The United States has taken the very controversial step of offering Ukraine a package of artillery that includes cluster munitions (aka cluster bombs) to help in its war against Russia's invasion of that country.
Ukraine has specifically asked the US for cluster munitions, and both Ukraine and Russia have allegedly already used them in the 16-month old war. The USA announced today that it plans to include thousands of them as part of its latest $800 million aid package to Ukraine. They said it was a "difficult decision", and one that they deferred "for as long as we could", but they argued that not sending the munitions would leave Ukraine under-armed and under-protected, and thereby lead to even greater civilian harm. Ukraine is running out of ammunition, they say, so what else can they do? Furthermore, they argue that Ukrainians have promised that they will use them responsibly, given that they are being used in their own country, in order to protect their own citizens.
Cluster bombs release large numbers of smaller bomblets that are scattered in mid-flight, and that can kill and maim indiscriminately over large areas. Also, a good proportion of those bomblets in each missile (anywhere fron 1% to 40%) fail to explode, particularly if they fall on wet or soft ground, and pose an ongoing danger for decades to come, much like land mines.
The 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty calling for a global ban on these weapons has been ratified by 111 countries including Canada and pretty much all of Europe (i.e. most of NATO), but, notably, NOT the USA. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have signed the treaty. In addition, President Biden would have to specifically waive a US legal prohibition on the export of weapons with high failure rates, but he seems willing to do just that.
However, there is much opposition to the American plan, and they will have a hard job of persuading most of the rest of NATO at the upcoming high-level meeting. Germany is strongly against it, as is UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Canada and Spain have also come out strongly against the US plan, and the UK has also counselled against it. Some members of President Biden's own party have been outspoken against it. Human rights groups across the board are unanimous in their condemnation of the plan, if only because it gives less-responsible countries carte blanche to use them in their own little disputes.
When reports came out that Russia was using cluster bombs, quite early in the war, America was full of righteous indignation, and even called it a war crime. But now they are suddenly acceptable? They say their dud rate is much smaller than that of the cluster bombs the Russians have used (less than 3%, compared to the Russian 20-40%), which seems a bit of a disingenuous argument, to say the least.
The point is, though, the alternative to giving Ukraine cluster bombs is not giving them nothing. Provide Ukraine with precision-guided missiles like HIMARS and Storm Shadows by all means, but please don't let us resort to inaccurate, indiscriminate weapons like cluster munitions. The West needs to maintain some moral high ground, otherwise it is no better than Russia.
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