Saturday, October 25, 2008

Taliban Using Children As Human Shields...Again




The article here at NATO/ISAF has a good example of how the Taliban continue to use children as human shields - an act of cowardice that really, truly is unique to the gutless Taliban. We have seen the likes of al Qaeda in Iraq used children as suicide bombers but the Taliban are notorious for literally hiding behind children to save their asses. Read the details of the latest incident:



U.S. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment were conducting counter IED operations along a route in Golestan to ensure the safe passage of civilian traffic and ground convoys when they observed four insurgents attempting to emplace an IED in the road.
Initially the Marines observed four adults and two children in a truck laden with burlap sacks and shovels. The adults began digging holes. Once the burlap sacks were removed from the truck and opened, the Marines were able to see IED materiel in the sacks and that the holes being dug in the road were for IEDs.
Marine snipers shot two of the positively identified insurgents as they emplaced an IED. After the initial shots were fired, the other two insurgents grabbed the two children they had brought with them and held them in front of them to use them as shields.
The Marines waited until the children were let go and ran away before snipers shot the remaining two insurgents. The children fled in the direction of a mosque and were unharmed.

Now, if this situation had been a bit different...let's say an AH-64 had been called in and a hellfire had been let loose and these two children had been killed, you know damn well that the U.S. military would have been burned at the stake for killing two children - no mention would have been made that the Taliban had used those kids as shields for their illegal behavior.

There are countless reports of Taliban literally setting children outside the door of a meeting place of the Taliban leaders to ward off a hellfire attack and my guess is that the Taliban will never abandon this tactic. But it just reinforces my statements that the Taliban are unlike any other foe we have in the world. They are a combination of the most viscious fighters at times to the most cowardly and yellow-bellied mob you've ever seen. I ask the question...what religion do you know of that condones the willful putting of children in harm's way? The Taliban simply follow the violent ideology of mohammed to a tee.



Insurgents use children as human shields

U.S. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment were conducting counter IED operations along a route in Golestan to ensure the safe passage of civilian traffic and ground convoys when they observed four insurgents attempting to emplace an IED in the road.
Initially the Marines observed four adults and two children in a truck laden with burlap sacks and shovels. The adults began digging holes. Once the burlap sacks were removed from the truck and opened, the Marines were able to see IED materiel in the sacks and that the holes being dug in the road were for IEDs.
Marine snipers shot two of the positively identified insurgents as they emplaced an IED. After the initial shots were fired, the other two insurgents grabbed the two children they had brought with them and held them in front of them to use them as shields.
The Marines waited until the children were let go and ran away before snipers shot the remaining two insurgents. The children fled in the direction of a mosque and were unharmed.
“We know that the insurgents often display a blatant disregard for civilian life. They frequently attempt to exploit our adherence to the rule of law. Unfortunately for them, our Marines are well trained in positively identifying targets before engaging them,” said Colonel Peter Petronzio, commanding officer for the Interim Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force - Afghanistan.

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