Kindersoldaten

[Merowig]

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Iraqi teen tells how he joined Ansar al Islam

By TOM LASSETER
Knight Ridder Newspapers

BIYARA, Iraq - Young, broke and living in a speck of a town where moss grows on the roofs of mud huts, Rebeen Ali decided to look for his way in the world
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Ali's story took place between the summer of 2001 and the winter of 2002, but it's consistent with descriptions of how Ansar recruits, indoctrinates and trains fighters. Indeed, the lack of work and poor living conditions in Iraq, the ready supply of disaffected youth and the seduction of religious fanaticism haven't changed at all.
The Ansar members accused Ali of being a spy, of being an infidel. They shouted at him. They beat him. They threatened to kill him. For two hours, the threats and screams continued.
Then an older man walked in the room and in a calm, kind voice began to speak about Islam.
Trembling and crying, Ali was so shaken that he could hardly make sense of what the imam, or spiritual leader, was saying.
But slowly, the words began to filter through.
"He told me about paradise, about virgins, about Islam," Ali said.
The imam told him that, as a Muslim, Ali was part of a brotherhood that stretched back hundreds of years. He had an important role to play in the world, one that would bring prestige and glory. There were 70 virgins waiting for him in a promised land, a paradise just for him.
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Ali spent 15 days going between his little cell and a bare classroom. For the first time in his life, Ali began praying the prescribed five times a day. He had long considered the restrictions of the Muslim world backward and once planned to move to France to study. But now he realized the imam was right -he was a Muslim and had a duty.
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