111 nations including most NATO allies (US and Turkey are notable exceptions ) have signed a treaty banning cluster bombs. When Russia used them last year they were accused of committing war crimes.
In fact former WH spokesperson Jen Psaki accused Russia of war crimes at the time.
Reporter "; There are reports of illegal cluster bombs and vacuum bombs being used by the Russians," "If that’s true, what is the next step of this administration? And is there a red line for how much violence will be tolerated against civilians in this manner that’s illegal and potentially a war crime?"
Psaki : It is — it would be. I don’t have any confirmation of that. We have seen the reports. If that were true, it would potentially be a war crime,"
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, February 28, 2022 | The White House
But Quid Pro Joe is sending them to Ukraine anyway.
Biden sending cluster munitions to Ukraine despite humanitarian concerns (nypost.com)
Jake Sullivan says the difference is that Ukraine would be using them on their own territory . So hey ,civilians killed and maimed by unexploded ordinance don't matter .
Cluster munitions: what are they and what is the problem? - ICRCQuote:
- History has shown that large numbers of submunitions fail to explode on impact as intended. Credible estimates of the failure rates of these weapons in recent conflicts have varied from 10% to 40%. Large-scale use of these weapons has resulted in countries and regions being infested with tens of thousands, and sometimes millions, of unexploded and highly unstable submunitions.
- Unexploded submunitions often explode when handled or disturbed, posing a serious danger to civilians. The presence of these weapons poses a threat to displaced civilians returning to their homes, obstructs relief and reconstruction efforts and makes vital subsistence activities like farming hazardous for years or even decades after the conflict has ended.
- Because they are " area weapons, " which can release vast numbers of submunitions over an area of up to tens of thousands of square metres, the impact of cluster munitions on civilians during conflicts is also a serious concern, in particular when they are used in populated areas.
- As most submunitions are not precision-guided, their accuracy can be affected by weather and other environmental factors. They may therefore hit areas outside the military objective targeted. When such weapons are used in or near populated areas, they can pose a significant danger to civilians both during the attack and in the immediate post-strike period when people resume their normal activities
Sullivan says unlike Russian bombs ;the US bombs are much more reliable.
"There is a key difference between the type of cluster munition being used by Russia and the type that we will provide: ours have a maximum 2.5%. The dud rate in the Russian conditions is 30 to 40%."
(13) Biden's national security adviser explains US decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine (cnn.com)
So why sent them ? The cluster bomb is mostly anti-personnel. Drop them in areas where Russians are dug in and the theory goes the Russian soldier becomes a casualty .
This serves another US purpose. that the compliant press won't report .
We are running out of howitzer rounds having sent more than 2 million rounds to Ukraine since the war began . But we have all these rounds of unused cluster bomb shells left over from the Iraq war just sitting in storage getting old .
As Ukraine prepares for an intense counter offensive this spring, it will likely need to fire 7,000 to 9,000 155 mm shells a day, said Yehor Cherniev, a member of Ukraine's parliament who spoke to reporters at the German Marshall Fund event.
In recent months, the Biden administration has been using presidential drawdown authority to send ammunition directly from U.S. military stockpiles to Ukraine, instead of having to wait and buy rounds from defense firms, so they can get there in time for the anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
SIGNIFICANT SHELLS (theeagle.com)
So send in the cluster bombs .
