How much has happened since my last post in this space (back in August 31, 2006 -- see below) when I kvetched about cluster bombs...
Since then I've traveled in Lebanon and walked (very carefully) in the land heavily infested with cluster bombs. Over four million cluster bombs were dropped in southern Lebanon, most dropped in the last days of the bombardment when a ceasefire was immanent. That is one bomblet per person (Lebanon has about 4 million people). The pic above of a billboard warning people about how to recognize these explosives is very common in southern Lebanon and Be'kaa Valley. Read more
Almost every day I read Beirut's English language newspaper -- The Daily Star is believed by some residents to be a CIA publication -- I found another story about someone -- an old man in an olive orchard, a young child herding sheep, for example -- mortally wounded by one of these horrible munitions.
Yet munitions companies -- particularly U.S. companies -- continue their manufacture. Why? Why do we -- American citizens -- continue to ignore the devastation caused by these bomblets? Imagine your kid playing outside and suddenly, poof, an explosion, a scream, and your kid is mortally wounded or loses a limb...
Read articles about these travels in several small villages in southern Lebanon:
Don't send your sons ...
and
The medium is the message - El Zohara television
