26. Strategy for War Preparation (II)

——Stone-made landmines (note).

In Chinese, they are called "Stone Mines," otherwise known as "earth planes." In the mouths of the US military stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are called IEDs (note 2).

Some invading forces from an island nation suffered greatly from these hard stones. Those who came up with this essential equipment for home and travel, capable of murder and arson, were unanimously deemed to have lost their conscience. Later, several countries felt such devices, which could injure innocent people, were inhumane. They sought to end these widespread lethal weapons once and for all by including them explicitly in the "Convention on the Prohibition of Mines" (note 3). This proposal was unanimously appreciated by many small or poor countries, or those who had experienced the bitterness of landmines. Eventually, 150 countries signed the treaty.