Bush Purposefully Prolongs Landmine Use

Something that seems to have gone under reported (or just slipped by me) is the Bush administrations reversal of landmine phaseout. I came across the following statement by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation:

Something that seems to have gone under reported (or just slipped by me) is the Bush administrations reversal of landmine phaseout. I came across the following statement by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation:

Washington, DC (February 27, 2004)- VVAF is deeply disappointed by the Bush Administration’s reversal of a decade of progress to eliminate the scourge of anti-personnel landmines. In a rejection of the Clinton Administration’s plan to eliminate all “dumb” anti-personnel landmines outside of Korea by 2003 and all so-called “smart landmine” by 2006, the Bush Administration has extended the use of “dumb” landmines until 2010 and the use of “smart” landmines indefinitely.

Absolutely jaw-dropping.

The Vietnam Vets mount some very cogent arguments that even as a strategic weapon, landmines have lost their effectiveness and are replaceable with other weapons and do not pose a threat to modern militaries and for that matter, insurgents. The only victims of landmines are therefore left to be civilians. That together with the use of cluster bombs (many bomblets remain unexploded causing injuries in civilians, with children over-represented) is a war-crime.

There is clearly only one group of people that benefit from this reversal – arms manufacturers.