On October 3, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law “Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008,”
a law that made it a federal crime to recruit or use soldiers under the
age of 15. The law also gave the United States authority to “prosecute,
deport or deny entry to individuals who have knowingly recruited
children as soldiers.”
The bipartisan law, which was passed
unanimously by both houses of Congress, drew the applause of several
international human rights organizations:
“The US is saying to the world that
using child soldiers is a serious crime and that it will take action,”
said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch.
“Military commanders who use children can no longer come to the United
States without the risk of ending up in jail.”
Over the weekend, while most Americans
were too busy spending time with their children and keeping up with the
latest sporting events to worry about executive orders, President Obama
removed the teeth from this law; effectively making it void in the
nations most guilty. The result - thousands of children throughout the
Middle East and Africa may be drafted into foreign militaries, with the
full blessings of the United States.
Sunday afternoon, President Obama signed a Presidential memorandum, stating the following:
“I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the
United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section
404(a) of the CSPA [Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008] with respect
to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen… and the issuance of licenses for
direct commercial sales of U.S. origin defense articles; and I hereby
waive such provisions accordingly.”
Section 404(a) deals with exporting arms to countries that allow child-soldiers.
With the stroke of a pen, President Obama did two very frightening things:
1. He authorized the United States to sell military weaponry to the nations of Libya, South Sudan, Yemen and Congo. MORE
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