Action
Alert!
President Bush is currently determining
new U.S. landmines policies. The Defense Department has recommended that
he abandon all efforts to join the Mine Ban Treaty. We believe that we
only have a small window of opportunity to make our voices heard on the
matter before the State Department and President Bush finalize this Administration's
landmine policy.
Call the White House Switchboard at 202-456-1414 and say something like
the following:
"I am from ____, and I am calling to urge President Bush to support a
total ban on antipersonnel landmines to protect U.S. troops and innocent
civilians, in Afghanistan and throughout the world."
Sample fax to Secretary of State Colin Powell
Secretary Powell
fax: 202-261-8577
Dear Secretary Powell,
I am dismayed to hear that the United States may be moving away from its
commitment to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Antipersonnel landmines maim
and kill upwards of 18,000 people each year, mostly children, farmers,
and other innocent civilians. The indiscriminate weapon also renders land
useless for cultivation. Most of the world's nations, including almost
all of NATO, have joined the Mine Ban Treaty. It is time for the United
States to do so as well.
In Afghanistan, there are already 8-10 million landmines on the ground.
U.S. deployment of mines in that country, an option military leaders say
is possible, would only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and put U.S.
ground troops at risk. Please advocate for our country to give up this
dishonorable weapon, in Afghanistan and everywhere else.
Sincerely,
Name,
Address
124 Members of Congress Ask President Bush to
Give Up Landmines. Thank your Legislator.
Background
President Clinton instructed the U.S. government to move towards 2006 compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, stockpile, trade, and production of the weapon. In the summer of 2001, President Bush asked his Administration to conduct a formal review of U.S. landmines policy. In the fall, the Defense Department recommended the following rollback of Clinton policy:
- abandon all efforts to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty by 2006 or ever;
- abandon all efforts to get rid of "dumb" mines by 2003;
- eliminate the search for landmines alternatives program;
- and assert the need for U.S. mine deployment in Korea
and
elsewhere!
Tell President Bush and Secretary Powell how you
feel! More than 140 countries have joined this treaty, which has already
made great strides in reducing the global landmine threat. We need improvement,
not backtracking on the landmines issue! Please forward this alert widely.
Please forward this alert widely.
Click here for a PDF flyer of this alert
to print, copy, and distribute.
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| For more information on the Mine
Ban Treaty and countries that have ratified it, contact the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines www.icbl.org
US Campaign to Ban Landmines |