Here is an interesting story, its about how the US Military is facing violent children in Baghdad armed with.....slingshots!

U.S. troops face violent children in Baghdad Shiite militias encouraging children to hurl stones and gasoline bombs at U.S. convoys, Americans say.

By Antonio Castaneda ASSOCIATED PRESS Thursday, October 05, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Shiite militias are encouraging children as young as 6 to hurl stones and gasoline bombs at U.S. convoys, hoping to lure American troops into ambushes or provoke them into shooting back, U.S. soldiers say.

Gangs of up to 100 children assemble in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia, and in nearby neighborhoods, U.S. officers said.



Soldiers say they have seen young men, their faces covered by bandanas, talking with the children before the rock-throwing attacks begin and sometimes handing out slingshots so the volleys will be more accurate.

"It's like a militia operation. They'll mass rocks on the last or second-to-last vehicle" in a U.S. patrol, said Capt. Chris L'Heureux, 30, of Woonsocket, R.I. "There's no doubt in my mind that they're utilizing these kids in a deliberate, thought-out way."

Sadr's followers deny organizing attacks by children.

"Such behavior by Iraqi children is spontaneous and the natural reaction from innocent children who are witnessing horrible deeds committed by the occupation forces in Iraq," said Ali al-Yassiri, an aide to Sadr.

Marines in the volatile city of Ramadi also say Sunni insurgents often send children to check out U.S. defenses or warn of approaching patrols.

In Baghdad, the incidents have seemed to increase since U.S. soldiers moved their security crackdown into Shiite neighborhoods surrounding Sadr City.

At one checkpoint, soldiers said hundreds of rocks rained down on their vehicles as they sealed off a neighborhood during a house-to-house search for weapons and militants.

U.S. officers think the militias are trying to provoke American soldiers into firing on the children or chasing the soldiers into areas where snipers lie in wait.

"Right now the reason we're not (pursuing) is because it's a trap," 1st Lt. Bernard Gardner, 25, of Kinnear, Wyo., said as children pelted his Stryker armored vehicle with rocks. "There's probably one or two snipers out there waiting for us to get in range."

The soldiers are also leery of firing even warning shots in return, worried that could inflame sectarian passions and turn Shiite civilians against the Americans.

"If we point a gun at a kid and they take a photo of it, they'll make a zillion fliers out of it," Gardner said. "That's why we have to be so delicate with the rock throwers."

He said just one bullet fired near a group of children would be "like the shot heard 'round the world."

Most children, even in traditionally hostile areas, typically approach U.S. troops only to ask for water or candy. Even as unruly gangs roamed the areas near Sadr City one recent day, soldiers kept playing with curious children on tamer blocks nearby.

But attackers are becoming even more brazen: Children recently have begun hurling bottles of oil and even a homemade firebomb at U.S. vehicles, soldiers say.

No serious injuries have been reported in the attacks, although one platoon commander was hit in the face with a rock.

Since firing back is considered out of the question, U.S. soldiers have resorted to other methods to control the children.

On a major road leading into Shaab, a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, U.S. soldiers stopped all civilian vehicles and pedestrians to pressure adults into dispersing a group of children that were attacking American vehicles.

"If you can't control your kids, you can't use this road," yelled Sgt. 1st Class Eric Sheehan, 33, of Jennerstown, Pa. One pedestrian responded: "But they're not from this neighborhood."

Some adults eventually persuaded the children to leave.

"They're gone," Sheehan said. "For now."

Other Iraqi adults have been more helpful. After several rocks were thrown at passing U.S. vehicles in Shaab, soldiers followed one child home. When soldiers told his mother what had happened, she slapped her son across the face in front of them.

Soldiers are also using new tools, such as high-decibel speakers, to scare away children. Some youngsters scampered away this week as soon as a soldier pointed a hand-held speaker in their direction.

Note: Story from the web about attacks on soldiers in Iraq with Slingshots