Sen. Leahy’s Landmine Ban Takes Another Hit: General Wagner Urges CINCs’ Advice Be Heeded and Ottawa Treaty Rejected

(Washington, D.C.): Another authoritative voice has responded with devastating effect to
representations by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) about the nature and repercussions of the
anti-personnel landmine (APL) ban he champions in the Senate. On 7 July, General
Louis C.
Wagner (U.S. Army, ret.) — a former Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel
Command —
became the second highly decorated, four-star flag officer within a week to challenge directly
Congress’ leading advocate of this and other dubious arms control initiatives.

Gen. Wagner responded in a letter (a facsimile of which is href=”index.jsp?section=papers&code=98-P_125at”>attached) to a missive Sen. Leahy sent
to him and fifteen fellow top ground commanders on 19 June. The Senator rather petulantly took
these distinguished officers — including five former Commandants of the Marine
Corps, a
Chief of Staff of the Army and a former Supreme Allied Commander,
Europe (who happens
also to be a former Secretary of State) — to task for signing an Open Letter to
the Senate
opposing his efforts to legislate a permanent ban on U.S. use of all APLs. href=”#N_1_”>⁽¹⁾ As the Center noted
on 7 July,⁽²⁾ Mr. Leahy’s testiness presumably reflected a
recognition of a reality he finds
unpalatable: The forceful opposition of such estimable military leaders represents a
serious
blow to the Senator’s campaign to deny America’s fighting forces the responsible use of a
weapon that can save their lives and secure their success on the battlefield.

General Wagner’s letter was sent on the heels of correspondence by General
Frederick J.
Kroesen, who capped a distinguished military career with a tour as the
Commander-in-Chief,
U.S. Army, Europe. Like Gen. Kroesen, Gen. Wagner emphasized the essence of his opposition
to the Leahy landmine: “Our soldiers should never be deprived of any means to ensure
their
survival on today’s lethal battlefield.” As Gen. Kroesen put it: “I just do not want U.S.
forces,
put in harm’s way, to be denied tools that they employ responsibly, that contribute neither to the
world’s current problem nor the resolution thereof.”

No less noteworthy was the withering critique offered by Gen. Wagner of Sen. Leahy’s efforts
to
represent $17.2 million fenced by an amendment he offered to the Defense authorization bill as
more than an insignificant down-payment on the vast cost of identifying, developing and
purchasing replacements for all U.S. anti-personnel landmines and “mixed” APL/anti-tank
landmine systems.

The Center for Security Policy commends Generals Wagner and Kroesen and their retired
colleagues for courageously challenging a position on landmines that may be “politically correct”
but that is tactically reckless and strategically irresponsible. The Center echoes in particular
Gen.
Wagner’s appeal that “the Administration and Congress adhere to the advice of the
nation’s war-fighting CINC’s who are ultimately responsible for the safety of our
fighting men
and women. They have universally objected to the removal of self-destructing
anti-personal
landmines from their arsenal.”

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1. For a text of the Open Letter
, see the Center’s Decision
Brief entitled Fourteen of America’s
Most Respected Military Figures Urge Senate to Protect U.S. Troops From Dangerous
Landmine Ban (No. 98-D 111, 16 June 1998). See
also the Press Release entitled Generals Al
Gray, David Maddox Join Call for Senate to Protect U.S. Troops by Opposing Leahy
Landmine Ban (No. 98-P 114, 19 June 1998).

2. See General Kroesen Rebuts Senator Leahy on
Landmine Ban (No. 98-D 123, 7 July 1998).