BlogWood: MT Archives

Bush administration leaves children’s limbs behind

Updated below: 2/27 - 5:30PM

To be fair, Clinton didn’t do much about this problem either, but that’s no excuse for continued indifference.

Despite worldwide pressure, the U.S. continues to develop new and deadly land mine technology, and continues to deploy old-fashioned land mines around the world. Land mines tend to kill and maim civilians, especially curious and hungry children.

The Bush administration plans to announce that, in a step to lessen the dangers of land mines, it will end the use of long-lasting mines in warfare and instead concentrate on mines that go inert within hours or days, an administration official said Thursday.

The official said the policy would be announced on Friday, along with a doubling in American assistance to other countries to remove mines remaining from past conflicts. The increase will bring such aid to $70 million a year, the official said.

There will be limited exceptions in the switch to so-called inert land mines, but the official would not specify them.
......

Despite the latest steps, the administration official said, there are no plans for the United States to sign the international treaty to ban land mines, which has been in effect since 1997. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, was instrumental in getting the treaty signed.

The Problem:

What makes antipersonnel mines so abhorrent is the indiscriminate destruction they cause. Mines cannot be aimed. They lie dormant until a person or animal triggers their detonating mechanism. Antipersonnel mines cannot distinguish between the footfall of a soldier and that of a child.

Those who survive the initial blast usually require amputations, long hospital stays, and extensive rehabilitative services.

In Cambodia alone there are over 35,000 amputees injured by landmines--and they are the survivors. Many others die in the fields from loss of blood or lack of transport to get medical help. Mine deaths and injuries in the past few decades total in the hundreds of thousands.

Landmines are now a daily threat in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Chechnya, Croatia, Iraq, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Somalia, and dozens of other countries. Mines recognize no cease-fire and long after the fighting has stopped they continue to maim or kill. Mines also render large tracts of agricultural land unusable, wreaking environmental and economic dev tation. Refugees returning to their war-ravaged countries face this life-threatening obstacle to rebuilding their lives.

Leading producers and exporters of antipersonnel mines in the past 25 years include China, Italy, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. More than 50 countries have manufactured as many as 200 million antipersonnel landmines in the last 25 years.

More than 350 different types of antipersonnel mines exist. Even if no more mines are ever laid, they will continue to maim and kill for years to come. Bold steps must be taken now to save future generations of innocent civilians. If sufficient funds are provided, deminers from the ICBL say that mine clearance to restore daily life to near normal levels may be achieved in years, not decades.

UPDATE:
Maybe I was a little unfair to Clinton. Here's some clarification:

President Bush will bar the U.S. military from using certain types of land mines after 2010 but will allow forces to continue to employ more sophisticated mines that the administration argues pose little threat to civilians, officials said yesterday.

The new policy, due to be announced today, represents a departure from the previous U.S. goal of banning all land mines designed to kill troops. That plan, established by President Bill Clinton, set a target of 2006 for giving up antipersonnel mines, depending on the success of Pentagon efforts to develop alternatives.

Bush, however, has decided to impose no limits on the use of "smart" land mines, which have timing devices to automatically defuse the explosives within hours or days, officials said.