Ishmael Amnesty Quotes

The first time Ishmael was ever touched by war was at age 12. At 13, he was picked by the Government Army and brought to a vicious and brutal world. He woke up everyday with fear of dying. He tried his best to look the toughest and satisfy the rebels by fulfilling their demands. Ishmael took a dose of drugs daily to keep him energized and to keep him awake. There are hundreds of young boys like Ishmael, recruited and refined to exceed the leaders’ commands. Nice normal boys are modified and turned into murderous drug addicting killers who no longer know what’s right from wrong. These child soldiers are forced into a world of ominous leaders and commanders who don’t have an alternative. If child soldiers do try and escape they are killed on

For example he wouldn’t have survived. According to A Long Way Gone the rebels had the opportunity to kill Ishmael without hesitation. In the book it says, “ He was behind us, aiming his gun at our heads, and at some point he said, ‘if any of you makes a move, I will kill everyone. so don’t even breathe too hard or it might be your last’ He laughed and his voice echoed in the distance. “ ( Ishmael 2007). This indicates that the rebel could have killed him in a second but he wanted Ishmael to be part of their rebellion. The rebels made him feel special like he was part of something real. They persuaded him to kill anyone they pleased. Ishmael was used with no remorse from the rebels. If he would’ve tried escaping or tried to fight back his life would’ve been gone faster than light. Additionally Ishmael wouldn’t stay alive living on his own. For instance he would die due to the scarce amount of food. In the book it states “ After all the trouble and risk we undertook to get the money, it became useless, we would have been less hungry if we had stayed at the village instead of walking” ( Ismael 2007). This reveals how hard it will be to find food for them to eat and water to drink. DIsease and hunger would find them faster than fresh food and water. Walking miles and miles being on an empty stomach and being severely dehydrated will weaken their bodies. Not eating for hours and getting little to no

This illustrates that the main reason on why he couldn’t stop killing is because of all the drugs, Ismael knew he was getting addicted to them but he didn’t want to stop . He found joy in drugs and killing. The Rebels kept feeding his mind with drugs and completely changed his mentality. It is not his fault he wasn’t remorseful over his actions. Being in an environment where there’s death all around you and all you see is killing and blood will alter a person 's’ mindset and change their behavior dramatically. Furthermore, Skeptics may say they volunteered to eliminate hundreds of lives. To demonstrate, it says “Many children occupy command positions in their armed group/military and are responsible for planning or ordering the commission of war crimes and human rights abuses.” ( Dave, 2016). Although children volunteered or were told to hold these positions they had no choice. If they would’ve had said no they could’ve been killed or tortured to death. In most cases the group leaders only want strong soldiers who follow all commands and don’t hesitate to kill a person. If a child refuses to kill, the leaders could torture them for as long as they desire. The Child Soldiers cooperating with the leaders and doing what they are told to do will put them on their good side and won’t put their lives at stake. Doing what they’re suppose to do and showing how they’re not