Mines have their place in warfare.

I gets the feeling of strange coinkydinks here, Armorer. They find the mine and I happen to have said to you I thought the P. Di initiative was misguided. Yup, I still think it was a completely stupid thing. Land mines are a witch, but nobody has gone after the use of nautical mines, which, if ever used, are much harder to find, dispose of, and have a much larger impact(loss of shipping screws far more----just a little slower since food and stuff don't flow). Yup, people abused the things. Didn't use them properly and sure as hell didn't dispose of them when playtime was over properly. To me it is like treating AIDS with antibiotics. It is the wrong diagnosis and wrong cure for the problem which is behavior and not the object(kind of like the anti-gunners here in America I would say). But whatta I know. I'm just a console jockey.

Up Mines! I actually wrote to Clinton once to praise his refusal to sign the landmine treaty. No kidding! I like the idea od landmines, just not all of them. I especially like the Family of Scatterable Mines (FASCAM) that were supposed to be able to self-destruct after a preset time. To me that's the issue--the clean-up. Mines may be a vile tool, but the problem is the left-behinds, not their use or existance. To my mind, using them as area/route denial measures is far more humane that dropping 20-30 155 rounds of airburst HE on an infantry platoon (or using the arty to shred trees for similar effect). And once the enemy knows the mines are there, he can choose to avoid the area, demine the area, or take his chances. Whatever he does, though, the mines served their purpose, and did it in as humane a way as any reasonably effective alternative. Would I want to be caught in a mine field? Nope. Would I have wanted one in front of me at my border GDP position waiting for the hordes of T62s, BTRs, and BMPs. You bet! And I wouldn't have cared a whit what problems people had 10, 50, or 100 years later. Princess Di was all about protecting children, but to me, the first order of business is winning the war. And no, I'm not saying the ends justify any means, I'm talking about land mines. If there are better ways to do the job they do, fine, use 'em. If not, then lay mines and worry about cleaning up the place later. BTW, I especially liked the tube-launced mines, the little cheese-wedge shaped AP mines that were like bouncing-betties that could be laid in minutes. BTW, I used to own an Army FM that explained how to make and use unconventional weapons, e.g., FUGAS, zip guns, plastic explosives, altimeter and anti-tilt switches, pipe bombs, etc. It even told how much each page of the FM weighed and showed how to rig up a field scale using a stick and some commo wire for measuring out components. I suppose it's all relative, but to me a land mine is preferable to walking up on a 55 gallon drum of FUGAS aimed at my face or a pipe bomb under the seat of my vehicle. Of course, that may just be me... And finally, I know this wasn't a debate about mines, it's just an old argument with me. Oh, and Clinton never answered my e-mail. I guess he was busy doing some mining of his own...

P.s. I think I have thought me some evil thoughts, from time to time. I have, of course, never acted upon them, at least at any time dating back from now which would be within the culpable period of the statute of limitations for any such acts.