{"id":113300,"date":"2021-04-08T15:31:27","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T15:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=a8be45fb9ed7ef1d5b60c35a46e2477d"},"modified":"2021-04-08T15:31:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T15:31:27","slug":"biden-administration-slammed-for-claiming-landmines-are-a-vital-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/08\/biden-administration-slammed-for-claiming-landmines-are-a-vital-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Administration Slammed for Claiming Landmines Are a \u201cVital Tool\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Biden<\/a>

The Biden administration is facing criticism from human rights groups after it announced this week it will leave in place a Trump-era policy to allow military commanders to use landmines across the globe. A Pentagon spokesperson described landmines as a \u201cvital tool in conventional warfare\u201d and said restricting their use would put American lives at risk, despite Biden\u2019s campaign promise to promptly roll back Trump\u2019s policy. Jody Williams, recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, says landmines were invented \u201cin order to maim people\u201d and have a devastating impact on children, women and the elderly around the world. \u201cIt is an indiscriminate weapon that has no place on this planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

TRANSCRIPT<\/h2>\n

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<\/em><\/p>\n

AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> This is Democracy Now!<\/em>, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report<\/em>. I\u2019m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration is facing criticism from human rights groups for leaving in place a Trump-era policy allowing military commanders to use landmines across the globe. On Monday, a Pentagon spokesperson issued a statement describing landmines as a, quote, \u201cvital tool in conventional warfare\u201d and said restricting their use would put American lives at risk. Amnesty International criticized the Biden administration\u2019s stance, saying it\u2019s \u201cdeadly and dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2014, President Obama banned the military from using landmines anywhere except the Korean Peninsula. But last year, President Trump\u2019s Defense Secretary Mark Esper lifted the restrictions on the use of landmines. On Monday, State Department official Stanley Brown confirmed Trump\u2019s policy remains in effect.<\/p>\n

\n

STANLEY<\/span> BROWN<\/span>:<\/strong> So, right now that policy is in effect, as you all know, and we haven\u2019t had any discussions yet in the administration on changing the policy. So, basically, it removed the geographic restriction of Korea, and now geographic commanders can decide the use of landmines, which is a pretty high bar. So, no decision has been made, and no study has been done yet.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> So, the next day, on Tuesday, as criticism grew over the issue, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby claimed the military is now reviewing the Trump policy. As a candidate, Joe Biden had vowed to promptly roll back what he described as Trump\u2019s \u201cdeeply misguided decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re joined now by Jody Williams. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She led the organizing efforts for the landmark Mine Ban Treaty, which prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of anti-personnel mines. More than 160 nations have signed the treaty, but the United States has refused to. Jody Williams is also co-founder of the Nobel Women\u2019s Initiative. She\u2019s joining us from Fredericksburg, Virginia.<\/p>\n

Jody, welcome back to Democracy Now!<\/em> There\u2019s a new administration, but, as of Monday, they said they weren\u2019t changing the policy. Then, because of great outcry around landmines, on Tuesday they said they would review it. Talk about the U.S. and landmines.<\/p>\n

JODY<\/span> WILLIAMS<\/span>:<\/strong> Well, as you know \u2014 and thank you for having me back. It has been a long process trying to get the United States to join 164 nations and join the treaty. It\u2019s perplexing, to say the least. The U.S. has not used, it hasn\u2019t exported, it hasn\u2019t produced for decades. There have been multitudinous reviews under various presidents. So, to have President Biden decide now to have another review is quite mind-boggling. And it is, as Amnesty and others said, a deadly and, I would say, retrograde policy to not immediately move back to the Obama position.<\/p>\n

NERMEEN<\/span> SHAIKH<\/span>:<\/strong> Jody Williams, can you explain what the effects of these landmines are and who \u2014 what groups are most vulnerable? Children are, in some places, one in five people who are injured by landmines, and up to 85% of children who are injured by landmines die before they reach the hospital. Could you talk about that, why that\u2019s the case, why children are the most vulnerable, and in what countries landmines are the most widespread?<\/p>\n

JODY<\/span> WILLIAMS<\/span>:<\/strong> Sure. Landmines were invented, if you will, in order to maim people. The thought behind that was if you had a unit of soldiers and a soldier stepped on a mine and got blown up, it would upset \u2014 freak out \u2014 the rest of the soldiers in this unit. It would take more blood, more operations to help that person.<\/p>\n

So, when you think about children, how small they are \u2014 and stepping on a landmine or picking it up has a devastating effect on kids, older people, women. It is an indiscriminate weapon that has no place on this planet and no place in the ground, in riverbanks where women go and wash clothes, areas where kids play. The fact that President Biden had said he would immediately turn back Mr. Trump\u2019s confused policy and is now having another review is very disturbing.<\/p>\n

Mines are being used now still in Afghanistan, also in Myanmar, a few other countries. I think it\u2019s about five these days. But many countries are still clearing the mines that had been laid decades ago. It\u2019s a tedious and long-term process to clear landmines.<\/p>\n

NERMEEN<\/span> SHAIKH<\/span>:<\/strong> And in addition to the U.S., Jody Williams, of course, there are other countries that have refused to sign the so-called Ottawa Convention, which limits the use of landmines. Could you explain \u2014 talk about what those countries are and where it\u2019s known that those countries have deployed landmines, among them Russia, China, India, Pakistan, etc.?<\/p>\n

JODY<\/span> WILLIAMS<\/span>:<\/strong> It is true that they have not signed. On the other hand, the pressure of the stigmatization of landmines has had an impact on their policy, except for Pakistan and India. China stopped producing for export back in the ’90s. Russia has not used them or exported them, either. And this is one of the reasons, when we talk about ban treaties, that they’re so important, is that when the whole world, in essence, is saying that a weapon is illegal, indiscriminate, should be banned, the pressure on countries that don\u2019t sign is significant. When India and Pakistan, when their relations get more tense, sometimes along the border they place mostly anti-vehicle mines. But when tensions go down, they remove them. At least they do that. But they should join the treaty, too.<\/p>\n

AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden vowed last year to reverse Trump\u2019s policy. In February of 2020, Biden issued this statement to Vox. He said, \u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s reversal of years of considered decisions by Democratic and Republican presidents to curtail the use of landmines is another reckless act by a president ill-suited to serve as commander-in-chief. It will put more civilians at risk of being injured by unexploded mines, and is unnecessary from a military perspective. As president, I will promptly roll back this deeply misguided decision.\u201d That was Joe Biden a year ago. So, how do you have then, on Monday, the Pentagon spokesperson defending the continued use of landmines, and then, because of outcry on Tuesday, the Pentagon says, \u201cOK, we\u2019ll review this\u201d?<\/p>\n

JODY<\/span> WILLIAMS<\/span>:<\/strong> Certainly is a contradiction and something that those of us who have fought against landmines for decades do not understand. It was fully expected that President Biden would roll back the policy fairly immediately.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been reading some of the statements of others about it, and Senator Leahy from the great state of Vermont still contends that Biden will reverse the policy. I would suggest to Senator Leahy and others who support banning landmines that they pressure him to do it now and not do another military review. When I heard about the review, I actually \u2014 \u201claugh\u201d is not the right word, but I was, like, totally confused, because it\u2019s been reviewed time and time and time again. How many more reviews does one need to do to know that those weapons have no place on this planet?<\/p>\n

AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> Let me ask you something, Jody. Right now there\u2019s this issue of landmines. The U.S. won\u2019t sign onto the treaty and says it will continue the policy that Trump promoted, so landmines can be placed beyond Korea. And that\u2019s another question: Why even in Korea? And at the same time, you have the U.S. being criticized by so many countries around the world for blocking agreements that would allow countries to get vaccines cheaply. So, the U.S. will not be a part of ensuring the world can get vaccines, but stands there with those who are pushing landmines around the world.<\/p>\n

JODY<\/span> WILLIAMS<\/span>:<\/strong> It is mind-boggling. Again, I can\u2019t quite imagine what President Biden is thinking. It is seriously confusing. Let me say, though, the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines is putting tremendous pressure on the president and everybody in the administration to change that policy.<\/p>\n

You know, the U.S., under Mr. Trump, as we all know, tried to withdraw from every international treaty, especially those dealing with weapons. And Mr. Biden had talked about multilateralism and working with the world community and bringing us back into, you know, the international community in a leadership role. You cannot lead from the rear. If you want to really be a leader, you need to deal with the global community, not just your own. So, hopefully, our pressure will get him to change his mind and ban them now.<\/p>\n

AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> Finally, you deal with the issue of killer robots. We don\u2019t have much time, but we don\u2019t want to skip over this critical area that not a lot of people know about. What are killer robots, and what\u2019s happening with them now?<\/p>\n

JODY<\/span> WILLIAMS<\/span>:<\/strong> Killer robots are a marriage of artificial intelligence and lethal weapons. You take the drone that can fly on its own, at least there is still a human being who sees the target and makes the decision to hit the target. A killer robot has no human being in the loop. They are programmed. They are set free. And then they make the life-and-death decision over human beings \u2014 a machine. Some in the campaign have called it death by machine. It\u2019s terrifying.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has already tested some intelligent munitions that can communicate with each other once they\u2019ve been fired from an aircraft. And I honestly cannot understand the moral and ethical position of this country that it is OK to allow machines to kill people. It\u2019s mind-boggling.<\/p>\n

AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> We just have 30 seconds, but you wrote, \u201cWhy do we glorify violence and war and make peace seem the folly of fools?\u201d<\/p>\n

JODY<\/span> WILLIAMS<\/span>:<\/strong> I think about that all the time. You make a lot of money in war. Peace seems like something for, you know, feather-headed liberals and tree huggers like myself from Vermont. But war is \u2014 you know, it\u2019s made heroic. It is not heroic. It is devastating. It is death. It is destroyed civilization. It is insane in this planet today, where we see, with the coronavirus, that everything affects everything. It is time to stop war. It is time to work together \u2014 together, excuse me \u2014 around the planet for the greater good of us all, is my view.<\/p>\n

AMY<\/span> GOODMAN<\/span>:<\/strong> Jody Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. She\u2019s co-founder of the Nobel Women\u2019s Initiative.<\/p>\n

Next up, the American Civil Liberties Union is warning a lot can go wrong with \u201cvaccine passports.\u201d We\u2019ll find out how. Stay with us.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Latest \u2013 Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Biden<\/a><\/p>\n

The administration announced it will keep a Trump-era policy to allow military commanders to use landmines globally.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1462,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1328,1318,463,17825,204],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113301,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113300\/revisions\/113301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}