For the past 14 years, we have been fighting a war against an “invisible army”. Since the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, we England and America have been fighting a Army which deploys Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on the roadside. After deploying the IEDs, the militia would run away, rather than fight face to face. In the war against terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the British Army has lost 226 lives due to IEDs. They died because, of the idea of unconventional warfare. They shouldn’t use these, as it is against the Geneva Convention.

In the Geneva Convention and in the NATO Treaty, it states that IEDs and Landmines are inhuman. They are said to be inhuman as after a conflict these pyrotechnics cannot be defused or found. In the past Three years 53,000 civilians have died due to Improvised Explosive Devices.

IEDs and Anti-personnel mines go off almost everyday in countries which haven’t seen conflict in 10 or more years. These explosives kill and mane innocent civilians, which haven’t done anything wrong. This is against the Geneva Convention. These are War Crimes as they Target innocent civilians. The Rules of War states that civilians should not be targeted in the time of war. Cluster munitions have been banned from use from military’s,

Why IEDs and Landmines should be banned. IEDs do not specifically target the military, they are a unstable weapon. They could go off at any moment and kill anyone in its blast range. They should be banned as these are not mainly used to kill but to place fear into the hearts of soldiers and civilians. An IED could go off as a minibus filled with children going to school in. Should a weapon like this be allowed in warfare today?

Many Veterans and military experts say that Improvised Explosive Devices’ are used as unconventional warfare because, extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS and many others would rather deploy IEDs over the battlefield, over human soldiers. An army who would rather deploy IEDs over soldiers, are obviously scared to fire a bullet or come against a highly trained fighting force. A human soldier could choose it’s target then deliver a fatal shot, compared to a invisible soldier which cannot tell between hostile and civilian. Al-Qaeda would rather kill and mane civilians and put fear into them, than fight with one of the most powerful armies in the world. Most Veterans believe these horrific devices should be banned in conflicts, as extremists groups would get everyday civilians either to plant them on the roadside or make them wear the IEDs as suicide vests and walk them into crowded areas or even checkpoints.

The Extremists get civilians to do this with fear of them killing their family. The terrorists would detonate the vests or car bombs with no second thought. Veterans Which have served in the Gulf war which went on to tour in Iraq and Afghanistan, were stunned when they came across how the extremists used and how often they used the IEDs compared to Firefights. In the Gulf war squaddies were more afraid of getting Gulf war syndrome, now know as PTSD. Now squaddies are more afraid of getting their legs or arms blown off. 226 British soldiers have died due to IEDs, compared to 147 in the Gulf war. Al-Qaeda and ISIS would rather start a war and then fight it with IEDs. These extremists are making the population scared to co-operate with the allied forces. Are they scared to fight with the weapons which armies have used for over 300 years?

I believe anyone who intends to kill or mane people with Improvised Explosive Devices, should be arrested for War crimes according to the Geneva convention and the NATO Treaty. Anyone which intends to use IEDs to scare people, are obviously sick in the head as whoever plants the IED does not know who will set it off, a little boy who is playing football could set it off and it could kill him.

Put yourself in a parents shoes of  a soldier  and think how would you react if your son/daughter did not die in a firefight but died walking the streets winning the hearts of minds of the population. What would you say?