New Threat to U.S. Forces: Child Soldiers

This was the headline in Sunday, September 2, 2007 Parade Magazine from the Washington Post.

One of the growing dangers to our troops today is child soldiers. The same mind set that took me and others of my generation to train us to be child soldiers/terrorists, is still at work in our modern age. We criticize our men and women in uniform for killing children -- yet, they have literally seconds to decide if a child is a threat to them. A 10 year old pointing an AK-47 can be just as deadly to our soldiers as an adult soldier.

The question posed in the magazine article was whether or not they should prosecute the child soldier or the warlord that employed them. I think the answer to that question is obvious. If it weren't for the warlords believing they had some advantage of using children and that they believed children are expendible, there would be no children soldiers. Prosecute the warlords, let's stop this most horrible form of child abuse. It steals not only the child's innocence, but also, their minds, their very being is no longer their own -- even if they are rescued from this -- a part of them will always live in this past nightmare. It's up to us to work to make it stop!!!! What will you do?