I agree it's shocking to send youngsters to engage in violent armed combat.
But lets not forget the poor Iraqi children who have no choice about this.

17 Years olds have been joining up in every war there has ever been of any consequence. My grandfather joined up during ww2 at 17.

So I am not sure what the big hooplah is about, and its definetly not "shocking," anything but, its common.

How many children have been used by the Insurgents in the last several years now in Iraq? hundreds? Thousands? More? How many were not even teenagers?

Not just fight, but make a video, have daddy and uncle Ahmed strap a pound of explosives to their chest and send them at the barracade?