Posted on 05/28/2008 11:51:28 PM PDT by neverdem
LONDON — The draft of a treaty to ban cluster munitions was adopted by a group of 111 nations on Wednesday in Dublin after Britain dropped its longstanding opposition to any limitations on the weapons.
The sudden shift by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is under pressure to combat his Labor Party’s declining political fortunes, created fresh pressures on the United States, which had counted Britain as one of its staunchest allies in opposing the ban.
The treaty, hammered out in two weeks of talks in Dublin, had been under negotiation since February 2007. The nations accepting the treaty are scheduled to gather again in Oslo in early December to sign the pact, which would ban the use, production and sale of cluster munitions.
The draft treaty would still leave most of the world’s stockpile of cluster weapons untouched, as the United States has been joined in its outright opposition to the ban, and in its boycott of the Dublin conference....
--snip--
Negotiators in Dublin also resolved a dispute over a section of the treaty that deals with the responsibilities, and potential legal liabilities, of signatory states that cooperate in battlefield situations with nations that have not joined the ban — something the United States had lobbied for energetically.
In a concession to Britain, Australia and other American military allies, the draft treaty contains a permissive provision stating that the troops of signatory nations “may engage in military cooperation and operations with states not party to this convention that might engage” in the use of cluster munitions.
It seemed likely that the treaty would also skirt another potential snarl, allowing the United States to continue to maintain the stockpiles of cluster munitions that it has at bases in countries that plan to join the ban, including Britain and Germany.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That link doesn't include munitions for artillery, including naval, and rockets.
That’s okay...when we run out, we have plenty of tactical nukes to use to defend Europe instead. And as a bonus, the residual radiation will prevent any kids from getting too close and picking up any of the unexploded cluster munitions!
Let’s make new cluster bombs that actually blow the hell out of everything rather than allegedly sit around unexploded and then ask what their problem is with that.
Oh, for a Churchill.
Just working down their list — they’ll get around to banning bullets eventually.
Seriously, all this crap gets tossed out the window the moment those munitions are needed to win. Stupid liberals. They ought to all be arrested for stealing air.
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Republican SecDefs are usually good and apt men, but SecStates are always a pain in the rear. Baker, Powell, Rice... UGH!!!
Bolton needs to be SecState, so he can clean up foggy bottom.
Just saw a great show on the Military Channel in which special forces were trapped on a recon mission during the Gulf. Loads of Iragi troops were converging on their position in a drainage ditch, F-16 loaded with cluster bombs took out the troops within 200 meters of the green berets position and saved their lives.
This idea of limited warfare since the Korean War, is just plain stupid — make war horrible & total — the purpose is to kill people and break stuff so the other side submits and never wants to fight again. Idiots...
WHY do the other countries want to ban cluster bombs? Are they ADMITTING that they can’t make their own? Or can’t afford them?
>Seriously, all this crap gets tossed out the window the moment those munitions are needed to win.<
Seriously, when was the last time we fought a war with the intention to win? These days the goal is to convince the enemy to lower the level, the intensity, of combat operations. This reduces the number of troops required for the operation and financial profits roll in for the suppliers without the general population screaming about a high daily death toll.
The daily death toll is the prime consideration during combat operations these days. As long as the numbers don’t exceed four in one day, similar to a severe automobile accident, the general population can live with it. They much prefer a one, two, or three count though. This would be similar to the daily death toll on your local highway, something most of us accept as part of the risk in driving. Doesn’t raise any undue expressed vocal concern at the dinner table. The same soldier could have been killed driving to work in the morning, is the way we seem to view it.
Airplane, commuter train or bus crashes are always headline news because of the possibility of high death tolls. Can’t have that with combat operations or else the women will demand we get out of the war business. The military industrial complex is a multi-trillion dollar conglomeration and there is no way we want to shut it down. Too many millions to be made in something like that.
The longer we can drag a war out the more money will be made from it. That is the goal today.
1. Very effective at destroying concentrated formations or single combatants equally.
2. They are precision munitions that hit and surround/saturate the area targeted, effectively denying the enemy freedom of movement/protection.
3. They are either impact activated (most) or time delay SATMINES (4/8/24/48 hour duration w/ self destruct capability built in).
4. They cannot afford or develop them so the asymmetrical warfare aspect puts them at a disadvantage while reducing our own risk which of course is a tremendous advantage to US.
5. They really really really work well! (meaning they take out the folks that don't have them, and so they don't want US to either.
The only problem is that there is a dud/failure rate associated with all explosive systems. The published failure rate is something less than 1%. The unintended victims are the ones that either intentionally or accidentally detonate them.
US forces declare every CBU/SCATMINE target site to be a minefield and shares that information with the local population, as well as marking the impact areas/perimeter if possible according to STANAG protocols. Active clearance efforts are begun when the situation permits (unexploded bomblets/SCATMINES do become tools for the badguys-they can recover and extract explosives and fusing devices if done by careful professionals).
God Bless MOLON LABE.
Thanks neverdem, alas...
US cluster bombs to be banned from UK
Guardian.co.uk | 5/29/08 | Richard Norton-Taylor
Posted on 05/28/2008 11:08:12 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022837/posts
Thanks for the ping!
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