----- Original Message -----
From: "Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 6:29 PM
Subject: Re: Mines in Afghanistan, was Re: Treatment Of Prisoners


> Russell Chapman schreef:
>
> > Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten wrote:
> >
> > >It's probably gonne cost Afganistan 100 million dollars and app. 8
years to
> > >clean up most of the landmines left there by opposing groups, and the
residue of
> > >unexploded American clusterbombs.
> > >
> > Aren't American cluster bombs brightly coloured and clearly marked (such
> > that civilians can be easily taught to avoid them)?
> > I realise they are still a huge danger just because they are there - I'm
> > just curious if they have been made highly visible.
>
> As far as I could tell they are bright yellow. But I can imagine that if
you are
> clearing away rubble from collapsed bomb sites they might be a huge
problem. Not sure
> about the specifics though. I do know that a lot of effort is put (as has
been in the
> past) in teaching people how to recognize explosive devices and how to
(not) act
> around them.


Let me put my two cents in about this.  The possibility of unexploded
cluster bombs killing civilians is a real problem.  It is the responsibility
of the United States to make a strong concerted effort to have these
unexploded bombs destroyed or otherwise removed, so they no longer present a
danger. I would both be surprised and upset if we didn't clean up after
ourselves  Indeed, I would expect the United States to help Afganistan
remove mine that the US is not responsible for laying.


Dan M.

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