Iraqi kindergarten: Smiles and vows to fight

[ProSense]

Iraqi kindergarten: Smiles and vows to fight

POSTED: 9:03 p.m. EDT, May 22, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At a recent kindergarten graduation ceremony, young girls smiled behind their brightly colored princess dresses and the boys showed off their best dress shirts. They sipped on juice boxes, played on swings and jumped on and off seesaws.

It was a welcome relief from the war that surrounds them. But when these 5-year-olds spoke, it became apparent just how much the ongoing violence has affected them.

"I'm going to bomb, bomb, bomb the school with everybody in it," said Omar Hussein, as he clutched a pink toy airplane.

At another point, a girl enthusiastically sang, "I give a knife to my father to slaughter the chicken. He gives me a machine gun and a rifle. Now, I am a soldier in the liberation army." (Watch the children make soldier pledges Video)

The same kindergarten taught up to 180 children just four years ago, before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein. Today, the class has just 16 children, a result of families fleeing the war or parents keeping their children at home, fearful of bombs or kidnap gangs.

A report issued Tuesday by UNICEF, the United Nations' children organization, found such stories are not uncommon. It says Iraq's children are "caught up in a rapidly worsening humanitarian tragedy."

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[acmavm]

1. AS has been said time and time again, they will hate us for generations.

And some will want revenge for what this country (not all of us but they won't see it that way) did to them.

[muntrv]

2. So this is how we bring democracy to Iraq.

:sarcasm:

[Island Blue]

3. How heartbreaking.

In their brief lives, these children have known nothing but war, death and destruction. I wish the future would be better for them, but it doesn't look like it will be at the point. So tragic.