Libyan Rebels Backed by U.S. & NATO Using Child Soldiers, Some as Young as Seven

Shocking photos published in the British newspaper The Daily Mail show child soldiers, some as young as seven years old, receiving weapons training and assisting the rebel war effort against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the Libyan civil war. We cannot publish the photos on this site due to copyright restrictions, but you can view them by clicking the link above.

The photos confirm that children are being trained in how to use, break down and clean various types of weapons used by the anti-Gaddafi rebels backed by the United States and NATO, raising serious moral and ethical questions about both US and NATO policy and the nature of the people, the so-called “good guys,” that NATO is waging war on behalf of.

Libyan government forces loyal to Gaddafi are also using child soldiers, even in front-line combat roles. Britain’s Channel 4 reports that boys as young as 15 are being pressed into service to fight the rebels.

That the United States would back a force that uses child soldiers should come as no surprise. President Barack Obama, after all, issued a presidential memorandum granting waivers from the Child Soldiers Prevention Act, passed by Congress and signed by former President George W. Bush in 2008, to four countries: Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen. President Obama decided on this alarming course of action because he did not want to anger or isolate countries considered valuable partners in combatting terrorism, but in doing so, the U.S. President and Nobel Peace Laureate indirectly endorsed the use of child soldiers in those war-ravaged nations.

Tagged Chad, child soldiers, child soldiers libya, Child Soldiers Prevention Act, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, libya civil war, libya rebels, libya rebels child soldiers, muammar gaddafi, nato libya, obama child soldiers, obama child soldiers prevention act, President Barack Obama, Sudan, u.s. war in libya, Yemen