Bush Administration and Hillary Clinton Refuse to Ban Cluster Bombs
Cluster bombs, like land mines, kill and maim innocent civilians. Ask the Iraqis. Iraqi deaths and injuries from US cluster bombs, long after Bush's invasion and during the Bush occupation of Iraq, understandably inflamed Iraqi hostility towards the US.
A report in USAToday in 2003 stated, "The Pentagon presented a misleading picture during the war of the extent to which cluster weapons were being used and of the civilian casualties they were causing. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on April 25, six days before President Bush declared major combat operations over, that the United States had used 1,500 cluster weapons and caused one civilian casualty. It turns out he was referring only to cluster weapons dropped from the air, not those fired by U.S. ground forces.
"In fact, the United States used 10,782 cluster weapons, according to the declassified executive summary of a report compiled by U.S. Central Command, which oversaw military operations in Iraq. Centcom sent the figures to the Joint Chiefs in response to queries from USA TODAY and others, but details of the report remain secret."
According to an article last summer in IPS News, "With a history stretching back to World War Two, cluster bombs in their current form were first used as a part of the anti-guerrilla campaign during the Vietnam War. The United States first used the weapon during the Indochina War, dropping more than 82 million bomblets on Vietnam between 1961 and 1973 in cities including the capital, Hanoi.
"The cluster bomb duds from this war more than 30 years ago continue to be found in 43 of the 65 provinces in Vietnam. The U.S. also dropped cluster bombs on Laos and Cambodia to similarly devastating effect.
"Since the Vietnam War, the U.S. has used cluster bombs against Iraqi forces in Kuwait in 1991, in the former Yugoslavia during NATO operations in 1999 and in Afghanistan in 2001. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq the U.S. fired rockets, missiles and bombs that scattered more than 2 million cluster submunitions around the country, including major population centers like Baghdad. The original deluge of bomblets killed hundreds of Iraqis and maimed thousands more."
At a world conference in Wellington, New Zealand today on cluster bombs, most of 122 nations represented supported a draft banning these weapons that will culminate in a treaty in Dublin in May of this year.
However, via CommonDreams, AFP reports, "...major countries such as China, Russia and the United States — the main manufacturers of the munitions — remain opposed to an outright ban and did not attend the meeting.
"The declaration says cluster bombs cause unacceptable harm to civilians and their use, production and transfer must be banned. It calls for a framework so that survivors of cluster bombs are provided with care and rehabilitation.
"New Zealand Defence Minister Phil Goff said he expected more of the states present at the meeting to eventually endorse the draft by the meeting in May."
The warmongering Bush administration opposes an outright ban on these deadly cluster bombs and did not attend the conference.
This is a repeat of the United States' refusal to sign the treaty banning land mines which 129 other nations have already ratified.
As David Rees writes, "Cluster bombs and landmines are particularly terrifying weapons that wreak havoc on communities trying to recover from war. They are fatal impediments to reconstruction and rehabilitation of agricultural land; they destroy valuable livestock; they disable otherwise productive members of society; they maim or kill children trying to salvage them for scrap metal.
"...But in the autumn of 2006, there was a chance to take a step in the right direction: Senate Amendment No. 4882, an amendment to a Pentagon appropriations bill that would have banned the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas. [My note: Sen Amdt No.4882 link]
"Senator Obama of Illinois voted IN FAVOR of the ban.
"Senator Clinton of New York voted AGAINST the ban.
"Analysts say Clinton did not want to risk appearing "soft on terror," as it would have harmed her electibility."
Senator Clinton's triangulating, finger-in-the-wind vote against banning cluster bombs may have harmed her electibility anyway because she voted against humanity and human rights and for the continued killing and maiming of innocent people, including children, by cluster bombs.
A report in USAToday in 2003 stated, "The Pentagon presented a misleading picture during the war of the extent to which cluster weapons were being used and of the civilian casualties they were causing. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on April 25, six days before President Bush declared major combat operations over, that the United States had used 1,500 cluster weapons and caused one civilian casualty. It turns out he was referring only to cluster weapons dropped from the air, not those fired by U.S. ground forces.
"In fact, the United States used 10,782 cluster weapons, according to the declassified executive summary of a report compiled by U.S. Central Command, which oversaw military operations in Iraq. Centcom sent the figures to the Joint Chiefs in response to queries from USA TODAY and others, but details of the report remain secret."
According to an article last summer in IPS News, "With a history stretching back to World War Two, cluster bombs in their current form were first used as a part of the anti-guerrilla campaign during the Vietnam War. The United States first used the weapon during the Indochina War, dropping more than 82 million bomblets on Vietnam between 1961 and 1973 in cities including the capital, Hanoi.
"The cluster bomb duds from this war more than 30 years ago continue to be found in 43 of the 65 provinces in Vietnam. The U.S. also dropped cluster bombs on Laos and Cambodia to similarly devastating effect.
"Since the Vietnam War, the U.S. has used cluster bombs against Iraqi forces in Kuwait in 1991, in the former Yugoslavia during NATO operations in 1999 and in Afghanistan in 2001. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq the U.S. fired rockets, missiles and bombs that scattered more than 2 million cluster submunitions around the country, including major population centers like Baghdad. The original deluge of bomblets killed hundreds of Iraqis and maimed thousands more."
At a world conference in Wellington, New Zealand today on cluster bombs, most of 122 nations represented supported a draft banning these weapons that will culminate in a treaty in Dublin in May of this year.
However, via CommonDreams, AFP reports, "...major countries such as China, Russia and the United States — the main manufacturers of the munitions — remain opposed to an outright ban and did not attend the meeting.
"The declaration says cluster bombs cause unacceptable harm to civilians and their use, production and transfer must be banned. It calls for a framework so that survivors of cluster bombs are provided with care and rehabilitation.
"New Zealand Defence Minister Phil Goff said he expected more of the states present at the meeting to eventually endorse the draft by the meeting in May."
The warmongering Bush administration opposes an outright ban on these deadly cluster bombs and did not attend the conference.
This is a repeat of the United States' refusal to sign the treaty banning land mines which 129 other nations have already ratified.
As David Rees writes, "Cluster bombs and landmines are particularly terrifying weapons that wreak havoc on communities trying to recover from war. They are fatal impediments to reconstruction and rehabilitation of agricultural land; they destroy valuable livestock; they disable otherwise productive members of society; they maim or kill children trying to salvage them for scrap metal.
"...But in the autumn of 2006, there was a chance to take a step in the right direction: Senate Amendment No. 4882, an amendment to a Pentagon appropriations bill that would have banned the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas. [My note: Sen Amdt No.4882 link]
"Senator Obama of Illinois voted IN FAVOR of the ban.
"Senator Clinton of New York voted AGAINST the ban.
"Analysts say Clinton did not want to risk appearing "soft on terror," as it would have harmed her electibility."
Senator Clinton's triangulating, finger-in-the-wind vote against banning cluster bombs may have harmed her electibility anyway because she voted against humanity and human rights and for the continued killing and maiming of innocent people, including children, by cluster bombs.
Posted by Kaz at 2/22/2008 3:35 PM 
Categories: Clinton, Military, Bush, Global Engagement, Foreign Policy, Bushites
Categories: Clinton, Military, Bush, Global Engagement, Foreign Policy, Bushites
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