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US Used Cluster Bombs on Yemen Civilians: Amnesty
LONDON — A US cruise missile carrying cluster bombs was behind a December attack in Yemen that killed 55 people, most of them civilians, Amnesty International (AI) said on Monday.
Unexploded BLU 97 cluster bomblet in al-Ma'jalah, Yemen. The Tomahawk BGM-109D cruise missile would have carried 166 of these BLU 97 cluster bomblets, which are designed to scatter over a wide area, acting indiscriminately when used in civilian areas. Many also fail to explode on impact, as in the photograph above, but may explode if disturbed, making land dangerous for communities to use for months or years after attacks. (Photo/Amnesty International) The London-based rights
group released photographs that it said showed the remains of a US-made
Tomahawk missile and unexploded cluster bombs that were apparently used
in the December 17, 2009 attack on the rural community of Al-Maajala in
Yemen's southern Abyan province.
"Amnesty International is gravely concerned by evidence that cluster munitions appear to have been used in Yemen," said Mike Lewis, the group's arms control researcher.
"Cluster munitions have indiscriminate effects and unexploded bomblets threaten lives and livelihoods for years afterwards," he said.
"A military strike of this kind against alleged militants without an attempt to detain them is at the very least unlawful," said Philip Luther, deputy director of AI's Middle East and North Africa Programme.
Yemen's defence ministry had claimed responsibility for the attack without mentioning a US role, saying between 24 and 30 militants had been killed at an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp.
But a local official said 49 civilians, among them 23 children and 17 women, were killed "indiscriminately."
AI said that a Yemeni parliamentary committee reported in February that in addition to 14 alleged Al-Qaeda militants, 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children, were killed in the attack.
"The fact that so many of the victims were actually women and children indicates that the attack was in fact grossly irresponsible, particularly given the likely use of cluster munitions," Luther said.
AI said photographs it had obtained showed damaged remains of the BGM-109D Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile.
"This type of missile, launched from a warship or submarine, is designed to carry a payload of 166 cluster sub-munitions (bomblets) which each explode into over 200 sharp steel fragments that can cause injuries up to 150 metres (about 500 feet) away," an AI statement said.
"An incendiary material inside the bomblet also spreads fragments of burning zirconium designed to set fire to nearby flammable objects," it said.
The Yemen parliamentary committee had said when it visited the site that "all the homes and their contents were burnt and all that was left were traces of furniture," AI said.
AI said it had requested information about the attack from the Pentagon, but had not yet received a response.
Amnesty said it had obtained the photographs from its own sources, but had not released them earlier in order to ascertain their authenticity and give the United States time to respond.
The United States and Yemen have not yet signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a treaty designed to comprehensively ban such weapons which is due to enter into force on 1 August, 2010.
40 Comments so far
Show All"The United States and Yemen have not yet signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a treaty designed to comprehensively ban such weapons which is due to enter into force on 1 August, 2010."
Sounds like that must be OK then. I mean they'd never do it if it contravened a treaty. We all know that treaties are the same as laws and we are a nation of laws.
So time to get them to sign up. That way it will only be the already dropped cluster mines that will still be around for as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers flow.
Since when did the US give a shit about international law?
It was satire. As long as the rivers shall flow and grass shall grow" part was the clue.
Bah! Forget all this inconsequential moralistic nonsense.
Wars have no moral boundaries, especially not undeclared wars. In fact, morality itself and its legalistic reflections have never been much more than a current consensus for management of the peasantry, discreetly exempting the contemporary elite from its most inconvenient strictures. Previous absolute monarchies and imperial powers were (sometimes) just a little less blatant about it than their current heirs.
That's the White House for you: makes a mountain of a deal out of the Helen Thomas remarks about the Jews of Israel, but thinks it perfectly normal to throw cluster bombs at people wherever it decides to do so and for whatever reasons.
Is Vincent Bugliosi working on another book? Perhaps something that could be translated to a theatre in the round, Greek style, easily...a real tragicomic exploration of the morality of US Foreign Policy, if it can find any...so it would probable be a bunch of belly laughs through streams of tears as the immoral acts, being the predominate evidence available, will be presented to define a morality that could be...
While I agree that the United States and Israel have to change their policies, I don't favor de -countrifying either Israel OR the United States. Let'em exist as nations, but keep the pressure on them to get out of West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and pull all their troops and Rightwing Israeli Jewish settlers out of their. That's how I see it. Ending the Gaza seige isn't enough. Israel must be pressured to get out of the above-mentioned territories....NOW!
USA out of North America!
I agree: Someone should slice it off at approximately 3 inch depth (so some topsoil with regenerative potential would be left) and launch US into space, preferably into the sun, after everyone who respects ordinary human interaction principles, like Reciprocity, were warned to step off. This would work, because all the nationalist scum wouldn't be able to believe the project could take off, literally. All that's needed now is to work out the engineering feat for the slicing off. I'm holding my breath.
That 23 children and 17 women killed was not a mistake. It was not a "tragic accident" it was not Collateral damage.
It was COLD BLOODED Murder.
It was POLICY.
This is what the Government of the United States does on behalf of the people who elected it under the auspices of leeping "Americans" safe.
They murder children.
*Comment deleted by site administrators for violating our Comment Policy*
see: http://www.commondreams.org/comment-policy
Change you can believe in.
Clovis---
You miss understood what Barry said. It's "CHAINS we can believe in," not "change we can believe in."
It's a common error, really. Many of us made the same mistake.
Wars of aggression, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture have become normal elements of American foreign policy.
Obomber is just another war criminal in the White House authorized by Congressional criminals with both serving corporations and the wealthy elite.
Corporate fascism is the new American reality.
The New York Times does not allow comments detrimental to the Obama Clinton Machine.
Once again the truth is that we are all responsible for this. We deserve the hatedred and unless we hold our elected officials accountable we are fools. Speak truth to power no matter what the consequences.
Peace will not happen unless we make it.
You are right, Kevin Daley. "We are ALL responsible. ... Peace will not happen unless we make it."
Hold that thought.
/cm
murderers
A few minutes ago, I did a search on google news for the terms, "US cluster bombs used in Yemen." Google news returned 515 hits. When I clicked on the links headings that followed, google news only showed a total of 87 actual hits. What happened to the other 428 (83%)? I tried to contact google, but they offer no "contact us" email address. Any comments or suggestions?
Below...the USA National Anthem :
"STAR SPANGLED BANNER".
of course only ONE LINE really matters that describes the "american national" character as it stands in the world today...
it's right where the Melody jumps up, quite horrifically, ugly actually (from a musical and vocal standpoint) ...and most everyone just has to Croak it out, befittingly ....
=============================
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
in 4 verses.
1) Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
2) On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
3) And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
4) O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause. it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
==============
AND THAT line - the only one that really matters characterizing the "home of the free and land of the brave" is :
"AND THE ROCKETS' RED GLARE, THE BOMBS BURSTING IN AIR"...
that about sums up American "National character"....right there where the melody is at its UGLIEST.
An awful song, and wouldn't you know, it was written by a lawyer. I wonder, what if "America The Beautiful" had been chosen as the anthem....
Maybe as a nation, we would have more respect for ALL life and for our ever diminishing and disappearing environment if we had the "beautiful " anthem. Actually, I think it's really the anthem of Massey Energy and Coal; all the "Purple mountains majesty " is being blown up and has turned mountain waters into blood-red mud in our rivers and streams.
Personally I think that people should pay more attention to that final stanza: "Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just." That's a line that nobody is paying attention to, is it?
"JUST"..... is such a lonely and forgotten word.
The droids stand, remove their hats, place hands over hearts, and then sing a song that glorifies explosive violence. Chilly, confused looks abound when I refuse to join the malevolent song and dance.
The capitalists have manipulated the u.s.'s industrial production towards weaponry, greed geared for gore. The tin men abide to feed their plastic families.
When assessing blame, ask a simple question.
Could you assemble these products of pain in good conscience?
i actually saw what you just described in action. i don't mean the standard "crowd salute" whenever the Star SPangled goes up or such public displays of patriotism...
i mean among a few colleagues at work who happened to be discussing "social matters" - as if to convince each other and confirm each other in "our ability to be free in speech and action...by exchanging our views" -- AS IF THEIR purported or imagined "difference of opinion" REALLY were OUTSIDE of the standard "america is the world" mentality.
I was just quiet for a while, not really wanting to wade in...but then I felt a certain "flush" when i heard them talk about how "if only" -- the list of those that aren't so like us comes tumbling out - "others" (both foreign and domestic or according to their notions of what is "american normal") would only behave.....
so - i let out a short burst, with an intended sarcasm to show them the irony of everything tehy were holding about:
"do you know that all these , have you ever thought that all these celebrations : memorial day, independence day, veterans' day, holiday this, holiday that....are all , each of them, basically standing on what MOST AMERICANS (i intentionally emphasized that to give THEM the chance to cosnider whether they were among the "MOST" from what I was about to say) IGNORANTLY or knowingly believe are complete history and truth but actually are nothing more than a set of
CHERRY-PICKED notions in order to ERASE from national and common AMERICAN MEMORY that this country is built on GENOCIDE, EXTERMINATIONS, WAR upon WAR against people who have had NO quarrels with you until your government and corporations inserted themselves in other people's lives and lands? and that all this prosperity and power and with it the BELIEF and ASSUMPTION of americans about it all is based LESS on the so-called american ingenuity and hard work ...than what has been PAID in PRICE by OTHER PEOPLE elsewhere .....in order to make america the power that it is? meaning....by exploiting and america's MANIPULATION of global trade , money, and resources at the expense of others - so YOU and I -- WE can say we "did it all by our bootstraps?"
......of course you ALL know, i am SURE , that america that you all celebrate is really a land STOLEN BY EUROPEANS from native indians. don't you?"
they basically shut up -- COMPLETELY. with an ICY coldness.
and just for good measure...lest some of them or any thought that their PARTICULAR "cultural or ethnic" backgrounds from EUROPE makes them "less" complicit -- i summed it for them:
"IF AMERICANS REALLY are honest , intellectually and morally and ethically....and they wish to talk and lecture about COUNTRY and civilization and how others 'should behave'...they should BEGIN with an acknowledgement , in FULL that what they call "this land is our land" WAS STOLEN from native indians - starting with the man they celebrate:
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS...and everything else that followed is built on THAT:
THEFT and MURDER".
it is quite amazing how quickly sometimes "american patriots" can be be shut down.
of course that makes it all the more DANGEROUS to BE in america...as easily as if one lived under any other brutal regime.
because in AMERICA - far more so than even other cultures - it is NOT ONLY about living "UNDER A BRUTAL REGIME"
it is actually saying the UNMENTIONABLES - while living AMONG americans who , in the majority, SWEAR by the UNTRUTHS of the Myths of American "great goodness".
THAT"s what really makes it more dangerous.
Way to go teddy. You smacked them right between the ears with truth, left them stunned. Most are definitely not used to hearing such talk. They find comfort in shared willful ignorance. Ever wonder how many revel in the glory of the u.s.'s firepower, the magnificence of cluster bombs, the fastest jets, and missiles that are smarter than them?
I don't care for their holidays either. Won't go to parties. Can't find anything to celebrate on those rag waving days.
'teddy' - you're a raver, but what a good raver. Keep having your say.
Where will Al Quaeda show up next in N. Korea, China, Russia, other countries who need their wealth stolen. Did the Israel thing ever get resolved yet? Whew I missed the last memo. I heard they were told to go back to Poland. The Poles don't want them and the Germans sure as hell don't want them. Hey England brought them there at the point of a gun to the heads of the Palestinians so let them go back to England and the Rothchild dynasty where they truly belong.
There'll be Christian al-Quaeda cells in Canada next. They've already been spotted, melting the Arctic ice with subsonic thermoblasters powered by Iranic enriched uranium (and that's why Iran insists it wants low-enriched uranium for power-fuel) to fake global warming as a media-plot against the right and jUSt. The uranium was smuggled through the unruly southern affiliates of Russia into Siberia and across the North Pole into Canada. The proof is that UNEP has issued reports of the Arctic ice melting, although they may have erred on the scale - there's really no danger of al-Quaeda melting it all. Al-Quaeda is getting closer to US and using white people to infiltrate the middle class, poisoning their minds with rebellious notions, like that the Mexican Gulf oil spill should have consequenses for oil exploration, though everyone knows increased oil production is necessary to National Security.
It's a sound theory, as credible as many of the ones the US and Israel are spreading these days.
Al-Quaeda are now training Yemeni goats to be suicide bombers. The only way to secure US against this diabolic plotting is to bomb all goats in Yemen to slivers, with cluster and dime bombs from drones, of course. Then help Yemen with food aid and more military aid. That way all the Yemenis will know USA is on their side. Then erect a few factories producing cheap goods to compete with China, helping all the poor brownies, ragheads and Hajis in Yemen with jobs to win their hearts and minds (particularly the last - living in a country a few thousand years older than US makes them hopelessly obsolete in knowing how life should be lived; they need upgrading to love factory labor). After all, Yemen happens to have coastline to some of the most important water-ways in the world, and need help from US to control them.
How'm I doing? Think I could apply to be National Security advisor next?
Yemen. The 'new' Afghanistan.
The US has been using cluster bombs and their submunitions on civilians indiscriminately since the illegal US attacks on Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.
The US *SOLD* cluster bombs and FAE 'Daisy Cutter' munitions to Saddam Hussain (Donald Rumsfeld was the middle-man) and still sells them to Israel.
Big deal.
It's old news and no surprise that the US, the world terrorist superpower, commits atrocities with little or no thought.
After all, former President Bush admitted proudly he authorized, ordered and condoned the committing of hundreds of acts of torture. Obama, knowing that these acts had been committed, blocked all avenues to arrest and prosecute the criminal Bush and his henchmen.
The US is the single greatest criminal conspiracy in history.
How true the words by Chris Hedges, -Becoming what we seek to destroy, and that is exactly what has happened. Israel and the United States in the same pod as the supposed Terrorists. Both repeating Hitlerian policies. I applaud Helen for standing up and speaking fact concerning Israel, but send them back to Egypt.
Spreading democracy - one cluster bomb at a time.
LOL
And what will become of this??
They will come back to america sooner or later, always happens.
And a bunch of confused Americans driving around in their
SUVs will be scratching their head wondering just why
anyone would want to bomb the good ole US of A
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
President Obankerpetrolclusterbomber. Germans should come up with nice capitalized multi-noun'd nicknames for him. Nicknames for dumb corporatist militarist fascist tools always sound better in German. That fucker's probably secretly all righteous and proud that he sliced & diced all those innocent women and children to death with these weapons, and no doubt sleeps peacefully every night imagining his suh-weet post-White House lobbying gig and how his treacheries have set him and his family in the lap of luxury for life. He no doubt thinks he's the first corporatist militarist oreo to establish a political dynasty in U.S. history. To the American working-class and the vast majority of the people elsewhere around the planet Obama is about as useful as the the skinny wooden crossbars holding up an old fashioned paper kite--just as paltry, just as flimsy and just as pointless.
metal, please, you're not being fair. Those kite sticks have a purpose.
For those wanting a distinction without a difference, Dubya bragged about taking care of our problem over there by murdering people in Yemen. He was like a mafia don. He said it during a State of the Union address. With O'Bombya, you get the same extrajudicial killings without the braggadocio.
Same crime, different style. That's the difference between a Repug and and Dem.
Don't vote for them.
So far, we've heard little from the United Nations, which depends on U.S. funding. Plus, things get blocked at the Security Council by the United States. The U.N. even participates in crimes, such as the occupation of Haiti after the United States kidnapped the elected president (Aristide).
So, it seems there's no check on power but us. And most of the people I know are tuned out.
-TIA
Why don't we know the name of the company, the names of corporate officers, the location, and telephone number of the manufacturer of cluster bombs?
People need to contact them to let them know how many women & children are killed & maimed by their insane weapons. There should be protests at the company gates.