Iraqi schoolchildren to have a course of military training in summer

Thousands of Iraqi schoolchildren aged 12-17 will have a month-long military training during their summer holiday. The Council of the Iraqi Ministers took such a decision at a session, the Iraqi BABIL daily published on Tuesday says. The military training of Iraqi schoolchildren started in the summer of 1994. Since 1998 it has been held within the framework of the Saddam's Lion Cubs organization which was set up on the instructions of the Revolutionary Command Council. Saddam's Lion Cubs is part of Saddam's Warriors voluntary army.

Saddam Hussein's son, Uday, is the leader of the organization. Any volunteer can be admitted to it. Once trained in the organization's camps, schoolchildren can easily enter special schools, military institutes and universities' law departments. Lion cubs attend a month-long course of physical training and study the basics of fighting. They also have classes in medicine, religion, politics and culture.