Obama disappoints on land-mine ban

From Voice of the People, Press of Atlantic City, 12/02/09

Last week, the Obama administration said it will not sign an international convention banning land mines, then quickly backpedaled and said no decision had been made. If the United States doesn't sign the treaty, it will be another missed opportunity.

When will this country's leaders stand up and act on the mandate given to them by the voters in the last presidential election to change the perception and stature of the United States in this country and throughout the world?

Our administration could squander a chance to right the legacy it inherited from the last administration and become a morally just and beneficent country. Instead, we could have more of the same, and disenchantment with our country and its people will continue.

Did the people who will make this decision ever visit a veterans hospital and the men there who have been permanently maimed by land mines, or see a child whose leg or arm was blown off because they stepped on a hidden bomb just beneath the soil of a common road or pathway?

What a shame it is that our leadership has not stood up for humanity.

TOM RIZZO
Nesco