April 30 is the anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the official end of the U.S. war in Vietnam. Massive amounts of deadly cluster munitions remain in SE Asia indiscriminately killing and maiming civilians 33 years later. Take 5 minutes from your day and call Senator Collins and ask her to cosponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594).

Sen. Snowe cosponsored S. 594 in March. Her leadership on this issue made this a bipartisan bill. Now we need to get the rest of our congressional delegation on board. Please take the time to call Senator Collins and Representatives Allen and Michaud. We can make Maine the first state to unanimously say no to Cluster Bombs.

Make four simple and quick phone calls:

        Senator Collins:         202-224-2523   Ask her to cosponsor S.594

        Rep. Allen:                 202-225-6116   Ask him to cosponsor H.R.1755

        Rep. Michaud            202-225-6306  Ask him to cosponsor H.R. 1755

        Sen. Snowe               202-224-5344  Thank her for cosponsoring S.594

Talking Points:

On April 30, 1975, Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces, finally ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. But the U.S. left millions of weapons behind that continue to kill.

Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped 90 million cluster bomblets on Vietnam’s neighbor, Laos, in 580,000 bombing missions-equivalent to one planeload every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years.

Thirty-three years later, more than 10 million cluster submunitions still litter the land, waiting to explode in the hand of a curious child or at the foot of a subsistence farmer.

For more information:

The documentary Bombies is showing on CTN channels 2 and 4 during the months of April and May. Check their schedules for times at: www.ctn4maine.org. This film shows the devastating impact of use of cluster bombs in Laos.

Deadly Harvest of Cluster Bombs in Laos: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/26/854...

Background :

Did you know that civilians, not soldiers, account for 98% of the casualties due to cluster bombs over the past 40 years?

In the last 15 years, U.S.-made cluster bombs have been used in civilian-populated areas in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Former Yugoslavia, and Lebanon. These deadly bombs disperse smaller “bomblets” that are designed to kill all living creatures within a specific area that is often as large as several football fields. Used in populated areas, they are an indiscriminate killer of civilians. Depending on the type of munitions and the delivery system, one cluster bomb can scatter dozens to hundreds of bomblets over an area a large area. Many of these bomblets, from 5 to 25%, fail to detonate and form de facto minefields with devastating and long lasting effect. The cluster bombs the U.S. dropped 40 years ago in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam are still killing people today. These deadly remnants of war continue to kill civilians long after the conflicts end and children are often the victims. In Southeast Asia at least 60% of the casualties of unexploded cluster munitions are children.

The Cluster munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594 and H.R. 1755) is a common-sense bill which prevents the U.S. military from using cluster bombs in areas where civilians are known to be present. This bill will: Immediately prohibit the use of cluster bombs in or near populated or urban areas; prohibit the use, sale and transfer of U.S. made cluster bombs containing submunition failure rates of more then 1%—to ensure that a large minefield of bomblets is not left behind; requires the U.S. to clean up all of the unexploded bomblets. This bill represents a practical solution to a serious humanitarian threat, and it would bring the U.S. into line with the emerging international consensus against the misuse of these highly indiscriminate weapons. As the world community moves towards a treaty to ban cluster bombs in the next several months, the time for U.S. action is now.

Resources:

National Campaign to Ban Cluster Bombs at Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL): http://www.banclusters.org http://www.banclusterbombs.org

What would a cluster bomb do to your neighborhood? Interactive map: http://www.fcnl.org/weapons/cluster_attack2.htm

If you or your organization would like to join the Maine Campaign to Ban Cluster Bombs or for more information contact: Mary Trotochaud, mtrotochaud [at] earthlink [dot] net or 207-342-2251

Peace Action Maine Cluster Bombs page: http://www.peaceactionme.org/blog/together-we-can-...