Cluster bombs and Hillary's Senate vote

[Ichingcarpenter]

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

[Enthusiast]

1. Kicked and recommended to the Max!

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. I think its an important point along with her iraq vote

None of the 15 dems that voted with the republicans
surprise me.

[Enthusiast]

8. I would like to see all the Democratic office holders make a statement in favor of

reducing the US military footprint worldwide. The mission is too large and far too ambitious for the nature of the threat. It is also counterproductive.

[EdwardBernays]

2. such a shame

It's much cheaper to just starve children to death like the US and Saudi are doing in Yemen... though were's the money for defence contractors in that...

[Herman4747]

4. I tell myself that Hillary would be better than a Republican...

nonetheless, she truly is terrible.

[Herman4747]

6. Cluster Bombs & Poison Gas

Shortly after World War One, the belligerents got together and decided to forever ban the use of poison gas in warfare. For the most part, this ban has largely been strictly adhered to in subsequent major wars.
I can only conjecture that Hillary voted in favor of cluster bombs because she believed that it would help to give the U.S. military an edge in certain conflicts. But there are other considerations of notably greater consequence!! Cluster bombs kill civilians to a high degree, they yield a horrible way to die just like poison gas did, and if they do not explode, they present a death trap for future generations. Their presence expands what is permissible in war, when we should be seeking ways to restrict what is permissible in war.

[Nyan]

5. Thanks for the thoughtful thread.

K & R!!

[swilton]

7. Wow, what company she and Biden keep!

Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu, all of the Blue Dogs!

I don't think Feinstein did a great job in explaining the technology of this weapon - though I applaud her humanitarianism.

Each bomb contains many (some as many as 200,000) bomblets which scatter widely over a geographic area. Feinstein gave the range of .6 mile, more than likely this can be adjusted depending upon the mission. Some of the bomblets explode with flechettes, tiny razor-sharp projectiles that also kill and maim.

This form of weapon was started in WWII continued through Vietnam and the first Gulf War. As of October 2015, 108 countries have signed a treaty banning these weapons.

Thank you for reminding us - there is so much not to like about Clinton policies....Sorry for being so negative about her as a person because, like Sanders, I believe that helps no one. But even before Killer Mike made the analogy, I had thought, no we don't need our own version of Margaret Thatcher.

[Scuba]

9. Yet some still insist she's a progressive. Weird, eh?

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. I didn't know about this until

I started really researching cluster bombs in Yemen and the United States relationship to this terrible weapon

Hillary supporters don't care. about her war mongering ways...... but I do

Graphic photos of what it does to children if you see them are stomach turning ..........but I won't post them


Notice Obama's vote? He chose wisly but then he got MIC id when he became president and even exported the weapon to the Saudis......... through his State Department who was headed by Hillary.

[Scuba]

11. I posted the pics, juxtaposed with Hillary laughing about her "mistake" war vote. Twice.

Got two hides for it. The truth is painful for some.

[azmom]

12. Kick