Landmines

Landmines Landmines: Deadly Leftovers “Landmines are the thing for defense in the future. We have covered the works with them and they have done much execution.” -General Gordon, British Army, 1884. General Gordon’s analysis of landmines in the future has proved to be startlingly true, but it’s hard to imagine Gordon or anyone else for that matter predicting that most landmine casualties would be innocent civilian’s decades after the mines were planted. The modern mine was created during WWII with the development of 16 different anti-tank mines, and 10 anti-personnel mines. Since these first mines were planted in the earth’s soil and waterways millions of people, mostly civilians have been killed and maimed. Along with the physical harm to humans, the environment has been dramatically altered in the areas where mines are present. The major problem with a mine is that it is a killer that will not discriminate. A mine can be tripped by the foot of a soldier, the snout of cattle, or the hand of a child. It will kill all three equally. It is estimated that 71 people die every day from mine explosions. Some are killed instantly; others landmines, mines, mine, land, been, world, people, over, around, areas, treaty, states, war, stop, soil, since, problem, million, methods, make, countries, being, because, ban, anti-personnel, work, word, whole, weapons, using, until, united, troop, tripped, territory