child soldiers | Little Alex in Wonderland

Posts Tagged ‘child soldiers’

The Tragedy of Omar Khadr (mp3)

Posted: 22 August 2010 by Editors in International Affairs
Tags: Afghanistan, AntiWar radio, Bagram Air Base, Bush Administration, Canada, child soldiers, criminal justice, Daphne Eviatar, Guantanamo Bay, human rights, international law, military commissions, Newspeak, Obama Administration, Omar Khadr, rendition, Scott Horton, torture, United States, United States armed forces, war crimes, War on Terror, Warfare and Conflict

Omar Khadr, a 23-year-old Canadian citizen was kidnapped by the military in Afghanistan after being shot to the infirmary at the U.S. detention center at Bagram Air Base, where he was tortured and threatened with rape before being transferred the prison at Guantánamo Bay—all when he was only 15—where he’s been held captive since. The ‘war crime’ was throwing a hand grenade at U.S. troops and allegedly killing one of them, though the cause of the soldier’s death is in question, the burden of proof cannot be met of who threw any grenades, throwing a grenade at a uniformed enemy is not a war crime and child soldiers are legally distinguished as victims.

At AntiWar Radio with Scott Horton, journalist, legal analyst and Human Right First senior associate in law and security Daphne Eviatar discussed the U.S. military commission to try Mr. Khadr for war crimes (25:55):

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The ‘Failed State’ Boogeyman

Posted: 19 July 2010 by Editors in Political Science, Somalia
Tags: AFRICOM, Ahmed Hassan, Al Shabaab, AMISOM, anarchism, anarchy, AQN ExOrd, Awil Salah Osman, Bush Administration, CENTCOM, child soldiers, CIA, civilian casualties, Clinton Administration, covert operations, Defense Department, Donald Rumsfeld, Ethiopia, failed state, failed states index, Fareed Zakaria, fascism, Greg Jaffe, Horn of Africa, human rights, humanitarian aid, humanitarian crisis, Jeffrey Gettleman, Jeremy Scahill, Kampala, Karen DeYoung, Lord’s Resistance Army, Mark Fineman, military welfare, Mogadishu, Mohamed Abdi Godane, Mohamed Siad Barre, Newspeak, oil, Paul Wolfowitz, Pentagon, SOF, Somalia, Special Ops, Stefan Molyneux, Stephen Cambone, Suzanne Goldberg, terrorism, Uganda, UN, UN Security Council, UNSC, USAID, War, War on Terror, Xan Rice

Highlighting U.S. intervention in the further destruction of Somalia and as Ugandans mourn a terrorist attack from Somali militants and Fareed Zakaria noting the non-threat of ‘failed states’ and the imminent blowback induced by the failed missions of nation building.