Cluster Bomb Ban: Will the U.S. Re-engage?

In early December the incoming Obama administration will have its first chance to signal whether it will leave behind eight years of “go it alone” foreign policy and return to the path of problem-solving through multilateral diplomacy.

On December 3, government delegations from more than 120 nations will gather in Oslo, Norway, to sign a treaty banning cluster bombs. Those attending—and renouncing the use of cluster munitions—-include Australia, Britain, Canada, France, and Germany, whose militaries are fighting alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Despite being the leading stockpiler, user, and exporter of these weapons, the U.S. government will not send a representative.

Congress has placed a moratorium on the export of most U.S. cluster bombs, but the Bush administration refused to join the global negotiations for a ban on these weapons. Just after the treaty was completed, the Pentagon put out a policy statement calling for the continued use and, if permitted again by Congress, export of cluster bombs for another decade.

Although the incoming Obama administration will not be in a position to sign the treaty in December, the president-elect’s reaction to it could indicate whether he will seek to bring the United States into the treaty during his administration, or whether he will defer to the Pentagon’s position.

When they detonate, cluster bombs cover a very broad area with flying shrapnel. They also leave behind minefields of unexploded bomblets that fail to arm properly and do not detonate at the time of launch. These duds lie in wait, threatening civilians, including children, long after combat has ended.

During the past 10 years, the United States has used cluster munitions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. Because of the weapons’ wide area coverage and the duds, the vast majority of cluster bomb victims have been civilians.

While military leaders say these weapons are needed to fight and win wars, the human cost of keeping cluster bombs in the U.S. arsenal is high. Speakers from Afghanistan and Lebanon who traveled through the Midwest in October as part of the Cluster Bomb Survivors Tour told of losing a child or a limb to U.S. cluster bombs. One of the speakers, Lynn Bradach, lost her son, Travis, to a U.S. cluster bomblet in Iraq. He was a U.S. Marine, working to clear a farmer’s field of unexploded submunitions so that Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers would not set off the deadly debris.

By joining this treaty, the U.S. government can ensure that U.S. cluster bombs inflict no more of these hidden killers on civilians or on U.S. soldiers.

As President-Elect Barack Obama considers his options, congressional support will be a key factor. If members of Congress, particularly senators influential on foreign and military policy, support restricting the use of these weapons, Obama is more likely to sign the treaty and send it to the Senate for ratification. If congressional support is lacking, he may decide that it would cost too much political capital to ratify the treaty over the military’s objections.

While Congress has not considered legislation that would go as far as the treaty would, it has passed a moratorium on the export of nearly all U.S. cluster bombs. In addition, a bipartisan bill that would prohibit the use of cluster bombs in areas normally populated by civilians gained 23 cosponsors in the Senate, including several members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 2006 Sen. Obama voted for a prototype of this legislation.

Action by people and groups across the country will be critical to building support for the treaty. FCNL lobbyists frequently hear that one of the most important factors for senators in deciding whether to support or oppose cluster bomb ban legislation is how much their constituents care about the issue.

FCNL led the Cluster Bomb Survivors Tour through the states of several key senators to raise awareness among their constituents. The survivors spoke of the impact of cluster munitions on families and communities, as well as about the solution: a global ban on cluster bombs.

You can help us bring the United States into the global fold. Contact your senators to urge them to support the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, which will be reintroduced in the new Congress. Inform them about the global cluster bomb ban treaty and tell them you support this country’s joining with its closest allies in renouncing the bombs that keep on killing.

See www.banclusterbombs.org and www.uscbl.org for more information.