Please send names of signators with address and congregational affiliation to Mary Trotochaud at mtrotochaud [at] earthlink [dot] net This letter will be delivered to the senators and representatives at meetings with them in state with clergy representation. We will also take the letter to editorial boards of papers in the state.

Dear Senator Collins/Snowe, (Dear Rep. Michaud/Allen) We, the undersigned clergy of Maine, urge you to co-sponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007 (S.594) (H.R.1755). Introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein and Patrick Leahy (Reps. McGovern, McCollum and Issa), this legislation prohibits both the use of cluster munitions in or near civilian populated areas and the use, sale and transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of over one percent.

On December 5 in Vienna Austria, one hundred thirty nations participated in a conference to ban cluster bombs. At the opening session, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said “Not only do we have a moral obligation to ban cluster munitions, we also have a strong mandate from the international community.” It is to that moral obligation that we as faith leaders in our communities would like to speak.

Each of our faith traditions embraces a belief in the protection of human life and dignity. We are alarmed by the many well-documented reports illustrating the grave danger posed by cluster munitions to civilians in conflict situations. These indiscriminate weapons scatter deadly explosives over wide areas of land, making it very difficult to avoid civilian casualties. Moreover, while designed to explode on impact, many of the submunition initially fail to detonate, leaving behind large numbers of hazardous explosive “duds” that are akin to landmines which injure and kill civilians and contaminate the land long after conflicts.

After forty years of use, the devastating impact of cluster munitions on civilian populations is well documented and overwhelming. Moral teachings and international humanitarian law insist that noncombatant immunity be respected and that the use of force during wars be discriminate. The indiscriminate nature of this weapon violates these accepted principles. In addition to the tragedy of civilian casualties, unexploded ordnance of cluster bomblets creates long-term social and economic problems for countries attempting to recover from war.

The suffering that continues in countries plagued by the lasting effects of cluster munitions underlines the urgent need to curb the use of these inhumane weapons. As the world moves nearer to a treaty to ban cluster bombs, we urge you to co-sponsor S.594 (H.R.1755). Passage of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007 is the right thing to do. Your leadership is needed to build momentum for this important humanitarian issue.

Sincerely yours,