US WON’T PARTICIPATAE AS CLUSTER BOMB BAN SIGNED

COMMENTARY ARCHIVES, 4 Dec 2008

News from Antiwar.com

Most of the world’s nations met today in Oslo, Norway to sign a treaty banning the use, stockpile, transfer, and manufacture of cluster munitions. Among those agreeing to the ban were most NATO members, including Britain, France, Germany, and Australia. Conspicuously absent were Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and the world’s largest manufacturer of such weapons, the United States.

The US State Department defended the decision, claiming that signing the ban would put US soldiers at risk. The US has been at the center of most recent high profile cluster munitions uses. During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the United States littered the Afghan countryside with cluster munitions. Making matters worse, they dropped food aid for the civilian populace in packages the same color and of similar appearance to the bomblets. The Pentagon eventually decided to change the color of the food packages, but the incident proved a major embarrassment for the invasion forces. Afghanistan announced today that it would become a last-minute surprise signatory to the ban.

Perhaps even more noteworthy, the United States rushed a shipment of cluster munitions to Israel during its 2006 invasion of Southern Lebanon, which the Israeli military proceeded to scatter around hundreds of locations in Lebanon in the waning days of the war, in a move they insisted was “self defense.” The bomblets have continued to kill and maim civilians and foreigners dispatched to aid in their clean-up for the past two years.

International outrage over this use, perhaps more than any other, was the catalyst for today’s ban. How much value the treaty will have without the weapon’s largest users remains to be seen.

GO TO ORIGINAL

Share this article: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Comments are closed.