Generals Al Gray, David Maddox Join Call for Senate to Protect U.S. Troops by Opposing Leahy Landmine Ban

(Washington, D.C.): Two of the Nation’s most distinguished ground combat commanders —
former U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General Al Gray and the former
Commanding
General U.S. Army, Europe, General David Maddox — have joined fourteen other,
similarly
credentialed retired four-stars in an urgent appeal to the United States Senate: “Reject
measures
that would jeopardize the safety and security of our men and women in uniform by
impinging upon the U.S. military’s ability to make responsible use of
self-destructing/self-deactivating anti-personnel landmines and long-duration APLs in
Korea.” This advice is
especially welcome as the Senate may shortly be asked to approve just such a measure being
sponsored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and supported by President Clinton over the
opposition of the U.S. military.⁽¹⁾

In an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott originally sent on 16 June
(see the attached
), the sixteen generals recall the powerful arguments that they and eight other former
top
commanders conveyed to President Clinton nearly a year ago (emphasis added throughout):

• “In our experience, [the] responsible use of APLs is not only consistent with the
  Nation’s
  humanitarian responsibilities; it is indispensable to the safety of our troops in many
  combat and peacekeeping situations.”

• “Studies suggest that U.S./allied casualties may be increased by as much as 35% if
  self-destructing mines are unavailable — particularly in the ‘halting phase’ of operations
  against aggressors.”

• “Such a cost is especially unsupportable since the type of mines utilized by U.S.
  forces and
  the manner in which they are employed by those forces do not contribute to the
  humanitarian problem that impels diplomatic and legislative initiatives to ban
  APLs.”

• “Only the U.S. military — and those of other law-abiding nations —
  will be denied a means,
  through the use of marked and monitored minefields, of reducing the costs and
  increasing the probability of victory in future conflicts.”

The Center for Security Policy urges Senators to heed the counsel of these
five past Marine
Corps Commandants, a former Army Chief of Staff, a previous
Supreme Allied Commander,
Europe (who also served as Secretary of State) and other
accomplished ground combat leaders.
Like their counterparts still in uniform, these highly respected military commanders appreciate —
as should legislators — that the price for doing otherwise will be needlessly to put at risk the lives
and mission effectiveness of America’s servicemen and women.

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1. Every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and each of the Unified
Combatant Commanders has
gone on record in opposition to the sorts of arbitrary, permanent prohibitions on the U.S. use of
anti-personnel landmines that would be imposed by the Leahy amendment. See the Center’s
Decision Briefs entitled Celestial Navigation: Pentagon’s
Extraordinary ’64-Star’ Letter
Shows Why The U.S. Cannot Agree To Ban All Landmines ( href=”index.jsp?section=papers&code=97-D_97″>No. 97-D 97, 14 July 1997); and
New Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Draws Line In The Sand: No
Exceptions, No
Military ‘Chop’ On Landmine Ban (No. 97-D
136, 16 September 1997).