Stolen kids turned into terrifying killers

CNN ^ | 2/12/07 | Ann O'Neill

[AnnaZ]

Stolen kids turned into terrifying killers

POSTED: 9:42 a.m. EST, February 12, 2007

Story Highlights

• There are more than 250,000 child soldiers fighting around the world
• Children are often brainwashed and drugged before they are forced to fight
• Their vulnerability can allow warlords to make them into coldblooded killers
• Child advocates see some signs of progress, but a long way to go

By Ann O'Neill
CNN

(CNN) -- Warlords are forcing children in conflicts around the world to become killing machines -- nothing more than what one child advocate calls "cannon fodder."

Some children are kidnapped from their schools or their beds, some are recruited after seeing their parents slaughtered, some may even choose to join the militias as their best hope for survival in war-torn countries...

Once recruited, many are brainwashed, trained, given drugs and then sent into battle with orders to kill.

There is no escape for what the United Nations and human rights groups estimate are 250,000 child soldiers today. These children, some as young as 8, become fighters, sex slaves, spies and even human shields.

Sometimes their guns are taller than they are. But the child soldiers can be frighteningly cold and effective...

[Calpernia]

Did you see that movie I linked? It is rentable at Block Buster.

[AnnaZ]

It is extremely depressing..and every bit as scary as the legions of kids being brainwashed into becoming suicide bombers for Islamic jihad.There are few things as troubling as watching a 3-year-old say he (or she) wants to "kill Jews" and shouts,tiny fist raised,"Death to America." It is all so frustrating.

Uh huh. Especially when the video was recorded in Kansas.

As a side note....Love your tagline!!!:D

Thanks. It's from Calvin and Hobbes. (LOL)

[Squawk 8888]

The pharm companies keep their research facilities in places like Puerto Rico and Canada to avoid FDA Regs...

It may surprise you to learn that the Canadian regs are every bit as onerous as the FDA's.

I am somewhat surprised to learn that Puerto Rico, a part of the USA, is beyond the FDA's reach...

[raftguide]

"a boy who was 11 when he was recruited to the national army, had to watch as older soldiers gunned down mothers and then killed their babies. "They swung them by their legs and smashed them against a rock."

Yes. But look what we did at Abu Graib, and are doing at Gitmo...

[Domicile of Doom]

Real simple solution. President picks a factory at random (one that has purported to use slave children labor) then surprise visits said factory. The first sign of mistreatment of any employee/slave President then issues Executive Order xxxxx shutting down company whereby all assets are forfeited to the US government. I suspect if this is done once or twice the problem will end.

[theFIRMbss]

>Stolen kids turned into terrifying killers

[agere_contra]

I suspect if this is done once or twice the problem will end.

This sounds good - until Hillary! uses it to close down Walmart and Exxon.

[Domicile of Doom]

Probably not, as I'm sure Exxon and Walmart are the two biggest contributors to Presidential campaigns for both sides on and off paper. Besides that these two Mega companies would be tipped off to any random visit.

[ican'tbelieveit]

I work for a pharm co and you are not being accurate. We do our research in the good ole' USA. And we have a production facility in Puerto Rico that is inspected and regulated by the FDA just as rigorously as any of our other facilities. And it is the only facility we have outside of the US.

We are also inspected and regulated by every other regulatory agency in the world; if we want to sell our meds in Japan, we are inspected and regulated by Japan, the EU, Australia, etc., etc.

[Mona Lisa2]

The movie Blood Diamond shows these child killers. They are drugged and brainwashed and then they become extremely ruthless and don't have any problems walking into a village and shooting men, women and children. It's pretty awful.

[Squawk 8888]

Thanks for the clarification. I am aware that the FDA has to approve anything sold in the USA regardless of origin, which is justifiable (whether they do a good job of it is OT and also something on which I am not qualified to comment).

[elc]

no doubt its Christians behind all this. Right Rosie? /sarc

In Kony's case - yes. Although, I'd say he's strayed a bit from the tenets of Christianity.

[AnnaZ]

In Kony's case - yes. Although, I'd say he's strayed a bit from the tenets of Christianity.

That's an understatement -- which is why Pastor Sam, an evangelical, has dedicated his life to stopping him.

[AnnaZ]

Yes. But look what we did at Abu Graib, and are doing at Gitmo...

Confronting imaginary evils is considerably safer, ain't it? After all, it's better to be glowingly featured in the Times than dead.

: |

[Mona Lisa2]

http://www.goexcelglobal.com/NJ_DefenseForce/seedshate.html
Seeds of Hatred

I watched the film clip. I know this has been going on for a long time. It's amazing how the Western media continues to ignore this propaganda and hatred, and try to pretend everyone just wants peace. Or if they do pay attention it's to insinuate that if Israel or the West would just change, they won't hate us so much. But the problem exists within these cultures and not outside it.

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

I would much rather encounter hardened 27-year-old thugs in some Third World country rather than a bunch of green 13-year-olds gunmen since the opportunity for survival would be far greater with the older thugs. They would be physically stronger and have committed more atrocities, but there is at least a fighting opportunity. The kids are incredibly violent, immature, and seeking to "impress" each other, which would make it impossible for them to deescalate. This is exactly what happened in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge nightmare...as it was largely effected by kids.

~ Blue Jays ~

[GovernmentShrinker]

This is one of the reasons why US policy shouldn't exclude abortion from foreign aid funding. Millions of children in countries with zero economic growth and political instability are fodder for all sorts of abuse on a huge scale. As long as the helpless, clueless populations of these countries keep churning out babies for whom there is no decent future, this sort of thing (along with little girls sold to brothels by their parents, and other horrors) will continue. The "conservatives" who constantly harp on the mantra that more babies are always a good thing, just don't seem have a clue what they're fueling.

[Calpernia]

I was being accurate, thank you very much.

[ican'tbelieveit]

No you are not!!!!

Specifically you said: "The pharm companies keep their research facilities in places like Puerto Rico and Canada to avoid FDA Regs..."

This is blatantly false. Any company that wants to research new drugs to bring to market in the US will be regulated by the FDA every step of the process. Before we can bring a drug to market, the FDA has known every step of the process and has visited our production facility(ies) numerous times before it can even be licensed. In particular, where I work, zero research is completed outside of the US.

And, if we want to sell the drug in any other country, that country's regulators are just as rigorous in their evaluation and inspection of our activities.