The Biden administration has agreed to a plan to give cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite concerns about the potential risk they pose to civilians.
The weapons agreement puts the White House at odds with several of America's closest allies.
More than 100 nations have signed a treaty banning their use.
The New York Times reports:
Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, told reporters at the White House that he would “leave it to the Pentagon to make a formal announcement” later on Friday afternoon, but said that the administration would continue arming Ukraine as stockpiles of conventional artillery dwindle. He defended the use of the weapons by saying that Russia had been using them since the beginning of the war and Ukraine was running out of artillery rounds.
“Ukraine would not be using these munitions in some foreign land,” Mr. Sullivan said. “This is their country they're defending. These are their citizens they're protecting and they are motivated to use any weapon system they have in a way that minimizes risks to those citizens.”
Mr. Sullivan said that providing the munitions would be a “bridge” while production of conventional weapons ramps up in the coming months. Explaining the administration's thinking behind the decision, he added that “this is the moment to begin the construction of that bridge so that there isn't any period over the summer or heading into this fall when Ukraine is short on artillery, and being short on artillery, it is vulnerable to Russian counterattacks that could subjugate more Ukrainian civilians.”
President Biden and his advisers had reservations about supplying the weapons, which disperse tiny, deadly bomblets, to Ukrainian forces, particularly because they are especially dangerous to children, who pick up duds only to have them explode.
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Proven use in Vietnam War & wars since then Iraq & Afganistan
Miami Vice had whole episode about cluster bombs in 80s
I am tired of wasting money on Ukraine. That movie actor president is the only one getting anything from this. The democrats overthrew the real president of that country. I am tired of our tax money going to illegals. We have people born and raised here that need this money , not illegals from another country. Does anyone know why so many gas stations in the US are now run by foreign people. ? Every state you go to one gas station after another is run by someone from another country. Most of them are constantly talking on the phone to someone in another country. Why is all our businesses being run by people from another country ? I would like to know. Can I go to another country and buy a gas station there ? I see people that say they own two or more gas stations plus motels and they use food stamps. How can that be right ? We have Americans that need the food stamps not rich people from another country using food stamps with their gas stations and motels and liquor stores. Can someone explain?
Gee, just ask the Ukraine civilians what their thoughts are on Russia’s use of cluster bombs. How many thousands of innocent civilians, maybe even hundreds of thousands, have been killed from those bombs? Does anyone think that the Russians really care about that? They haven’t changed since WW2, they were animals then when it came to the treatment of civilians, and they are animals now. It’s time to get the Russian people involved in this war, and maybe a few hundred cluster bombs sent over to Russian territory might actually wake the population up there. Not that it will do much good because they have little to no rights about anything that goes on in their dictator style government.