Jim Inhofe: “my concern here is that those individuals who are concerned--genuinely concerned--about the problems that exist over…”

“my concern here is that those individuals who are concerned--genuinely concerned--about the problems that exist over there are concerned about damage that is inflicted by these landmines, and certainly I am one of these individuals, are also concerned about the saving of American lives. We certainly should not contemplate doing so unless the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the unified combatant commanders formally change their minds and agree such a step can be taken without jeopardizing the U.S. forces. I also have written a letter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Shelton. This is just in the last few days. I have a letter back from General Shelton in which he talks about his opinion. In his response he said: In your third question, you noted General Norman Schwarzkopf, who has been widely portrayed as a supporter of a complete ban on antipersonnel landmines, has been quoted in an interview with the Baltimore Sun as saying, ``I favor a ban on the dumb ones. Those are the ones that are causing humanitarian problems. I think the smart ones are a military capability we can use.'' Further quoting General Shelton, he said: My view again is that our smart mixed ATAV munitions are critical to our efforts to protect our men and women in the field.”