Friday, August 06, 2010
Contestants in Miss Landmine Angola Pageant
President Barack Obama continues to drag his feet over signing an international agreement banning the use of land mines, even though more than two-thirds of the Senate is in support of the U.S. becoming a party to the treaty.
Sixty-eight senators, including 10 Republicans, signed a letter to the president urging him to consider signing the Mine Ban Treaty, which went into effect in 1999. Both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush failed to sign the agreement.
The letter demonstrated that there likely is enough support in the Senate to ratify the treaty, if Obama signs it. Ratification requires 67 votes.
The State Department is conducting a review of U.S. land mines policy, but officials have not said if the examination is any indication the president plans to endorse the treaty, which 158 countries have signed.
The unwillingness to become a signatory contrasts with the fact that the American military has not used antipersonnel mines since the 1991 Gulf War. The U.S. also has not produced any mines since 1997.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
U.S. Still Undecided on Joining Landmines Treaty (by Deborah Charles, Reuters)
Senate Pushes Obama Administration to Sign Treaty Banning Land Mines (by Craig Whitlock and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post)
The Way Forward On Anti-Personnel Landmines (Patrick Leahy)
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