RedVenom
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10711-2004Feb26.html
(Shamelessly borrowed from another board, since noone appears to subscribe to the Washington post)
dumb landmines, more like dumb president am i rite.
(Shamelessly borrowed from another board, since noone appears to subscribe to the Washington post)
Washington post article behind a crappy subscriber screen said:By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 27, 2004; Page A01
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.
His ban will apply only to "dumb" mines -- those without self-destruct features. But it will cover devices not only aimed at people but also meant to destroy vehicles. In that way, Bush's policy will extend to a category of mines not included in Clinton's plan, which was limited to antipersonnel devices.
Bush will also propose a 50 percent jump in spending, up to $70 million in fiscal 2005, for a State Department program that provides land-mine removal assistance in more than 40 countries, officials said. The program also funds mine-awareness programs abroad and offers some aid to survivors of mine explosions.
A senior State Department official, who disclosed Bush's decision on condition he not be named, said the new policy aims at striking a balance between the Pentagon's desire to retain effective weapons and humanitarian concerns about civilian casualties caused by unexploded bombs, which can remain hidden long after combat ends and battlefields return to peaceful use.
The safety problem stems from dumb bombs, which kill as many as 10,000 civilians a year, the official said. Smart bombs, he added, "are not contributors to this humanitarian crisis."
Bush's decision drew expressions of outrage and surprise from representatives of humanitarian organizations that have pressed for a more comprehensive U.S. ban on land mines. They say the danger to civilians and Allied soldiers during and after a war outweighs the benefits of such weapons. They also dispute the contention that unexploded smart mines are safe, saying there isn't enough evidence to know.
"We expected we wouldn't be pleased by the president's decision, but we hadn't expected a complete rejection of what has been U.S. policy for the past 10 years," said Steve Goose, who heads the arms division of Human Rights Watch.
"It looks like a victory for those in the Pentagon who want to cling to outmoded weapons, and a failure of political leadership on the part of the White House. And it is stunningly at odds with what's happening in the rest of the world, where governments and armies are giving up these weapons."
The Pentagon maintains a stockpile of about 18 million land mines, including 15 million of the newer, self-destructing kinds. The U.S. arsenal of 10.4 million antipersonnel mines is third in size, after those held by China and Russia. But the United States has not used land mines in combat since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
In 1994, Clinton called for an eventual end to use of antipersonnel mines. But he declined to endorse a 1997 treaty that 150 other countries have joined. It banned the production, use, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel mines.
Instead, Clinton restricted use of dumb mines to U.S. forces in South Korea. In a 1998 directive, he instructed the Pentagon to develop alternatives to antipersonnel mines and envisioned the possibility of banning all such weapons in 2006.
The policy has been under review since Bush took office in 2001. With two wars in the interim and the nation still engaged in a worldwide battle against terrorist networks, officials said Bush is particularly sensitive to Pentagon arguments for retaining some types of land mines.
By focusing on eliminating dumb -- or what the administration calls "persistent" -- land mines, Bush and his aides intend to make the case that they are addressing the root cause of the humanitarian problem.
"It's a different formula from the past," the senior official said, "but it comports with the reality of the humanitarian crisis, which is that persistent mines are the ones that are causing the casualties and polluting lands and preventing recovering from wars."
But critics noted that the United States tried with little success to draw a distinction between smart and dumb mines in international treaty negotiations in the mid-1990s.
"The rest of the world rejected this distinction for a number of reasons," Goose said. "Some were technical, based on concerns that smart mines would still have an unacceptable failure rate. Some were political, along the lines of: 'How can you expect other nations to give up their antipersonnel mines but allow the United States to keep theirs, claiming they're more technologically advanced?' "
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a leading opponent of land mines, noted "some positive aspects" to Bush's decision. But he said, "On the whole, it is a deeply disappointing step backward."
Under Bush's new policy, dumb mines will continue to be used only for the defense of South Korea until their elimination after 2010. Use of dumb anti-vehicle mines will require special presidential approval.
Further, within a year, the United States will ensure that all of its land mines can be detected by minesweeping devices, meaning they will contain at least eight grams of iron, the international standard. Bush also plans to seek a worldwide ban on the sale or export of persistent land mines, officials said.
dumb landmines, more like dumb president am i rite.