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Observers Praise Cluster Bomb Ban But Questions Remain
DUBLIN - A landmark agreement on a treaty to ban cluster bombs was welcomed by politicians and campaigners Thursday but some questioned how effective it can be without backing from key powers like the US and China.
After 10 days of painstaking negotiations at Croke Park stadium in Dublin, diplomats agreed Wednesday the wording of a pact to outlaw the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who agreed to scrap cluster bombs shortly before the agreement was reached, said the treaty, due to be signed in Oslo in December, would be "a major breakthrough".
The agreement was reached by delegates from 111 countries but there are several notable absentees from the list of supporters.
"We must be clear about the fact that this agreement will be merely a step forward; it must not be regarded as the final destination," Britain's Independent newspaper said in an editorial.
"The most glaring problem is that the United States, China, Russia, Pakistan, India and Israel have not signed the treaty.
"If the largest militaries on the planet refuse to curb their stockpiles of these weapons, what real good can it do?"
Cluster munitions are among the weapons posing the gravest dangers to civilians, especially in heavily bombed countries like Laos, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Dropped from planes or fired from artillery, they explode in mid-air, randomly scattering bomblets. Countries are seeking a ban due to the risk of civilians being killed or maimed by their indiscriminate, wide area effect.
They also pose a lasting threat to civilians as many bomblets fail to explode on impact.
The treaty requires the destruction of stockpiled munitions within eight years -- though it leaves the door open for future, more precise generations of cluster munitions that pose less harm to civilians.
Britain is set to ask the US to remove cluster bombs stockpiled at its military bases on its territory in the wake of the agreement, the Guardian newspaper reported.
The treaty was welcomed by the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations, which hopes it will stigmatise cluster munitions, as the similar Ottawa Treaty did for landmines.
CMC co-chair Simon Conway told AFP the treaty was a compromise but nonetheless "incredibly strong".
"We're going to end up with a strong treaty that prohibits every cluster bomb that's ever been used, with no transition periods, with strong obligations on clearance and particularly strong obligations on victim assistance," he said.
Hildegarde Vansintjan, advocacy officer for disability campaigners Handicap International, said the convention made states responsible for providing assistance to cluster bomb victims.
The treaty "would be a real step forward for the people suffering from cluster munitions all over the world," she told AFP.
The cluster munitions ban process, started by Norway in February 2007, took the same path as the 1997 Ottawa Treaty by going outside the United Nations to avoid vetoes and seal a swift pact.
© 2008 Agence France Presse
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Show AllI wonder how the US will 'spin' the British abandonment of cluster bomb use, hmmmm.
That's a lot of $$$$ not being sent our way!
"While the United States shares the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin, cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility," said Casey.
Military utility? Just like mustard gas, Sarin, anthrax and Bubonic plague: DDTT - Darned Deadly To Toddlers!
Unfortunately, the clause that would have prohibited joint operations with nations that continue to use cluster bombs was removed from the treaty. The U.S. and NATO allies opposed that idea on the grounds it would complicate joint peacekeeping(sic) operations. Instead there is a provision that says signatories "may engage in military cooperation and operations".
The United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan did not participate in the discussions.
Bush may be dead set against any ban of cluster bombs, but based on his management of the Iraq war and the US economy he sure must be a fan of cluster **cks.
Yet again, sadly, the US is lagging behind on a vital human rights issue. There is something seriously, appallingly wrong when the world's most ostentatiously religious Christian nation, as proclaimed by the conservatives, refuses to ban these brutal, unnecessary weapons. Go to Laos and Cambodia and see the carnage still taking place more than 30 years after Dr Kissenger's secret bombing campaign and tell me that Jesus would approve. How the unctuous conservative politicians and preachers can justify this is utterly beyond comprehension. If Jesus knew what he was talking about, and if there is a Hell, surely they will end up there.
@Arvy May 28th, 2008 6:44 pm
"The United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan did not participate in the discussions."
Uuugh... I needed to know that. I just knew that somehow I was somehow being unrealistically optimistic. So ... no one is now going to use cluster bombs, except those who already use them the most.
Yes, Presence, I've long thought that Bush is an antisocial personality. By the time he was elected he had already committed more felonies than most people in prison. But it's not just Bush. Hillary Clinton voted not to restrict cluster bomb use in civilian-populated areas, and Bill refused to join the landmines treaty. There are lots of Americans who work designing and building these horrific devices, and thousands more who drop them on people while doing what we euphemistically call "serving their country." And there are hundreds of millions who just don't care enough to inform themselves, sign petitions, write to congresspeople or consider the issue in their voting choices.
Shame on Bush. Not that he gives a damn...
It's a beginning, it's a beginning.
braithwa842 May 29th, 2008 4:02 am -- "@Arvy ... Uuugh… I needed to know that."
Sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings. But the main article, when initially posted, was very brief and omitted some important details.
Oh, please. A collection of Lilliputans, a majority of whom can only dream of being able to use a cluster weapon, got together and signed a little piece of paper demanding that the real militaries of the world destroy an advanced weapon system to make everyone feel all warm and fuzzy inside. They got Britain. This means they convinced only one nation with a modern military and the ability to project military power to sign onto their scheme. I know you all feel good and moral and all upright but your precious document is international comedy. The nations that let you borrow their teeth and fangs to enforce your little bans and demands are laughing at you. Jolly good show.