EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
- Patent Filing Claims Solar Energy ‘Breakthrough’
- Climate Change's 'Evil Twin': Ocean Acidification
- Disaster Capitalism Strikes as Hedge Funds Circle Near-Bankrupt Municipalities Like Vultures
- Ignoring Bee Crisis, EPA Greenlights New 'Highly Toxic' Pesticide
- Patent Filing Claims Solar Energy ‘Breakthrough’
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
- Climate Change's 'Evil Twin': Ocean Acidification
- In 'March Toward Disaster,' World Hits 400 PPM Milestone
- Ignoring Bee Crisis, EPA Greenlights New 'Highly Toxic' Pesticide
Popular content
Today's Top News
Cluster Bombs and Teddy Bears
This November 5 sees an international day of action to raise awareness of the human suffering caused by cluster bombs. Ten years after a treaty banning landmines, there is now an international process under way to ban cluster bombs.
Like landmines, cluster bombs kill and injure civilians after conflict.
The widespread use of these weapons in Lebanon last year drew the world's attention to that once again. Like landmines, cluster bombs are generally recognised as abhorrent weapons.
Since their widespread use by the USA in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 1960s and 1970s, the public conscience has recoiled at weapons that scatter explosives indiscriminately over a wide area.
The first proposals to ban cluster bombs were made in 1974. Since that time the weapons have been used in some 25 countries and, most worryingly, they are now in the arsenals of 70 states world-wide.
Cluster bombs have already killed too many innocent civilians both during and after conflict.
Through a perverse accident of their design, they seem to be particularly attractive to children - six-year old Abbas picked up a cluster munition in Lebanon last year because "it looked like a perfume bottle".
It exploded in his hand causing injuries to his stomach and lungs.
Many of the recorded casualties are young boys drawn by curiosity to investigate the small, unfamiliar and intriguing objects that are left littering their environment.
If they are not killed outright then the resulting injuries, such as loss of hands or sight, will often mean a life of physical, economic and social hardship in countries ill equipped to support people with disabilities.
The relief of parents that have seen their family survive a war can turn quickly to grief that the conflict has not really ceased, that the violence of the past can still tear their lives apart.
The UK has been the third largest user of cluster bombs in the world over the last ten years.
Despite scattering nearly two hundred thousand lethal submunitions during the bombing of Kosovo and the invasion of Iraq, the Government has failed to produce any evidence that these weapons made a real contribution to achieving military objectives.
After all, more UK troops died from NATO cluster bombs in Kosovo than were killed by the Serb military.
If it is not clear that they have actually helped the UK to win wars, it is certain that they do not help to win the peace. Presented with the opportunity to secure an international ban on these weapons, the UK's response has been shameful.
Although trying to keep one foot in the camp working for a meaningful treaty, the UK really supports the go-slow approach - hoping to hide behind the coattails of China, Russia and the USA.
Rather than ensuring that cluster munitions are banned, the UK actually wants a treaty to legitimise the millions of these weapons that it still has in stocks.
The Government claims that so-called "self-destruct" mechanisms can be fitted to cluster bombs in order to stop them from contaminating the post-conflict environment. The UK has purchased nearly three million of these "bomblets" from Israel - so they have strong incentive to claim that this system works.
Unfortunately, when Israel used these same munitions in Lebanon in 2006 they were left littering the homes, gardens and fields of the civilian population.
The UK's favoured solution doesn't work. This has been picked up on by MPs in Parliament. Two influential Select Committees have recently examined evidence and concluded that the solution proposed by the Government leaves "a potential to inflict death and injury on innocent non-combatants that is substantial".
Despite this rejection, the Government is working to create an international law based on this same solution.
The cynicism of the Government's position comes out most clearly in its response to the evidence from Lebanon and to the criticism of these Select Committees.
Faced with a growing body of data and expert testimony that these self-destruct mechanisms don't work, UK officials have focused on discrediting the evidence not on examining the implications of this for the protection of civilians.
Despite the rhetoric, close scrutiny shows that protection of civilians is rarely at the forefront of Government thinking on this issue. In March this year the Government announced that it had completed a review that had "considered carefully the humanitarian factors" associated with cluster bombs.
Yet officials have refused to reveal what evidence regarding civilian harm was actually considered - it is known that the assessment contained no statistics regarding civilian casualties, nor on the quantities of unexploded bombs left in different post-conflict environments, nor statistics on the areas of land painstakingly cleared by civilian teams and funded out of precious development monies.
It is hard to imagine what the Government's "careful consideration" amounted to.
Given that the lives of real men, women and children are at stake, the approach taken is disgraceful.
It seems to be based on two premises - one which is misguided and the other which is simply callous. The first is a lazy assumption that protecting civilians means putting British troops at risk.
Yet serious military thinkers recognise that this is not the case: in modern war, killing civilians fuels the enemy. The second premise is that foreign civilians do not really count.
Whilst robust methods are used to protect domestic populations against anything from dangerous pharmaceuticals to faulty toys, there is no equivalent diligence when the likely victims are foreign, disempowered and voiceless.
To raise awareness of the injustice of cluster munitions, the United Nations Children's Fund, Development Programme and Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, along with the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, are sponsoring an international newspaper advert.
The advert shows three seemingly innocuous objects - a teddy bear, a toy truck and a necklace - each of which, as a precaution, was withdrawn from sale when found to present a risk to children.
The fourth item is a cluster bomb. All weapons kill and maim and all wars will cause harm and suffering to innocent people.
Yet whilst Government's like that of the UK approach the issue in such a callous and short-sighted way, much of that suffering is still unnecessary, superfluous, indiscriminate and avoidable.
Our political leaders need to stop the empty rhetoric, stop killing civilians, and start taking responsibility for the protection of the innocent and the vulnerable.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
20 Comments so far
Show AllCall the Senate toll-free at 1-800-352-1897 or write an email using this link:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/ban_cluster.html
Ask your Senator to support S. 594, the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act.
Right...
The best congress money can buy KNOWS where their money is coming from.
"Many of the recorded casualties are young boys drawn by curiosity to investigate the small, unfamiliar and intriguing objects that are left littering their environment."
Uh, yes. And this is offered as a reason why the imperial powers should withdraw them from service?!
I think somebody's missing the point. If those future terr'ists can't can't be aborted or malformed while still in their mothers' wombs with DU, Agent Orange, or suchlike, cluster bombs are a great second line of 'defence'. Otherwise, they have to be mopped up later with 'Whiskey Pete' or whatever else happens to be available and best suited to the underlying genocidal purpose.
Don't forget to 'support the troops' and their courageous efforts to defend 'freedom and democracy' for the homeland. Their gallantry is an example to all the world. Gott mit uns.
Phew! Some satire is just too close to how our leaders must actually think. Scary Post Arvy! (I have every belief there are right wing sites this post would not be noticed as being satire....)
@John Freeman: I fear that you may be right. Sometimes I'm at a loss to know what form of commentary might actually have a chance of hitting the target and I admit that it has become increasingly bitter over time.
Israel and its puppet government in Washington love the cluster bomb as it kills and injures more people and helps control the population of the unbelievers.
The Government claims that so-called "self-destruct" mechanisms can be fitted to cluster bombs in order to stop them from contaminating the post-conflict environment
The Government is a very dangerous, parasitic little spoiled brat who will say anything to get more spoonfeeding from mother public.
Find me a national Republican in the USA who either will read, quote and appreciate Bianca Jagger, or who can be persuaded to argue for elimination of cluster bombs and I'll eat your hat.
The best way for America to see any results on this problem would be through our first female commander-in-chief. Mrs. Clinton is not really the best all-around Democratic candidate, but by virtue of her being beseeched as President by mothers all over the world on the problem of unexploded ordnance, she would likely become part of the solution.
Only when cluster bombs are used on the civilian populations of Israel the USA and England will you ever get to see them banned, otherwise its business as usual.And even then they would only be banned if they also affected the elite neo-cons, who cares about the plebs
Daniel David - The magic moment when I knew I would not vote for HRC was during her 2006 public statement of support for Israel and its US clearance sale weaponry while those cluster bombs were still raining down on civilians in Beirut. She didn't sound too motherly to me.
Lets keep in mind why other greedy nations are aligned with the usa like australia's prime sinister John Howard, he loves the fact that 40% of the worlds mined enriched uranium ~ plutonium is being reaped on high profits right from his home country, Dr. Helen Caldicott gave an insightful free lecture in several cities in the us as I got the fortunateness to hear her live.
Daniel David: Hillary Clinton has already taken a stand on this issue. She voted AGAINST the defense appropriations amendment to protect civilian lives from unexploded cluster munitions. (Go to http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00232 for details.)
The fact that such governments, mostly of the white race, use such lingering weapons as cluster bombs, with their built in failure rate, or land mines, which remain in the earth after conflict, is indicative of the type of people who rule the immoral governments and the predominant trait of their kind is that they have no honor or redeeming values. Although it is necessary to keep the pressure on them by shaming them in front of the public, such tactics will not stop their ever continuing efforts to invent new weapons which will cause ever greater damage over extended zones. The only sure way to seed real peace is to get rid of those evil type of people who accumulate power for power's sake, and that means getting rid of all of the corporate governments, dictators and kings and queens.
The world is waking up and a change is permuting the political profile which regulates the life of our species, and total change toward socialism is inevitable. The only significant variable is in how long it will take for that change to be effected. And I, for one, certainly expect that such complete change to a just society will occur during my lifetime on this tiny planet.
Let's speak frankly. The international arms industry, like any industry, is profit driven. It's a case of the industrial suppliers selling to governments who need to intimidate populations they have no control over. Neither the suppliers nor the "users" are bothered by the fact that innocent women, children AND men are ripped apart by these gross monsters of the technological munitions age. Like assault weapons, they kill indiscriminately and very effectively. They just kill the wrong people. It is against American and international law to use these weapons against civilians. 70 senators voted against a bill trying to prevent this. Sen. Clinton was among them. Why did she vote this way? Is it because she, like Bush has the backing of the neo cons? Is Hillary and most of the rest of Congress subservient to those who would place Israel's ineterest above human decency? Ask yourself and better still, ask HER that question!
Along with DU, just more insanity from those who should know better, but don't. What does that say about our "leaders"?
Daniel David and Robert Naiman - As I said in another post here: S.594, also known as `Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007′, introducted by 3 of your Democrats and one independent is just more smoke and mirrors. The title sounds great but it gives the President a get-out-of-jail-free card. S/he can spout the 'national security' bullshit and have cluster bombs used without consequence. Except, of course, there will be consequences for generations of people exposed to them.
More caving in from your 'heckava job Dems'.
All weapons of every shape and size need to be banned - from the smallest pellet guns to the largest nuclear bombs including all chemical weapons. No more fighting. As SouixRose would say, enough of this homage to Mars. Just stop fighting. It's time.
The "right" to bear arms does not make it right to bear arms.
"The "right" to bear arms does not make it right to bear arms."
What?
[Damn...I thought that Amendment was about the 'Right to Arm Bears'...!]
They seem to smirk when they drop those cluster bombs. They smirk when they secretly vote for them. They smirk when they accept campaign contributions from their makers. And, they smirk when little kids, old men, women, and donkeys get killed by them.
A nation that has lost its soul, is lost, and has lost.
Nihilists like these leaders are, are sociopaths who have no remorse or conscience about what they do, they are on their 'cloud' and with their cloudy vision are 'above it all'. Truthfully for me the only answer and I say it loud and clear--is a clear view of the religion of Islam. I have been a Muslim since my early 20's and am 58 years now. The only way to stop this nihilism is with the truth. These people have no clue as to what their end will be nor do they care. If they knew the hellfire was waiting for them, would it matter?