International Warfare Essay -- American History Essays

International Warfare International warfare has always been a topic of debate and that debate increased greatly throughout the 1990s. The conduct of individual states, previously regarded as an exclusively domestic matter, is now of international concern. That international concern has spread to encompass several areas within the domain of international warfare, from the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to the Genocide Convention to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. It is this last treaty that has been the subject of much international attention in the last few years. That attention was generated through a multitude of causes including: the joint awarding of the 1997 Nobel Peace Price to Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines; the involvement of the late Princess Diana with the cause; the awareness efforts of organizations such as Amnesty International to publicize the effects of mines; and , last but not least, the drafting and signing into effect of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. The resulting media coverage and public awareness has resulted in increased initiatives to ban land mines and public outcry over the effect of landmines on affected areas. It is those effects and initiatives that provide the motivation for the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Landmines and on their Destruction and some of the controversy surrounding it. According to the Mine Action Information Center at James Madison University, eighty nations and territories thro... ... mines are impressive and the educational initiatives helpful, but the realities remain. The United States needed to provide an example back in 1997 of how a country maintains a humanitarian focus while refining the rules of war. Instead, the United States hid behind President Clinton’s pleas on the behalf of American troops and the limited aid efforts it provided. 2002 places the United States at a precipice and the time to choose is now. Currently engaged in a war without an end in sight, the United States is focused on the now and the methods of warfare. Reform efforts are far from the top of the list, but they should be right up there. There is no better time to send the message that although America is pursuing victory at what seems all costs, the U.S. still realizes that â€Å"at all costs† is not just for now but that the effects reach far into the future.