NEWS: CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS
(17TH DISTRICT - ILLINOIS)
VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE,
RANKING MEMBER ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
2211 Rayburn Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Tel: 202-225-5905

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, February 27, 2004

STATEMENT OF CONG. LANE EVANS
ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S NEW POLICY ON LAND MINES

The President’s policy on land mines is an unfortunate step backward, not forward. It extends the deadline to eliminate non-persistent “dumb” land mines from our stockpile four more years into 2010. It also overturns our long-stated intentions to join the Ottawa Treaty. The decision to back down on the 1998 Presidential declaration further alienates the United States from the civilized world; we now join China, Cuba, Syria, and Iran in rejecting the land mine ban.

The President’s decision does not even address self-destruct land mines. These so-called “smart” land mines are responsible for numerous injuries and 6 percent of the deaths of U.S. service members in Operation Desert Storm as confirmed in a September 2002 GAO report.

As a longtime advocate of working with the military to eradicate the use of this outdated and indiscriminate weapon, I am thoroughly disappointed at the decision and the closed process used to reach this unfortunate it. The United States has squandered another opportunity to be a leader on humanitarian issues. The hope that we could begin eliminating land mines globally has now been dashed for another decade.

I will now work with my colleagues to draw attention to this shortsighted decision and urge the administration to revisit it.

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