If he actually said it, I would find it humorous that he at least agrees with the US government in one respect. The US Government is unwilling to sign onto conventions outlawing child soldiers because they want to continue their practice of recruiting 17-year-olds into the supposedly "volunteer" military. So both Chomksy and the USG support the right of some state forms, theirs, to involve child soldiers. --- I think it was you that wondered during the Na Dubrovka seige why Barayev's people didn't let out all the children? I was reading recently "Nord-Ost glazami zalozhnitsy," (Nord-Ost through the eyes of a hostage) by tatyana Popova (funny last name if you pronouce it wrnong), who was a hostage, and she says they said "A 12-year-old is not a child, he is a future soldier."