THE “PINT‐SIZED TERRORISTS” OF GOD'S ARMY

Abstract

This study explores US media coverage of the child soldiers of Burma (or Myanmar) in order to better understand how such coverage functions ideologically. The study examines coverage during the past 20 years in five top U.S. print news sources: The New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report. The coverage is dominated by representations of two prepubescent twin boy soldiers, Luther and Johnny Htoo, who became famous as the child leaders of God's Army, a splinter group of ethnic Karen minority rebels. A close textual analysis reveals a heavy Orientalist framing combined with a lack of context, such as the situation facing the Karen and US investment in Burma, functioning to divert attention from the predicament of the Karen and maintain an image of US superiority. The analysis also reveals how a 2002 report by Human Rights Watch successfully intervened to challenge earlier representations.

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