[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5719-S5722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CHINESE COMPANIES EXPORTING DANGEROUS WEAPON

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, if I may, Mr. President, I would like to 
take just a few minutes on a related but different subject. We have 
been talking about blowing people up here this morning with landmines. 
I would not intrude on that debate with another issue, except that it 
is hot off the press this morning.
  Secretary Cohen has revealed that Chinese military companies have 
exported a dangerous new weapon to Iran. I have discussed this weapon 
on the floor before. But this is a dangerous new development, and I 
would like to call the attention of Senators to what Secretary Cohen 
has revealed this morning.
  We have here a drawing of the C-802 antishipping cruise missile that 
is designed by the Chinese on the basis of the Exocet missile. Here is 
a picture of the U.S.S. Stark that was struck by an Exocet missile 10 
years ago, in which 37 American sailors were killed. The Stark was out 
of commission for a full year. Ten years later, the C-802 is considered 
to be a more lethal weapon than the one that struck the Stark.
  Here is a picture of a Chinese freighter, on the fantail of which 
they have loaded five missile boats which are being sent to Iran, each 
one of them with missile launchers, and four tubes that can be used 
against American shipping in the gulf. I have shown this picture to the 
Senate before. I have also shown this next picture to the Senate, a 
land-based C-802 which has been exported to Iran by Chinese companies.
  This morning Secretary Cohen told us that Chinese companies have 
added a final dimension to their export. We have a picture from the 
Chinese sales brochure of a helicopter equipped with the C-802, and the 
Chinese sales brochure says: ``Air to Ship. The air-launched C-802, 
named C-801K, can be adapted to aircraft such as attackers and 
helicopters.'' This picture out of the sales brochure shows this 
missile as it has been exported to Iran.
  Mr. President, there is a law against this kind of thing. It is 
called the Gore-McCain Act. Secretary Cohen now says that because of 
the actions of Chinese companies, Iranian forces can threaten American 
servicemen and women literally from 360 degrees--land, water, and now 
air.
  I intend to offer an amendment to the underlying legislation that we 
will take up in just a few moments calling upon the administration to 
enforce the Gore-McCain Act against those Chinese companies that are 
exporting this technology to Iran in violation of American law. The 
Secretary of State has already invoked the other sanctions laws by 
bringing sanctions against Chinese companies that have exported poison 
gas to Iran. I want to, here, now, apply that same principle to the 
exportation of these missiles.
  Again, Mr. President, I would not intrude on this debate on landmines 
with this information if it had not just come up this morning with 
Secretary Cohen's announcement that this export has taken place and 
that the dangerous new weapon is now has a dangerous new dimension in 
Iran.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
various press releases on this subject.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                 [From the Associated Press, June 1997]

                    Cohen Says Iran Testing Missile

                           (By Robert Burns)

       Manama, Bahrain.--Iran's air force has conducted its first 
     test launches of a newly acquired anti-ship cruise missile, 
     Defense Secretary William Cohen disclosed today in arguing 
     that Iran is a threat to world commerce.
       The United States is concerned about Iran's increasingly 
     sophisticated military

[[Page S5720]]

     clout, particularly its arsenal of cruise missiles, Cohen 
     said at a news conference. Because they fly low, cruise 
     missiles are difficult to detect on radar.
       ``Iran's words and actions suggest that it wants to be able 
     to intimidate its neighbors and to interrupt commerce in the 
     (Persian) Gulf,'' Cohen said. ``The United States will not 
     allow this to happen.''
       The U.S. allies in the Gulf are urging a more accommodating 
     approach to Iran, despite U.S. misgivings. At each stop on 
     his five-nation Gulf tour, Cohen has stressed what he calls 
     Iran's threatening behavior and today said he had found the 
     Gulf states ``solidly united'' with the United States.
       Iran has had shore-based cruise missiles for more than a 
     decade and last year acquired its first ship-launched 
     version, a Chinese-made missile called C-802. Now it has 
     begun testing a version that is fired from aircraft, Cohen 
     said.
       A senior U.S. military officer who elaborated on Cohen's 
     disclosure on condition of not being identified by name told 
     reporters that Iran conducted an initial test of the air-
     launched version on June 3 and a second test three days 
     later. The cruise missiles, called C-801K, were launched from 
     F-4 fighters, the officer said. He declined to predict when 
     they would be fully operational.
       ``You have a 360-degree threat,'' the officer said, 
     referring to the combination of Iranian cruise missiles that 
     could be fired from land, sea or air.
       Sophisticated radar aboard U.S. ships in the Gulf are 
     capable of detecting, identifying and tracking any cruise 
     missiles in Iran's arsenal, the officer said.
       At his news conference, Cohen said the air-launched cruise 
     missile ``complicates somewhat'' the military operations of 
     U.S. forces in the Gulf, ``but not to the extent that it 
     can't be overcome.''
       Bahrain and other U.S. allies in the Gulf have not made a 
     public issue of Iran's cruise missiles, but have long been 
     fearful of Iran's overall military strength.
       Another senior American military officer, speaking Monday 
     on condition he not be further identified, said the moderate 
     Gulf countries are more optimistic than the Clinton 
     administration that the election in May of a more moderate 
     Iranian leader offers a chance to improve relations.
       Cohen, on the other hand, has said the Clinton 
     administration will not ease its stance against Iran until 
     Iran ends its support for terrorism, gives up trying to 
     develop nuclear weapons and stops trying to undermine the 
     Middle East peace process. Iran denies such conduct.
       After his news conference in Manama, Cohen flew today to 
     Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to meet with government 
     officials. He was winding up the day in Muscat, Oman, the 
     last stop on his Gulf tour.
       At a news conference Monday morning in Kuwait City, Cohen 
     said it was too early to judge whether new Iranian President 
     Mohammad Khatami would bring demonstrable change. The United 
     States refuses to trade with Iran and has no diplomatic ties.
       ``We would look favorably, obviously, upon changes that are 
     real, not simply paper promises,'' Cohen said, adding that he 
     remains to be convinced Iran will change. ``Iran continues to 
     pose a threat to the whole region,'' he said.
       In Manama, in an unrelenting heat that topped 110 degrees, 
     Cohen strolled down a pier where three U.S. Navy ships and a 
     U.S. attack submarine were tied up. He chatted with sailors 
     and commanders and saw how a new remote-controlled 
     surveillance craft skims around the pier, scanning the 
     surface for potential security threats.
       Aboard the USS Fitzgerald, a guided-missile destroyer home-
     ported at San Diego and on its first-ever deployment, Cohen 
     heard the ship's commander explain current operations--
     including Iraq embargo enforcement--by the 26 U.S. ships in 
     the area.
       Cmdr. Charles Martoglio, the Fitzgerald's commanding 
     officer, told Cohen that the aircraft carrier USS 
     Constellation was operating in the northern Gulf near Iran's 
     territorial waters. He said Iranian land-based cruise 
     missiles could reach the Constellation in less than 10 
     minutes.
                                  ____


   [From the United Press International U.S. & World, June 17, 1997]

                 Iran Tests Air-Launched Cruise Missile

                           (By Eric Nordwall)

       Manama.--Iran has successfully tested an air-launched 
     cruise missile, a development that officials say marks a 
     dramatic upgrade in its threat to American warships 
     controlling the Persian Gulf.
       U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen made today's surprise 
     announcement at a news conference in Bahrain, where he was 
     visiting as part of a goodwill tour of Gulf states. Later, a 
     senior military official told reporters aboard Cohen's Air 
     Force jet that the tests mean American warships will now have 
     much less warning of an Iranian attack. The military official 
     said U.S. ships now have seconds, instead of minutes, to 
     respond to missile attacks.
       The official, speaking on background, said Iran tested a 
     dummy missile on June 3 and a live weapon on June 6. He would 
     not detail what kind of warhead was used when an aging F-4 
     jet fired on a barge in the Gulf, saving only that it was ``a 
     significant missile.''
       He said the Chinese-made weapons have a range of greater 
     than 20 miles, bolstering Iran's claim that it could shut 
     down, or significantly limit, sea traffic in the 
     strategically critical Persian Gulf.
       Some 50 percent of the world's oil supply passes through 
     Gulf waters every year.
       In his toughest talk against Iran thus far on his tour of 
     Gulf nations, Cohen told a news conference, ``Iran's words 
     and actions suggest that it wants to intimidate its neighbors 
     and commerce in the Gulf.'' But he said he had been briefed 
     by Navy officials and, ``we are convinced and we have no 
     doubt that we have the capability to defeat any weapons 
     system that the Iranians might possess.''
       With the successful test of the C801K missile Iran now has 
     the ability to fire from the land, sea and air.
                                  ____


               [From the COMTEX Newswire, June 17, 1997]

           Cohen: Iran Has Tested Air-Launched Cruise Missile

       Manama.--Iran has successfully tested an air-launched 
     cruise missile, a development that officials say marks a 
     dramatic upgrade in its threat to American warships 
     controlling the Persian Gulf.
       U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen made today's surprise 
     announcement at a news conference in Bahrain, where he was 
     visiting as part of a goodwill tour of Gulf states. Later, a 
     senior military official told reporters aboard Cohen's Air 
     Force jet that the tests mean American warships will now have 
     much less warning of an Iranian attack. The military official 
     said U.S. ships now have seconds, instead of minutes, to 
     respond to missile attacks.
       The official, speaking on background, said Iran tested a 
     dummy missile on June 3 and a live weapon on June 6. He would 
     not detail what kind of warhead was used when an aging F-4 
     jet fired on a barge in the Gulf, saying only that it was ``a 
     significant missile.''
       He said the Chinese-made weapons have a range of greater 
     than 20 miles, bolstering Iran's claim that it could shut 
     down, or significantly limit, sea traffic in the 
     strategically critical Persian Gulf.
       Some 50% of the world's oil supply passes through Gulf 
     waters every year.
       In his toughest talk against Iran thus far on his tour of 
     Gulf nations, Cohen told a news conference: ``Iran's words 
     and actions suggest that it wants to intimidate its neighbors 
     and commerce in the Gulf.'' But he said he had been briefed 
     by Navy officials and, ``we are convinced and we have no 
     doubt that we have the capability to defeat any weapons 
     system that the Iranians might possess.''
       With the successful test of the C801K missile, Iran now has 
     the ability to fire from the land, sea and air.
                                  ____


             [From the Reuters World Report, June 17, 1997]

              U.S. Says Not Headed Towards Clash with Iran

                         (By Charles Aldinger)

       Manama.--The United States is not headed towards a clash 
     with Iran unless the Islamic republic starts it, U.S. Defence 
     Secretary William Cohen said on Tuesday during a tour of 
     Washington's Gulf Arab allies.
       But he again warned Tehran against any attempt to halt 
     shipping in the oil-rich Gulf.
       ``The United States will not allow this to happen,'' he 
     told a news conference in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. 
     Fifth Fleet which keeps more than two dozen warships in the 
     Gulf.
       ``The United States retains overwhelming naval strength in 
     the Gulf and we are fully capable of protecting our ships, 
     our interests and our allies.''
       Cohen, who previously visited Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, 
     later flew to the United Arab Emirates. Later on Tuesday he 
     was due in Oman before returning to Washington on Wednesday.
       ``What we have tried to do is to indicate to all of our 
     allies that we are here to provide security against that kind 
     of aggression that might be directed towards them,'' he said.
       The United States accuses Iran of sponsoring state 
     ``terrorism'' and has expressed mounting concern since the 
     1991 Gulf War about what it describes as Iran's growing 
     military capability and its aims in the region.
       Iran opposes the U.S. military presence in the Gulf and 
     says Washington falsely accuses Tehran of threatening 
     regional security in order to scare its Gulf Arab allies into 
     buying more American weapons.
       Cohen said Iran ``continues to support terrorism in 
     addition to developing weapons of mass destruction, improving 
     missiles that can strike neighboring nations and boosting the 
     facility to close the Strait of Hormuz.''
       He said Iran this month successfully tested a new air-
     launched anti-ship cruise missile obtained from China.
       U.S. defence officials said afterwards that Iran's air 
     force on June 3 and 6 successfully fired two C-801K anti-ship 
     missiles, one with a live warhead, from an aging U.S.-built 
     F-4 Phantom jet and both test missiles struck barge targets.
       ``Iran's words and actions suggest it wants to be able to 
     intimidate its neighbours and to interrupt commerce in the 
     Gulf,'' Cohen said.
       But he said the U.S. military was confident that 
     sophisticated American warships in a force of 26 vessels now 
     in the Gulf could shoot down such missiles.
       ``We seek to deter any action by either Iraq and Iran. If 
     there is going to be any clash it will have to be 
     precipitated by actions on the part of Iranians.

[[Page S5721]]

       ``Our policy is not to clash with Iran, but rather to 
     discourage and deter any action on their part that would seek 
     to destabilise the region.''
       In earlier stops Cohen said the United States would not 
     give up its hardline policy to isolate Iran despite the 
     recent election of a moderate cleric as president, unless 
     Tehran stopped supporting international ``terrorism,'' trying 
     to develop chemical and biological weapons, and trying to 
     wreck the Middle East peace process.
       Some Gulf Arab leaders have urged the United States to open 
     a dialogue with Iran following Mohammad Khatami's election.
       Cohen also said at the news conference that Washington 
     believed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein continued to pose a 
     threat to stability in the region--specifically to Kuwait, 
     where Iraq's 1990 invasion sparked the 1991 Gulf War, and 
     potentially to Saudi Arabia.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to retain the floor 
until such time as the Foreign Relations Committee Members are on the 
floor and prepared to go forward, again with the assurance that I will 
yield the floor to them later.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I yield to the distinguished Senator from 
Rhode Island.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Rhode 
Island.
  Mr. REED. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank the Senator from Vermont 
and my friend and colleague from Nebraska for their leadership on this 
very important issue.
  Mr. President, I am here to support, as an original cosponsor, the 
Leahy-Hagel landmine legislation, which would ban deployment of 
landmines after January 1 of the year 2000. The fact that this 
legislation has already acquired 56 cosponsors in the Senate is 
testimony to the compelling force of their logic and their argument. We 
should, in fact, ban landmines across the world, and we should begin 
with this legislation.
  Antipersonnel landmines have always been one of the greatest dangers 
facing our troops--one of the most horrific weapons on the battlefield. 
Indeed, the only United States casualty we have sustained in operations 
in Bosnia was an individual who was killed by a landmine.
  These landmines are scattered across the world. One hundred ten 
million active landmines are hidden in as many as 64 countries. And 
while 100,000 landmines a year are identified, deactivated and removed, 
another 2 million to 5 million are planted. These landmines claim about 
2,000 victims a month. These are civilians. These are children. These 
are women. These are individuals who are not combatants but are simply 
at the wrong place at the wrong time.
  In the military, there is a quite strict regime for using landmines: 
Mapping them out, putting them in place, having the records so that, at 
the conclusion of hostilities, they can be identified, deactivated, and 
removed. But what has happened is that these landmines are now being 
used by renegade bands, by militias, by paramilitary units, and they 
are literally being scattered about those countries indiscriminately.
  I was in the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia a few months ago visiting 
our troops and visiting Russians who are participating with us. 
Literally within a few yards of the camp of these Russian soldiers is 
an area into which they cannot enter because it is strewn with 
landmines. They are unidentified, unable to be removed. This is just 
one example of the dangers that lurk because of the proliferation of 
landmines throughout this world.
  I hope that we will move aggressively to pass this legislation. It 
will be a testament, I think, to those individuals who are sponsoring 
it. But also it will help highlight other initiatives that need to be 
on the table. For example, in October 1996, Canada announced the goal 
of completing a treaty totally banning the use, production, and 
stockpiling of landmines by the year 2000. In addition to that effort, 
two months later the United Nations General Assembly, at the urging of 
the United States, passed a resolution by a unanimous vote, to 
vigorously pursue a treaty banning the use, stockpiling, production and 
transfer of antipersonnel landmines. These treaty negotiations will 
receive, I think, tremendous impetus from the actions we take on this 
floor.

  I hope this bill will be passed quickly into law. I hope we can 
essentially begin here today to outlaw the use of landmines for the 
protection, not only of our own forces, but for the hundreds of 
thousands of innocent civilians throughout the world who are, each day, 
subject to the dangers of landmines. This will make the world safer. It 
will not harm our military security. And it will give us, I think, a 
goal and the momentum to move forward toward a more comprehensive 
landmine ban.
  Again I compliment and commend my colleagues, Senator Leahy and 
Senator Hagel, for their efforts and for their leadership on this 
important measure.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I will yield to the Senator from Maine.
  But I do want to note, this involves not just the Congress and other 
governments. Diana, Princess of Wales is in Washington today to support 
the efforts of the American Red Cross in raising money to aid the 
victims of landmines. I commend Elizabeth Dole, President of the 
American Red Cross, and the Princess, for doing that. The Princess has 
done so much, since she went to Angola and saw the terrible effects of 
landmines there, to call attention to the plight of the victims and to 
speak out in support of a global ban. What we all want to do, of 
course, is do everything possible to make sure that someday there will 
be no such victims.
  I yield to my good friend from Maine.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, first let me say that I applaud the 
leadership and the determination of Senator Leahy and Senator Hagel to 
bring this very important issue of landmine deployment before the 
Senate. We speak today on behalf of people around the world whose lives 
are imperiled by deadly explosive devices each day as they till their 
fields, care for their livestock, or, most tragically of all, walk to 
school. Antipersonnel landmines have been sown in the Earth in such 
numbers and spread so broadly and indiscriminately over the planet that 
they have become a very serious health and safety problem for 
civilians. According to the International Red Cross, landmines kill or 
maim someone, often children, every 22 minutes. There are an estimated 
100 million mines scattered throughout 68 nations. These weapons of 
terror inflict injury to little children, to farmers, and to our own 
service men and women serving the cause of peace far from home. Thus 
far, in Bosnia, landmines have injured more than 250 soldiers under 
United Nations or NATO command, and they have killed 29 peacekeepers. 
In fact, landmines are responsible for every single death of American 
troops in the Balkans.
  I have cosponsored the Leahy-Hagel legislation because it is the 
right thing to do. Passing this legislation would be an act of moral 
leadership for this country. Although our attention may be focused on 
our own American men and women put in harm's way as international 
peacekeepers, the extent of the global epidemic of injury inflicted by 
these devices is truly astounding and tragic. Each month, 800 people 
are killed and 1,200 others are maimed by small mines whose triggers 
cannot tell the difference between the foot of a child and the foot of 
a soldier. As a Maine newspaper, the Kennebec Journal, pointed out in 
an editorial this weekend, the landmine is one of the most insidious 
and pernicious weapons ever created by man.
  Across the globe, especially in Third World countries, landmines 
placed during long-forgotten conflicts, some as much as a half-century 
ago, continue to menace civilian populations. Senator Leahy's bill 
would draw the line on the deployment of these weapons. This bill will 
help save the lives and limbs of American peacekeepers as well as of 
many innocent children in countries around the world.
  I yield the remainder of my time.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I yield to the distinguished senior Senator 
from Virginia, who also wishes to speak about the Leahy-Hagel bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from 
Virginia.

[[Page S5722]]

  Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Vermont and the 
Senator from Nebraska for sponsoring this legislation. My own 
experience in combat in Vietnam, having had over 100 of my men wounded 
and over 20 killed, seeing directly the impact of landmines and booby 
traps, I know exactly the kind of devastation they can inflict. In my 
travels around the world where landmines are a principal impediment to 
farming and other civilian activities in areas where combat had been 
previously conducted, I have seen its hideous effects, the maiming of 
many, many individuals. I am pleased to join Senator Leahy and Senator 
Hagel in this bipartisan effort to eventually eliminate antipersonnel 
landmines.
  This legislation reflects a principled first step on our part to halt 
the spread of these dangerous weapons. If an international consensus is 
to be achieved ultimately banning their manufacture and deployment, the 
United States will have to lead by example and restrict its own 
activities in this area. During peacetime, most Americans reasonably 
assume that military weapons are safely stored away. That is not the 
case, regrettably, with landmines. Many countries, particularly 
developing countries, continue to actively lay mines with tragic 
consequences. These devices indiscriminately kill or maim an average of 
70 individuals a week, or some 26,000 civilians annually. In Bosnia 
alone, over 250 soldiers of various countries have been injured by 
landmines.
  Mr. President, two-thirds of the Senate is formally on record 
supporting a moratorium on our use of landmines. While this does not 
get to the heart of the issue, in my mind, beginning the process of 
demining an estimated 100 or more million mines scattered across the 
world today, and cutting off funds for new deployments, will sharpen 
the debate on the utility derived from placing landmines, compared to 
the damage they inflict.
  I recognize this is a debate underway for expedited consideration of 
a comprehensive ban treaty this year through what is known as the 
Ottawa conference, or embracing the United Nations approach of 
negotiating a multilateral agreement over a longer period of time. This 
legislation steers clear of the controversy by formally endorsing 
neither, but noting each in hortatory language. Moreover, given the 
belief of some that landmines continue to function as a useful 
deterrent on the Korean Peninsula, the legislation creates a national 
security exception for that particular situation.

  We have a long way to go before we rid ourselves of these insidious 
devices. Someday I look forward to considering a permanent and 
international treaty banning the production, stockpiling, sale, and use 
of these weapons. For now, the legislation proposed by Senator Leahy 
and Senator Hagel is a modest proposal, eliminating funding for new 
deployments and, in my judgment, it heads us in the right direction and 
it has my full support.
  With that, I yield the floor. I yield any time I may have.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I yield as much time as necessary to the 
distinguished Senator from Illinois.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from 
Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, at the outset, let me say this is a 
serious matter and one in which I heartily concur with Senators Leahy 
and Hagel over the issue before us. In the recorded history of 
humankind, there were many instances of conflict leading to wars of 
devastation and great loss. Most people believe those wars come to an 
end, and with the end of the war there is at least some finality and 
some peace. Those who have been injured, of course, carry those scars 
for a lifetime. Those who lost their lives are remembered. Those who 
served look back with sometimes horror, sometimes fondness, to the 
experience.
  We in the United States think at the end of the great wars, and after 
the tickertape parades, the finality is finally evidenced by something 
as significant as a memorial. But what we are speaking of today is a 
legacy of war that does not end. After the decisions are made, the 
foreign policy decisions which go awry and lead to a war or a conflict, 
those decisions end up creating situations which live on forever. In 
this case, we are dealing with a specific challenge and a specific 
issue of landmines.
  In a visit to Central America about 7 years ago, I went to Costa 
Rica, to a clinic which was being sustained by contributions from the 
United States. It was an orthopedic clinic where, primarily children, 
but adults as well, were brought in to be fitted for orthopedic 
devices. These are young men, children, young women who walked the 
streets and the dusty roads in Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, 
and innocently stepped on a landmine and lost one of their limbs.
  These were not combatants or soldiers, these were ordinary people. 
The wars were over. Yet, for them, the war continued. Each and every 
day they faced hostilities, hidden hostilities in these landmines. We 
rallied, in the United States, as we do so often, to provide medical 
assistance, as we should.
  The decisions of foreign policy that led to those conflicts meant 
nothing to these people, nothing whatsoever. The important thing is 
that they had been maimed and had lost a limb because of that war and 
because of its legacy. Many of us think of someone losing a leg or a 
foot and, of course, in the United States, assume they will go through 
rehabilitation, they will be fitted with some type of orthopedic 
device, and life will go on. But in a developing country, a poor 
country, that kind of injury can be devastating for a lifetime. People 
who once had great potential can find themselves at that point 
relegated to impoverishment, relegated to always being a ``cripple.'' 
We take for granted that they will receive help, and many times they do 
not.
  There are now 110 million landmines in 64 countries around the world. 
The conflicts which led to the planting of those landmines may have 
been long forgotten, but they still sit there, waiting for an innocent 
civilian or passerby to come through and become a victim. The Leahy-
Hagel proposal is a good one, to put an end to this devastation and an 
end to this legacy of war.

                          ____________________