US to stockpile cluster bombs in Australia?

[ensho]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/2011111783832165197.html


Despite Australia having signed the convention against cluster munition, a US base may transport and stockpile munition.


-snip-

When the Convention on Cluster Munitions came into effect in August last year, the Gillard government was part of a chorus of NGOs and governments that saw "an end for all time" of the use of cluster munitions by prohibiting their production, use, stockpiling and transfer. At present, a bill sits with the senate that will criminalise Australian deployment of the weapon under domestic law, thereby ratifying the international convention.

With the formation of a US military base in Darwin, Gillard will effectively make use of certain "loopholes" in the bill that arise from US' non-signatory status to the Convention, and obfuscation of negotiations that are currently taking place for an additional arms control measure this week. Best estimates are that the US forces presently have a quarter of the world's four billion cluster munitions in stockpiles across both its territory and existing overseas bases. The US last deployed cluster munitions during the Iraq War in 2003, despite the emerging norm.

In my view, there's a fair degree of probability cluster munitions will be stockpiled in Darwin, since there are known plans for the US to base a number of B-52 bombers historically used to deploy cluster bombs. It is already known that nuclear weapons will not be permitted onto Australian territory, but a number of the US' naval fleet are nuclear-powered vessels, which will be allowed.

-long snip-

If only I knew then what I do now about Darwin, especially given how little we are likely to ever know about what weapons the US keeps there.
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secrets

[redqueen]

1. The MIC has to be stopped.

That's just really all there is to it.