Made in Mass., bomb stirs global debate

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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/20/made_in_mass_bomb_stirs_global_debate/


Textron seeks to quash cluster munitions pact


The Sensor Fuzed Weapon is a marvel of military technology, says its maker, Textron Defense Systems. An advanced “cluster bomb,’’ it is designed to spray 40 individual projectiles of molten copper, destroying enemy tanks across a 30-acre swath of battlefield.

But the bomb - which is made at a Textron facility in the Boston suburb of Wilmington - violates terms of a landmark international treaty limiting cluster bombs to 10 bomblets or less. The pending treaty, signed by 98 nations last year in Oslo, has been sought for decades by human rights groups, which say that cluster bombs kill indiscriminately and leave behind duds that kill or maim unsuspecting civilians.

Now Textron, with the support of the Pentagon and the State Department, is mounting a campaign to derail the cluster-bomb treaty and write a new set of rules under the United Nations that would make it easier to sell its weapon around the world.

Textron’s primary argument for scrapping the treaty is that 99 percent of the bomblets released by the Sensor Fuzed Weapon will explode in combat, leaving only a tiny amount of unexploded ordinance that could be picked up by a child or hit by a farmer’s plow. Textron calls this capability “clean battlefield operation.’’
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puke on Textron, the pentagon and any congress person that wants this horror.

[NYC_SKP]

1. What's a few enemy children in a foreign land against a thriving US arms maker and our economy?

I wish I was kidding but that's clearly what they're thinking.

:puke:

[havocmom]

2. You said it all

:cry:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Its is not binding on non-signatories and is being ignored by major powers

The treaty does nothing to address the reality that sub-munition weapons are the ideal choice for certain tactical situations. The alternatives are in many ways worse.