Donald Trump loosens America’s restrictions on landmines

DURING THE Gulf war of 1991, no fewer than 117,000 landmines were showered over Kuwait and Iraq by American planes. This barely dented the Pentagon’s vast stockpile of 19m. Just under a quarter of the devices scattered in the path of Saddam Hussein’s army were anti-personnel landmines (APLs), the sort that would soon be banned by the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention of 1997, widely known as the Ottawa treaty, a cause famously championed by Princess Diana. It was the last occasion on which America made significant use of APLs. But a new ruling by the Trump administration suggests that the weapons could make a comeback.