Romeo Dallaire has a new book out! It is in my possession. It is called, They Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children. Child soldiers used to be a last resort for desperate armies. Now they're targeted specifically by recruiters because they're ideologically pliable, hungry, and eager to fit in. Yay Rwandan army! Still making exemplary choices. Actually it's a problem everywhere but most rampant in the DRC. Have a lighthearted evening, mes petits soldats! xoxo Amelia
Armies have always been built with children, and not necessarily as a last resort, neither. The use of millions of teenagers as machine-gun fodder in the Great War springs readily to mind. 18 year-old Canadian Expeditionary Force "volunteers", brain-washed with jingoistic patriotic fervour, eyes sparkling and freshly-scrubbed apple-cheeks shining forth from their basic-training photos, eager to leave their fathers' herring nets and ploughs behind, anticipating the excitement of serving King and Empire; 12-year-olds in Wehrmacht uniforms hunkered-down amongst the ruins of Berlin in the face of Soviet T-34s; 13 year-olds press-ganged in the Congo. Yes there are differences militarily. And the differences morally are even more pronounced, in one respect at least. "Tools used by adults to wage war", indeed. Since the dawn of time. Yay Civilization!
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