Timeline for During the Iran-Iraq war, did the Iranians use small children to trip land mines planted by Iraq?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
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| Dec 5, 2022 at 13:43 | comment | added | Laurel | @RedSonja A cursory search says that it depends on the mine. On the more sensitive side of the spectrum, there are mines that can be triggered by squeezing them a little with one's fingers. On the other side of the spectrum, some tank mines seem to be designed so that adults can walk over them (but not tanks). Not sure what was used here. | |
| Dec 5, 2022 at 12:11 | comment | added | RedSonja | How big does a child need to be to trigger a mine? I mean, how many kilos? | |
| Sep 15, 2022 at 8:06 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | @Laurel "Small children" in the context of "tiny feet" are not twelve. | |
| Sep 14, 2022 at 16:10 | comment | added | Laurel | @Peter-ReinstateMonica Twelve year old boys on average are less than five foot tall. It depends on your definition of "small". | |
| Sep 14, 2022 at 15:56 | comment | added | Peter - Reinstate Monica | "Backed up" is strong: The NYT article talks about teenage soldiers, in a country where probably many kids pretty much do adult work starting at 14 or so, the same way it was in Europe until the 1900s. The claim "small children [...] with their tiny feet" is simply not supported by the NYT article. It's terrible and abominable and an abuse of religion and power and everything -- but it's not small children with tiny feet. | |
| Sep 14, 2022 at 7:07 | comment | added | Dan Romik | @M.A.R. please read the article by Küntzel that I also cited in my answer. He provides a lot more nuance about how the Iranian military leaders took very cynical measures to overcome the natural fear of dying of their soldiers. Sure, you are right that it's not as simple as "they drank the kool aid", but I think you're underestimating how successfully people (even adults, not to mention impressionable children) can be brainwashed and manipulated even to put themselves at a near-certain risk of dying. | |
| Sep 13, 2022 at 13:27 | comment | added | Stuart F | It's well known that the Iranians used "human wave" tactics such as sending minimally-trained troops running toward enemy guns hoping to use force of numbers to get past them. Running through minefields might fit with that - but the goal is that some will get through, not that they will all blow up. | |
| Sep 13, 2022 at 4:58 | history | edited | days of love iff good genes | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Sep 12, 2022 at 20:02 | comment | added | M.A.R. | Iranian exiles are not an unbiased source. I find the whole 'Kool Aid' argument -- that they ran through minefields so they would go to heaven -- unconvincing. The version depicted on Iranian media is of voluneers clearing a path through a minefield, when no minesweepers are available, so the rest of the troops can move through unharmed, and I find that a more reasonable explanation. Of course, the young age of most of the Iranian army during the war (say, 15 to 20 yo, even 13) is well-known. | |
| Sep 12, 2022 at 19:49 | comment | added | Cerberus | I have read that article as well, but it seems to rely on information by an unnamed source. I wish we had a named source, more specific data such as place and time, a detailed account, and reason to think this happened on more than one occasion. In short I am not convinced by what Smith suggests happened in Iran in the war. | |
| Sep 12, 2022 at 18:22 | history | answered | Laurel | CC BY-SA 4.0 |