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All around this strife-torn planet,
thousands of children are directly
involved in war or are training in
the art of war. Tbeir youthful
entbusiasm is readily cbanneled into- - ·
the tasks of soldiery.
Jubilant Palestinian youths
(above) in Tripoli, Lebanon,
celebrate their exuberance for
victory. Is tbeirs to be a world of
one life-aod-deatb struggle after
anotber? Or will they be able to
eojoy the peace and prosperity
humanity yearns for?
Sorne youtbs are directly involved
in front-line fighting like this
Continued on page 25
W
HAT
a paradox! We
hope and dream
that our children
will enjoy a life free
from want, a life of abun–
dance and peace.
Yet, in many parts of the
world we see children, often
smaller than the weapons they
are carrying, being drilled in the
art of revolution, counterrevolu–
tion and war.
Forced to !ay aside the innocence
of childhood, they are immersed
in
a sea of adult hatreds to learn to kili
or be killed for causes they don't
fully understand, in a world
increasingly hostile to their very
existence.
Why this paradox? Why do
adults dream and hope for peace,
yet practice the arts of war?
Child Warriors
Thousands of children around the
world have been pressed into mili–
tary and paramilitary organizations
to fill real or imagined manpower
shortages. Many volunteer in a
euphoric state of patriotism. Others
succumb to peer pressure or out–
right coercion.
The death-dealing instruments
in their hands suddenly make them
a force to be reckoned with. And
the heroic fantasies of youth are
easily exploited by those who claim
to be fighting for the benefit of
future generations.
The teachable qualities of youths
make them desired as the most
malleable of soldier material. They
become willing to carry out even
the most
d~ngerous
or repulsive
commands. They are often less
fearful, not having known enough
of life to fear death.
For many of these children, the
future is a fatal bullet, a deadly
bomb or a life shattered by a land–
mine.
A Global Problem
According to one estímate, Iran has
mobilized about 60,000
Baseej,
or
boy soldiers, under the draft age of
18. Sorne of the young Islamic war–
riors are only 1O years old.
According to the Ayatollah
Khomeini: "They run away from
their parents to become martyrs.
And parents take pride in having
their children martyred. Even par–
.ents with five martyred children
regret that they don't have any
more to send to the front."
These young Iranian boys-the
very future of tbat nation-are giv–
en rudimentary training and mucb
indoctrination, then sent to the
The PLAIN TRUTH