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AAI Joins ATFL in Campaign to Ban Cluster Bombs
AAI
Posted on Thursday January 31, 2008
AAI is proud to announce its endorsement of the American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) Campaign to Ban Cluster Bombs.
Over the past year, thanks in large part to hard work by ATFL, there has been significant progress in the international effort to outlaw cluster munitions. This past week the Winograd Commission published its findings about Israeli conduct during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. The report determined that the use of cluster bombs demonstrated a lack of operational restraint and tactical oversight and recommended that “there be a re-evaluation of the rules and principles that apply to the army in using cluster bombs.”
Most of these bomblets were used in the final days of the war, targeting areas inhabited by significant civilian populations, but many of these munitions never detonated. Amnesty International reports that 40 people, including 27 civilians and 13 de-mining workers, have been killed by these undetonated cluster bombs and 243 people have been seriously wounded or maimed.
Nearly one million cluster bombs were dropped in southern Lebanon in the final days of the war and today over 87% of these unexploded bomblets remain, transforming large areas of southern Lebanon into dangerous mine fields. Many of these active bombs are specifically designed to look like small toys or candy, attracting children who upon contact are killed or severely maimed.
ATFL has worked tirelessly for years on this issue and the Arab American Institute is honored to join thirty-two other national organizations in this campaign. Please click here to sign onto the letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and to learn more about what you can do to help outlaw cluster bombs.
What You Can Do:
- Click here to sign onto the letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
- Become more informed about the horrific effect of cluster bombs on civilians in Lebanon
- Read the special report from the fact-finding mission to Southern Lebanon by the Executive Director of ATFL
If you need help taking action, please contact Leigh O’Neill, AAI Government Relations and Policy Analyst, at 202-429-9210, ext. 16.
