December 23, 2011: In Iraq, the Sunni Arab terror groups are having a lot of success finding new recruits among the many kids who were orphaned by the 2004-7 Sunni Arab terror campaign to regain power. That campaign failed, with heavy losses to the Iraq Sunni Arabs, who were 20 percent of the population in 2003 but deaths and exile had reduced it to 15 percent by 2008. Most of those killed were Sunni Arab men and many were married. Lots of young boys were left poor and without a father. These orphans were taught that evil foreigners and heretics (the Shia Arab majority in Iraq) had "martyred" their fathers and that the terrorist organizations would help obtain revenge.

For centuries, gangsters and terrorists have found that their best prospects are from poor or broken families, especially orphans. This was the Nazi and Soviet experience. The Romanian communist government did best at this, with their secret police (the Securitati) forming much feared units of these orphans. Recruits were selected young and raised to be remorseless and savage operatives. Iran has also used this technique to recruit plain clothes agents, who can terrorize reform minded students and civilians in general. In the last few years more and more of these operatives, now adults, have been leading the fight against reform minded Iranians, or overseas, as agents of the Quds Force.

In Iraq, these Iranian agents, who are Shia (like nearly all Iranians), often find themselves facing other orphans belonging to Sunni Arab terror groups. Both sides are quite vicious and the poor upbringing is one reason for the savagery.