U.S. troops face Afghan enemy too young to kill
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"Over the last eight to nine years there has been a dynamic change in the age of fighters. Most fighters now are between 14 and 18 years-old," said Lieutenant Colonel Guy Jones, commander of 2-508th Parachute Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, based in Arghandab.
"In 2002, fighters were 22 to 30-years-old and commanders were between 32 and 40," said Jones who is on his fourth tour in Afghanistan.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66B0A220100712
'Child Soldiers' is a misnomer; young killers may be more apt...
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Originally Posted by
40below
The ROE were drastically revised after that incident and child soldiers were treated as real ones by western militaries operating in Africa...
They'd better treat them all as real ones. A twelve year old can kill you just as dead as can his Father. Lot of foolish angst over 'child soldiers' for no good reason. A ten year old who throws a grenade in your lap as has happened here and there for a great many years may not be a Soldier in many senses but he's a fighter, he's your enemy even if he doesn't fully understand why, he's dangerous and deserves a shot as quickly as an adult.
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Interesting takeaway from that and other such conflicts is that without the AK, we wouldn't have child soldiers at all, or at least far fewer of them.
Before the AK there were far fewer people in the world, so the second clause is correct. The first, not so much...
History shows that fighting children is far from a modern phenomena, there are just more kids and better communication. Nor are or were they all in Africa or 'third world' nations. The third pic is Polish, WW II, the second Russian, the White Army. Note the webbing on the WW I trench cleaning kid in the first one...:wry:
more of a socio-economic issue?
The argument that child soldiers are not only a third world problem cannot be made by showing pictures of European children from a century ago. Those european kids also lived in "third world" conditions without economic alternatives. I guess it depends on what your definition of "third world" is.
When it comes to afghanistan, demographics plays a huge role. With an average life expectency around 40, they start an adult life at an early age. Not only in terms of fighting, but also working, farming, getting married early and having kids etc. 18-21 is a very arbitrary line to define adults anyways.
I have not verified the statistics from this Quote from this WSJ article but:
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In 1979, the Russian army faced 2.5 million Afghan males at the traditional fighting ages of 15 to 29. Some 1.7 million of those Afghan males were second, third or fourth sons. They were surely loved by their parents but the family's property was inherited only by the oldest son. Younger sons had to struggle hard to find their places in society and—with decent jobs hard to find—could be easily recruited by militant groups. In 1979, 3.5 million Afghan boys still younger than 15 when the Soviet Union attacked were getting ready for just such a fight.
This endless supply of angry, ambitious young Afghan men never appeared on Russian radar. Yet it eventually forced them to give up the war and go home. Afghanistan was down to 13 million inhabitants.
In 2009, the situation is even more volatile. Today there are 4.2 million Afghan males aged 15 to 29 out of a total population of 33 million. Two and half million may conclude that violence offers their only chance for a successful future. Are these men on the radar screen of the 65.000 soldiers of NATO and the International Security Assistance Force? Is NATO/ISAF aware that 6.7 million Afghan boys under 15 are getting ready for battle? In Afghanistan, 45% of all males are younger than 15 versus 21% in the U.S., 18% in the U.K. and 14% in Germany.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...461719008.html
Old gruppy Polarbear raises his hand
I cannot resist weighing in here. I think it is time for Commander’s to start pushing back on their lawyers regarding ROEs and the Laws of War. They need to push back based on the individual Soldier and Marine’s right to self-defense. They also need to push back on the fact that the Laws of War state that military necessity is determined by the “field commander”. Another process that might teach lawyers about the Laws of War is to have them start charging for violations of the Laws of War instead of the Rules of Law.
I can’t wait for the responses on this one…it’s one of those spider fly thingys.
Yep ..you got it already!
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Originally Posted by
jma
one has to give the taliban ten out of ten for seeing and exploiting the weaknesses in the roe caused by the sensitivities towards negative media exposure. Don't blame the lawyers, blame the idiot generals that allowed them in in the first place.
hear, hear!
It seems you also missed the point. Imperfect medium for nuance...
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Originally Posted by
subrosa
The argument that child soldiers are not only a third world problem cannot be made by showing pictures of European children from a century ago.
The pictures were to show two things. That not only the economically deprived rather anyone who is desperate will employ younger than the norm fighters and that said fighters were using rifles before there was an AK.:wry:
Consider the straits all the combatant nations were in a the time of the pictures. Desperately short of manpower... :eek:
The point was not that it was a "third world problem." There was absolutely no intent to pose the 'argument' you suggest. Indeed, IMO, it is not even a problem except in the minds of those who are foolishly determined to make it problematic. There's a large body of modern thought that holds those underage (whatever that means) should not or cannot be held to the same standard as 'adults.' That is insane. 'Child Soldiers' is, as I said, often a misnomer and 'young killer's is a far better appellation.
While the third world / economically deprived aspect is currently prevalent the pictures also illustrate that given the right (or wrong...) circumstances, the west likely will go back to doing what it has done before and what is done all over the world, using all available people power in a pinch. :cool:
The real issue and my only point in posting in this thread is that everyone should realize that regardless of genesis and / or age ethnicity, economic circumstances or whatever, they are still dangerous and still combatants. Period.
if it ain't the incoming, it's the outgoing
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Originally Posted by
Bob's World
...it is not uncommon to find an Afghan father who has one son in the Afghan National Police and another in the Taliban. This is a survival strategy, as one never knows who will prevail, and by having a son in both camps the family will likely weather the storm.
Along similar lines, I heard a story about a family where one son took off to become a Kuomintang enforcer with the Green Gang in Shanghai. His younger brother subsequently left to join the Communists, mainly because he thought his older brother was a jerk.
Then the Japanese came and the family was doubly screwed.
I see this opening a flurry of Lawyer jokes...
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Originally Posted by
JMA
Is it true what they say that the US have more lawyers in Afghanistan than helicopters? ;)
...I'm not ready to laugh about it yet
(though for all my frustrations on this topic with said legad, over all she did a tremendous job and was a great lady (also a good inch taller than me and a trained boxer, so I was always sure to either mind my manners or at least pay attention to if I had room to take a quick step back or not)).
The fact is that the law is a mess for these things, and she was merely representing that mess.
Another example, I got into a discussion on my belief that we were better served by employing legal terms, such as "reasonable suspicion" and "probable cause" to drive engagements over the current vague "Positive ID" that is leading to so many inappropriate engagements under the current ROE and Tactical Directives. "Impossible" "That would imply law enforcement rather than war, and while we are authorized to wage war in Afghanistan, we are not authorized to conduct law enforcement." "We would have to leave if this were a law enforcement matter."
Really??? Perhaps that is something we should seriously consider. I am resolved that insurgency is a civil emergency and should be addressed as such, with local civil authorities in clear lead, and any military involvement being brought in under the same auspices that we do for any other MSCA event. HN military first, and any foreign military behind and subordinate to that of the HN.
"Sorry, we'd really like to stay and help you with this mess, but the only proper way to do that is illegal, so we'll be going now..."
Bob, another of my pet peeves ....
is exactly what you describe:
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from you
Another example, I got into a discussion on my belief that we were better served by employing legal terms, such as "reasonable suspicion" and "probable cause" to drive engagements over the current vague "Positive ID" that is leading to so many inappropriate engagements under the current ROE and Tactical Directives. "Impossible" "That would imply law enforcement rather than war, and while we are authorized to wage war in Afghanistan, we are not authorized to conduct law enforcement." "We would have to leave if this were a law enforcement matter."
One of the "magic" terms in the PID definitions is a "reasonable certainty".
Now I know what a "certainty" is (probability = 1.0000....); but what is a "reasonable certainty" ? Do we have such a thing as an "unreasonable certainty" - apparently so, else "reasonable certainty" has no juxtaposition.
The term "reasonable certainty" is in fact lifted from civil litigation - as in: "Doctor, do you have an opinion within a degree of reasonable medical certainty." That phrase has neither a legal nor a medical meaning - and to find out, object to the question and voir dire both the lawyer and the doctor for supporting authorities. The doc will say I thought that's a legal term; the lawyer will say I thought that's a medical term - and both will be wrong.
Without due respect for your pugulist distaff LEGAD, her presentations cited by you lack "rigour" (as the Wilf might say). But, that's what happens when her masters attempt to satisfy multiple sets of conflicting LOACs.
The result in fact raises the bar over what would be allowed under a correct law enforcement approach (the paradigm you want), or a correct Laws of War approach (my take - aka the White Bear Construct).
Now, JMA, you may now proceed with your barrister and/or solicitor jokes. :D
Regards
Mike
Why are these words important ?
Here is the answer (re: "reasonable certainty") from one of the cases that the Bear and I have followed:
LA Times, IRAQ: To shoot or not to shoot is the question, July 2, 2008
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In the end, the criminal case against Marine sniper Sgt. Johnny Winnick may boil down to the simplest but yet most confounding question facing troops in Iraq: When can a Marine or soldier use deadly force against a suspected insurgent?
It's a question not even supposed experts can agree on. During the preliminary hearing completed Wednesday, a Marine lieutenant testified that he asked two majors - one a lawyer, the other a battalion executive officer - and got contradictory explanations.
Winnick is charged with manslaughter and assault for killing two Syrians and wounding two others.
Winnick says he opened fire because he believed the men were planting a roadside bomb, but no bomb was found. His superiors say he lacked the "positive identification" and "reasonable certainty'' needed to squeeze the trigger.
But what do those terms mean, particularly for snipers whose job is to kill the enemy from ambush at long range?
Winnick's attorney, Gary Myers, tried to get one of Winnick's fellow snipers to define "reasonable certainty." The young Marine said that, well, reasonable certainty means being reasonably certain.
"This is all words," said an exasperated Myers.
An officer testified that reasonable certainty means being "85% certain." Another said it means being "pretty damn sure."
A Pentagon expert called by Myers disagreed with the "85% certain" rule. He thinks young troops are being given confusing and contradictory guidelines by their superiors. He's written about his concerns in a tome titled
''Combat Self-Defense: How to Save America's Warriors From Risk-Adverse Commanders and Their Lawyers."
So, definition means the difference between a criminal indictment or a valor citation.
LEGADs can spout all they want about international law and international relations; but responsibility 1 should be to the rifleman at the tip of the spear.
Regards
Mike
Do US military lawyers get "boots on the ground" experience?
jmm99,
Two interesting posts for the "armchair" observer. One question, in the US military do the lawyers have to serve in a front line role before a posting to legal adviser etc?
I know British officers who were to serve in the Imperial Indian Army did a year with a British unit and have a vaguer recollection that USMC pilots do a year as a squad leader. Not the same, but the principle is the same - see for yourself beforehand.
1 Attachment(s)
Ken, gave your two sons ...
virtual handshakes and salutes from me. Being a coastal cop (esp. in a major urban center) takes great fortitude and dedication. Or, else you have to be as dumb as a brick; but judging from their Old Man, that seems unlikely.
The civil and criminal justice system works better in the Heartland (its major urban centers excepted). I expect there is much greater direct accountability for judges, lawyers and police in smaller communities with lesser case loads.
-------------------------------
"Lord of the Flies" is an interesting book, which frustrated the hell out of me when I first read it in the late 1950s while in high school. My problems were with Ralphie Boy vice Jack. Ralph should have taken on Jack upfront, and if needed killed him. Ralph tried to protect the Piggies of his New World by playing nice all the way. That doesn't work in an environment ruled by the Laws of War.
And no, I wasn't a Piggy back then:
Attachment 1161
more like something of a cross between Ralph and Jack, I suppose. Both had good and bad features - and to some extent can stand as metaphors for the Rule of Law (Ralph) and the Laws of War (Jack).
Regards
Mike
I'll do that and thank you...
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Originally Posted by
jmm99
Or, else you have to be as dumb as a brick; but judging from their Old Man, that seems unlikely.
Actually, they're smarter and better lookin' than I am -- a not all that difficult pair of feats...:D
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The civil and criminal justice system works better in the Heartland (its major urban centers excepted). I expect there is much greater direct accountability for judges, lawyers and police in smaller communities with lesser case loads.
I'm sure you're correct. Having watched the processes actually work in rural Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia among other places, I continue to be totally befuddled by some case reports from all our larger cities...
The west coaster son's three year long ordeal defending what was then his Dog Section from a local Activist's flawed and failed legal assault a few years ago over the fleeing felon who got bitten in the posterior was at least a hilarious break in otherwise sad stories.
Beyond fuddlement was the east coast kid's breaking his Asp in an arrest for the third time by him of one individual with a record of seven arrests and convictions for violent acts. Now eight. He's already back on the street...
The jails are overfull, they say...
It has been my observation that this is
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Originally Posted by
JMA
...out here in the colonies we are probably cut from a different template.
a very correct statement. That is neither an undeserved compliment nor a merited criticism, merely an acknowledgment of difference.
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I'm trying to figure out the reason why Afghanistan was allowed to develop into a narc state. So I look at Mexico and then LA (and others). The simple deduction is that if its OK so close to home then who cares about Afghanistan, right?
That would indeed be simple deduction. Quite simple. Keep working at it, I'm sure some clarity will eventually appear...
Uh, perhaps because the existing world system frowns upon excessive interference with other States and we generally adhere to that unless provoked? That would be my assessment, I'm sure yours differs. I'm equally sure that matters little. :cool:
I'm unsure why you appear to believe it was the US' job to clean up Afghanistan or just how we're supposed to do that but I note that once again you're strong on implications and innuendo and quite short on workable solutions. What is your suggestion? Please provide one that is not in accordance with the odd JMA version of what once was and forever should be but one that comports to what actually is achievable in this era.
The same thing applies to Mexico and even, slightly, to LA. We are a Federation and the Federal Government's powers to interfere in LA are limited. We also have a deliberately limited and unresponsive governmental process that the rest of the world, to include the odd Colonist, rarely understands or likes. That suits us just fine. ;)
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Then again maybe not ;)
... And the point remains obscure... :D
(Moderator's Note: couple of posts moved to the Afg & drugs main thread as returning to this issue does not belong here).