On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 05:35:46 -0500 (EST), Thomas Mueller wrote: > I heard on National Public Radio about the USA planning to use land mines in > their military campaign in Iraq, contrary to the wishes of most of the rest of > the world who wanted to ban land mines. The USA also planned to use cluster > bombs. If there were land mines hidden under the White House lawn, then I bet > the US President would join the clamor to ban land mines. Lesson is that only > American lives and limbs count, other people are somehow a lesser breed, less > than fully human. I can see why 75% of Europeans view the USA as a greater > threat to world peace than Iraq or North Korea.
> I remember from my days in Atlanta GA, 1985-1989, hearing about the mandatory > gun law in Kennesaw, which is in Cobb County to the northwest of Atlanta. Modern land mines such as those deployed by the US are equipped with a time worm which causes them to auto-deactivate after a pre-determined time. They will not remain active long after the conflict is over. The land mines that are causing all the problems are those which are cheaply produced in other countries and not provided with the time-worm feature. US regulations require that mine fields be very accurately plotted and mapped so the recovery and explosive ordnance disposal operations may be conducted without danger. Mine fields save lives in that their emplacement requires fewer defenders to deny passage of an aggressor. Machine guns deployed for defensive use are said to save lives for the same reason. Here is a fact that is shocking but true, and stranger than fiction: Machine guns were invented and developed by medical doctors for the purpose of saving lives. A narrator on the History Channel, Arthur Kent, backs up that seemingly false assertion as being true. Mr. Kent agrees that despite the lofty and noble purpose for the invention of machine guns, the overall result might have been a great increase in battlefield deaths. Battles fought in very ancient times more than several hudred years before the invention of gunpowder resulted in many more casualties than any battlefield statistics you can cite from modern warfare. Sam Heywood -- This mail was written by user of The Arachne Browser: http://browser.arachne.cz/
