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Introductory Statement “Cluster Bombs: the Aftermath” By Friends of Lebanon 4 November 2009
Why have we come here this evening to consider cluster munitions? In part, we have come to acknowledge that international relations—politics, if you will—can make discussing cluster munitions very complicated business. And so we turn our attention to Lebanon, arguably one of the most politically complicated places in the world. But our presentations this evening will show that even in Lebanon, the on-the-ground evidence on cluster munitions provides a clarity that enables us to make sound decisions.
For this is the fundamental reason we are here this evening: to see for ourselves the true impact of cluster munitions. Scientific evidence has established that cluster munitions are inefficient as a military tool. After numerous international conferences studying the details of their efficacy, this point was conceded by 107 states, including Britain, who adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2008.
To say that cluster bombs have limited if any military use is to prompt the question of strategic use. Understanding the reality of cluster bombs, why have they not been universally abandoned? Because the motivation in continued use, derived from experience, is a different tactic altogether. In reality, the strategy is to debilitate the targeted community by diverting its resources and diverting its attention. In essence, it aims to break the targeted community’s will and ability to defend itself. But even if we could remove the question of ethics, this strategy is simply misguided.
In the short term, despite the immediate damage inflicted, the use of cluster munitions can actually strengthen the resolve of those targeted. As in the case of Lebanon, the entire community braces itself to protect its people. It vows to withstand the damage, which in the end accomplishes nothing but pain.
In the long term, the use of cluster munitions carries the inherent message that the ever-lurking enemy has no regard for the non-combatant. It says that the entire targeted community is at the mercy of an amorphous political machine that neither sees nor cares about the daily needs of that population. For an indefinite time to come, this message breeds hurt, anger and resentment, emotions that stand as a barrier to healthy international relations.
At the end of the day, then, the use of cluster munitions both aggravates and perpetuates conflict. In moving forward with the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Britain will demonstrate integrity and respect. With this respect comes trust, and with trust we can move on to dialogue instead of trying to impose order by overpowering. To be a firm world leader does not mean that we must be ruthless in our desire to maintain that status.
The million unexploded cluster bombs left in Lebanon after the 2006 War continue to maim and kill. But the Lebanese refuse a broken spirit. We invite you to share that spirit of resilience. We invite Britain to accept the challenge of moving away from a global existence mired in perpetual conflict, and moving toward a global existence free from the hatred that explodes with a cluster bomb.
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Hussein Zreik in consultation with Dr Abdo Haidar, six months after cluster bomb explosion; Photo from “Life is Stronger,” produced by OTV Lebanon. |
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Hussein Zreik in consultation with Dr Abdo Haidar, six months after cluster bomb explosion; Photo from “Life is Stronger,” produced by OTV Lebanon.
Special Thanks for their support of this project to
Joanna Choukeir—See this FOL member’s take on the 4th November event here. John Yates—FOL member and proprietor of “Unreported World” And thanks to all the other FOL members and supporters who offered their time and energy to make this happen. |
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“There is an issue about Lebanon which strikes hard and deep with me. Anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs usually claim as their victims the non-combatants. They take a very few soldiers. But they take old men, old women, and young children. But they’re meant to take soldiers. They’re designed to take out combatants, to reduce the enemy, to reduce the resistance. Then in Lebanon, in the “72 Hours” that we watched tonight, it was quite different from that. These cluster munitions were targeted at communities.
I found that film almost numbing, it left me almost speechless. . . but none of us can afford to be speechless in light of this. Silence is impermissible. You must take the message out—all of you—and talk to anyone who is prepared to listen about this iniquitous kind of practice. And we must make it loud and clear and persistent.” --Frank Cook, MP, 4 November 2009 |
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“There has been a widespread use of cluster munitions in Lebanon over a number of decades. So the Lebanese people, the Lebanese society, individual survivors, the Lebanese government as well during the negotiations [of the Oslo treaty] were a very strong influence—ambassadors from Lebanon, diplomats who were responsible for making the text of this treaty stronger than it otherwise would have been.
[In negotiating the treaty] we managed to keep the focus always on human beings and on the humanitarian imperative, on the stories like that we saw in the film and heard from Hussein and Ali. . . . I think when you listen to the storie we’ve heard tonight there’s no excuse for getting caught up in details of military necessity and other points that are really less important than the human stories, than human beings.” --Thomas Nash, CMC, 4 November 2009 |
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“I stayed in the hospital over a month. I suffered a lot and I had very severe pain. When I was discharged from the hospital, I wasn’t happy. I used to see my friends playing football and I couldn’t do that. I used to see my parents and my uncle being very sad when they looked at me and my situation. At night I used to see my mother crying.
Those fields, they are our playgrounds, and now they are filled with bombs and we can’t play there anymore. I would like to urge everyone to support the ban on cluster bombs. I know that it will not bring back my leg, but at least it will prevent other children from having the same fate—to be injured, to lose body parts, or to die.” --Hussein Zreik, cluster bomb survivor, 4 November 2009 |
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“When I was working I got a phone call and they told me Hussein was injured and I went straight to the hospital. . . . At that moment I wished that his injuries had happened to me, but not to Hussein. He is my eldest son, a very good son. I wish everyone had a son like him, very polite, intelliegent. He spent almost two months in the hospital. In the first week we weren’t sure if he would die. I thank God at least he didn’t lose his life. His injury is pretty bad, but at least I can see him growing up around me, I can talk to him.
I wish all the people here in the UK, in the international community would help us find a solution for this problem. I went through a difficult time. I used to look at my son like he was dying in front of me. This was very difficult. Maybe now you see me smiling or laughing but it is not really from my heart. I say to the mothers and fathers look at Hussein and what happened to him—can you accept this to happen to my child? Could you accept this to happen to your children?” --Ali Zreik, father of cluster bomb survivor, 4 November 2009 |