Last edited Thu Jan 7, 2016, 11:25 AM - Edit history (1)
The main point: Hillary Clinton voted to let our military continue to use cluster bombs in areas with concentrated civilian populations and thirty Senate Democrats did not agree, despite the thousands of innocent children who have died or been handicapped due to picking up unexploded cluster bomblets.
This vote was cast in September 6, 2006 on an amendment to the Defense Appropriations act by Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Before I get into why this was such an important amendment and why a no vote was so terrible, I just want to post the vote totals with presidential candidates in bold.
30 Democrats voted YEA: Akaka (D-HI), Baucus (D-MT), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Cantwell (D-WA), Carper (D-DE), Conrad (D-ND)
Dayton (D-MN), Dorgan (D-ND), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Feinstein (D-CA), Harkin (D-IA), Jeffords (I-VT), Johnson (D-SD), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Kohl (D-WI), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Menendez (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Obama (D-IL), Reed (D-RI), Reid (D-NV), Sarbanes (D-MD), Stabenow (D-MI), Wyden (D-OR)
15 Democrats and every Republican voted NAY (R's not listed):
Bayh (D-IN), Biden (D-DE),
Clinton (D-NY), Dodd (D-CT), Inouye (D-HI), Landrieu (D-LA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lieberman (D-CT), Lincoln (D-AR), Nelson (D-FL), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO), Schumer (D-NY)
Now, on to the importance of this amendment.
I'll start with Senator Feinstein's own description of the amendment from the Congressional record (emphasis is mine);
I offer an amendment to the Defense appropriations bill to address a humanitarian issue that I have actually thought a great deal about over a long period of time; that is, the use of the cluster bomb. The human death toll and injury from these weapons is felt every day, going back decades. Innocent children think they are picking up a play toy in the field and suddenly their arm is blown off.
I believe we need to take a look at our policies and adjust them. Specifically, our amendment would prevent any funds from being spent to purchase, use, or transfer cluster munitions until the rules of engagement have been adopted by the Department of Defense to ensure that such munitions will not be used in or near any concentration of civilians, be it permanent or temporary, such as inhabited parts of cities or villages or in camps or columns of refugees or evacuees.
And we've been using these cluster munitions in every war since Vietnam.
Why are they such a danger to children? Senator Feinstein explains:
Cluster munitions are large bombs, rockets, or artillery shells that contain up to hundreds of small submunitions or individual bomblets. They are intended for attacking enemy troop formations and armor, covering approximately a .6-mile radius. In other words, their swath is over one-half mile. Yet in practice they pose a real threat to the safety of civilians when used in populated areas because they leave hundreds of unexploded bombs over a very large area and they are often inaccurate. They end up in streets and cities where men and women go to work and do their shopping. They end up in groves of trees and fields where children play. They end up in homes where families live. And in some cases, up to 40 percent of cluster bombs fail to explode, posing a particular danger to civilians long after the conflict has ended.
This is particularly and sadly true of children because bomblets are no bigger than a D battery and in some cases resemble a tennis ball. Children outside with their friends and relatives come across these cluster bombs. They pick them up out of curiosity because they look like balls and they start playing with them and a terrible result follows.
Many countries are just full of these bomblets and many more innocent children will die as a result:
Looking at these figures, it is clear that several countries are awash with unexploded bomblets--Laos, 7 to 27 million; Iraq, 1.2 million; and then Lebanon, 100,000.
As a result, 84 countries are currently participating in the Oslo process to ban cluster munitions (of course, we're not part of this either):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/21/425303/-
UN accuses Saudi-led coalition forces of using cluster bombs
January 6, 2016 10:21 GMT
The United Nations has voiced concern over the alleged use of cluster bombs by Saudi-led coalition forces in north-west Yemen, where numerous air strikes have been reported. UN investigators have reportedly discovered 29 cluster submunitions in al-Odair village in Haradh district, which lies in the northwestern region of the country.
At a press briefing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Rupert Colville said: "We have also received alarming information on the alleged use of cluster bombs by coalition forces in Hajjah Governorate." According to eyewitnesses, many villages in Haradh district have also been affected by the use of cluster bombs, he said. UN investigators have also reportedly found the use of cluster submunitions in several other districts, including Hairan and Bakel Al-Meer.
Civilian casualties
Colville noted the alarming number of non-combatant casualties in Yemen. At least 62 civilians were killed in Saudi-led air strikes in December and 29 were killed in November. On the other hand, Iran-backed Houthi rebels are reported to have killed at least 11 civilians in December and 32 others in November.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/yemen-civil-war-un-accuses-saudi-led-coalition-forces-using-cluster-bombs-1536254
US To Sell Cluster Bombs To Saudi Arabia
The international community is not happy with the United States and Saudi Arabia amid news that they have inked a deal for hundreds of millions of dollars of controversial and potentially unethical cluster bombs.
The $641 million deal would send 1,300 cluster bombs to America's closest ally on the Arabian Peninsula, through U.S. defense contractor Textron, according to a Pentagon release on the contract.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-to-sell-cluster-bombs-to-saudi-arabia-2013-8?IR=T
= new reply since forum marked as read
