Comments on: “Every War Must End”

By: Mike 71

Mike 71 — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:33:56 +0000

Almost all of the signatories to the cluster-bomb munitions ban are not currently at war! The three nations mentioned which did not sign the treaty are all at war and most of their opponents are also using cluster munitions, eg. Hezbollah and Israel. If those three nations agree to the cluster munitions ban, what assurances are there that the forces at war with them would also comply with the ban? In asymmetrical warfare, insurgent forces do not comply with the rules of the Geneva Conventions on banned weapons. Will there be reciprocity in these wars? The U.S. does not use I.E.D., or E.F.P. munitions in Iraq or Afghanistan, yet they are used against American troops. Shouldn’t those munitions also be banned and shouldn’t such bans also be applied reciprocally to all combatants?

By: Chuck Palazzo

Chuck Palazzo — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:24:55 +0000

More on the topic of countries effected:

Statistics are useful although comparisons are sometimes taken out of context, which is not my intent here, because it’s absolutely true that Lao PDR was the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita — given Laos’s relatively small population of about 6 million by current estimates.

However, it’s quite possible that the situation in Vietnam is even more dangerous simply because of the huge difference in population density — 86 million Vietnamese occupying a fairly small area of highly contaminated lands, so there is likely a higher level of possible exposure just because there are so many more people moving around, thus many more accidents waiting to happen.

By: Chuck Searcy

Chuck Searcy — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:05:27 +0000

LOB: A “school yard” incident occurred here earlier this year, although it was not a cluster bomb but another piece of ordnance. Luckily, no one was hurt, but it was a close call by five minutes. The link is:

http://www.landmines.org.vn/news/news_3.html

Post-war ordnance explodes in Quang Tri school yard
27-01-2010)
Dong Ha, Quang Tri, 27 Jan 2010 – A Wednesday afternoon explosion of wartime ordnance in a middle school playground in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province, shook walls and shattered windows, but the 550 students who were in class at the time escaped injury. The accident occurred just five minutes before the students were scheduled to take a break from their studies, when they would have crowded into the school yard where the blast occurred… [read more]

By: Chuck Palazzo

Chuck Palazzo — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:49:28 +0000

There are indeed many organizations trying to make things right – but the unknown and unaccounted for volume of these munitions is just huge. Thousands of lives will continue to be taken in this horrendous way until and unless the superpowers of the world participate in the treaty.

Some of the humanitarian orgs making things happen in a positive way:

http://www.landmines.org.vn/index.html

http://www.maginternational.org/news/vietnam-100000-items-of-uxo-removed/

Chuck

By: Lem G.

Lem G. — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:44:59 +0000

Military expediency meets the Geneva Convention. Humanity versus “collateral damage” & “acceptable long range risks for civilians & non-combatants”.

By: ron angel

ron angel — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:49:35 +0000

For more information about the dangers the wreck of Liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery presents look at http://www.ssrichardmontgomery.com The Richard Montgomery matter

By: LOB

LOB — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:36:22 +0000

It is against the geneva convention to use weapons that do not stop when the war stops, so if the USA uses cluster bombs in a war it can be charged with war crimes.

Imagine if cluster bombs startng turning up in school yards in the USA and American children started losing their arms and legs. I wonder what the American attitude to cluster bombs would be then.

It is sad that a country that was once the shining star in the world is now a war criminal.