Adonis Diaries

Cluster bombs usage should be illegal internationally: US beg to differ!

Within days, the US could push through a new law to allow the use of cluster bombs. It is a banned lethal weapon that kills children in playgrounds years after wars have ended.Why Obama is taking this nasty decision Not to prohibit cluster bombs?

Slightly more than two months after he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama secretly ordered a cruise missile attack on Yemen, using cluster bombs, which killed 44 innocent civilians, including 14 women and 21 children, as well as 14 people alleged to be “militants.”  Obama is taking a preemptive step against eventually be called to face an International tribunal for crimes against humanity! Obama had signed a long list of  2,000 “criminal terrorists” to liquidate using drones. About 250 drone attacks have been carried out since Obama took office.

But if we build a massive campaign now, we can persuade other governments to stop the US move and eradicate the usage of these weapons.

In August 11, 2006, Israel peppered south Lebanon by over 4 million cluster bombs, two days before the UN had decided for a cease fire.  These bombs were shipped by air from a Scottish military depot by order of Tony Blair PM.  This is the same Blair whom Bush Junior appointed to head of the quartite formed by (US, Russia, EU, and the UN) to negotiate establishing two States in Palestine.

The purpose of polluting south Lebanon with cluster bombs was to prevent the citizens from returning to their homes and fields! The Lebanese returned anyway: the day the UN voted for a cease fire, by all means available, on foot, on bicycle…and didn’t care for any warning to wait for any official order to return

Since 2006, Lebanese children are being killed and maimed, and funding for the removal of these cluster bombs are dwindling.  Barely a third of the affected land was cleared.

Ahmad picked up a bright metal object in a park where he was celebrating his 5th birthday in Lebanon. It was an unexploded cluster bomblet, which blew up in his face, killing him slowly in front of his family.

Three years ago, public pressure pushed through a ban of these cruel bombs. But now, the US is lobbying nations to quietly sign a new law that allows their use — signing the death warrant for thousands of other children. Most countries are still on the fence on how to vote. Only if we raise the alarm across the world can we shame our governments to block this deadly decision.

Positions are being drawn up now. We only have days until countries meet to send our leaders a clear message: stand up for the cluster bombs ban and keep our children safe. Click on http://www.avaaz.org/en/cluster_bombs_ii_b/?vl and sign the petition — it will be delivered directly to delegates at the Geneva conference.

Thousands of people — many of them children — have been maimed or killed by these bombs. When they are fired, they spray small “bomblets” over a wide area, many of which fail to explode. Years later, people disturb them in their fields or school playgrounds not knowing what they are, and they explode.

In 2008, over half of the world’s governments outlawed these weapons by signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions. But now, shockingly, countries like France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK, who all signed the Convention, are under pressure from the US, China and Russia to run rings round the ban by signing a separate agreement that would allow them to use cluster munitions. Only Norway, Mexico, Austria and a few others are fighting this horror.

Negotiators at the Convention on Conventional Weapons meet in Geneva next week. Most governments don’t really want this protocol and have not said which way they will vote, but they are under severe pressure from the US to comply and will only object if the global public persuades them.

There’s no time to lose — the conference starts on Monday. Let’s call on our governments to reject this deadly and cynical US campaign to legalize cluster killing.

Cluster bombs and land mines were banned because citizens raised the alarm across the world — with victims and survivors leading the way. For their sakes and to ensure no more lives are lost, let’s not allow these cruel weapons back and join together now to demand a more peaceful world.

As concerned citizens we call on you to do all in your power to stop cluster bombs being used. Over 100 governments have agreed to ban these indiscriminate weapons. The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons that will be negotiated in the coming days must align with this ban, ensuring cluster munitions are comprehensively outlawed and innocent children protected.

Click on http://www.avaaz.org/en/cluster_bombs_ii_b/?vl and sign the petition — it will be delivered directly to delegates at the Geneva conference.

Sign the urgent petition to save our children now!