Becuase Everything Else Sucks

General Cluster

By Manila Ryce
Published Saturday, August 12th, 2006, 12:32 am
Filed under: Human Rights, World: Asia, War, Terrorism, Society/Culture, World Issues, US Politics

Israel has just requested the speedy delivery of M-26 cluster munitions from the US government. The cluster rockets carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets which scatter and explode over large areas. The request is likely to be approved. In a statement, the US Defense Department said, “We fully support Israel’s right to defend itself.” Pretending as though he was lying to a 5-year-old, Commander Greg Hicks, a Pentagon spokesman said, “These are not indiscriminate arms transfers. (They are done) in the interest of peace and broader international security” and “help peaceful nations meet their legitimate needs of self-defense.”

Many organizations, such as the Human Rights Watch, the Red Cross, and the UN are opposed to the use of cluster bombs. Some State Department officials, handicapped with the unfortunate mark of a conscious, want to postpone the approval of the rockets due to the inevitable civilian casualties they will cause. Anywhere from 1-40 percent of all cluster bomblets do not explode on impact, making them potential land mines. Seemingly arguing against his own request for the rockets, David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy said, “It’s important to stress that Hezbollah operates from densely populated areas in attacking Israeli civilian targets and that Israel, in defending itself, uses only precision-guided munitions.”

Currently, the Lebanese civilian death toll is over 1,000. As reported here on July 22nd, this is not the first time the American government has shipped weapons to Israel while contradicting their demands for peace. On July 14th the Bush administration also used American taxpayer money to provide $210 million worth of fuel for Israeli jets. This was reportedly done to help Israel “keep peace and security in the region.”

source

Related Posts

4 Responses to “General Cluster”

  1. One would think that, if a nation or army Really cared about avoiding civilian casualties, that nation or military would be far more interested in more precision weaponry, namely of the laser-guided caliber. While these weapons are devastating and no where near perfect in their precision, the capability of avoiding largescale “unintentional” killing is, percentage-wise, far greater than that of the cluster-bomb variety, which has the precision of a giant frag grenade. This in mind, would not one question then the so-called concern of Israeli and US military experts in minimizing collateral civilian damage at all, what-so-ever?

    PapaFigue
    08/12/06 at 6:45 pm

  2. […] U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, said cluster bombs dropped by Israel are still a major threat to civilians in southern Lebanon, calling Israel “completely immoral” for using the weapons. Any unexploded cluster bombs act as land mines, and are known to pose the biggest threat to children. So far, 5,000 UN troops are in Lebanon. Annan hopes to double this number as soon as possible, giving Israel fewer official reasons to stay. […]

    The Largest Minority » Blog Archive » Olmert Takes a Short Kofi Break
    08/31/06 at 1:14 am

  3. […] Israel is being criticized by Jan Egeland, the UN’s humanitarian chief, who said their use of cluster bombs in south Lebanon, especially during the last 3 days before the ceasefire, is criminal. “What’s shocking and I would say completely immoral is that 90 per cent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict when we knew there would be a resolution, when we knew there would be an end.” Egeland still has not received an explanation from Israel yet, and intends to launch an appeal for mine clearance money this Thursday at a conference on Lebanon’s reconstruction. Israel has been asked by the UN to provide a list of sites targeted by cluster bombs during its offensive against Lebanon so that clearance crews will know where to clean up. […]

    The Largest Minority » Blog Archive » UN Humanitarian Chief Describes Israel as Immoral
    08/31/06 at 3:05 am

  4. […] Since the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire was declared on August 14th, about 20 Lebanese civilians, including children, were killed by unexploded cluster bombs left by the Israeli military after their 34-day invasion of Lebanon. During the war, over 1,000 Lebanese civilians were killed, many of them by cluster bombs. The number of casualties by cluster bombs increased significantly in the last part of the war, when a U.S. rush shipment of weaponry, including cluster bombs, was sent to Israel. […]

    The Largest Minority » Blog Archive » Clusta’ Crimes
    10/14/06 at 2:11 am

Leave a Reply

Tired of filing this information out everytime you leave a comment at the Largest Minority? Why not register as a user? You also get full access to our forum!

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>