New York Times: New U.S. Land Mines to Pose Less Long-Term Danger

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN, February 27, 2004
"The Bush administration plans to announce that, in a step to lessen the dangers of land mines, it will end the use of long-lasting mines in warfare and instead concentrate on mines that go inert within hours or days, an administration official said Thursday....The official said the United States would also make its mines detectable so they can be removed when a conflict is over. But he did not say what would prevent an enemy from detecting them during a conflict."
Hmm. There are some specific situations where landmines are required, and in those situations, I'm not sure that ones that go inactive in "hours or days" will work (like the DMZ in Korea). As for making them detectable, there are quite a few patents on equipment to detect these things; so, anyone could figure out how to find them--specifically, enemy combatants, but probably not villagers or non-combatants.