Exclusive - State Dept. revolt: Tillerson accused of violating U.S. law on child soldiers
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of about a dozen U.S. State Department officials have taken the unusual step of formally accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating a federal law designed to stop foreign militaries from enlisting child soldiers, according to internal government documents reviewed by Reuters.
A confidential State Department dissent memo not previously reported said Tillerson breached the Child Soldiers Prevention Act when he decided in June to exclude Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of offenders in the use of child soldiers. This was despite the department publicly acknowledging that children were being conscripted in those countries.[tmsnrt.rs/2jJ7pav]
Keeping the countries off the annual list makes it easier to provide them with U.S. military assistance. Iraq and Afghanistan are close allies in the fight against Islamist militants, while Myanmar is an emerging ally to offset Chinas influence in Southeast Asia.
Documents reviewed by Reuters also show Tillersons decision was at odds with a unanimous recommendation by the heads of the State Departments regional bureaus overseeing embassies in the Middle East and Asia, the U.S. envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, the departments human rights office and its own in-house lawyers. [tmsnrt.rs/2Ah6tB4]
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tillerson-childsoldiers/exclusive-state-dept-revolt-tillerson-accused-of-violating-u-s-law-on-child-soldiers-idUSKBN1DL0EA
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)in every department with a tRump leader. Tillerson called tRump a "f***ng moron" not admitting that he is surrounded by people just like himself. Little elfin Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is as close to an indentured servant as anyone can be.
secondwind
(16,903 posts)machoneman
(4,016 posts)Hah!
justhanginon
(3,290 posts)a thirteen point word in Scrabble. They are the textbook definition of
amoral governance.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)and a Secretary of State with lots of russian "friends" but no moral compass whatsoever. So sad to see the KGOP in such moral and ethical decay.
laserhaas
(7,805 posts)D G A F