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commentsfromleftfield.com - 12/6/2008

Almost 100 Nations Sign New Ban on Cluster Munitions

— commentsfromleftfield.com — A new treaty banning the production, use, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions was signed by over 100 nations during a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, that took place Wednesday and Thursday. The text of the treaty was adopted on May 30, 2008, in Dublin, Ireland. Here is how a cluster bomb ... (more) Almost 100 Nations Sign New Ban on Cluster Munitions

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Perino Can’t Explain Why Bush Administration Opposes Cluster Bomb Treaty
Think Progress — ... The State Department has acknowledged that “there are legitimate humanitarian concerns” about the use of cluster bombs, but argues that “it is going to be impossible to ban cluster munitions, as many in the Oslo process would like to do, because these are weapons that have a certain military utility and are of use. The United States relies on them as an important part of our own defense strategy.” ...

Clusterwha?
Matthew Yglesias — ... The basic answer is that the US opposes the treaty because despite the “legitimate humanitarian concerns” about the impact of cluster bombs on civilians, “The United States relies on them as an important part of our own defense strategy”. This is a pretty tautological rationale for opposing the treaty. The case for banning cluster munitions is that the use of such munitions as an important part of a country’s defense strategy comes at a high humanitarian price. The US military acknowledges the humanitarian concerns, but wants to use them anyway. ...