Posted on 05/28/2008 11:08:12 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
The US will no longer be able to stockpile cluster bombs at its military bases in Britain under government proposals for an international ban on the controversial weapons, it emerged last night.
As diplomats from more than 100 states unanimously passed a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs around the world, it emerged that British ministers are prepared to go further.
The government has agreed to scrap the two types of cluster weapon in the armoury of British forces, but it will also ask the US to get rid of its cluster bombs based here, and it will no longer ask for a "phasing out" period for its newest cluster munition - the M73, which is attached to Apache attack helicopters.
Both this weapon and the M85 - an Israeli-designed artillery shell used by British forces during the 2003 invasion of southern Iraq - will now be scrapped as soon as possible. Cluster weapons scatter "bomblets" across a wide area. Many of them fail to explode, later killing and maiming civilians long after the weapons are fired.
Gordon Brown yesterday described the treaty - due to be formally signed in Oslo in December - as "a major breakthrough". He added: "We will now work to encourage the widest possible international support for the new convention." In a statement released by Downing Street, he said: "I am delighted that the negotiations in Dublin have come to a successful conclusion, and congratulate the Irish government and all those involved. I am confident that this agreement is in line with British interests and values, and makes the world a safer place."
Final negotiations centred on the issue of "interoperability" - how far troops from countries signed up to the treaty should "cooperate" with troops from countries that have not, notably the US.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
No wonder Labor is being shown the door!
Such as fish slapping? LOL!
Still waiting on the international ban on suicide bombers, hijacked planes flown into buildings, EIDs, and decapitations on video.
La Pussy?
y gato...
What if we don’t ask before we drop ‘em? /rimshot
“These are ‘Custer bombs’, not ‘Cluster bombs’, I think you misheard.”
“Never mind.”
“What’s the horn for?”
“Many of them fail to explode, later killing and maiming civilians long after the weapons are fired.”
Reinvent a better cluster bomb and you destroy their whole argument against it.
Gato
Maybe it’s time to remove all our military assets from the U.K. and watch as they plead for help when they are attacked either externally or within from the legions of terrorists who live there!
I just read in another article that less than 6% of reported rapes end in a jail sentence in Britain.
What a loser country. They can’t even protect their own women.
Tired of pussified euros. Russia is constantly probing the UK air defenses again. I say we leave euro land to their own devices and let them see how it goes. Russia will bully them mercilessly and the muslims will outbreed and colonize them easily. Great future for the euro weenies. So glad im on this side of the world in the US.
We hold the line for civilization not the EU. They bend over and take it in the arse at the first sign of hostility or things getting tough.
All sorts of dropped bombs never explode. There are some dating back to WWII that are still found.
To use the argument that “they didn’t explode” would mean no more bombing campaigns. So much for Victory Through Airpower.
Its like the 80s all over again. In the face of ruthlessness, leftists demand unilateral disarmament. Reagan showed us the way!
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