State Department Report on Israel’s Misuse of Cluster Bombs
QuestionGirl January 28th, 2007 - 9:31 pm
Let’s see, they bombed civilians with the cluster bombs. Misuse? Gee….tough call! And what if they did? What’s the U.S. going to do about it? Hmmmmm…..NOTHING.
WASHINGTON - The State Department has completed a preliminary report on whether Israel misused American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon.
State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said Saturday the report will be forwarded to Congress on Monday, but declined to disclose the findings, emphasizing that they are preliminary.
“We take our obligations under the Arms Control Act seriously,” said Cooper. “Our forwarding to Congress of a preliminary assessment is an indication of that.
“The Israeli government is also taking quite seriously their responsibility in providing information,” Cooper said. “We are not making a final judgment.”
The State Department is required to notify Congress of even preliminary findings of possible violations of the act cited by Cooper.
The New York Times reported on its Internet site Saturday evening that the report will say Israel may have violated agreements with the United States by its use of American’supplied cluster munitions during last year’s war.
The paper described disagreement among midlevel officials at the Defense Department and the State Department, with some in both departments arguing that Israel violated U.S. prohibitions on using cluster munitions against population areas. Others in both departments argued that the weapons were used in self-defense to stop Hezbollah rocket attacks and that, at worst, only a technical violation may have occurred.
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