Democrats across the spectrum oppose President Joe Biden’s decision to provide Ukraine cluster bombs.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed on Friday that the Biden administration will provide Ukraine with cluster bombs, which have been opposed by humanitarian groups for their long-term effects on civilians.
C-SPANCluster munitions are a category of rockets, bombs, missiles, and artillery projectiles that break apart in the air and blanket a large area. The munitions often fail and can devastate civilians. More than 100 countries have vowed not to use cluster munitions, although Russia, China, and Ukraine have not signed the international agreement on cluster bombs.
Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “Cluster bombs are munitions so horrific for civilians that more than a hundred nations have signed an international treaty banning them. Now the Biden administration is preparing to send them to Ukraine.”
House Democrats swiftly came out against Biden’s to provide cluster bombs.
President Joe Biden, left, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace during an unannounced visit in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)
Nineteen House progressives said in a joint statement:
Experts warn that the likelihood of leaving behind dangerous unexploded material is dependent on several factors and potentially much higher than the Pentagon has estimated. The reality is that there is no such thing as a safe cluster bomb — and using or transferring them for use hurts the global effort to eradicate these dangerous munitions, taking us down the wrong path. The U.S. history of using cluster munitions — particularly the legacy of long-term harm to civilians in Southeast Asia — should prevent us from repeating the mistakes of our past.
We can and will continue to support our Ukrainian allies’ defense against Russia’s aggression. However, that support does not require we undermine the United States’ leadership in advocating for human rights around the world, enable indiscriminate harm that will only further endanger Ukrainian civilians, or distance us from European partners in the conflict who are signatories to the U.N. Convention opposing cluster munitions.
The White House’s announcement runs counter to Congress’s restrictions on the transfer of these weapons and severely undermines our moral leadership. It underscores the work still ahead to press the U.S. to join the international community in banning the use of cluster munitions.”
Progressives such as Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) backed the statement.
Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last year that alleged Russian use of cluster bombs would “potentially be a war crime.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
