Reply #8: the straightforward strategic and tactical answer is singular: N Korea

[pasto76]

The DMZ is heavily mined, and universally recognized as THE major deterrent to N Korean aggression.

Im no fan of mines. I was happy to go to Iraq rather than afghanistan, because afghanistan was/is heavily mined.

The lack of training us lowly, lowly reservists received didnt prepare my soldiers well enough. We were put on Task Force Trailblazer(the initial effort, even before "phase I". No armoured vehicles, 100% OJT. Google TF Trailblazer) I led a team of operators to work under 1st PLT, A/14 ENG. There was another team sent to attach to someone in Samarra, the rest of my company a few weeks later was sent as it's own force to Taji. Those guys, specifically my squad leader and guys from my platoon, encountered an area of cluster bombs. They thought they were just munitions, _not_ UXO. There is a huge difference. So they stacked them up and waited for the civilian contractors to come demo them (something that frequently held them in exposed areas for 8 hours or longer). They could have all been killed doing this.

I do not support "the gift that keeps on giving" in the sense of mines or UXO laying in wait for decades waiting to blow up some child. The fact is however, the US will never sign on to a landmine ban, unless we are given an exemption for the DMZ in korea. It is what it is.

I also think that it is a sign of the times. People clinging to extremist ideals and completely unwilling to compromise. Give the US an exemption, and viola, you have aa very huge signatory on that ban.