Child detainees outnumber foreigners at US camps in Iraq

The typical fiscal conservative would complain that the US has spent more than $460 billion in Iraq, with $50 billion more on the way.  The typical international relations major would note that the Iranian regime is stronger today because of Bush's war.  Many progressive activists are angry because the war feeds into our oil addiction.  And military families say the war is destroying local communities.

All of these insights are important.  But if you ask my generation, we are overwhelmingly against the war mostly because of what the conflict is motivating Middle Eastern children to become.  This story is very bothersome:

Child fighters, once a rare presence on Iraq's battlefields, areplaying a significant and growing role in kidnappings, killings androadside bombings in the country, U.S. military officials say.

Boys, some as young as 11, now outnumber foreign fighters at U.S.detention camps in Iraq. Since March, their numbers have risen to 800from 100, said Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, the commander of detaineeoperations. The Times reported last month that only 130 non-Iraqifighters were in U.S. custody in Iraq.

The Bush Administration spends so much time harping about al Qaeda in Iraq, when homegrown Iraqi children learning Islamic fundamentalism is really the more pressing problem.

Let's at least learn from some of the lessons here in the United States.  When children, particularly teenagers, are not enrolled in after-school activities during the summer, they are more likely to turn to drugs and other troubled behavior.  In Iraq, when many schools are being canceled and families all over Iraq are lucky to have more than two hours of electricity each day, then don't be surprised when Iraqi children have a lot of time on their hands and are desperate to feel accepted.