Forced policy despite controversy over civilian damage
Additional $800 million funding plan to be announced soon
It is reported that the United States has solidified its policy of providing support for cluster bombs, an indiscriminate killing weapon that has caused international controversy in Ukraine. Cluster munitions, also called ‘the devil’s weapon’, are weapons for which an international ban convention has been signed.
According to foreign media such as the Associated Press on the 6th (local time), the Joe Biden administration plans to soon announce a plan to provide additional military aid to Ukraine in the amount of $ 800 million, including cluster bombs. Despite the controversy that cluster munitions cause war crimes, including widespread civilian casualties, the government eventually decided to support it.
A cluster bomb is a weapon in the form of holding hundreds of ‘baby bombs’ in one bomb, and when the parent bomb is dropped, the baby bombs are scattered in all directions in the air, causing explosions in a wide area. It is known to be a powerful weapon that can devastate the area of 3 to 4 soccer fields with a single burst. It was first developed by the German army during World War II, and became infamous for using more than 100 million tons of cluster munitions in the Vietnam War.
It is known that both the Ukrainian and Russian forces are using cluster munitions during the war in Ukraine.
Another problem with cluster munitions is their unexploded ordnance rate, which can be as high as 40%. Many of the baby bombs remain as unexploded ordnance like landmines, and then explode years later, causing extreme civilian casualties. According to international human rights organizations, more than half of those killed or injured by cluster bombs in various conflict areas are civilians, and a third of the casualties are children. It is estimated that between 56,600 and 86,500 civilians died as a result of these bombs during World War II.
As Israel’s use of cluster munitions became a problem during the 2006 Lebanon War, in 2008, the International Convention to Ban Cluster Munitions (CCM) was signed to ban the use, manufacture, possession, and transfer of cluster munitions. Under the agreement, which involved 120 countries, 99% of the world’s stockpile of cluster munitions was destroyed. About two-thirds of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states also participated in the agreement. However, the United States, Russia and Ukraine have not signed the agreement.
US ‘cluster munition’ aid to Ukraine
Internationally banned ‘war criminal weapons’… The weakening of the moral cause is invisible
The reason why the US decided to support cluster bombs was because there was a request from Ukraine. Ukraine has asked the US to provide MK-20 cluster munitions that can be dropped by drones and 155mm cluster munitions that can be fired from guns to counter Russian forces. The U.S. government was cautious about supporting it because of the stigma that it was a ‘war criminal weapon’. The US last used cluster munitions in the Iraq war in 2003, and has not exported them to foreign countries since 2015. The US stopped producing cluster munitions in 2016, but is now believed to have a stockpile of 1 million MK-20 cluster munitions.
Analysts say that the reason why the United States has solidified its support for cluster bombs despite international controversy is that the stock of ammunition to be supplied to Ukraine is quickly running out. Until last spring, the Ukrainian army poured a huge amount of shells in a long-term battle of attrition in the eastern battleground Bahmut, and in the recently launched ‘Great Counterattack’ operation, it has been revealed that 7,000 to 9,000 shells must be fired every day to hit the Russian army. For this reason, even before the start of the counterattack, military experts have warned that if the Ukrainian army runs out of shells at a rapid pace, even the shells used to defend against Russian attacks may run out in the future.
The shortage of ammunition stocks in allies is also the reason why Ukraine and the West have been eyeing South Korean ammunition. The fact that discussions about exporting South Korean shells to Poland came out has nothing to do with the shell stockpiling situation of Western allies.
However, the Associated Press reported that the support of inhumane weapons and cluster bombs could provoke opposition from some allies and international human rights organizations. It could undermine America’s moral cause to support Ukraine in this war. Perhaps conscious of the controversy, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said, “Support for cluster munitions is an issue that has been under review for a long time.”
International human rights organization Human Rights Watch said in a statement on the same day that the US policy to support cluster munitions would “cause long-term suffering for civilians” and that “the use of cluster munitions could lead to indiscriminate attacks and war crimes in violation of international law.” revealed
#sends #cluster #munitions #Ukraine
2023-07-07 12:07:00
