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Defense
Department Asks President Bush to Abandon Efforts to Ban Landmines;
Recently, the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and some Members of Congress received indications that the Defense Department had made recommendations to President Bush asking him to abandon all efforts to ban antipersonnel landmines. On December 19, 2001, 124 Members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the White House urging President Bush to reconsider the direction in which new U.S. landmines policies are headed. The President is expected to finalize new policies on the issue within the next few weeks. Below is the letter and the signers (arranged alphabetically by state). For those of you who called your Representative and urged others to do so, thank you! The USCBL gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship of this letter by Congressmen Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jack Quinn (R-NY), and Lane Evans (D-IL) as well as the recent briefing on this issue hosted by Congressman Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX). On U.S. House of Representatives Letterhead December 18, 2001 Dear Mr. President: We share your eagerness for global and human security during these troubling times. With this in mind, we write to express our serious concern about the direction of the current Administration review of U.S. policy on antipersonnel (AP) landmines. As you know, the Department of Defense has recently completed its component and, after input from the State Department and the National Security Council, the review is expected to reach your desk for approval. We respectfully urge that you ensure that the policy your Administration authorizes takes into account the indiscriminate consequences inherent in the nature of antipersonnel landmines, the danger these weapons pose to civilians and U.S. troops, and the desire to continue U.S. leadership and unity among our key international allies. We have received reports that the Department of Defense has recently recommended the following changes to current landmine policy:
These alarming recommendations are out of step with your own avowed commitment to protect innocent civilians and, indeed, U.S. troops. As you know, most of the modern militaries in the world, including our major allies in the war against terrorism, have ended their use of antipersonnel landmines because of the weapon‚s indiscriminate and disproportionate impact on unarmed men, women, and children. The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty‚s prohibition on the weapon‚s use, production, transfer, and stockpile has resulted in a significant decrease of landmine injuries and deaths, the destruction of millions of stockpiled weapons, and a virtual end to the transfer of antipersonnel mines. The United States' global leadership in mine clearance and victim assistance has also contributed significantly to decreasing landmine casualties. American leadership is similarly needed to encourage other treaty holdouts to support the global ban. Mines have caused over 100,000 U.S. Army casualties since 1942, including one third of all casualties in Vietnam and in the Gulf War. On May 19, 2001, nine retired military leaders, including Lt. General James F. Hollingsworth, former Commander of US-ROK forces, expressed their support for the Mine Ban Treaty, stating that the elimination of AP mines from the U.S. arsenal would enhance U.S. combat mobility and effectiveness and protect U.S. servicemen and women. It is clear that changes in tactics, doctrine, or substitution of alternative sensor/weapon systems already available could compensate for antipersonnel landmines in Korea and elsewhere. Afghanistan is, perhaps, the best example of the reason to eliminate this weapon from our arsenal. In that country there are an estimated 8-10 million landmines in the ground. The Landmine Monitor 2001 reports that in the year 2000 an estimated 88 people per month were maimed or killed by the weapon in Afghanistan, a nation the size of Texas. Demining operations in that country funded, in part, by the United States, employ nearly 5,000 workers and cost millions of dollars each year. Now U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan are also at serious risk of losing lives and limbs to this insidious weapon. We encourage you to insist that the Northern Alliance end its use of the weapon and destroy their stockpiled inventory. Most importantly, we urge you to instruct the State Department and the National Security Council to redirect the landmines policy review to reflect the need for the elimination of this out-moded, indiscriminate weapon from the U.S. arsenal. Only in this way can the United States resume its leadership on this important international issue. Sincerely, Initial Sponsors: Jim
McGovern (D-MA) ********************************************************** ACTION ALERT: THANK YOUR LEGISLATOR FOR SIGNING LETTER TO PRESIDENT. If your U.S. Representative is on the above list, contact him or her and simply say "thank you!" This will let them know that their voters appreciate their efforts during a difficult political time. It will also encourage them to act quickly next time they have the opportunity to act on this issue. For fax, email, and phone contact information, see www.house.gov or www.vote-smart.org. (Mailed letters are still not being received on the Hill). |
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