Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this vital amendment to prohibit funds in the bill from being used to acquire, use, sell, or transfer cluster munitions, in an effort to avert more widespread harm to civilians in areas contaminated with unexploded ordnance. Cluster bombs are not winning weapons but indiscriminate munitions that blanket large areas, contaminating land and inflicting disproportionate harm on civilians. Cluster munitions are shells that contain dozens of smaller bomblets that disperse into the air and scatter over areas the size of several football fields. Their lack of precision-targeting capabilities increases the risk of their falling into civilian areas and makes it very difficult to decontaminate those bombed areas. The extreme threat to civilians, furthermore, that these weapons pose far outweighs any potential military benefit. The ``2023 Cluster Munition Monitor'' report found there were at least 1,172 new cluster munition casualties globally in 2022. That is the highest annual number of casualties since at least 2010. In 2022, civilians accounted for approximately 95 percent of all cluster munitions casualties, and of that 95 percent, children accounted for over 70 percent of the civilian casualties.…”