US Signals Intention to Eliminate Its Land Mines, Join Treaty
Couldn't possibly happen under President McCain or President Rmoney.
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/24504-us-signals-intention-to-eliminate-its-land-mines-join-treaty
The U.S. military will not be expanding its land mine stockpile and aims to eventually eliminate its entire supply so that it can accede to the Ottawa Convention, a 15-year-old international treaty on mines, the White House announced Friday.
The move comes after persistent criticism of Washington for failing to sign the treaty, a mine-ban agreement that currently has 161 signatories. The U.S.’s refusal to join their ranks puts the country on a list that also includes Burma, North Korea and Uzbekistan.
The U.S. has one of the world’s largest stockpiles, with the number of the military’s land mines estimated at upwards of 10 million.
Some 4,000 people around the world are killed or lose a limb to land mines every year, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Eighty percent of the world’s nations have ratified or acceded to the Ottawa Convention. The U.S. is alone among Western states in holding out against the agreement.
Previous statements by Barack Obama’s administration went only as far as saying it would study the treaty's provisions. Friday’s announcement is the strongest indication yet that the U.S. will belatedly join the ban.
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