind bars. It is a shitty situation I agree, but should the kid be released just to do the same thing again? |
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| Cobby | Aug 24 2008, 12:11 PM Post #6 |
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But aren't kids innocent on the basis that they are not smart enought to have a guillty mind (This is a legal term used to determine a criminals responsibility in a crime). Children don't have the same punishments as adults, because they are at an age where they can easily be rehabilitaed and pushed onto the right track. All prison will do to a minor, is brand them a criminal, and thus make it imposible for the child to make someting of him/herself in the future. |
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| zexxaar | Aug 24 2008, 09:41 PM Post #7 |
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Retribution vs. Rehabilitation The question is, what balance of the two is most effective in removing the problem ie criminal behaviour? Don't prisons concentrate too much on the punishment side, instead of helping people so that they do not go and commit the same act they were imprisoned for as soon as they are released? Prisons do not give adequate care to people who have have commited crimes; after they have served their time they are released back into the community and expected to live normal lives again. How can they be expected to do that, when many of them haven't even had help towards building a good future for themselves, after being in prison? Prison is a life-changing experiance. It seems to me that society only cares about punishing people - with that being the end of the matter; completely ignoring what might happen to them afterwards. But when I put that to this story, it's not very relavent; rules in war zones have always been...disregarded. I was thinking of the western system - in practise on homeland, not abroad. |
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| The Narcissus | Aug 25 2008, 09:46 AM Post #8 |
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I'm gonna have to go with redneck here. Children can fool us so easily on their hidden agendas just because they're so 'cute and innocent'. |
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| Sing-The-Sorrow | Aug 25 2008, 02:53 PM Post #9 |
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Children are hardly cute, but certainly at the age of 9, even mislead, they are innocent. As a checkout operator, I see children "stealing" a lot. Trust me. But, at such a young age, some don't even understand the concept of paying to recieve. To be honest, if someone tried to arrest a child for stealing at my checkout, I would have them kicked out and prohibited from the store  Not that i'm against reprimanding such behaviour, because they do have to learn the difference between right and wrong and where stealing lies on that scale, but still.. Prison is hardly an appropriate measure for a child. Given how a lot of people in military prisons are treated, it's a wonder a child can even survive. |
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| Matthewsixteen | Aug 25 2008, 06:15 PM Post #10 |
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Yea I'd say under 13 arent accountable and don't understand such usually |
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10:36 AM Nov 30
