Clinton Likely to Bar Some Land Mines

President Clinton, under pressure from Congress to join an international push to ban land mines, is preparing a compromise that would bar some types of mines in three years but permit use of others until a global treaty is negotiated.

Administration officials said that Clinton essentially has decided on the new policy and is expected to announce it by midweek, possibly as early as today. They said the White House was discussing final details with congressional leaders Monday.

Under the proposal, the military would be barred after 1999 from using “dumb” mines, which remain active indefinitely, except in defense of South Korea and for use in training soldiers on how to deal with enemy mines.

However, U.S. troops would be allowed to continue using “smart” mines until a global treaty banning them is negotiated sometime in the next several years. Smart mines deactivate or destroy themselves automatically after a specified time.

The president’s decision caps weeks of wrangling between the Pentagon and congressional supporters of a global ban. The compromise is expected to draw criticism from liberals, who want the United States to lead the way to a total ban.

At the same time, it is expected to allay concerns of top military leaders, who fear that a prohibition on the use of land mines in South Korea would deprive the U.S. Army of one of its most effective defenses against a possible North Korean invasion of the South.

Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had made a special appeal to exempt U.S. troops in South Korea from the ban after U.S. military leaders in South Korea insisted that the mines were essential to their defense strategy.

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Nevertheless, in a further bow to the lawmakers, Clinton ordered the Defense Department to speed up its efforts to develop alternative weapons that could perform the same functions as mines without being a threat to civilians.

The major congressional proponent of outlawing mines has been Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who has been insisting on the 1999 starting date. Although Leahy has been skeptical of a compromise, officials said he is expected to go along with the White House plan.

The international Conference on Conventional Weapons declared that the use of land mines should be abolished within the next 10 years, but it stopped short of formally outlawing them at a meeting in Geneva on May 2.

The Pentagon initially had proposed postponing any ban until 2010, but it later agreed to the earlier date.