I do not find much to disagree about with logic's post. To the hiddeous practice of children clearing landmines, we can add far larger numbers of children killed or maimed by landmines when a war has long finished. According to one UNICEF report, at least 3000 children are killed each year by this "battlespace shaping" weapon. (http://www.unicef.org/media/media_32034.html, quote from http://ccsweb.pica.army.mil/1networked/spider.htm)

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (http://www.icbl.org), as of May 2005 the countries which continued to manufacture or develop landmines where Burma, China, Cuba, India, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam.

Rather than join with the rest of the developed world, the US administration approach is to develop mines which are either networked or have a limited lifespan. Thankfully, the US congress blocked production (http://www.banminesusa.org/news/883_spyder.htm).

But meanwhile, the US President not signing the Landmine Ban gives other regimes the perfect excuse to continue manufacturing persistent mines. Sadly, this means that children will continue to be killed by landmines well into the future.

Oops ... it's that ... "President Bush’s new policy looks forward with vision, breaks new humanitarian ground and makes the U.S. the first major military power to address the key issue of why landmines present a humanitarian problem." (US Landmine FAQ, http://www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/fs/30050.htm)

Average of 1 child every 3 hours killed.

..and here is really good food for thought...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1867405,00.html

Just one simple question for David Latimer.Which country would you like to have the balance of power in the world today,China,Iran or the USA?

We all agree that the US has a lot of faults,but have they on average over the last 60yrs done more good than evil,and if not,who would have done a better job?

Demonising the US whilst elevating the status of the enemies of democracy,is just pandering to leftist anarchy.The short sighted left see Muslim Facism as the tool to defeat their arch rivals, ie. capitalism;yet the left are content to unleash a philosophy akin to that of the Third Reich which they profess to abhor.

Whilst the US deserves criticism,there comes a time when we all must decide where our true allegiances lie.

When push comes to shove,whose side are you on?

The reason for objecting so strongly Arjay is because listening to the rhetoric of 'Western' leaders - it sounds like we are on a steep, slippery slope to reflecting the cultures you admonish. What Bush does in America ("Leader of the Free World") is likely to be reflected some time soon in other ‘Western’ countries - even if their populations do not agree. Everyone, it seems, must sing from America’s hymn sheet.

Increasingly, many Western governments seem to behave no more differently than the puppet governments we talk about that the US has established over the last 50 years or so in the 'Middle East or South America". Here we should take extra heed – cos we already know, America also undermines and destroys such governments when they step out of line or to support them no longer fits America’s strategic interests.

Bush is already attacking academia at home and his bizarre mix of religion and politics is starting to make America sound and look increasingly like a theocracy... these things are best nipped in the bud. Critics of Bush are not therefore necessarily defending other ideologies - we can criticise both - but I suppose we believe our greatest field of influence is within our own cultures. We are looking to see how we can change ourselves/behaviours in order to relate better to the rest of the world rather than expecting 'the other' to do all the work. Examining ones own actions in a relationship in conflict is the first rule of conflict resolution.

To Bush’s “Christians” out there – this is the equivalent of looking at the log in ones own eye.

We cannot for one minute believe what Marilyn Shepherd posts as she broad brushes her evidence and attributes all violence to white Australians. The spitting on women at Cronulla that motivated the riot and in shopping centres for instance is an assult on Australian citizens done by none other than Muslim men.

Arjay asks: "When push comes to shove,whose side are you on?"

I'm on the side of the children who are at risk of being killed or injured by landmines.

Whose side is Arjay on?