U.S. military to indefinitely delay ban on cluster bombs

[webfact]

U.S. military to indefinitely delay ban on cluster bombs

By Phil Stewart

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon will indefinitely delay a ban on the use of older types of cluster bombs due to take effect on Jan. 1, 2019, officials said, arguing that safety improvements in munitions technology failed to advance enough to replace older stockpiles.

 

Cluster bombs, dropped by air or fired by artillery, scatter bomblets across a wide area, but sometimes fail to explode and are difficult to locate and remove. That can lead to civilian deaths and injuries long after conflicts end.

 

The U.S. military had hoped to transition to cluster munitions that explode at least 99 percent of time, greatly reducing the risks.

But with just over one year to go before the ban's slated implementation, a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters that safety technology had not progressed enough to replace existing stockpiles with safer weaponry.

 

Reuters has seen a copy of the memo changing U.S. policy and confirmed the changes with Pentagon officials.

 

"Although the Department seeks to field a new generation of more highly reliable munitions, we cannot risk mission failure or accept the potential of increased military and civilian casualties by forfeiting the best available capabilities," the Pentagon memo says.

 

The memo, which was expected to be signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday, called cluster munitions "legitimate weapons with clear military utility."

 

Disclosure of the new policy met sharp criticism from Congress and human rights groups.

 

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who has helped lead efforts to restrict use of cluster bombs, said the Pentagon was, in effect, "perpetuating use of an indiscriminate weapon that has been shown to have high failure rates."

 

Senator Dianne Feinstein called the move "unbelievable."

 

Human Rights Watch disputed the idea that the U.S. military needed the weapons, saying that with the exception of a single strike in Yemen in 2009 it had not used the weapons since 2003 in Iraq.

 

"We condemn this decision to reverse the long-held US commitment not to use cluster munitions that fail more than 1 percent of the time, resulting in deadly unexploded submunitions," said Mary Wareham, arms division director at Human Rights Watch.

 

RESTRICTIONS ON U.S. USE, ACQUISITION

 

Pentagon spokesman Tom Crosson acknowledged it has been years since the U.S. military has used any significant amount of cluster munitions and the new Pentagon policy puts emphasis on eventually shifting to safer cluster munitions.

 

Still, it was unclear at what point in the future the Pentagon might be required to stop using its existing stockpiles, since there would also need to be not just higher-tech weaponry, but sufficient quantities of new cluster munitions for U.S. stocks.

 

The new policy does not allow the Pentagon to buy any additional cluster bombs that do not satisfy new standards that were outlined in the memo.

 

The new rules broaden the definition of which types of munitions meet safety requirements beyond the 99 percent detonation rate.

 

Under the new policy, the Pentagon says bombs that have advanced self destruct or deactivation technology would also be acceptable for future acquisition.

 

Such weaponry must meet a series of criteria, including having a way to render submunitions inoperable within 15 minutes of being armed.

 

The Pentagon policy also prohibited purchasing weaponry that is banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

 

The convention strictly prohibits the use of cluster munitions. But it exempts certain types of munitions that the Pentagon says it would nonetheless classify as cluster munitions.

 

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Tom Brown)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-01

[Juan B Tong]

Hey..

 

What is a war without cluster bombs anyway?

[Foozool]

Are they going to clean up the stockpile by using them on NK ? 

I guess. 

[Bluespunk]

5 hours ago, Juan B Tong said:

Hey..

 

What is a war without cluster bombs anyway?

It’s one that doesn’t result in civilian casualties long after the conflict has ended. 

[tryasimight]

2 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

It’s one that doesn’t result in civilian casualties long after the conflict has ended. 

Like the parrot bombs the then USSR dropped in Cambodia that are still maiming people?  

[Bluespunk]

19 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Like the parrot bombs the then USSR dropped in Cambodia that are still maiming people?  

I never blamed any one country.  

 

I regard any person, regardless of nationality, who authorises the use weapons as being 100% responsible for the consequences. 

Edited December 1, 2017 by Bluespunk

[Grouse]

?

Edited December 1, 2017 by Grouse
Misread the OP

[Bluespunk]

3 hours ago, tryasimight said:

Like the parrot bombs the then USSR dropped in Cambodia that are still maiming people?  

What is a parrot bomb anyway?

 

To be honest is news to me ussr bombed Cambodia. 

 

Hmm...

Edited December 1, 2017 by Bluespunk

[farcanell]

This all seems fair and proper..... delay the ban (on older cluster bombs) until the next gen cluster bombs are available (provided best efforts to expedite next gen cluster bombs are, of course, in evidence)

 

the morality of the use of these weapons is a different matter, not related to the delays.

 

 

[DeaconJohn]

17 hours ago, tryasimight said:

Like the parrot bombs the then USSR dropped in Cambodia that are still maiming people?  

That's just hogwash.

The Russians never bombed Cambodia.

Between 1965 and 1973, the US dropped 2.7 million tons of explosives - more than the Allies dropped in the entirety of World War II - on Cambodia, whose population was then smaller than New York City's.

Estimates of the number of people killed begin in the low hundreds of thousands and range up from there, but the truth is that no one has any idea.

[Naam]

1 hour ago, DeaconJohn said:

19 hours ago, tryasimight said:

Like the parrot bombs the then USSR dropped in Cambodia that are still maiming people?  

That's just hogwash.

The Russians never bombed Cambodia.

it's worse than hogwash. it's pure rubbish presented by an ignorant.

[tryasimight]

3 hours ago, Naam said:

it's worse than hogwash. it's pure rubbish presented by an ignorant.

So who dropped them?  And who supplied them? 

[Naam]

1 minute ago, tryasimight said:

So who dropped them?  And who supplied them? 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&as_q=laos+and+cambodia+bombs&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

[tryasimight]

19 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

What is a parrot bomb anyway?

 

To be honest is news to me ussr bombed Cambodia. 

 

Hmm...

Do some research.  It's an explosive device in the shape of a small parrot.  Especially attractive to children foraging for food in the jungle. Sickening really. 

[tryasimight]

8 minutes ago, Naam said:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&as_q=laos+and+cambodia+bombs&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=

  It's 21:45 on a Friday night...... I cannot be bothered to follow your links. If I was wrong saying USSR please tell me who dropped them No need for this  google linking nonsense,  assuming you do know.

That's not hard is it? 

Edited December 2, 2017 by tryasimight

[Naam]

Quote

The Bombing

The initial operation was authorized by then President Richard Nixon, but without the knowledge or approval of U.S. Congress. The bombings became public knowledge in 1973, after which they were stopped.

The United States dropped upwards of 2.7 million tons of bombs on Cambodia, exceeding the amount it had dropped on Japan during WWII (including Hiroshima and Nagasaki) by almost a million tons. During this time, about 30 per cent of the country's population was internally displaced.

 

[Bluespunk]

12 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Do some research.  It's an explosive device in the shape of a small parrot.  Especially attractive to children foraging for food in the jungle. Sickening really. 

I did.

 

On both of your claims. 

 

I found nothing on either. 

 

Funny that...

 

i did find this though. Russian trained I reckon. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2017 by Bluespunk

[tryasimight]

2 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

I did.

 

On both of your claims. 

 

I found nothing on either. 

 

Funny that...

Yes quite funny...... You need to brush up on your internet search skills...... It simply go to Cambodia and see the handles adults and ask gem what happened. 

[tryasimight]

9 minutes ago, Naam said:

 

Don't disagree at all.  But who dropped the parrot shaped dxplosive devices..... The Yanks....? 

[Bluespunk]

7 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

Yes quite funny...... You need to brush up on your internet search skills...... It simply go to Cambodia and see the handles adults and ask gem what happened. 

No, I’m not going to do any more research on parrot bombs or ludicrous claims the ussr bombed Cambodia. 

 

I did so last night and have done so again tonight. 

 

If such things exist or such events occurred provide a link to a credible site describing them

Edited December 2, 2017 by Bluespunk