[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5717-S5719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BANNING ANTIPERSONNEL LANDMINES
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I will speak very briefly because I see the
distinguished Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Hagel], on the floor. But I
will reserve such time as I may need.
Mr. President, the Leahy-Hagel bill on antipersonnel landmines is the
result of years of work. I commend the Senator from Nebraska for his
efforts in this. We have talked about the need to have a ban on these
weapons, a need that is felt throughout the world, both by countries
that have used landmines, such as ours, and also by countries that have
been devastated by what has become a plague of landmines. As I have
said on the floor many times, this human disaster was described to me
by a Cambodian I had in my office on a snowy winter afternoon at
Christmastime in Vermont--one of the most beautiful times of year in
our State--and it became far less beautiful as he said, ``We clear our
landmines in Cambodia an arm and a leg at a time.''
Fifty-seven Senators--Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, men and
women alike--joined together last Thursday to introduce legislation to
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ban new deployments of antipersonnel landmines beginning in the year
2000. Our purpose is to enable the United States to join other nations
around the world that have already shown both the moral and strategic
courage and leadership by saying that they will ban unilaterally ban
antipersonnel landmines. Senators like Bob Kerrey and John McCain,
Chuck Robb, and Max Cleland, decorated Vietnam veterans, along with
Senator Hagel, know far better than I what landmines have inflicted on
our own soldiers. Senator Hagel has even been injured by them.
All of us know that landmines have some marginal value, but so do
chemical weapons. But we banned them. The problem with landmines is
that wars end, peace treaties are signed, armies march away, the guns
grow silent--but the landmines stay. To the child who steps on a mine
on the way to school a year after the peace agreement is signed, that
peace agreement is no protection. To the farmer who cannot raise crops
to feed his or her children because the fields are strewn with
landmines, that peace agreement is worth nothing. To the medical
personnel and humanitarian workers who cannot get polio vaccine to a
village where it is needed because of the landmines, that peace
agreement is useless.
What we have, Mr. President, is a weapon that has grown so grotesque,
the use of which has gotten so out of balance that most responsible
nations are uniting in one voice to say: Stop the horror of landmines.
There are 100 million of them in the ground in some 68 countries that
are waiting for a person to step on them and die, innocent civilians.
There were over 64,000 American casualties from landmines in Vietnam.
If that is not appalling enough, the majority of those landmines were
built here in the United States and were killing American men and women
half way around the world. In Bosnia, 279 U.N. and NATO soldiers have
been injured or killed by landmines. Every American casualty in Bosnia
from enemy causes has been from a landmine. Then you have thousands of
innocent civilians that have lost arms, legs and so on.
Sixty-eight countries have a bridge to the 21st century, Mr.
President, but that bridge is strewn with landmines. The United States
has the responsibility, as a moral leader, to help stop that. Great
Britain, Canada, Germany, South Africa are all countries that can claim
a greater need for landmines than we can because they do not have the
power of the United States. They have unilaterally renounced the use of
these landmines and are destroying stockpiles. But a White House
official, who apparently has an extreme case of myopia--and I say that
only because in polite dialog we would not say he has an extreme case
of stupidity--had the audacity to say that our legislation undermines
their negotiations on a global ban rather than a unilateral measure.
Frankly, I don't think that he reflects the views of the President. I
have to tell you that this is the most asinine comment issued by the
administration yet on this issue. Why does the White House think a
treaty banning these weapons is going to be signed in Ottawa this
December? Countries are coming together to sign a treaty banning
antipersonnel mines in Ottawa, not because of the United States or
because of this administration's negotiating strategy; to the contrary,
they are signing it in spite of the United States. While the United
States has sat on the sidelines and forsaken the kind of moral
leadership we can bring, dozens of other countries have taken strong,
unilateral action by renouncing the use of these weapons and are
pledging to sign a treaty in December. We showed great moral leadership
on the Chemical Weapons Convention and on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
But, Mr. President, far, far more civilians have died or have been
injured by landmines than nuclear weapons or chemical weapons. Every
Member of this Senate who is a combat veteran from Vietnam is a
cosponsor of this bill.
I have more to say, but the distinguished Senator from Nebraska, my
chief cosponsor, is on the floor. I yield the floor to Senator Hagel.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from
Nebraska.
Mr. HAGEL. Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. President, first, I want to commend my distinguished colleague
from Vermont for his leadership over the years. This has been an issue
that has been worked with some difficulty with a certain intenseness to
develop, first of all, an awareness of the problem.
This is an issue that, like all difficult issues, should always come
with a certain amount of information. And through the process over the
years, Senator Leahy; my friend and colleague from Nebraska, Senator
Kerrey; and others, have been remarkable in their tenacity and their
effort to focus on this issue of landmines. Today, I continue with my
friend from Vermont; my distinguished senior Senator, Bob Kerrey; and
others in our efforts to ban antipersonnel landmines. The legislation
that we are introducing this morning would permanently ban new
deployments of antipersonnel landmines.
Now, my colleague talked a little bit about why it is important. But
I think there are a couple of primary reasons, Mr. President, that we
owe this country the world leadership on this issue. First, America has
always taken the moral high ground over its brief 200-year history.
There is some debate and argument about the military necessity, the
military use, the viability of landmines. But as we enter a new
century, a bold new century full of hope and promise, in my opinion--
and I have some experience in this business--I do not really believe,
nor do many former commanders and present commanders believe, that to
continue to use antipersonnel landmines in our arsenal is in the best
interest of anyone.
So I take up this debate as a conservative Senator from Nebraska, a
combat veteran. There is no U.S. Senator in this body who supports more
strongly the U.S. military, what we must do to always arm our military,
never taking away the capabilities of our military. So I come at this
as a very strong advocate of our national defense forces and the
awesome responsibility our military has to protect our people and
freedom worldwide.
However, I believe the issue here regarding the banning of
antipersonnel landmines is no longer the argument of whether we should
or shouldn't. The issue now is when and how. I believe the time is now.
The time is now for this country and for this body to provide
leadership, as so many other nations around the world are providing
leadership on this issue.
We can change the face of warfare. We must not make the mistake in
believing that this act alone will do away with landmines. It is a
beginning. We must understand and face the fact that there are over 110
million landmines in the ground today all over the world. This act
today will not dig those 110 million mines up. But it is a beginning.
It is a moral beginning. It is a beginning that sends a message to the
world that we are a moral nation, that we will defend freedom as we
always have, and that we will defend the rights of individuals, but we
do not need indiscriminate killing machines like antipersonnel mines in
order to defend those liberties.
Mr. President, there are colleagues other than Senator Leahy and I on
the floor, and I wish to ensure that they have time to express
themselves on this issue.
With that, I will summarize by saying that those of us in Congress--
especially those of us who have served in combat--have a responsibility
to those Americans who now serve in our military to give our best
judgment on all weapons systems, including landmines, to the future. We
owe no less to the countless thousands of civilians, including many men
and women who will yet suffer from the indiscriminate use of these
weapons.
It is significant, as I see my friend and colleague, Senator Bob
Kerrey, the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, walk around
on the floor of the Senate, that my other five Vietnam combat veterans
have joined Senator Leahy and I in cosponsoring this important
initiative. It is time for America to lead.
Mr. President, thank you. I yield my time to Senator Leahy.
Several Senators addressed the Chair.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, could I have 5 minutes from either side
to both speak to this issue and raise one other related issue?
Mr. LEAHY. I am perfectly willing to, and I want to yield to the
Senator
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from Utah for that. We were sort of flipping side to side, if that will
be OK.
Mr. BENNETT. Absolutely. I appreciate the courtesy of the Senator.
Mr. KERREY addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mr. KERREY. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank the senior Senator from
Vermont and my colleague from Nebraska, Senator Hagel.
Mr. President, I rise today to join with my colleagues Senator Leahy
and Senator Hagel to express my strong support for a worldwide ban on
the use of land mines. Senator Leahy's bill, of which I am an original
cosponsor, is an important step in this effort in that it will restrict
the use of funds for new deployments of U.S. anti-personnel land mines
beginning no later than January 1, 2000.
One only has to look at the statistics to realize that these weapons
carry a legacy that lasts far longer than the wars in which they were
laid. More than 26,000 people will be killed in the world this year by
landmines; the vast majority of these deaths will be civilians. In
fact, every 22 minutes a man, woman, or child is killed or injured by a
land mine. It is impossible to truly calculate the cost of 26,000
deaths due to land mines in a single year.
Mr. President, I believe that there can be no better example of the
destructive nature of these weapons than Cambodia. It is estimated that
over 10 million land mines remain in that country. After years of
conflict and chaos, the people of Cambodia must still fear to walk
along footpaths or rice paddies; or to allow their children to play
along riverbeds or around villages. Mr. President, they have reason to
be afraid; current statistics show that 1 Cambodian in every 236 has
lost an eye or a limb to a land mine.
Again, these are noncombatants, civilian individuals that are
suffering as a consequence of the indiscriminate placing of these
dangerous weapons.
My interest in this issue also extends to not only protecting
civilians but protecting our own military forces.
The truth is, far too often the victims of these mines are the men
and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. The Department of Defense
has estimated that 33 percent of United States Army casualties in
Vietnam were caused by land mines. It is further estimated that 90
percent of those mines contained components made in the United States.
Today in Bosnia, the greatest threat to U.S. troops involved in the
SFOR mission is not from hostile fire, but from the millions of land
mines that were indiscriminately laid during the years of fighting in
that country. Mr. President, not only do I believe that we can continue
to protect our national security without these weapons, I believe that
ridding the world of land mines would be a significant step toward our
providing greater protection to our forces stationed abroad.
I want to thank Senator Leahy for his continued leadership in this
area, because I believe the bill that we have sponsored is an important
first step. However, it is also important for the United States now to
take the lead on a global scale. While I applaud President Clinton's
support for the eventual elimination of antipersonnel land mines, I
would urge him to join our closest allies around the world by
supporting the so-called Ottawa process which seeks to negotiate a
treaty to ban land mines to be completed no later than December 1997. I
firmly believe that a treaty negotiated with U.S. leadership, and which
would include many countries where land mines have been used with
devastating results, would help to create the moral authority to
establish a global norm that would make these weapons unacceptable
forever.
Again Mr. President, I believe now is the time for the U.S. exercise
its leadership role in the world to stop the use of these devastating
weapons.
I thank the Senator from Vermont and the Senator from Nebraska for
their leadership on this issue. I hope that the President will change
and begin to see the wisdom of adopting the Ottawa process.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from Utah.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Utah.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I congratulate the Senator from Nebraska
and the Senator from Vermont for their leadership on this issue.
I ask unanimous consent that I be added to the bill as an original
cosponsor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I thank the Chair and I thank the two
Senators.
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