Patrick Leahy: The United States And Cluster Munitions

Cluster Munitions Survivors Forum, World Conference On Cluster Munitions

Dublin, Ireland -- May 26, 2008 -- "I am grateful to be here with Lord Dubs, Ken Rutherford and Steve Goose. This is the third time Lord Dubs and I have had the pleasure of meeting, Steve played a critical role in the negotiations on the Ottawa treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, and Ken Rutherford is one of my heroes.

Ken testified in the United States Senate 15 years ago about losing his leg from a landmine in Somalia, in some of the most moving testimony I have heard.

The Ottawa treaty established a new international norm for landmines, just as the Oslo treaty will for cluster munitions later this week.

Although my own government is not participating here, which I regret, I came because I want people to know that there are Members of the United States Congress who support this effort.

I do not speak for my government, but I do speak for myself and for many Americans who have been concerned with cluster munitions for many years.

My concern dates to the use of cluster munitions by the United States in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and ’70s, when millions of bomblets were dropped on Laos which still claim innocent lives and limbs today.

The Leahy War Victims Fund is used in Laos, as it has been in other countries, to provide medical care and rehabilitation. I just met with survivors of cluster munitions, and I know Ken, Steve and others have worked with them to address their needs in the Oslo text.

There is no doubt that cluster munitions have some military utility. The same could be said of landmines, or even poison gas. But anyone who has seen the indiscriminate devastation cluster munitions cause across a wide area must recognize the unacceptable threat they can pose to civilians.

In the Congress, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California and I, along with 19 other Senators, have introduced legislation to ban United States use of cluster munitions unless they meet strict requirements. This would cover 99.9 percent of existing U.S. cluster munitions.

In the meantime, an amendment I sponsored to ban United States exports of such cluster munitions was signed into law this February. So we have taken a first step, and the Oslo treaty will provide new momentum.

We also know that our Department of Defense is close to announcing a new policy on cluster munitions. I will be briefed on the policy when I return to Washington.

While I am not so naïve as to think that the Pentagon’s new policy will go as far as I or many people here would want, I am hopeful that it will at least be a step forward.

In November, the American people will elect a new President. As I have said many times, among the first tasks of our next President will be to reintroduce America to the world. We need to reject the “us versus them” unilateralist approach that has so diminished our image and our leadership.

I am confident that whoever is elected will be far more inclined to work with other countries to address problems that none of us can solve ourselves, whether protecting civilians from landmines and cluster munitions, to stopping AIDS and global warming.

These negotiations could not come at a better time. The Oslo treaty will not only set the rules for states parties, but it will also influence the conduct of non-parties.

I know there will be discussions this week of proposals dealing with contentious issues like transition periods and interoperability. These are not easy questions.

But at the end of the day, I believe we should be guided by the conviction that this is, above all, a moral issue. Weapons that are inherently indiscriminate, whether by design or effect, should have no place in today’s world."

Source: Senator Patrick Leahy

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