landmines
For The Safety of Georgians, Too

An Op-Ed by Harlan Hale,
CARE's Emergency Operations Officer

(This article appeared in the Savannah Morning News' op-ed section on Friday, August 29, 1997. Hale, a former Savannah, Georgia resident, now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and daughter.)

In 1967, the newly christened Hunter Army Airfield became home after my father returned from a tour in Vietnam -- his second war. My sisters and I lived on the army post, then in the southside suburbs, before my parents chose Savannah as our permanent home.

Like most soldiers, my father prayed we would never experience war. But I have, though not as a soldier. As an emergency operations officer for CARE, the Atlanta-based international relief and development agency, I have been in Somalia, Mozambique, Angola, Georgia, Armenia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia. All countries with real wars -- often undeclared -- with real deaths, real suffering, and real risks.

As CARE has tried to help innocent bystanders in situations like these, our work has become increasingly dangerous. One devastating risk to life and limb is the anti-personnel land mine. Initially laid with a political motive, land mines remain primed and ready to maim and kill for decades after the conflict ends.

In Mozambique, I worked to plan, schedule, and deliver tons of food to people driven from their homes by a 15-year war. Land mines were a popular weapon, used by rebels to blow-up and loot trucks carrying food and supplies to people displaced by the war. They were placed on roads to cut ties between cities and farms. They were placed around water wells and streams, on foot paths, and in public places -- all to terrorize, maim, and kill.

While a political and military tool, the toll of land mines on innocent bystanders is devastating. An estimated two-thirds of land mine victims are civilians.

There are more than 110 million land mines buried around the world. Today, North America, Australia, and Antarctica are the only continents not contaminated by land mines. I count myself lucky not to have to worry about my daughter stepping on a mine on her way to school, or my wife doing so on her way to work.

While land mines vary in shape and triggering system, they all share common characteristics: they are cheap (as little as $3 each); they are ever vigilant (many mines buried during World War II remain active today); and they do not discriminate against their victims.

The nature of land mine warfare is similar to the mustard gas attacks of World War I. The indiscriminate death and injury resulting from gas warfare led to a world-wide ban on chemical and biological warfare. It is past time for the world's governments and militaries to ban the manufacture, stockpiling, sale and use of anti-personnel land mines as well.

CARE is supporting the Ottawa process as the fastest way to rid the world of these indiscriminate killers. It calls for signing a treaty in December, which will lead to a comprehensive ban on land mines by the year 2000. Already, more than 100 countries have agreed to support Ottawa. Unfortunately, the U.S. government is not in that group.

Our government also wants to continue using "smart" mines, even in the face of growing debate within the military itself on the usefulness of mines. Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, among others, challenges the notion that land mines are needed to protect our troops. Fourteen retired generals joined him in stating that a ban "would not undermine the military effectiveness or safety of our forces, nor those of other nations."

Former Marine Corps Commandant General Alfred Gray has also said, "We kill more Americans with our mines than we do anybody else... I'm not aware of any operational advantage from broad deployment of mines. I know of no situation in Korea, nor in Southwest Asia, nor in Panama, nor in Desert Storm where our use of mine warfare truly channelized the enemy and brought them into a destructive system."

The first U.S. military casualty in Bosnia was not a victim of sniper fire, artillery barrage, or a crazed fanatic. He was injured by a land mine on a routine assignment.

Georgia is home to several major military installations, including Hunter in Savannah, Fort Stewart, Fort Benning and Fort McPhearson. If the fate of hundreds of thousands of innocent bystanders around the world is not enough to sway opinion against land mines, I urge all Georgians to consider the threat land mines pose to our own family members serving in the armed forces.

In the Senate, there are 60 co-sponsors of a bill to ban our country's use of land mines by the year 2000, including Max Cleland and all the other Vietnam veterans in the Senate. So far, Paul Coverdell has not spoken out in favor of this legislation. For the safety of Georgians and innocent civilians everywhere, he should advocate for U.S. participation in the Ottawa process. It would make me proud to have the entire Georgia delegation in Congress support this effort.