Click here to link to letter sent by USCBL to President Bush on Friday, January 17, 2003.

Click here to link to letter sent by Members of Congress, and Others to Urge President, February 4, 2003.

For Immediate Release

December 2, 2002

CONTACT:
John Heffernan, Physicians for Human Rights (617) 413-6407; landmines@fcnl.org
Gina Coplon-Newfield, USCBL Coordinator (617) 695-0041, ext. 228, landmines@fcnl.org

On the Fifth Anniversary of Landmine Treaty, President Urged by Retired General, Members of Congress, and Others to Remove Antipersonnel Mines from Iraq War Arsenal
Boston: December 2, 2002

As US troops prepare for an invasion of Iraq, the US Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) today urged President Bush to not allow US forces to deploy antipersonnel landmines in Iraq and to work toward US accession to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The US military, which last used antipersonnel mines during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, reportedly has antipersonnel mines stored in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and elsewhere for possible use in Iraq.

"As I saw first-hand during my own years of service, antipersonnel landmines pose tremendous risks to civilians and US troops on the ground," said Lt. General Hal Moore, former Chief of Staff for Army Personnel. "The United States should eliminate from our arsenal this weapon that cannot tell the difference between child and soldier, and that lies in wait to produce death and grief. It makes no sense to add more landmines to the millions of existing time bombs." Lt. General Moore commanded troops during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was portrayed by Mel Gibson in the film "We Were Soldiers" last year. He was one of eight senior retired commanders who sent a letter to President Bush last year urging him to ban antipersonnel landmines.

Possible US use of mines in Iraq stands in stark contrast to the ever-growing worldwide acceptance of a comprehensive prohibition on the weapon. This month marks the 5^th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Mine Ban Treaty (December 3) and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its former Coordinator, Jody Williams (December 10). The treaty came into force faster than any other modern, multilateral convention. There are now 130 States Parties to the treaty, and another 16 signatories. Every member of NATO except the United States has embraced the Mine Ban Treaty.

The USCBL warning about possible use of mines also comes as the Bush Administration is apparently nearing the end of a formal review of US landmine policy that has been underway for eighteen months.

A recent US General Accounting Office (GAO) report on the use and effects of landmines during the Persian Gulf War stated that some US commanders were reluctant to use mines because of their impact on US troop mobility, safety concerns, and fratricide potential. The report indicated that "dumb" mines (non-self-destructing) were considered obsolete and unsafe. The US used a total of 117,634 landmines in the Gulf War, including 27,967 antipersonnel mines. A total of 81 US casualties were attributed to landmines.

" If the US military were to deploy antipersonnel landmines in Iraq, we would be making an existing humanitarian crisis even worse," said Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), long-time anti-landmine advocate in the House of Representatives. "The presence of new landmines -- on top of the untold numbers of landmines left unexploded from the Iran-Iraq and Persian Gulf wars -- would threaten not only the security of innocent civilians looking for food, shelter and safety from the potential conflict, but our own soldiers as well."

The USCBL maintains that if the US were party to the Mine Ban Treaty, it could use its considerable influence with countries such as Russia, India, and Pakistan, which laid hundreds of thousands of antipersonnel mines during the past year.

"The United States needs to join our NATO allies in banning this weapon and in condemning its use by the dwindling number of nations that still deploy a weapon that remains a danger long after peace accords are drawn," said Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL), another long-time anti-landmine advocate and the legislator who requested the GAO report on mine use during the 1991 Gulf War.

Despite a 1998 presidential directive supporting conditional US accession to the Mine Ban Treaty by the year 2006, the Bush Administration may move to indefinitely retain this weapon in the US arsenal. As part of the review of US landmine policy, the Defense Department recommended to the President last year that the US abandon efforts to ban the weapon. The State Department and National Security Council are now reviewing the issue, with a final presidential decision expected soon. Current policy calls for the US to stop using antipersonnel mines (except those in "mixed systems" with antitank mines) everywhere in the world (except Korea) in 2003. Last year, 124 Members of the House of Representatives —both Democrats and Republicans— sent a letter to President Bush urging him to not accept the DOD recommendations and to move towards banning the weapon. More than 500 veterans from all 50 states sent a similar letter to the President last year.

Since the early 1990s, the number of mine producing countries has dropped from 54 to 14. Trade of the weapon has come almost to a halt, and more than 34 million antipersonnel landmines have been destroyed from the arsenals of the world. Nations have removed millions of landmines from communities devastated by the weapon and have provided medical and rehabilitative support to victims of landmines. Most importantly, say anti-landmine advocates, casualty rates from the weapon have dropped from approximately 26,000 people per year to 15,000-20,000 per year.

The US Campaign to Ban Landmines is a nation-wide coalition of approximately 500 non-governmental organizations. It is a member of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines and is coordinated by Physicians for Human Rights in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.banminesusa.org

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January 17, 2003
On US Campaign to Ban Landmines Letterhead

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush:
We are writing to urge you to prohibit the use of antipersonnel (AP) landmines by US forces in any future war in Iraq.

As we understand, the US military has not used AP landmines since the 1991 Persian Gulf War nor since three quarters of the world’s nations banned the weapon through the Mine Ban Treaty. Use of the weapon in Iraq could have disastrous consequences for innocent civilians, US troops, future international peacekeepers, and global diplomatic efforts to eradicate this weapon.

A recent US General Accounting Office (GAO) report on the use and effects of landmines during the Persian Gulf War stated that some US commanders were reluctant to use mines because of their impact on US troop mobility and fratricide potential. The US used an estimated 118,000 self-destructing landmines during the Gulf War, but the mines were likely militarily ineffective. “The services reported no evidence of enemy casualties, either killed or injured; enemy equipment losses, either destroyed or damaged; or enemy maneuver limitations resulting, directly or indirectly, from its employment of . . . [antipersonnel] landmines during the Gulf War,” the GAO reported.
As you know, eight retired US admirals and generals wrote to you after you took office stating that antipersonnel landmines "are outmoded weapons that have, time and again, proved to be a liability to our own troops. . .We believe that the military, diplomatic, and humanitarian advantages of speedy U.S. accession [to the treaty] far outweigh the minimal military utility of these weapons."

Every member of NATO except the United States has embraced the Mine Ban Treaty, which bans all types of AP mines, meaning that even if US allies joined in military efforts in Iraq, they would be unable to participate in activities that involve the deployment of these weapons.

In addition to military reasons, humanitarian reasons to ban AP mines and promote the ban among mine-using governments such as India and Pakistan are remarkable. Landmines indiscriminately maim and kill 15,000-20,000 people each year in more than 80 nations. Most of the victims are civilians, and approximately one-third of them are children. Farming, travel, and economic development are severely inhibited by the terrifying presence of mines. In Iraq, innocent civilians already suffer from the hundreds of thousands of landmines planted during the Iran-Iraq War and Persian Gulf War. New AP mines would put them at further risk, and would make post-conflict reconstruction more dangerous and costly.

As a part of the current formal review of US landmine policies, we have heard that your Administration may be planning to give up “dumb mines,” and to promote the retention of “smart mines” –those programmed to self-destruct or de-activate after a set amount of time. Both smart and dumb mines kill and maim the innocent, are banned by the majority of the world’s nations, and should be eliminated from the US arsenal.

With hundreds of humanitarian, religious, human rights, veterans’, arms control, and medical organizations and thousands of individual supporters, the US Campaign to Ban Landmines represents a wide cross-section of American values and constituencies. We hope that you will agree with us that prohibiting the US military from using AP mines in Iraq and working towards a US ban on the weapon will be in the best interest of innocent civilians, the US military, and international humanitarian law.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

cc: Secretary of State Colin Powell
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice