Dear Friends:
I have put before you the letter I am sending President Clinton regarding the Land Mines Treaty. This is an issue I believe the Church could influence directly. I urge you to compose your own letters and flood the President with Christian witness on behalf of his signing for the United States. This is a worthy cause for Christian endeavor and I hope you will spread the invitation far beyond this network, into any and all other networks you know and can engage.
Bishop Judith Craig.
President Bill Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20005
Dear Mr. President:
What a thrill for me to learn that a United States Citizen has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At first look, Jody Williams seems so ordinary. She is, however, extraordinary because of her translation of moral and ethical sensitivity into powerful, low budget, high impact action on the international scene. We can be proud of her. Thousands of persons who will be spared the terror of limb and life loss because of stumbling upon a land mine will call her blessed!
The awarding of the Nobel Prize leaves me all the more surprised and dismayed at the refusal of the United States to sign the Land Mine Treaty. To plead the necessity of continuing to place mines in Korea to protect our troops is also to plead for placing at risk a whole civilian population who are innocent of the political and military urges that dominate their country. For shame, Mr. President. How can you and other governmental leaders justify the continued use of a tool of war that has been recognized by so many other nations as too dangerous to justify its use to protect military personnel? In fact, one wonders about the safety of the military personnel not engaged in action when land mines are present.
Frankly, Mr. President, all the reasons reported for not signing the Treaty seem indefensible from a moral and humane point of view. I would hope the affirmation that land mines are intolerable as signaled by the world community in the form of those who have signed the treaty, coupled with now the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, would cause you to re-examine the position you have taken on behalf of the people of the United States. I believe the vast majority of us are heartsick about the carnage of land mines and would be grateful for a leader who would join in promising the abolition of such weaponry now.
Please, Mr. President, reconsider. Listen to your Christian conscience and be bold. It is a time to be strong, as only the compassionate and convicted can be strong. I believe you are such a leader. I watch with prayerful interest for your turning toward the right and leading our nation to membership in that worthy community who have signed the Treaty.
Faithfully yours,
Bishop Judith Craig
Reprinted with permission of the Bishop's office.
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