Schwartzkopf calls for ban on mines

Washington - General Norman Schwarzkopf, US commander in the Gulf War, and 14 other retired military leaders yesterday came out in support of banning land mines in what anti-mine campaigners hailed as a breakthrough toward saving countless civilian lives.

In "An Open Letter to President Clinton" 14 generals and one admiral asked the President urgently to "take the lead in efforts to achieve a total and permanent international ban on the production, stockpiling, sale and use of antipersonnel land mines." The weapons are blamed for at least 26,000 deaths and maimings around the world each year. AP