The international campaign is focussing world attention on the reluctance
of the US to sign the Landmine Ban Treaty. For our part we have sent
the following letter to the US Ambassador in New Zealand. We have
yet to receive a reply.
2 July 1999
H E Josiah H Beeman
Ambassador for the United States of America
U S Embassy
P O Box 1190
WELLINGTON
Your Excellency,
It is with deep regret that the New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines
notes that the United States of America has still not signed the
Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, sticking to the tired claim of signing by
2006 but only if replacement weapons are available.
In September 1997, at the Oslo Conference called to finalise the
drafting of the Ottawa Convention, the strong delegation from the
United States tabled a number of amendments. One of them made it
very clear that if the Conference did not approve making a geographical
exception for Korea, the United States would not sign the Mine Ban
Treaty. This, and other American amendments were not accepted by
the meeting.
We understand your country's emphasis on the need for anti-tank
mines in Korea. This is not in question because anti-tank mines
are permitted under the Treaty. However all 134 countries that have
signed the Mine Ban Treaty would object strongly to the use by the
United States of certain anti-tank mine packs that include AP mines.
However we can not understand your Army's great reliance on Anti-personnel
mines as a weapon of defence. There are a number of American sources
recalling that in the Korean conflict there are many cases where
North Korean soldiers attacked over minefields, accepting casualties
from mines in the same way they accepted casualties from American
bullets. The historian of the U.S. Eighth Engineers recalled that
on New Years Day 1951, the U.S. defensive minefields were folding
under "human sea" tactics of an enemy who was capable of clearing
minefields by the simple expedient of sending men ahead to be sacrificed.
Sometimes the tables were turned. When General MacArthur struck
at Inchon in September 1950, the North Koreans slowed the American
advance by sowing captured U.S. mines. The North Koreans had captured
tens of thousands of landmines when they pushed south following
the capture of Seoul and they also found it easy to pick up U.S.
mines in unguarded fields.
The U.S. Office of the Surgeon General reported that in the Korean
War 305 men were killed and 2,401 were wounded in action by landmines
most of which were produced in the United States. Most of these
men would still be alive if the U.S. had not taken landmines into
Korea.
Surely this explodes the myth that the U.S. needs landmines in
Korea "to save the lives of our boys in uniform."
It was the same story in Vietnam. The 1994 United States Department
of State reported to Congress that 7,400 American servicemen had
been killed by landmines and grenades and it was estimated that
90% of the material used by the Viet Cong to manufacture landmines,
including explosives was derived from American sources.
It would appear that the leaders of the Pentagon are very slow
learners.
It is traditional for the armed forces of any country to hold on
to the weapons they have and the Pentagon is no different. We recall
that when the United States was asked to support the Geneva Protocol
in 1925, which banned the use of chemical and biological weapons
they refused, with the leaders of the Pentagon declaring that poisonous
gas was their most important defensive weapon. It was not until
after the more recent Gulf War, when there was a poison gas threat
to American troops, that there was an about face by the Pentagon
and the United States signed the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
The Gulf War was an excellent example of how the millions of landmines
laid by Iraq proved to be no barrier to the rapid advance of the
Coalition forces. They either bypassed the estimated nine million
Iraqi mines or else used tank mounted ploughs and armoured hoses
to breach the minefields. Very few Coalition casualties were caused
by mines.
If there is conflict in Korea and the North Koreans breach the
DMZ, it will not be mines that will hold up the North Korean advance,
but superior US firepower.
In recent international conflict, research has shown that the military
value of anti-personnel mines is very questionable. They create
more problems for those who lay them than for the enemy they are
supposed to deter and as can be seen in Korea, Vietnam and many
other countries, the killing and wounding from landmines lives long
after the conflict has ended.
President and Mrs Clinton were obviously deeply moved by the tragedy
that they witnessed during their recent visit to the Balkans. You
will recall that during his visit to the Stenkovic I camp in Macedonia
the President said: "I don't want any child hurt. I don't want anyone
else to lose a leg or an arm."
The USA has lost its place as a leader of the free world. Now is
the time for it to regain that place and to give practical effect
to its President's words and to sign the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty.
Yours sincerely
Neil K Mander
Convenor
