Victims Urge Cluster-Bomb Ban
"VIENNA, Dec. 5 (AP) — Victims of cluster bombs, many of whom had lost limbs, on Wednesday urged participants at an international conference to ban the weapons.
Fired by artillery or dropped by aircraft, cluster bombs are canisters that open in flight and typically scatter hundreds of smaller explosive devices across a wide area. Some fail to explode immediately and can lie dormant for years until they are disturbed, often by children.
“My message is simple — ban cluster bombs, clear them and help survivors and their families,” said Umarbek Pulodov, 21, of Tajikistan, who lost an eye when cluster bombs were dropped on his village in 1992. He said he considered himself lucky — his older brother and uncle were killed.
The meeting is part of the so-called Oslo Process, which started in February when 46 countries agreed to consider an international treaty banning cluster bombs by 2008. About 130 countries are attending the three-day conference here. Among those absent are the United States, China, Russia and Israel.
The conference, which began Wednesday, plans to discuss ways of helping victims like Mr. Pulodov.
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, said in a statement released before the meeting that he was closely watching the international community’s efforts to address the issue, adding that he hoped those efforts would intensify over the coming year.
Sladjan Vuckovic, a Serb who lost both his arms in April 1999 while clearing an area littered with cluster bombs, said that many victims developed psychological problems in addition to physical injuries — and that their families often paid the price.
Speaking of his children, ages 9 and 5, he said, “I could not care for them, go for a walk or take them by the hand.”
Why did they ask a Serb, and not a Lebanese?
And how many people have died from AMERICA'S USE of these MONSTROUS WEAPONS?
Not attending really sys it all, doesn't it, readers?
What it says is the U.S. DOESN'T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD!
So FUCK the RHETORIC!
I don't ever want to hear that self-adulating AmeriKan shit ever again!
