1.   But the Western military establishment has countered that trying to ban mines, like trying to ban war, ignores bitter reality.

2.   Instead of belatedly joining the Ottawa Convention to ban mines, we seem determined to walk away from it.

3.   More than a year has passed since Clinton proclaimed the goal of negotiating an international treaty to ban anti-personnel mines at the earliest possible date.

4.   Still, some retired generals want to ban mines, and I agree with them.

5.   The aim of a universal treaty banning anti-personnel mines is admirable.

6.   The chiefs are not eager to endorse an international treaty to ban the mines, scheduled for signing Ottawa in December.

7.   The gulf war commander Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf and the Vietnam Veterans of America are for banning mines.

8.   The majority of countries are willing to ban mines containing less than eight grams of metal.

9.   Until mines are banned worldwide, the United States plans to continue using them, especially in its defense of South Korea.

10.   Others scoff at plans to ban mines, arguing the problem in Sudan is not mines, but the war itself.