Obama Grants Waiver to Give Aid to 4 Governments Using Child Soldiers

[The Straight Story]

Obama Grants Waiver to Give Aid to 4 Governments Using Child Soldiers

Child soldier in the Congo Claiming that fighting terrorism is more important than protecting human rights, President Barack Obama has allowed four countries to continue receiving U.S. military aid even though they use child soldiers. The decision was made at the same time that a military jury, supported by the Obama administration, sentenced child soldier and Guantánamo prisoner Omar Khadr to 40 more years in prison for killing an American soldier during a battle in Afghanistan in 2002.

Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law just before leaving office, the U.S. government cannot provide support to nations that force teenagers and adolescents into the military—unless a waiver is granted by the White House. President Obama recently issued such waivers for the governments of Chad, Congo (DRC), Sudan and Yemen.

Administration officials said halting assistance to these countries would stymie their fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, or interfere with U.S. efforts to reform abusive armies.

According to the State Department’s human rights reports, Chad has conscripted refugee children to serve as guards and combatants in battles against rebel forces. Congo’s army has forced children to carry ammunition and supplies through the jungle, killing some in the process. Both boys and girls have been forced into the army of southern Sudan, and in Yemen, children as young as 14 may comprise half the ranks of both the government’s forces and rebel units, according to The New York Times.

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Obama_Grants_Waiver_to_Give_Aid_to_4_Governments_Using_Child_Soldiers_101101

[CBGLuthier]

1. Nauseating

[Incognitus Czar]

2. Christ...

Kind of hard to believe that Bush actually did something good only for Obama to subvert that.

[democrank]

3. Sickening

[fasttense]

4. Child soldiers, child factory workers, when you give adult responsibilities

and jobs to children, it's easier to abuse and use them. Next stop, the death penalty for children, oh wait....

[ecstatic]

5. This gross misrepresentation was already debunked in another thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9416585&mesg_id=9416585

Nice try though.

[Incognitus Czar]

6. oh...

that makes much more sense now.

[The Straight Story]

7. Please explain "nice try though" is posting something from a news source 'trying' something?

I would post something negative about bush, or reagan, or nixon, but they are not the president right now, we only have one at a time, and like other presidents I post what I find both good and bad.

[ecstatic]

8. Posting an article without vetting it first is nt

[The Straight Story]

9. Well, hard to vet every single article I read, especially while at work

I have posted many things from that site - and btw, is it accurate? It appears from the link you gave it is indeed accurate on the facts, it just did not include all the other info (still, he did sign the waiver, correct?).

[MuseRider]

10. Debunked or justified?

Not the same thing.