[ [link removed] ]Ilhan for Congress
I want to take a moment this morning to tell you about cluster munitions, and then ask you to add your name to mine in support of banning their transfer and use.
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This is important, so please let me explain:
Last week, the Biden administration announced its intention to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine in their war against Russia.
Cluster munitions work by spreading many, many small bombs over a wide-ranging area. And because of their indiscriminate nature, they pose an incredible danger to civilians, even years after the end of a conflict.
Unexploded, dud munitions from cluster bombings gruesomely kill civilians — oftentimes children — sometimes decades after their use. I recently traveled on a congressional delegation visit to Vietnam, where I heard from people firsthand about innocent civilians being killed by U.S. cluster bombs to this day, nearly 50 years after the end of the Vietnam War.
These bombs have been banned by 108 countries worldwide, and 123 countries have ratified an international convention to ban their use entirely — including nearly all of our allies.
Let me be crystal clear: the continued use of cluster munitions in Ukraine is condemning entire generations of civilians to preventable and gruesome injuries, death, and human suffering, and they should be outlawed as a war crime at an international level as soon as possible.
If the US is going to try and act as a leader on human rights on the international stage, we cannot talk out of both sides of our mouth at the same time.
The U.S. cannot decry the immorality of Putin's use of cluster bombs one day, and then turn around and send those same weapons to Ukraine the next.
No. We should be leading the effort to eradicate these weapons entirely, not continuing to spread the anguish they cause across the globe.
That's why this past week, along with my colleague Rep. Sara Jacobs, I was proud to introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 which would prohibit the United States' transfer of these hideous weapons of war.
If we're going to make any progress on this issue, I cannot do it alone. It's going to take all of us standing together and demanding what is right. That is why I'm asking you today:
Add your name to my petition if you agree: the United States must not provide Ukraine or anyone else with cluster bombs, and should join the international community by ratifying the Convention on Cluster Munitions. This is important.
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As someone who experienced the trauma and horror of war firsthand, this is an issue that is very close to my heart.
The fact is that we can continue to stand with the people of Ukraine against Russia's illegal and tyrannical invasion, while also opposing violations of international law.
That is what I will continue to do. I hope that we as a country can find it within ourselves to do the same.
Thank you in advance for adding your voice to mine today.
In solidarity,
Ilhan Omar
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