Pentagon sees 5 million child terrorists in Iraq*

Next generation could join jihad if reconstruction fails

Posted: July 15, 2007
Washington

The Pentagon warns that if U.S. reconstruction efforts fail in Iraq,
punishing unemployment could drive the country's next generation of
workers to join the jihad.

In that event, America and the West potentially would face an army of as
many as 5 million young terrorists.

Right now, Iraqis suffer from 50 percent unemployment, and the prospects
are especially grim for the nation's youth, noted Paul Brinkley, deputy
undersecretary of defense at the Pentagon.

Iraq is largely a nation of children, he says, with some 40 percent of
its population of 26 million under the age of 15. Only about 20 percent
of the U.S. population is under 15, by comparison.

If economic opportunities don't improve, the children of Iraq represent
"a potential pool of recruits for terrorism," Brinkley warned.

He added that despite their liberation from the clutches of tyrant
Saddam Hussein, Iraqi youth currently have a "negative" impression of
America due to deteriorating economic conditions.

"They have justified frustration," he said, adding that their resentment
will only deepen if economic conditions don't change.

He pointed out that the 9/11 hijackers were "middle class" and yet still
hated America. One can only imagine the hate that will build among
dislocated Iraqi youth facing dismal opportunities for employment, he
warned.

That is why it is critical that the U.S. help the new Iraqi government
rebuild the country's infrastructure and fund jobs programs, Brinkley
argued in a C-span interview aired Wednesday on the program "Washington
Journal."

The U.S. is already funding Iraqi reconstruction and security at a rate
of $12 billion a month. The final price tag, according to the Baker
report, could reach $2 trillion, which is equal to roughly two-thirds of
the entire current federal budget.

In a speech Wednesday in Cleveland, President Bush also stressed the
importance of supporting the young Iraqi government and rebuilding the
Iraqi economy. He said the U.S. must stay in Iraq to prevent further
erosion and a sense of "hopelessness" among Iraqi youth. Otherwise, they
will be easy recruits for terrorists.

"I believe that frustration and hopelessness, because people don't have
a sense of future, makes it easier for radical movements and radicals to
be able to recruit," he said. "If you live in a society where you have
no hope, then you're going to look for another form of false hope."

Bush asserted that promoting "democracy" as an alternative to radical
Islam in Iraq and throughout the Middle East will "marginalize the
recruiters and give hope to the recruitees."

He added that it's a universal desire among all peoples – Muslims, Jews
and Christians alike – to want to live and work in freedom and peace, if
they are given the opportunity.

"Most Muslim mothers want their children to grow up in peace," Bush
said. "They're just like mothers in the United States."

However, a local talk-radio host in the audience suggested that the
president's view may be overly optimistic given the intergenerational
"indoctrination" of militant Islamism in the region.

"Going back to Iraq, sir, you mentioned Muslim mothers want their
children to grow up in peace. The children of extremists, however, are
being trained right now," he said. "We've seen the videos. We have seen
the indoctrination -- schoolchildren being indoctrinated to hate
Americans and to hate Jews.

"The next generations of terrorists are already being bred," he added.
"Isn't it true that regardless of how long it takes to win in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the war on terror will never, ever truly be ended?"

Bush responded that children of communists today have a different
attitude toward the West, even though they were indoctrinated to hate
Western ideals. He said that happened to youth in Russia, China and the
Korean peninsula, but the spread of democracy has helped that generation
warm up to the West, while at the same time marginalizing the radicals.

"That's why I'm such a strong believer in advocating the march of
democracy in the Middle East. And I fully understand that people call me
a hopeless idealist," he said. "But I also think it's realistic to
understand (that) unless we change the conditions of how people live,
it's going to be hard to marginalize those who prey upon the young."