Administration blesses pacts to protect civilians

WASHINGTON—Lawyers for the State Department and the Pentagon called Tuesday for Senate ratification of decades-old treaties designed to limit civilian casualties in wartime.

John B. Bellinger, legal adviser to the State Department, and Charles A. Allen, a deputy general counsel at the Pentagon, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the treaties would not hurt U.S. national security and that U.S. approval would influence other nations to comply.

The long delay in recommending Senate approval -- one treaty, to protect cultural sites, originated in 1954 -- was explained by the government lawyers as designed to make sure they were in the U.S. interest.

"We believe that such close examination is necessary, and allows us to be sure that the treaties we propose to ratify are in our national interest," Bellinger said.

"Ratification will increase U.S. negotiating leverage and credibility as we seek to negotiate other treaties," Allen said.

Presiding at the hearing, Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., D-Pa., said ratifying the treaties "will not change or alter our current military priorities." He said the United States already follows the treaties in practice, but that formal approval would set an example and bolster U.S. leadership.

Casey was the only member of the committee -- there are 21 -- to attend.

Also, the Pentagon and State Department lawyers said their departments were considering initiating a treaty to limit the use of cluster weapons, which often claim civilian lives because their damage spreads far beyond the target and unexploded bomblets can lie dormant for years only to explode when found and tampered with.

However, Bellinger said, "We would not agree to an absolute ban," and Allen said the use of such weapons was "well-established" for use exclusively against military targets. He said a recommendation should be ready for the committee within weeks.

The five treaties include a ban on direct attacks on cultural property except for "military necessity," limit use of incendiary weapons against specific military targets, ban use of blinding laser weapons, establish a postwar obligation to clear away unexploded munitions, and extend restrictions on booby traps, mines and other devices to nonstate belligerents.

Brig. Gen. Michelle D. Johnson testified briefly to register the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for ratification. "They will not have an adverse effect on our missions," she said.

Summing up, Bellinger said, "We set an example to the world when it comes to humanitarian law," and other nations "know we stand for the right thing."

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