Filed under: 2-party system, Afghanistan, alqaeda, ban, Barack Obama, bush, Dictatorship, Fascism, foreign policy, George Bush, global treaty, Ian Kelly, international treaty, Iraq, landmine, landmine treaty, left right paradigm, Mine Ban Treaty, nation building, neocons, Neolibs, obama, obama deception, obama surge, obamas war, occupation, oligarchy, Russia, staying the course, surge, treaty, War On Terror, White House, world treaty | Tags: ICBL, International Campaign to Ban Land Mines
NO CHANGE: Obama Admin Refuses Landmine Treaty
Raw Story
November 24, 2009
After reviewing the Bush-era policy, the Obama White House has decided to maintain the prior administration’s refusal to sign an international treaty banning land mines, according to published reports.
“More than 150 countries have agreed to the Mine Ban Treaty’s provisions to end the production, use, stockpiling and trade in mines,” the Associated Press noted. “Besides the United States, holdouts include: China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Russia.”
“We made our policy review and we determined that we would not be able to meet our national defense needs, nor our security commitments to our friends and allies if we sign this convention,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly reportedly said.
Advocacy organizations like Human Rights Watch had urged administration officials to sign the treaty. The United States is the largest worldwide contributor to the recovery of undetonated mines, which still pose a severe danger to civilians in 70 countries. No land mines have been produced by the U.S. since 1997, when the Land Mine Ban Treaty took effect. The last time American forces deployed the weapon was during the 1991 invasion of Iraq.
According to the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (ICBL), efforts undertaken in 1999 to recover mines “have saved millions of lives through the removal of more than 2.2 million emplaced antipersonnel mines, 250,000 anti-vehicle mines, and 17 million” explosive remnants of war.
Change?
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
November 25, 2009
President Barack Obama, November 24, 2009:
“It is in our strategic interests, in our national security interest to make sure that al-Qaida and its extremist allies cannot operate effectively… We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks… It is my intention to finish the job,”
President George W. Bush, October 11, 2006
“Stay the course also means don’t leave before the job is done. And that’s – we’re going to get the job done.”
“Finishing the job” and “staying the course” – they mean the same thing – you can take that to the bank.
noworldsystem.com 