I don’t think it’s too much to ask of Presidential candidates that they support a few simple basic moral values. For instance, I think it’s reasonable to expect that politicians who run for President of the United States do not support dropping cluster bombs on areas of concentrated civilian populations, and then leaving unexploded cluster bombs behind for children to pick up and play with until they explode.
I think that’s reasonable, but many United States Senators who plan on running for President in 2008 disagree with me. They actually voted in favor of dropping cluster bombs on civilian neighborhoods. They voted in favor of leaving unexploded cluster bomblets around for children to find.
This is not a joke. It’s not a satire. It’s not some kind of dark political absurdist play on words. 70 United States Senators, including many prospective candidates for President of the United States of America in 2008 actually voted in favor of this.
Here’s what happened. This month, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy and California Senator Diane Feinstein introduced an amendment to a military budget bill that would have placed a moratorium on the use, purchase, or sales of cluster bombs by the United States military until the military develops adopts a guideline that ensures that cluster bombs will not be dropped on areas of concentrated civilian populations by our military or by the militaries of the countries that we sell cluster bombs to.
That sounds reasonable, right? After all, 40 percent of the smaller bombs that cluster bombs contain typically land unexploded. Those bomblets lie there just waiting for someone to drive over them with a car, hit them with a plow, or play with them as toys. Yes, toys. Children pick up cluster bomblets all the time because they look like they’d be fun to play with. Then, the bomblets explode, killing or maiming the children.
Right now, in Iraq, there are an estimated 1.2 million such unexploded bomblets waiting for a child to come pick them up. Imagine how we Americans would feel if we were told that there were 1.2 million unexploded bombs in our nation’s neighborhoods. Why would anyone say that it’s okay for us to spread that many bombs in the civilian neighborhoods of another country?
I don’t get it. To me, this is a straight-forward moral issue. However, some other people don’t see it that way. Only 30 United States Senators voted in favor of the Leahy-Feingold amendment to put a moratorium on the use of cluster bombs against civilian neighborhoods.
How did the senators who are considered likely presidential candidates vote?
First, let’s consider the Democratic candidates for President in 2008:
In Favor Of Exposing Children to Cluster Bombs:
Evan Bayh
Joseph Biden
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
Against Exposing Children to Cluster Bombs:
Barbara Boxer
Russ Feingold
John Kerry
Barack Obama
Now, on to the Republican candidates for President in 2008:
In Favor Of Exposing Children to Cluster Bombs:
George Allen
Sam Brownback
Bill Frist
Chuck Hagel
John McCain
Against Exposing Children to Cluster Bombs:
Not a single Republican in the United States Senate had the decency to vote against continuing to drop cluster bombs where children play. Is that what they call moral values?
I know it’s hard to believe that any American senator would degrade themselves to vote against such a clearly necessary amendment. But go ahead, and look at the roll call vote for yourself.
As far as I see it, the senators who voted in favor of continuing to drop cluster bombs on civilian neighborhoods, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, are simply not morally qualified to be President of the United States. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Wow… That’s really a new low…
Not to mention emphasis on how stupid it is to use weapons that you then lose.
I googled it just because it sounds like a cry for empathy and pity to say children are common victims, but sure enough:
“Children, who are sometimes attracted to the bomblets’ bright colors and interesting shapes, represent a high percentage of victims.”
Also:
“According to a recent study by the Red Cross, children in Kosovo are five times more likely to be killed or injured by a NATO-dropped unexploded cluster bomb than by a Serbian landmine.”
(Source: http://www.itvs.org/bombies/bombs.html)
Also quotes from there:
- …Even a single fragment hitting somewhere else in the body can rupture the spleen, or cause the intestines to explode.
- …Cluster bombs disperse widely and are difficult to target precisely, they are especially dangerous when used near civilian areas.
- With a high dud rate estimated to be 10 to 30 percent, unexploded cluster bombs lay on the [and] can explode at the slightest touch.
- They have proven to be a serious, long-lasting threat, especially to civilians, but also to soldiers, peacekeepers and bomb clearance experts.
- In Laos, nearly every day people are still being killed from bombs dropped 30 years ago.
Oops, put “ground” back in before the “[and]“…
But still. Pretty horrible weapon. Check out the site, there’s more.
“The B1 bomber can carry enough cluster bombs to turn an area the size of 350 football fields into a killing zone.”