Posted on 02/24/2007 9:07:32 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Friday rejected an international call to abandon the use of cluster bombs, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"We ... take the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement," McCormack said.
Forty-six countries meeting in Oslo on Friday pledged to seek a treaty banning cluster bombs by next year, with major user and stockpiler Britain and manufacturer France signing on, Norway said.
"We, ourselves, have already taken a couple of other steps with regard to technical upgrades to cluster munitions, as well as looking very closely at the rules of engagement, how they are used," said McCormack.
"So it is something that over the course of the years we have looked at very closely. We have taken very seriously the international discussion with respect to the threat posed by unexploded ordnance to innocent civilians," he said.
Japan, Poland and Romania refused to sign the accord, while key nations such as Israel and the United States did not take part in the conference.
The 46 countries agreed to "commit themselves to ... conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument that will prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians," according to the declaration.
A number of leading countries, including Britain and France, had previously said they wanted a ban to be part of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, a process which Norway and a number of other nations consider to be a failure.
A cluster bomb is a container holding hundreds of smaller bomblets. It opens in mid-air and disperses the bomblets over a large area.
The smaller bombs do not always explode on impact, which means they can continue to kill innocent civilians years later.
A recent report by Handicap International claimed that 98 percent of casualties from cluster munitions are non-combatants.
Yep, and if other countries want to deny themselves these weapons, they can feel free to.
I have to seriously call BS on that one. We drop cluster bombs on enemies out in the open, and it kills a LOT of them.
I agree.
Yet another example of the Bush being a globalist /s.
Yet another example of the Bush being a globalist /s.
When they hold an international conference to eliminate the use of human suicide bomb vests, and all the Arab countries show up and agree to it and enforce it on their own populations, then I'll take this kind of thing seriously. Until then, forget it, F them. This is just trying to deny decent folks the ability to successfully defend themselves with effective weapons against the worst form of human scum.
From the report:
"Nearly all recorded cluster submunitions
casualties are civilian, i.e. 98 percent. Only 124
military and 59 demining casualties have been
recorded."
Not a large sampling at all. There are more Google videos of AQ getting zotted from cluster bombs then "recorded" civilian casualties.
http://www.handicap-international.org.uk//files/Fatal%20Footprint%20FINAL.pdf
More self-righteous posturing from those overgrown ungrateful teenagers that won't move out of the house and take care of themselves i.e. eurotrash.
No problem.
Ours cause "acceptable" harm.
Next they'll want bullets that won't break the skin.
It makes them about as dumb as the idiots who signed the treaty outlawing war.
I think I saw more than 124 Iraqi dead due to cluster munitions in one day alone in the Gulf War.
...while key nations such as Israel and the United States did not take part in the conference.
Notice that the AFP pansies didn't mention China or Russia attending the cumbia party.
SHHH! They would do just that!
I remember seeing Rummy in a press conference a few years ago in which David Gregory or someone like that asked him why we were using cluster bombs on the enemy in Iraq. His response was, "because we're trying to kill them" or something similar. That's the correct way to deal with this kind of idiocy. We did the right thing in rejecting this stupid idea, but I wish we'd stop with all the pandering.
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