-Caveat Lector- St. Louis Post-Dispatch July 16, 2001 Exporting Bloodshed THE face of war has changed. No longer is it a weathered man in a helmet, piloting a jet fighter or driving a tank in an organized regiment. Now it is just as likely the face of a child, toting an assault rifle through a jungle or down a village street. Or a bandit leading a loosely organized group, claiming to be fighting for high ideals but often in it for nothing more than plunder. Many of the bloody conflicts in developing countries are international equivalents of gang wars, waged by rival warlords armed like U.S. Marines. The phenomenon of the child soldier is an atrocity made possible by the unchecked growth in the international trade of technologically advanced small arms. Of the 49 major conflicts in the 1990s, 46 were waged exclusively with so-called small arms, including pistols, automatic weapons, grenade launchers, mortars and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. Of the 4 million people killed in these wars, 3.6 million were civilians; 80 percent of those were women and children. After such small-arms conflicts are "resolved," some 70 percent of civilians continue to own their weapons, and many use them, waging wars without end in a permanent culture of violent chaos. Since 1990, small-arms conflicts from Sierra Leone to El Salvador to the Congo have killed 2 million children and disabled 5 million more. The United Nations is attempting to put together a plan to curb this devastation. Key among the non-binding proposals it is weighing is encouraging governments to "seriously consider" banning sales of military weapons to civilians. As the world's leading exporter of these small arms, the United States could have given the proposal real weight. Instead, on the first day of the two-week meeting, the Bush administration sledgehammered that idea with a statement of non-support, crippling whatever slim chance the effort has of succeeding. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said the U.S. opposes the U.N. draft because it might infringe on Americans' right to bear arms and might hinder legitimate weapons trade. A non-binding agreement to "consider" curbing privates sales of true military weapons would not have any effect on American sportsmen and other law-abiding gun owners. But the National Rifle Association and U.N.-haters have woven a paranoid fantasy of a "global gun confiscation" conspiracy, and found a friend in the White House. The administration says it wants to attack the problem by focusing on the illegal trade. But according to a survey presented at the meeting last week, less than 1 percent of the 550 million known small arms in the world are illegally in the hands of rebels. The administration's plan is not only too little to solve the problem, it also is stripped of real teeth. Most illegal weapons are first sold legally. The Bush administration has reversed a position formerly held by the United States, and opposes a U.N. proposal to mark and trace all small arms sales -- critical in discovering the illegal sellers. As it did in rejecting the Kyoto protocol on global warming, the Antiballistic Missile Treaty and the formation of a permanent International Criminal Court for war crimes at The Hague, the Bush administration again has displayed arrogant apathy toward the rest of the world's problems and a refusal to take a more productive role in resolving them. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
