"More than half the world's nations are meeting in Oslo on Wednesday to sign a global treaty banning cluster bombs. Although my government won't be there, I will.

I have a personal stake in this treaty. My son, Travis, a corporal in the Marines, was killed by one of our own cluster bomblets in July 2003. He was clearing an Iraqi farmer's field near Karbala of unexploded ordnance when one of the men from his unit mishandled a cluster submunition. It exploded, killing Travis and taking an eye and an arm from the Marine who touched it."

~Ban the Cluster Bomb, by Lynn Bradach
Los Angeles Times, 12/02/08

"An Afghan teenager who lost both legs in a cluster bomb explosion helped persuade his country to change its stance and join nearly 100 nations in signing a treaty Wednesday banning the disputed weapons.

Afghanistan was initially reluctant to join the pact -- which the United States and Russia have refused to support -- but agreed to after lobbying by victims maimed by cluster munitions, including 17-year-old Soraj Ghulan Habib. The teen, who uses a wheelchair, met with his country's ambassador to Norway, Jawed Ludin, at a two-day signing conference in Oslo."

~Teen persuades Afghans to join munitions treaty, by the Associated Press
Richmond (IN) Palladium-Item, 12/04/08

Editorial:

"Thank God for some common sense at the Pentagon and in the Bush administration.

It is understandable that humanitarian groups (dare we say a cluster of them?) condemn cluster munitions, which are fired from aircraft or artillery and spray smaller bomblets over an area the size of two football fields. Some bomblets don't explode on impact, and are found much later by unsuspecting civilians, including children, resulting in many unintended casualties. No one would dispute that cluster bombs should not be used indiscriminately. The same applies to all weapons of war."

~Cluster Bomb Bombast, 12/02/08

Letter to the Editor from FCNL:

"I have observed firsthand the violent legacy of cluster bombs in central Vietnam, where forests and fields are still littered with hundreds of thousands of tons of unexploded ordnance. A boy who lost an arm and a leg to an old cluster bomb made a particularly strong impression on me. To meet a 9-year-old rendered a double amputee by a 40-year-old bomb is to realize the frightening scope and consequences of our military decisions. "

~Cluster Bomb Ban, by Laura Chirot 12/04/08

"Norway initiated the Oslo Process in February 2007, partly in frustration over U.S. foot-dragging during discussions from 2001 to 2006 to ban the weapons through the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) treaty. (Nine months after Oslo was launched, the United States reversed its stance, and now insists that restrictions on cluster bombs should only be addressed through the CCW.) The treaty negotiations proceeded quickly, and on May 28, 2008, 107 countries — including Britain and other NATO allies — reached an agreement in Dublin, Ireland, to ban cluster bombs. "

~Ban the Cluster Bomb, by Brian Cook
In These Times, 12/01/2008

"There are no persuasive arguments for the United States not to join [the treay]. Cluster munitions are particularly evil weapons. On falling to the ground, these bombs and shells separate into dozens of small bomblets, exploding on the enemy. With wide and uncertain dispersal patterns, they are almost guaranteed to maim and kill civilians, particularly when used in built-up areas. Up to 40 per cent of the bomblets fail to explode when they land, remaining active on the ground for years after the conflict ends. Bomblets sometimes look like soda cans or shiny metal balls, tempting curious children to towards death or disfigurement. Even experienced demolition experts sometimes fail to defuse these hyper-reactive remains of war, with horrific results."

~Obama Administration Needs to Take a Stand on Cluster Bombs, by Donald Steinberg
The Huffington Post, 12/11/2008

“Until this morning, Afghanistan was not going to be a signatory,” said Jawed Ludin, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the Scandinavian countries and the leader of its delegation here. He said the president’s change of heart came as a result of pressure by human rights organizations and cluster-bomb victims, including Soraj Ghulam Habib, a 17-year-old from the city of Herat who lost both legs when he accidentally stepped on an explosive cluster remnant seven years ago.

Mr. Ludin’s announcement was greeted by raucous cheers in Oslo’s City Hall, where the signing ceremony began Wednesday after two years of diplomatic work by Norway. By the end of the day, more than 90 nations — including 18 of 26 NATO members — had signed the treaty, called the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bars adherents from using, producing, selling or stockpiling cluster munitions."

~Afghanistan Signs Cluster Bomb Treaty, by Walter Gibbs and Kirk Semple
New York Times, 12/04/2008

"If you had them on your land, if your children faced them, you'd ban them for sure." Those are the words of an Afghan boy who lost both legs after picking up an errant U.S. cluster munition in a public park.

It is estimated that nearly 100,000 civilians have been maimed or killed by cluster bombs, which scatter hundreds of deadly munitions over a wide area. During the past 50 years, vast areas of arable land have been turned into death traps by unexploded duds that remain lethal long after conflict has ended….

It is time for a new policy. The Obama Administration should review President Bush’s refusal to join this treaty, as well as the treaty to ban anti-personnel landmines."

~New treaty should prompt new administration, by Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Brattleboro Reformer, 12/12/08

Ban the Bomblets
By The editors | DECEMBER 1, 2008

“A world awash in weapons” is the phrase Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala of Los Angeles recently used to describe the international scene on the 25th anniversary of the U.S. bishops’ peace pastoral, The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response. Among these weapons are cluster munitions…

President-elect Barack Obama should press the country he will soon lead to become a signatory to the convention.”

~Ban the Bomblets, editorial
America: The National Catholic Weekly, 12/01/2008

Listen to Lora Lumpe's interview with Worldview host Jerome McDonnell, 12/03/2008

"By the end of tomorrow, around 100 of the United Nations' 192 members will have signed up. Once 30 countries have ratified the convention, it will become part of international humanitarian law.

There are a number of notable absentees, including the US, China, Russia, India and Pakistan, as well as Israel, which fired cluster bombs during the 2006 Lebanon war.

Campaigners hope the treaty might help change global attitudes towards the munitions, as a 1997 treaty did on land mines, prompting some nations to sign up later."

~Cluster bomb treaty: Signing of ban on production begins, by Richard Norton-Taylor and Peter Walker, The Guardian (UK), 12/03/2008

"An American woman whose Marine son died in 2003 while disposing of unexploded cluster bombs in Iraq will appeal at the signing ceremony of the Convention on Cluster Munitions for stronger measures to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy.

Lynn Bradach, 56, a resident of Portland, Oregon, will travel to Oslo to attend the ceremony to be held on Wednesday."

~Mom of Marine who dies in Iraq seeks stronger measures on cluster bombs
Mainichi Daily News (Japan), 12/02/2008

"For the NGOs who have struggled for more than four years for the elimination of cluster bombs, the signing of the treaty banning these weapons in Oslo on December 3 has the taste of victory. More than 100 countries, including France, will be represented in the Norwegian capital, some by their Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Major producers and users of cluster bombs, including the United States, Russia, China, and Israel, are notable in their absence." 

~In Oslo, 100 countries gather to ban cluster bombs , by Laurent Zecchini
Le Monde (France), 12/03/2008 (In French)