I'm always amazed at how little ... uh, nothing ... even apparently informed USAmericans are about the horrific things their government does in their name outside their borders.
Yeah, the war on drugs is hell in the US. Try being a peasant farmer in Colombia.
I like this one, too:
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/0108arms_body.htmlThe Bush administration may think that it has struck a blow in favor of the Second Amendment by attempting to sabotage the recent UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms. But U.S. obstinacy has consequences in all the Americas, most notably Colombia and the surrounding region.
... The ready availability of these weapons to the well-financed guerrillas and paramilitaries in Colombia means that large quantities of weapons abandoned, lost, sold, or stolen are used in street crime and are easily available on the black market. The surrounding areas are also affected as weapons and drugs flow from Colombia into Central America, where guerrillas venture to obtain more weapons on the black market, often using drugs as payment.
At the UN conference, the United States opposed any language in the program of action that prevented the sale of arms to non-state actors. John R. Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs, flatly said that the United States could not be part of an agreement that "would preclude assistance to an oppressed non-state group defending itself from a genocidal government." While the United States wants to keep the option open to aid insurgents battling oppressive regimes around the world<*>, this policy can adversely affect legitimate governments battling insurgencies.
<*> (Yeah, sure.)
The United States must also acknowledge its role in global arms trafficking.
Exporting ideology ... exporting death.
In the Americas, the consequences of ambivalence could be substantial. When peace comes to Colombia, thousands if not millions of small arms and light weapons--many of U.S. origin--will need to be decommissioned before they filter throughout the region and overseas.
In pandering to the gun lobby, the Bush administration showed what little regard it has for strengthening international efforts to deal with trafficking in small arms. ...
Anybody who does give a damn might want to do a search for
"impact of armed conflict on children" "small arms". I get over a thousand results. One of the best places to start is
the report by Graca Machel (she is now married to Nelson Mandela and has devoted much of her efforts to assisting children who have lost their childhoods to armed conflict):
1. Millions of children are caught up in conflicts in which they are not merely bystanders, but targets. Some fall victim to a general onslaught against civilians; others die as part of a calculated genocide. Still other children suffer the effects of sexual violence or the multiple deprivations of armed conflict that expose them to hunger or disease. Just as shocking, thousands of young people are cynically exploited as combatants. ...
27. Involving children as soldiers has been made easier by the proliferation of inexpensive light weapons. Previously, the more dangerous weapons were either heavy or complex, but these guns are so light that children can use them and so simple that they can be stripped and reassembled by a child of 10. The international arms trade has made assault rifles cheap and widely available so the poorest communities now have access to deadly weapons capable of transforming any local conflict into a bloody slaughter. In Uganda, an AK-47 automatic machine gun can be purchased for the cost of a chicken and, in northern Kenya, it can be bought for the price of a goat.
Think globally, act locally ... and take responsibility.
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