CLINTON HYPOCRISY ON LAND MINES

  ______
 

  HON. GEORGE MILLER

  of california

  in the house of representatives

  Thursday, July 1, 1999

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, the Contra Costa Times,
my hometown newspaper in the East Bay of San Francisco, got it right
today when they took the President to task on the issue of land mines.
``Hypocrisy on Land Mines, an editorial, points out that while
President Clinton is now giving his compassion and his warnings of
safety to returning Kosovar refugees because their homeland is wired
full of land mines, it was the same President Clinton who refused to
sign the international treaty to ban land mines two years ago. Over 100
other nations signed the treaty and the United States should have taken
the lead to see this treaty enacted and enforced. Instead, all the
United States can do now is hope that not too many Kosovar refugees
have their limbs blown off as they venture home after the war.
  Tens of thousands of civilians are killed by land mines around the
world every year. The world needs America's leadership to bring an end
to this cruel form of warfare where the main victims, in fact, are
civilians. I commend the editorial below to my colleagues and to my
President.

  [From Contra Costa Times, July 1, 1999]

  Hypocrisy on Land Mines
[article text]