My regular readers know that I have no use for war for the sake of going to war…..so when there is good news about this act of human insanity I shall write about it…..and today is one of those days.

Last Friday some good news about WMD….chemical weapons ….to be exact…..the US has finally destroyed their last cache of these barbaric weapons…..or so we are lead to believe.

The US has long stored a considerable arsenal of illegal-to-use chemical weaponry—until now. On Friday, the Pentagon destroyed its last remaining such weapon, the culmination of a decades-long effort, reports NPR. The dismantling took place at the Army’s Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky, per the AP. The outlet notes that the American military’s chemical stockpile was up to 30,000 tons when the Cold War ended in 1991. The historic milestone now in place: All of the world’s publicly declared chemical weapons—laden with everything from mustard gas to sarin—are now eliminated.

The US technically had until the end of September to complete the task of destroying the weapons in compliance with the 26-year-old Chemical Weapons Convention. It was the last of eight countries to eliminate its declared stockpile. “This is the first time, globally, that an entire class of weapons of mass destruction” has been destroyed, said Vietnam War veteran Craig Williams, who has been advocating for the safe destruction of the chemical arsenal since 1984, per the Lexington Times. Of course, the destruction covers only the declared chemical weapons in the world—other nations, including Russia, Syria, and North Korea, are believed to have undeclared stashes.

The caveat is ‘declared’ weapons….god only knows how many are still in some secret depository some where.

Have you ever noticed the bad news seems to always follow good news?

And now for the bad….

As good as this news is there is also some disturbing news….the US is sending cluster bombs to Ukraine…..Cluster bombs have killed more civilians in the last 20 years than has those chemical weapons….so let’s send them to another war.

The Biden administration is on the defense after announcing it will send controversial cluster bombs to Ukraine to help in that nation’s counteroffensive against Russia. On Friday, President Biden conceded to Fareed Zakaria on CNN that it was a “very difficult decision” to approve the transfer of cluster munitions, and that “it took me a while to be convinced to do it.” The commander in chief noted that he conferred with both “our friends up on the Hill” and ally nations, but that ultimately, what swayed him was realizing that “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.”

National security adviser Jake Sullivan concurred with Biden on the careful deliberations over the cluster bombs, noting that the White House spent “quite some time” mulling the move before making its decision, per the Washington Post. Biden told Zakaria that, on the recommendation of the Pentagon, the cluster bombs were only a “temporary” fix to help Ukraine during a “transition period” while the US produces more of the 155mm artillery it has been sending to Ukraine. The BBC notes cluster bombs, which can take out multiple military targets at once, are controversial partly due to their “dud” rate, referring to bombs that don’t immediately detonate and remain on the ground—posing a danger to civilians, potentially for years.

Sullivan said that the cluster bombs being sent to Ukraine have been tested to make sure the dud rate isn’t above 2.35%, and that Ukraine has assured the US “they intend to use these munitions in a way to minimize the exposure of civilians,” per the Post. Still, most NATO member nations (the US isn’t among them) have signed an international convention barring production, use, or transfer of cluster munitions. “No to cluster bombs and yes to the legitimate defense of Ukraine,” Margarita Robles, Spain’s defense minister, said Friday, per the BBC. Even the US has a ban on using cluster bombs with a dud rate of more than 1% rate—a ban Biden bypassed Friday by invoking the Foreign Assistance Act.

A tough decision?

But the best excuse for the use of a banned weapon…..

Speaking to CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria on Friday, President Biden said he needed to send cluster bombs because Ukraine and the US are running out of ammunition. “This is a war relating to munitions. And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it,” he said. “And so, what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to — not permanently — but to allow for this transition period, while we get more 155 weapons, these shells, for the Ukrainians.”

Interesting….

Why?  I am so glad you asked.

On February 28, 2022, then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who now has her own TV show on MSNBC, told reporters that Russia’s use of cluster munitions in Ukraine would “potentially be a war crime.”

So is it a ‘war crime’ or not?

Here is a novel idea…..since we are sending billions of stuff to Ukraine to save a few dollars why not recall all the military crap given to law enforcement agencies box it up and mail it to Ukraine…..with a note that says “Make Do”

Sorry I digress and now back on subject.

With a re-election fight on the horizon I feel sure that some cash came in a plain brown envelope to help with the decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine.

These bombs need to be next on the banning list for the US….most civilized countries have banned their use….but so far the US is not on that list.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”