Burma's War on Children

spectator.org ^ | 12/11/2006 | Doug Bandow

[Tailgunner Joe]

MAE SOT, THAILAND -- Although we often read about Aung Sang Suu Kyi's fight for democracy in Rangoon, a far bloodier struggle is being carried out in the jungles east of the Dawna mountain range. The brutal Burmese junta, known as the State and Peace Development Council (SPDC), has launched its biggest military offensive in a decade. The human casualties of the conflict are pushed throughout the border region. Many victims of past military actions have ended up in sprawling refugee camps near Mae sot, a small, rural community just over the Thai border.

The SPDC long has been warring against the Karen, Karenni, and other ethnic groups. ...

"We met the Burmese soldiers in the distance. We couldn't run, because they surrounded us. They arrested us and tied all the men. My mother and I went to stay under a big tree to take a short rest. At the moment one man tried to escape and ran behind me and my ma. While he ran, the Burmese army shot him. At that time I saw my mother lay down beside me, because one of the bullets came through my ma, but I didn't know my ma died. ...

Although the brutality is universal, Christians, who encompass the vast majority of Karen and many Karenni, often are special targets. Klo P'lan Paw explains that "The Burmese soldier don't like the Christian when they know, and see a Christian they kill all. So we need to worship in hide place."

Paw Lah May, also known as Linda, is 13. Her village was attacked and burned. Her parents sent her to live with her aunt in a Thai refugee camp. She says that "The Burmese soldiers don't like the Christian. If they see you worship God they kill you."

[marsh_of_mists]

Rangoon, Burma is now Yangon, Myanmar, much as Thailand was once Siam.

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

[Strategerist]

The US Government does not accept the name "Myanmar" and officially still calls it Burma, as the Myanmar name is promoted by the military junta and has not been approved by a democratic legislature.

[marsh_of_mists]

Good. I prefer "Burma" anyway.

[lonestar67]

I have tremendous emphathy for the Karen people and great antipathy for the Burmese govenrment.

With that said, I very much disagree with Doug Bandow's anti Bush attitudes. I wonder how Doug would feel if I suggested we abandon Karen ethnicities to be exterminated. Bush has helped constrain genocidal forces on this planet such as the Taliban and Saddam. Bandow's politics really offend me and have practical ramifications for potential victims of genocide such as the Karen.

As long as Bandow keeps sharpening his anti-american arguments he will undermine the Karen people's greatest potential ally against the Burmese government.

[sabrita]

Thanks to the president, the Karen people can now be resettled in the United States as refugees. Even though this civil war has been going on for at least a decade, this is the first year we've let the Karen people into our country.

They are incredibly resilient people and tenacious in their faith. Judging from the 50+ Karen refugees I've worked with so far this year, they are also very happy and grateful to be here.