While the United States Armed Forces (private mercenaries) are in Afghanistan and the Philippines defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world,” an unlawfully elected (in accordance with the fraudulent 17th amendment) senate ratifies the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in armed conflict.

       Postscript: Six years after the ratification of this treaty:

• Military recruiters were continuing to enroll children as young as 11 in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs at government-run public schools, which have a significantly higher enlistment rate than the general student population.
• The Los Angeles (California) Unified School District (a government protected education monopoly) involuntarily enrolls students in JROTC in an effort to relieve overcrowded physical education classes.
• An entire freshman class at Hutchinson Central Technical High School, in Buffalo, new york, was enrolled in JROTC.
• The Department of Defense has spent 6,000,000 “dollars” annually on an online video game called “America’s Army.” As of September 2006, 7,500,000 teenage users were registered on the game’s website, which is linked to the Army’s main recruiting website.

       [added 11/26/2023]