Affleck shared a story of 13-year-old former child soldier who said he had been involved in killings.

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To its credit, the United States has laws (the Child Soldier Prevention Act) that prevent military aid to countries and groups that employ child soldiers.

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One of the songs he composed for the production, "No Mother, " is about those who lost their parents under the Khmer Rouge, and the main character, Sam, has suppressed many of his painful memories of being a child soldier during that era.

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The tables began to turn on Mr. Ntaganda in March, when the ICC announced a guilty verdict against his former militia boss, Mr. Lubanga, on the same child-soldier charges that Mr. Ntaganda faced.

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The soldier asked why the child was crying and she explained that he was hungry.

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If we do -- if we keep their legacy alive, if we keep faith with the freedoms they died to defend -- then we can imagine a day, decades from now, when another child sits down at his desk, ponders the true meaning of heroism and finds inspiration in the story of a soldier -- Staff Sergeant Robert J.

WHITEHOUSE: Medal of Honor for Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller