From the Press Room: FCNL Cluster Bomb Tour in the News

" 'They are called 'the bombs that keep on killing,' said Lora Lumpe, a lobbyist for the Friends Committee on National Legislation...'Some lawmakers say that their constituents aren't interested in the issue, which implies that we don't care,' Lumpe said. So she and a group of victims are visiting the region to make their case to us personally."

~ Civilians Suffering as Bomblet Ban Lags, by Ann Fisher
Columbus (OH) Dispatch, 10/20/08

"I lost all of my dreams. I lost all of my lives. I'm just a wheelchair user now," [Soraj Ghulam] Habib said. "I had a lot of dreams to do things for my family, to do things for my community, but cluster bombs ruined them."

~Groups Come Together to Stop Usage of Cluster Bombs, by Lisa Yensen
Dearborn (MI) Press and Guide, 10/15/08

"It's a cluster bomb, it's a horrible weapon. A blind weapon. This weapon killed Lynn's son in Iraq, and killed my son in South Lebanon. And this weapon still kills many children and many farmers and many people in all the world. The governments in all the world must ban this weapon."

~ Raed Mokaled on Worldview (Chicago Public Radio)

Listen to the cluster bomb survivors' interview with host Jerome McDonnell, 10/06/08

"We're here in the mid-west because y'all have some really influential senators on foreign and military policy. We're trying to persuade them to speak out and speak up for people around the world who are inadvertently maimed by cluster bombs and cluster munitions."

Listen to Lora Lumpe's interview with host Walter Sorg on amLansing 10/08/08

"The tour, organized by the Friends Committee on National Legislation and sponsored by the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs, aims to raise awareness about non-detonated cluster bombs and to encourage Midwesterners to urge their congressmen, particularly senators, to push forward with legislation to ban the United States' use of cluster bombs."

~ Group Aims for Ban on Cluster Bombs, by Rachel E. Sheeley

Richmond (IN) Palladium-Item, 10/14/08

"The U.S. Campaign to Ban Land Mines is making its voice heard at a local level. The organization encourages students and church groups to call or write their senators regarding the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, a proposed bill that will dramatically reduce the use and sale of cluster bombs by the United States.The FCNL is also encouraging the United States to sign on to a treaty which has been ratified by 107 other nations. The treaty would ban the use of cluster munitions and provide assistance for the civilian victims of cluster bomb sub munition detonations."

~ Group Seeking National Ban on Landmines Makes Stop Near Campus, by Benjamin S. Chase

The Michigan Daily (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), 10/13/08

"We're here in the Midwest to try to raise awareness about this issue and the impact these weapons are having on families and communities and bodies all around the world. And to make the American public aware that there is something they can do to make sure that their government never inflicts this kind of suffering and damage on anyone ever again."

~Lora Lumpe on Detroit Today (Detroit Public Radio)

Listen to the interview with host Craig Fahley, 10/09/08

Raed Mokaled, from Lebanon, lost his 5-year-old son in 1999 to cluster munition while celebrating his son's birthday. Mokaled is also traveling around the Midwest with Habib and Safadar to share their stories.

"It's a big opportunity to come to the United States to tell what's happened," Mokaled said. "I hope something changes in the future; if we can ban these weapons forever, (it's) better for humanity and the world."

~Survivor asks U.S. to end cluster munitions production by Kaye Maloney
The Purdue Exponent (Purdue University, West Lafayette IN), 10/16/08)

"It was a sunny day in Lebanon in 1999 when Raed Mokaled and his wife took their two sons to the park to celebrate 5-year-old Ahmad’s birthday. While Ahmad was playing, an explosion tore through the air. Ahmad died hours later in the hospital. He is one of thousands of people, many of them children, killed or maimed by leftover cluster munitions"

~ Event to Raise Awareness of Cluster Bombs, Landmines, by Kayla Habermehl
The State News (Michigan State University, East Lansing), 10/8/08