Action: Vietnam's Cluster Bomb Legacy
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This Sunday marks the 35th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords that officially ended the Vietnam War. Thirty-five years later, the deadly legacy of that war is still killing people today in Southeast Asia.
The U.S. dropped 90 million cluster bomblets on Laos between 1964 and 1973 -- one plane load every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. Many of those cluster bomblets failed to detonate, leaving an estimated 25 million unexploded bomblets still littering the land in Laos. Since the war ended, 12,000 civilians have been killed or maimed by these weapons.. As Col. Dan Smith (USA, Ret.) points out, the Vietnam War was the proving ground for cluster bombs that continue to be used today.
Congress needs to act to clean up the mess our country left in Southeast Asia and to ban cluster bombs so the U.S. doesn't create new messes in other countries in the future. You can help by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper marking this anniversary and urging your senators, by name, to ban further cluster bomb use.
Take Action
Write a letter to the editor of you local newspaper commemorating the negotiated end of the Vietnam War and urging Congress to provide more money to clean up the war's deadly legacy. Your members of Congress can also help to prevent future civilian casualties by supporting legislation that would prevent the use of cluster bombs in civilian populated areas.
Background
At the end of last year Congress passed, and President Bush signed, a bill that included a one-year moratorium on the export of most types of cluster bombs. This export ban is a step in the right direction, but now Congress needs to take the next steps to keep the U.S. stockpile of cluster bombs from maiming and killing civilians in the future.
The next step is for Congress to pass the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594/H.R. 1755) which would permanently ban the use of cluster munitions in or near civilian populated areas, as well as the use, sale, and transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1 percent.
Bishop Desmond Tutu, the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Christian relief group World Vision, among others, have joined in condemning the use of these weapons. More than 130 nations have also joined an international effort to ban these weapons. But the U.S. opposes these efforts. Congress should act now to join this international movement. Read more about the deadly legacy of U.S. cluster bombs in Laos
Find out more at www.banclusterbombs.org .
Tips on writing an effective letter to the editor.
Contact your members of Congress through FCNL's web site.
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Sen. ________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Rep. ________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
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