They are being called "The Next Jihadists". That strikes me as a death sentence, not a future. It's not GenX, or "The Next Generation". What it is, is our fault, not ours alone, but we bear much of the blame. NewsWeek has a new piece on this topic.

Iraq is a young country: nearly half the population is under the age of 18. And those children have had a particularly turbulent upbringing. Kids like Ammar were born in the aftermath of one debilitating war, against neighboring Iran, then suffered two others and years of impoverishing sanctions in between. They are especially vulnerable to the demons that now grip Iraq. Hassan Ali, a sociologist at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, estimates that at least 1 million Iraqi kids have seen their lives damaged by the war—they've lost parents and homes, watched as their communities have been torn apart by sectarian furies. "These children will come to believe in the principles of force and violence," says Ali. "There's no question that society as a whole is going to feel the effects in the future"—and not only Iraqi society. From the Middle East to Europe to America, violence may well beget violence around the world for years to come.

We are waging war on children. Argue not directly, and I will asked you if you think a 5 yr. old knows the difference ? The 10 yr old that carrys a rifle and grenades to protect his Mother and Sisters can't be thinking of nuances. The 15 yr. old looking for a safe bed and food to eat, living only in survival mood. To be sure we aren't the ones teaching them the finer points of War.

"Jonathan Powers, a former U.S. Army captain who served in Iraq in 2003 and now directs a nonprofit working with kids there,"...."Instead of training them to rebuild their country, they are being trained to use weapons to destroy it,"

A little deeper in the article we find more insight into the lives of these children. Trust me when I say it is nothing like growing up in suburbia, and we are to blame. Bush is to blame. He will never wash this from his hands.

World Health Organization, found that 30 percent of the 1,090 children surveyed at schools in Mosul were suffering from post traumatic stress disorder......"Some children wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep, [worried about] how they're going to school in the morning," says Nail Subhi, who works with an American aid group called Generation Iraq Organization. "Is there going to be someone in the street waiting to kill or kidnap them?" In a February 2006 study published by the Association of Psychologists of Iraq, 92 percent of the kids surveyed showed signs of learning impediments.

George Bush has made numerous claims about the schools we have built or rebuilt. That would appear to be a great thing right ? It might be if the children went to school. A empty school is nothing more than a empty promise, like many of the promises we have heard.

The Ministry of Education estimates that only 30 percent of the 3.5 million Iraqi elementary-age kids are attending school now,

Ok, if these kids aren't in school where are they, and what are they doing ? If I quoted every story you wouldn't need to read Newsweek. We have heard of them carrying rifles so many times we are probably semi-numb to the shock value. I hope that last sentence bothers you as much as it does me. Our troops can't afford the same numbness. They have become the Invader/Occupier, and hated, the target. As proof of that...

After revealing in 2004 that it was holding 107 suspected insurgents under the age of 16 in detention camps in Iraq, the United States has refused to release any figures about the number of Iraqi kids in custody.

I hate to even think about if there is a Abu G. for kids. We do know at one time in Gitmo there were kids of the age of 14. Children housed in the same place as the " Worse of the Worse ".

The article trys to end on a note of hope. It suggest there still may be a chance for some to learn a deeper and more fulfilling life. Fat chance. Maybe a few will come out uncorrupted, the sheltered, richer children, but some how I doubt even they can escape the rape of their childhoods. The innocence lost to the ego of a few Neocons and a few bags of gold. We must put the face of the children on this war. They do not have the power to make themselves heard, it falls to you and me. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16610767...

I have failed to even mention the children that have died or been wounded, the lost limbs. We call them the quaint name of " Collateral Damage ". I will leave that to another day. That horror is worth a couple hundred diarys of it's own.