What the people quoted in Kovacs' column seem unaware of is the
reason that this ad is directed to the US. For the last twenty
years the US has, through the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II
administrations, refused to join in any of the international
resolutions against the use, manufacture, or sale of land mines. In
this respect it has few peers. If memory serves, that short list is
made up of ideologically similar places such as Syria, Libya, and
North Korea. (And my failing memory may be leading me to malign
Syria.)
The reason cited in the halls of Congress for the last twenty years
comes out of the Pentagon. Without land mines, we can't guarantee
the safety of the Korean DMZ. Therefore the US is doing what it can
to keep the use of land mines from becoming illegal in the
international stage. It's only coincidence that we also sell the
suckers to other countries.
That this state of affairs persists is one thing that sickens me
about both parties, and all the mentioned presidents. Even if this
was a case of Congress overriding presidential action, the bully
pulpit should be in use to make the American public aware of that
fact. Instead, most of the people in this country who don't
actually read the news are unaware of the stirling company we are
keeping in this area of international relations, and can't
understand why anyone else in the world would be giving this
country the hairy eyeball.
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