FROM OUR FRIENDS AT THE WASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA

URGENT ACTION!
Push for Ratification of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and the Banning of all
Antipersonnel Landmines

The Clinton Administration had promised the ratification of the 1997
Mine Ban Treaty by 2006. However, last year the Department of Defense,
with input from the State Department and the National Security Council,
recommended to President Bush that the US abandon all efforts toward
signing the Treaty and banning landmines.

President Bush is expected to announce his landmine position on
this month.

Please urge the President and your Senators IMMEDIATELY to ban antipersonnel
landmines. The Senators listed below are especially important to
contact.

If your Senators include Sens. Harkin (IA), Dodd (CT), Feinstein (CA),
and Leahy (VT), express your appreciation to them for the support they
have already shown for this treaty.

Given urgency, as well as the continuing difficulties over mail delivery
to government offices,
* contact the White House by phone at 202-456-1111; by fax at
202-456-2461; or by e-mail at [email protected]
* contact your Senators through the Capitol switchboard, 202/224-3121,
or through electronic mail. You can find e-mail links by going to
www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm
Senate fax contacts can be identified at www.senate.gov

Here is a sample e-mail to President Bush:

I understand that your administration is currently determining new U.S.
landmines policy, and the United States may be moving away from its
commitment to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. I urge you to give up
antipersonnel landmines from the U.S. arsenal and to join the 1997 Mine
Ban Treaty. Thousands of innocent civilians throughout the world,
including some of the poorest countries, continue to be maimed and
killed by landmines each year. Our own troops and peacekeepers are at
risk from mines in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The indiscriminate weapon
also renders land useless for cultivation. Almost all of NATO has given
up this cruel, indiscriminate weapon. It is time for our country to do
so as well.

Here is a sample e-mail to your Senators:

As you may know, the Bush administration is currently determining new
U.S. landmines policy, and the United States may be moving away from its
commitment to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Before he finalizes this
policy, please urge him to give up antipersonnel landmines from the
U.S. arsenal and to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Thousands of
innocent civilians throughout the world, including some of the poorest
countries, continue to be maimed and killed by landmines each year. Our
own troops and peacekeepers are at risk from mines in Afghanistan and
elsewhere. The indiscriminate weapon also renders land useless for
cultivation. Almost all of NATO has given up this cruel, indiscriminate
weapon. It is time for our country to do so as well.

Background:

Tens of million of landmines are buried in more than 100 countries all
over the world, with US-made mines in some 28 countries. Landmines claim
2,000 deaths and maim 20,000 every month. What makes antipersonnel mines
so abhorrent is the indiscriminate destruction they cause. Mines cannot
be aimed. They lie dormant until a person or animal triggers their
detonating mechanism. Antipersonnel mines cannot distinguish between
the footfall of a soldier and that of a child. Innocent civilians in
Africa especially are hard hit. In Angola, an estimated one in only 334
persons is an amputee, a victim of landmines.

The 1997 treaty prohibited the weapon's use, production, transfer, and
stockpile. The US had declined to ratify or even sign the treaty for two
reasons. First, they needed an adequate transition period to phase out
the antipersonnel mines they claim to use to protect troops. Second,
they needed to preserve the antitank mines they rely upon to slow down
an enemy's armor defensive in a battle situation. However, eight
high-ranking retired US military men who served in Korea (a country
inundated
with landmines) have argued, namely that anti-personnel
landmines are outmoded weapons, and that "military, diplomatic, and
humanitarian advantages of speedy US accession far outweigh the minimal
military utility of these weapons."

Despite the absence of the US, the treaty has already resulted in a
significant decrease of landmine injuries and deaths, the destruction of
millions of stockpiled weapons, and a virtual end to the transfer of
antipersonnel mines. While the US has supported mine clearance and
victim assistance around the world, we have failed to join with most of
the modern militaries in the world, including our major allies in the
war against terrorism, in ending the use of antipersonnel landmines.

Senators Who are Especially Important to Contact:

ALASKA
Sen. Ted Stevens

HAWAII
Sen. Daniel Inoyuye

IDAHO
Sen. Mike Crapo

KENTUCKY
Sen. Mitch McConnell

MAINE
Sen. Susan Collins
Sen. Olympia Snowe

MICHIGAN
Sen. Carl Levin

NEBRASKA
Sen. Chuck Hagal

PENNSYLVANIA
Sen. Arlen Specter

RHODE ISLAND
Sen. Lincoln Chafee

VIRGINIA
Sen. John Warner

WASHINGTON
Sen. Maria Cantwell
Sen. Patt Murray