US Gives Up Landmines, Except For Where They’re Still Needed

"Some good news on the humanitarian front came this morning as the White House announced that, after years of deliberation, the United States will mostly comply with the Ottawa Convention, which seeks to eradicate the use of anti-personnel landmines (APLs).

The commitment means that the US will destroy its APL stockpiles and pledge not assist or encourage APL use by other states -– with one caveat: none of these commitments will apply to the Korean Peninsula.

The Ottawa Convention, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, was drafted in 1997 and to date, 162 countries are bound by it. The United States, however, refused to sign the treaty when it was drafted, along with other major powers like Russia and China. Although the United States has not manufactured APLs since the late 1990s, it holds on to a stockpile of 3 million mines and, until this morning, reserved the right to use them. Earlier this year, the U.S. announced that it would officially no longer produce new landmines, allowing its stockpile of self-destructing – or “smart” – landmines in its arsenal to dwindle.“* Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola (TYT University) and Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show) break it down.

*Read more here from Joaquim Moreira Salles / ThinkProgress: