To the Point
The World of Child Soldiers
They should be reading books or playing games. Instead they’re carrying guns. Also, a shake-up at the Joint Chiefs and a female reporter's life in Saudi Arabia. Sara Terry guest hosts.
By Sara Terry • • 1h 0m ListenThere are more 250,000 child soldiers around the world and they've fought in half of the globe's 55 ongoing, or just finished, wars. What impact will legal efforts have on punishing those who recruit children for killing? How does rehabilitation help children who leave the front lines? We hear from a former girl soldier, who was abducted and forced to fight in northern Uganda. Also, a shake-up at the Joint Chiefs and, on Reporter’s Notebook, segregated at Starbucks and everywhere else, too.A female reporter shares her experience in Saudi Arabia. Sara Terry guest hosts.
Photo: Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images
In this episode
3 storiesPace Replaced as Joint Chiefs Chair in Pentagon Shake-Up
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced today that General Peter Pace will step down in September as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff , along with Vice Chair Ed Giambastiani . Stating that the decision had nothing to do with the performance of either man, Gates said he will recommend Admiral Mike Mullen , currently chief of…
Read the story6 minChild Soldiers
Baby brigades, little bees, small boys units …t he names may change, but the reality doesn't. More than a quarter of a million children around the world are fighting adults' wars, serving in rebel militias, national armies, and paramilitary groups. At The Hague this week, where the trial began for the former president of Liberia, one…
Read the story35 minSaudi Arabia through the Eyes of One Western Woman
Megan Stack thought she knew what she was in for when she made her first trip to Saudi Arabia nearly four years ago. Aware of the restricted world in which women lived, the Los Angeles Times reporter came prepared to be respectful of a foreign culture. What she didn't anticipate, however, was the way her experiences there made her feel. She…
Read the story7 min