Although a leading supporter of mine clearance and donations, the United States has not yet signed the Land Mine Treaty. When attending the Ottawa Convention in 1997, The United States stated that it would sign the treaty under the following conditions:
1) The US be allowed to continue mine use on the North and South Korean border
2) The US be allowed to use mine delivery systems that involve both anti-tank and antipersonnel mines. Anti personnel and anti tank mines used together are called "mixed systems". The US requested both the Clinton Administration and the Bush administration did little to advance the goals of the Landmine Treaty. Clinton received pressure from Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to sign the treaty. These two Senators introduced the Landmine Elimination Act of 1997.
President Bush received pressure to sign the treaty from 124 House members who wrote him a letter recommending that the USA redirect its current policy on landmine's so that it works toward a total elimination.
Ultimately, neither administration did much for this cause. It will undoubtedly be left in the hands of our future president, whoever that may be.
STATISTICS:
- The United States is currently the 3rd largest stockpiler of AP mines (10.4 million of them!) behind China and Russia.
- In 2004, the US released a statement saying that antipersonnel mines are essential and important to protecting our troops around the world.
- Although the US has not produced any mines since 1997, a new landmine policy announced in 2004 stated, “The United States will continue to develop non-persistent ("smart") anti-personnel and anti-tank landmines.”
- According to budget documents released in February 2005, the Pentagon is requesting $688 million for research on, and $1.08 billion for the production of, new landmine systems between fiscal years 2006 and 2011.