Child Soldiers // Current TV

War School: Military Training for Child Soldiers

“War School” is an acclaimed, chilling short film directed by English... more

disembedded
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9 months ago
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Iran Training Child Soldiers 'They've Put Batons Instead Of Books In The Hands Of People's Children'

The following are excerpts from the account, obtained by RFE/RL, of a 25-year-old female student in Tehran of the scattered protests that took place in Tehran on February 20.

The opposition had called for the rally to mark a week since the deaths of two students in February 14 clashes between opposition protesters and security forces in Tehran.

Around 3 p.m., two friends and I started walking from Haft-e Tiro Square toward Vali Asr square. Basij forces and [riot police] were everywhere. Their number was increasing as we got closer to Enghelab square. Around Enghelab Square, Basij forces had occupied all the sidewalks; they were looking at us with hatred and mocking us. Some of them were filming the crowd with their video cameras. One of them said to the others, "Look at them, they think we're stupid and we don't know they came here for the demonstration. All of them should get killed." I looked at him. Another one said, "Move! What are you looking at?" I saw on the other side a special forces van where 13- or 14-year-old kids were picking up their batons or cables. One of them said something and the other laughed. My friend said, "They're training killers."

We reached Vali Asr square; it was full of people who were on the move. They were trying to reach out to each other through their eyes. They would smile at each other and ask quietly: "Do you know where is more crowded?" They seemed to be walking without fear of Basij or security forces. They were standing in the smaller streets and telling each other to stay together to be able to form a crowd. They said we shouldn't chant slogans until the crowd gets bigger because [the security forces] would disperse us. Slowly the special guards were telling the shops around the square to close. Wherever the crowd would gather, the Basij and security forces would disperse them with their batons. There were many people. Basij and security forces would beat us. We were trying to remain calm and not escape.

It was around 4 p.m. We were sitting in the bus station. Several plainclothes agents came toward us and said: "Get up and go. Why are you sitting here? Go home. There is nothing here. You were told to come here for nothing." I said there's [a bench] here for people to sit on. One of them said: "You're sitting? I saw you going up and down. Do we really have to hit you on the head?" Another one of them said, "If I see you one more time around here, I will show you." We decided to move and took a taxi.

The taxi driver said: "You should be careful, you know what kind of people they are. They've made the nation miserable. They are so scared that they've deployed troops in every inch." We reached Shanzdah Azar, there was lots of traffic. The taxi driver didn't accept any money for the ride. He said, "This is the least I can do."

We were walking toward Enghelab square. The crowd had gotten bigger. We were all walking toward Azadi square. Enghelab street was full of old and young people. Security guards were everywhere. One lady said: "It's like they've come out to demonstrate, not us. Look how they've put batons instead of books in the hands of people's children."

We walked with the crowd toward Enghelad square. Those who were tired would sit for a while and then walk again. What struck me was the presence of many middle-aged men.

While crossing Jamalzadeh street, we saw Basij forces attacking a young man, putting handcuffs on him and forcing him to sit in the street between them. I saw how he looked at the crowd and laughed. One of the Basij forces hit him on the head and made him look down. We were upset because we couldn't do anything [for him]. They arrested another young man and pushed him toward the special guards. One of the plainclothes agents started slapping the young man in the face without [ any reason]. A woman went to him and said: "Are you human? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Why are you bothering [this kid]?"

We were walking again when the special forces made a sign toward another young man so that he would get detained as well. It was as if they would arrest whoever they wanted to in the crowd. Maybe we are all about to get arrested. They would take away some people in the crowd and ask them to show their IDs.

It was getting dark and it was raining. The Basij forces were roaming in the streets on their motorbikes and screaming. We walked back toward Enghelab square to return home. Basij forces were also there and they were dispersing people. It was raining harder, we were walking home on Hafez street when I heard shooting and couldn't walk anymore. I looked, all around were Basijis. My friend was calling on us from the other side, telling us that she had a taxi and we should hurry up.The following are excerpts from the account, obtained by RFE/RL, of a 25-year-old... more

toyotabedzrock
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12 months ago
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Marleik "Til it's over"

Marleik is back with an emotional uptempo anthem about the world.

Hassan
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1 year ago
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White House Says Child Soldiers Are Ok, if They Fight Terrorists

“You cannot be completely happy with all these wounds—both in your body... more

ReverandG
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1 year ago
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Video: Efforts to stop the use of child soldiers.

A conversation with Romeo Dallaire The Honourable Romeo Dallaire speaks to Sun... more

urlspotter
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1 year ago
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US waiving penalties for use of child soldiers

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move criticized by human rights organizations, the Obama... more

Ricky84
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1 year ago
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BLACK STREET (From the streets of Sierra Leone)

‘Black Street’ is the self given name of a group of displaced young people... more

junglewire
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1 year ago
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UK HIPHOP MEETS SIERRA LEONE HIPHOP: STREET UNIT VS SCORZAYZEE & NINA SMITH - WE RISE (MUSIC VIDEO)

Street Unit vs Scorzayzee & Nina Smith 'We Rise' is available on iTunes.... more

junglewire
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1 year ago
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BLACK STREET

'Black Street' is the self given name of a group of displaced young people... more

junglewire
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1 year ago
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The Hidden Tragedy of the CIA's Experiments on Children | t r u t h o u t

Bobby is seven years old, but this is not the first time he has been subjected to electroshock. It's his third time. In all, over the next year, Bobby will experience eight electroshock sessions. Placed on the examining table, he is held down by two male attendants while the physician places a solution on his temples. Bobby struggles with the two men holding him down, but his efforts are useless. He cries out and tries to pull away. One of the attendants tries to force a thick wedge of rubber into his mouth. He turns his head sharply away and cries out, "Let me go, please. I don't want to be here. Please, let me go." Bobby's physician looks irritated and she tells him, "Come on now, Bobby, try to act like a big boy and be still and relax." Bobby turns his head away from the woman and opens his mouth for the wedge that will prevent him from biting through his tongue. He begins to cry silently, his small shoulders shaking and he stiffens his body against what he knows is coming.

Mary is only five years old. She sits on a small, straight-backed chair, moving her legs back and forth, humming the same four notes over and over and over. Her head, framed in a tangled mass of golden curls, moves up and down with each note. For the first three years of her life, Mary was thought to be a mostly normal child. Then, after she began behaving oddly, she had been handed off to a foster family. Her father and

About the same time Dr. Bender was conducting her electroshock experiments, she was also widely experimenting on autistic and schizophrenic children with what she termed other "treatment endeavors." These included use of a wide array of psycho-pharmaceutical agents, several provided to her by the Sandoz Chemical Co. in Basel, Switzerland, as well as Metrazol, sub-shock insulin therapy, amphetamines and anticonvulsants. Metrazol was a trade name for pentylenetetrazol, a drug used as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. High doses cause convulsions, as discovered in 1934 by the Hungarian-American neurologist and psychiatrist Ladislas J. Meduna.

Metrazol had been used in convulsive therapy, but was never considered to be effective, and side effects such as seizures were difficult to avoid. The medical records of several patients who were confined at Vermont State Hospital, a public mental facility, reveal that Metrazol was administered to them by CIA contractor Dr. Robert Hyde on numerous occasions in order "to address overly aggressive behavior." One of these patients, Karen Wetmore, received the drug on a number of occasions for no discernible medical reason. During the same ten-year period in which Metrazol was used by the Vermont State Hospital, patient deaths skyrocketed. In 1982, the FDA revoked its approval of Metrazol.

Here it should be noted that, during the cold war years, CIA and Army Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) interrogators, working as part of projects Bluebird and Artichoke, sometimes injected large amounts of Metrazol into selected enemy or Communist agents for the purposes of severely frightening other suspected agents, by forcing them to observe the procedure. The almost immediate effects of Metrazol are shocking for many to witness: subjects will shake violently, twisting and turning. They typically arch, jerk and contort their bodies and grimace in pain. With Metrazol, as with electroshock, bone fractures - including broken necks and backs - and joint dislocations are not uncommon, unless strong sedatives are administered beforehand.

A November 1936 Time mag. article seriously questioned the benefits of Metrazol, citing "irreversible shock" as a "great danger." The article described a typical Metrazol injection as such: "A patient receives no food for four or five hours. Then about five cubic centimeters of the drug [Metrazol] are injected into his veins. In about half-a-minute he coughs, casts terrified glances around the room, twitches violently, utters a horse wail, freezes into rigidity with his mouth wide open, arms and legs stiff as boards. Then he goes into convulsions. In one or two minutes the convulsions are over and he gradually passes into a coma, which lasts about an hour. After a series of shocks, his mind may be swept clean of delusions.... A patient is seldom given more than 20 injections and if no improvement is noted after ten treatments, he is usually given up as hopeless."

The Army, the CIA and Metrazol | This is just important sections go read whole thing!

Army CIC interrogators working with the CIA at prisoner of war camps and safe house locations in post-war Germany on occasion used Metrazol, morphine, heroin and LSD on incarcerated subjects. According to former CIC officer Miles Hunt, several "safe houses and holding areas outside of Frankfurt near Oberursel" - a former Nazi interrogation center taken over by the US - were operated by a "special unit run by Capt. Malcolm S. Hilty, Maj. Mose Hart and Capt. Herbert Sensenig.

Eventually, CIC interrogators working in Germany would be assisted in their use of interrogation drugs by several "former" Nazi scientists recruited by the CIA and US State Department as part of Project Paperclip. By early 1952, the CIC's Rough Boys would routinely use Metrazol during interrogations, as well as LSD, mescaline and conventional electroshock units.

Metrazol-like drugs are still used in interrogations today. According to reports from several former noncommissioned Army officers, who served on rendition-related security details in Turkey, Pakistan and Romania, drugs that produce effects quite similar to Metrazol are still used in 2010 by the Pentagon and CIA on enemy combatants and rendered subjects held at the many "black sites" maintained across the globe. Observed one former officer recently, "They would twist up like a pretzel, in unbelievable shapes and jerk and shake like crazy, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads."

In 2008, at the behest of US Sens. Carl Levin, Joe Biden and Chuck Hagel and in reaction to a March 2008 article in The Washington Post, the Pentagon initiated an Inspector General Report on the use of "mind-altering substances by DoD [Department of Defense] Personnel during Interrogations of Detainees and/or Prisoners Captured during the War on Terror." It is not known if the investigation has been completed. Among the more famous recent cases of the use of drugs upon prisoners concerns one-time alleged "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, who had originally been accused of wanting to set off a "dirty bomb."

The government has gone to great efforts to keep the public uninformed as regards use of drugs on prisoners. In an article by Carol Rosenberg for McClatchy News in July 2010, Rosenberg reported that, when covering the Guantanamo military commissions trials, when the question of "what psychotropic drugs were given another accused 9/11 conspirator, Ramzi bin al Shibh, the courtroom censor hits a white noise button so reporters viewing from a glass booth can't hear the names of the drugs. Under current Navy instructions for the use of human subjects in research, the undersecretary of the Navy is described as the authority in charge of research concerning "consciousness-altering drugs or mind-control techniques," while at the same time is also responsible for "inherently controversial topics" that might attract media interest or "challenge by interest groups."Bobby is seven years old, but this is not the first time he has been subjected to... more

toyotabedzrock
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1 year ago
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Accused Child Soilder, Omar Khadr pleads not guilty to all charges - CNN.com

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (CNN) -- Accused terrorist Omar Khadr, who has been linked to al... more

toyotabedzrock
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1 year ago
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2 comments

World Refugee Day 2010

Refugees are not intruders, criminals or somebody else's problem - they are... more

AmnestyInternational
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1 year ago
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Nigeria, five others sign declaration to abolish child soldiers

Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, the Central Africa Republic (CAR), Niger and Cameroon will this... more

bmltv
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1 year ago
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Children of Congo: From War to Witches (film clips part 6 of 11)

Interview with Divine Word Missionaries. Over five million people have died during... more

danballuff
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2 years ago
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children of Congo: From War to Witches (film clips part 5 of 11)

Over five million people have died during the past decade as a result of the war in... more

danballuff
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2 years ago
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Children of Congo: From War to Witches (film clips part 4 of 11)

Over five million people have died during the past decade as a result of the war in... more

danballuff
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2 years ago
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Children of Congo: From War to Witches (film clips part 3 of 11)

danballuff
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2 years ago
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Yemen's Child Soldiers Go To War

As Yemen's beleaguered government launches a new offensive against al-Qaida, the... more

bansheewail
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2 years ago
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HEALS

HEALS is a story of hope for former child soldiers and other war-affected children in... more

deniserosenstein
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2 years ago
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You see a child soldier with a rifle--you are in Burma--do you take the picture?

(trailer for documentary, Please Don't Say My Name, www.pleasedontsaymyname.org)... more

kzusman
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2 years ago
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