Cluster Bombs

Letters from France
Cluster Bombs
By Robert Thompson
May 19, 2008, 11:17

The Conference now taking place in Dublin to plan a total ban on cluster bombs is likely to fail, because of the attitudes of three countries which have stocks of them and have used them in recent times. These are the USA the 'state of Israel', neither of which is attending, and the United Kingdom, which is present but whose government is probably going to act on behalf of the other two to prevent any advances in achieving such a ban.

Interestingly enough, British ministers are reported to be divided, and the British military is in favour of the ban, both of the M85 type which is fired by artillery and the M73 type which is carried by rockets. According to Lord Ramsbotham, one of the leading former Generals who support a ban, there are technical objections to the use of such weapons, which were designed for use against Soviet armour and have "no place in the type of warfare which we are seeing now".

Among the ministers thought to be in favour of the ban are the Environment Secretary and the Foreign Office minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations. But it is feared that Mr Gordon Brown's desire to please such USA politicians as Mr George W. Bush, Mr John McCain, and Mrs Hillary Clinton has proved stronger than his promise last year "to work internationally for a ban" on weapons that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

As we should all know, troops from the USA and from the United Kingdom were killed during the invasion of Iraq by cluster bombs scattered by the USA forces. The Zionists used the extra time given to them in the UN Security Council, by delaying tactics employed by the USA and the United Kingdom, to leave thousands of these deadly booby-traps across southern Lebanon where they have killed and maimed many victims, mostly children.

Understandably, the Pope has made very clear his opposition to these weapons and expressed the hope that the Conference will result in a "strong and credible" treaty. But it seems unlikely that any genuine progress will be made if the principal users of these vicious weapons either refuse to take part in any ban or sabotage the Conference through the British delegation. The artillery-delivered M85 variety was supposed to be subject to an auto-destruction disposition, but the UN reports that some 300 civilians have died or been seriously injured as a result of this type of cluster bomb having been left behind in the Lebanon.

We should all let it be known that these self-righteous states are deliberately dragging their feet when it comes to banning these weapons, which can only be used by terrorists, and that they should all be condemned for this behaviour.

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