Child soldiers

[financeguy]

British Army used under-18-year-old soldiers in Iraq occupation

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Uh...wow.

Claiming that it was the result of a mistake, Ingram excused the government of any culpability by saying that most of these had been despatched to the war zone only shortly before their eighteenth birthdays.

That's one heck of a "mistake" . And even if that's what happened, if it's illegal, then the government still broke the law somewhere.

Those who saw combat, he said, were withdrawn after only weeks of combat action.

And I'm sure there'll be no lasting effects of any sort.

Blaming a shortage of available soldiers, Ingram was quoted by the BBC as stating, “Unfortunately, these processes are not fallible and the pressures on units prior to deployment have meant that there have been a small number of instances where soldiers have been inadvertently deployed to Iraq before their eighteenth birthday.”

'Kay, so call me crazy, but if I'm planning out a war, wouldn't it make sense to, I dunno, have enough of everything I need in advance, if not more? Make sure I've got all the proper gear, weapons, strategies planned out, amount of soldiers...

And if I don't have all of that prepared to go, then maybe that's a sign I shouldn't be entering a war at all.

My mom has said it before and I fully agree: if the leaders think these wars are such a good idea, THEY should go out and fight them.

 

[AchtungBono]

I don't understand the "mistake". Don't British citizens have ID cards which state their date of birth? Doesn't the British home office have census information on the people so they can know how old they are?

In Israel, from the age of 16, each Israeli citizen is issued an identity card with a picture and personal details. The I.D No. stays with the citizen forever (much like the social security number in the United States).

So when the army starts going through name lists, can't they see who is underage or not?