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Do You Shoot When the Enemy Is a 12-Year-Old?
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by Gal Luft
March 30, 2003
Published by the LA Times
Urban warfare, as ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu
concluded, is the lowest form of warfare. The kind of fighting coalition
forces are likely to face in Baghdad involves complicated
command and control challenges and presents soldiers and
commanders with unparalleled tactical and ethical dilemmas.
One such challenge is the Iraqis' use of children as urban guerrilla
fighters.
The mobilization of children into armed conflicts and their
transformation into killing machines is a worldwide phenomenon. According to United Nations estimates, there are more than 300,000 children participating in armed conflicts in places like India, Burma, Paraguay, Philippines, and several African
countries. In Sierra Leone alone, more than 5,000 children under
the age of 18 years, both boys and girls and some as young as 6
years old, are estimated to have fought in the conflict.
The last Western military to face the perils of children guerrillas was the Israeli army during Operation Defensive Shield in March-April 2002. In the Jenin
refugee camp - a cramped 600 square yards inhabited by more
than 15,000 people - the Israelis became involved in fierce fighting with hundreds of militants.
Many of them were children. Veterans of the battle reported that
Palestinian children threatened them just like adult combatants
and in some cases proved to be no less lethal than adults.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has recruited children as young as 13
for suicide missions. Others have been used to plant and detonate bombs.
American soldiers marching into Baghdad might face a similar challenge. Iraq is one of the countries with the worst record of child participation in warfare.
Children under 18 years old make up about 50% of the country's population and are trained from very young age to protect and defend the regime.
During the Iran-Iraq war boys as young as 12 were part of
the Iraqi military and many of them died in suicide missions
such as clearing minefields.
Since the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein's regime has recruited
thousands of Iraqi boys teaching them to use small arms and
brainwashing them with Baathist political indoctrination.
Hussein has also created several child soldier units - Ashbal
Saddam, or Saddam's Lion Cubs. The Cubs - the Iraqi
equivalent of the Hitler Youth movement - have trained 8,000
young men in Baghdad alone who are considered to be well-
schooled in combat and ferocious.
The children units supply manpower to the Fedayin Saddam, the paramilitary organization controlled by Hussein's son Uday, likely to spearhead the
Iraqi resistance campaign within Baghdad.
Child abuse is not limited to Hussein and his party. The
Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), operating within Iraq, has been
using an estimated 3,000 children, reported to be as young as
7 years old, and like Hussein has created regiments specifically
for children. Other armed opposition groups such as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have been known to use children soldiers as young as 10 years old.
Pictures of innocent-looking children killed by coalition soldiers are likely to resonate across the world, especially in those
countries where opposition to the war is strong. The American
public might also view such images with distaste leading to
weakened support for the war at home.
But those likely to face the toughest ethical and moral dilemma are our men and women in uniform. Should they grant Hussein's Cubs immunity or
should they treat them like adults? Most Western militaries
still harbor cultural inhibitions about targeting children. Soldiers tend to get confused and hesitant when facing little men with guns even when the rules of
engagement allow them to use force against any enemy threatening them. Deciding to pull the trigger on Hussein's Lion Cubs that they are likely to encounter
will probably be the most difficult thing this war requires them to do.
© Copyright 2003 LA Times
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