U.S. Set to Use Mines in Iraq
Stockpiles Certain to Reopen Debate
Published on front page of
USA TODAY December 11, 2002
By Tom Squitieri
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is preparing to use anti-personnel land
mines in a war with Iraq,
despite U.S. policy that calls for the military to stop using the
mines everywhere in the world except
Korea by 2003.
To prepare for a possible war with Baghdad, the Pentagon has
stockpiled land mines at U.S. bases in
countries ringing Iraq, according to Pentagon records. The
decision to make the mines available
comes despite a recent report by the General Accounting Office,
Congress' investigative arm,
concluding that their use in the 1991 Gulf War impeded U.S.
forces while doing nothing to impair
Iraqi forces.
Using the mines would stoke the international debate over the merits
and morality of using land
mines, which can remain deadly long after fighting ends.
From 15,000 to 20,000 people are killed or maimed worldwide each year
by land mines, according
to the United Nations. Of those, 80% are civilians and one-third
are children.
Military experts say land mines can save soldiers' lives. They play a
"vital and essential role" in
battle by restricting where the enemy can move and protecting
U.S. troops, said a Pentagon
spokesman.
Officially, the Pentagon will say only that it "retains the right to
use" land mines wherever it
chooses, and that commanders can get approval to use them under
rules designed to minimize risk
to non-combatants.
But critics say the risks to soldiers and civilians aren't worth it.
"It would be a terrible mistake for us to use land mines in Iraq,"
said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a
prominent critic of land mines. "They are outmoded,
indiscriminate weapons that have been banned
by every other NATO member except Turkey, and they should be
banned by the United States. We
have other far more effective and precise weapons to do the job."
In advance of a possible war, Pentagon records show, the U.S.
military has stored land mines in
Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and on Diego Garcia, a
British-owned island in the
Indian Ocean where U.S. forces have a base.
In 1997, international negotiations produced a treaty to ban the use
of land mines; 146 countries
are parties to it. The United States has not signed the treaty,
but in 1998 President Clinton directed
U.S. armed forces to phase out use of land mines by 2003, except
in Korea.
The Bush administration has been reviewing that policy. The Defense
and the State departments
have clashed over it, but for now the Clinton directive remains
in effect.
For more information and ways to take action, visit
www.banminesusa.org
