Patrick Leahy: “let us hope that the Pentagon's pledge today to help lead an international demining effort is a lot longer lasting. Mr.…”

“let us hope that the Pentagon's pledge today to help lead an international demining effort is a lot longer lasting. Mr. President, I have spoken on this subject so many times. I think of when I went to Oslo recently when governments were meeting there to talk about an international ban. And I was joined by Tim Rieser, of my staff, who has worked so hard on this, and David Carle. I met with the American negotiators who were there and had a chance to speak to the delegates and the NGO's and others who had gathered. And I said: I dream of a world, as we go into the next century, a world where armies of humanity dig up and destroy the landmines that are in the ground and when no other armies come and put new landmines down. If we did that, Mr. President, if the world did that, removed the landmines that are there, banned the use of new landmines, we would give such great hope to people everywhere. Today, there are countries where families literally have to tether their child on a rope near where they live because they know within the circle of that rope is one of the few areas that is free of landmines. And the child can play only on the end of a leash like a dog. These are the same places where people often go hungry. They cannot work in their fields without risking their lives. And they often have no choice. And when one of them loses a limb, or his or her life, the whole family suffers.”