Why the U.S. Spent Billions on an Army that Conscripted Child Soldiers
May 18, 2015
Why the U.S. Spent Billions on an Army that Conscripted Child Soldiers
Was that in the “national interest of the United States?”
BY Nick Turse
MALAKAL, South Sudan—I didn’t really think he was going to shoot me. There was no anger in his eyes. His finger may not have been anywhere near the trigger. He didn’t draw a bead on me. Still, he was a boy and he was holding an AK-47 and it was pointed in my direction.
It was unnerving.
I don’t know how old he was. I’d say 16, though maybe he was 18 or 19. But there were a few soldiers nearby who looked even younger—no more than 15.
When I was their age, I wasn’t trusted to drive, vote, drink, get married, gamble in a casino, serve on a jury, rent a car, or buy a ticket to an R-rated movie. It was mandatory for me to be in school. The law decreed just how many hours I could work and prohibited my employment in jobs deemed too dangerous for kids—like operating mixing machines in bakeries or repairing elevators. No one, I can say with some certainty, would have thought it a good idea to put an automatic weapon in my hands. But someone thought it was acceptable for them. A lot of someones actually. Their government—the government of South Sudan—apparently thought so. And so did mine, the government of the United States.
Photo Bomb
There was a reason that boy pointed his weapon my way. A lot of them, in fact. In the most immediate sense, I brought it upon myself. I was doing something I knew could get me in trouble, but I just couldn’t help myself.
More:
http://inthesetimes.com/article/17959/south_sudan_child_soldiers
