US may ban sale of cluster bombs to Israel

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The discovery of hundreds of US-made cluster bombs among the tens of thousands of unexploded munitions carpeting the south of Lebanon, has led to calls on Washington to impose a moratorium on sales of the weapons to Israel.

Bomb disposal experts are working around the clock to clear the lethal leftovers after Israel fired 1.2 million bomblets in the last three days of the war. The pods containing the 650 bomblets, which burst apart at a pre-determined height, have a failure rate of up to 30 per cent, leaving clear evidence of their American origin.

The US State Department is investigating Israel's use of American-made cluster bombs during the war in Lebanon. In particular, whether or not Israel broke a secret agreement with the United States not to use cluster bombs against civilians.

The Israelis make no attempt to hide where they obtained this weapon. In the garden of a house in Nabatiyeh used as a headquarters by the British-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG) lies a cluster-bomb container that sprayed bomblets over an area the size of a football pitch. Such weapons are still causing casualties."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1621755.ece

[aquart]

1. So who will we sell them to?

[Scurrilous]

2. So far there are 13 other customers for this system:

"The combat proven Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) is a rocket artillery system manufactured by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. The system is operational in the US Army, and fourteen countries have fielded or ordered MLRS: Bahrain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, The Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and United Kingdom. The system has also been built in Europe by an international consortium of companies from France, Germany, Italy and the UK."

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/mlrs/

[aquart]

5. They should all have their little hands slapped.

Did they go crazy with a catalog?

[ClintonTyree]

3. Yeah, that'll happen.

If, for some reason, they ban the sale of these to Israel THROUGH OFFICIAL CHANNELS, you can bet the Bush White House will facilitate the sale of then through UNOFFICIAL channels. Does, "Iran/Contra" ring a bell with anyone? Bottom line: if Israel wants these weapons and the U.S. has them for sale, Israel will end up buying them one way or another.

[bemildred]

4. No we won't. nt

[nicoll]

6. a little bit late

It is all to late and anyway america should not arm Israel in any way if it is to have any chance of producing peace in the Middle East. America has to be neutral and the fact is it is not and is clearly biased in favour of Israel.