Does Clinton Err on Land Mine Treaty?

Jody Williams is honest and speaks her mind (“A Nobel Cause,” Oct. 16). She is right about President Clinton being a coward for not signing the treaty to ban land mines. It is not true that American-used land mines do not kill or maim. What about the ones left in Vietnam and Laos?

As a world leader and a country that is supposed to care about peace and human rights, the United States should be leading this ban. Instead, we have allied ourselves with China, a nation often criticized by our national leaders.

Ironically, while it is the male leaders of nations who lay out the mines, it is often the women and children who are left with the dangerous task of cleaning them up. With the risk they put themselves through, you’d think our president would be man enough to do his part and sign the treaty.

MARY SHELTON, Riverside