HAMMOUDI
July 8: US Defense Department releases a new memo on the use of cluster bombs
After international pressure to quell its use of cluster bombs, the United States Department of Defense released a memo saying that it will begin using less dangerous forms of the controversial weapon. Cluster bombs explode during their decent and disperse hundreds of smaller bombs throughout the nearby land. These scattered bomblets often fail to explode on impact and consequently, remain active until stumbled upon by unsuspecting civilians. As seen in the Eighth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival documentary short, Hammoudi, this feature of the cluster bomb poses a serious threat to innocent civilians, often years after armed conflict has ended in their countries. The three-page memo released by the Defense Department states that the United States will ensure the detonation of 99 percent of all scattered bomblets on impact by the year 2018. Additionally, the Defense Department memo asserts that the US will begin taking measures to decrease its supply of cluster bombs which do not meet the new safety requirements.
While these measures certainly signify a step in the right direction, they are dwarfed by the actions of the 111 other countries which agreed to totally ban the use of cluster bombs at a conference in Dublin this May. The Dublin Treaty, established at this conference, demands the destruction of participating countries' cluster bomb inventories by 2016, the caesura of cluster bomb vending, and the discouragement of cluster bomb use in general. The United States opposed this treaty based on the belief that cluster bombs are efficient weapons with the potential to save the lives of both civilians and soldiers. Unfortunately, these controversial weapons all too often kill and maim the very civilians and soldiers that they are meant to protect.
By, Christina Capatides
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