As you send out cards of peace during this holiday season, take the time to send this card of hope to your senators and representatives asking them to cosponsor S.594/H.R.1755

1. Print out this holiday postcard: http://www.fcnl.org/pdfs/weapons/clusters-holiday-... on card stock, which you can find at any copy shop. You’ll need to print the cards double sided. Cut the cards apart; there are 4 on every sheet.
2. Sign the postcard, including your return address, or insert it into one of your own holiday greeting cards. Add a sentence or two of your own to personalize the message.
3. Distribute the remaining cards to your family, friends, faith community, and co-workers and ask them to send them to their senators and representatives as well.

Thanks to your calls, Cluster Bombs are an issue to our members of congress. Over the past month, our Maine congressional delegation has heard the calls you have made. Mainers placed the highest number of calls per capita during last month’s national call in. In recent visits to their offices, congressional staffers told us that S.594/H.R.1755 is definitely on their desks for consideration. But our senators and representatives have not stepped forward to take leadership on this issue by cosponsoring S.594/HR. 1755.

Now is the time to keep the pressure on – Send a card – for the children. December is a perfect time to continue this effort and to encourage more people to take one small step to eliminate this most inhumane of weapons. Along with Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Maine Campaign to Ban Cluster Bombs has organized a holiday card campaign, highlighting the impact of cluster bombs on children. Building on the success we had with the recent call-in day, we believe that this holiday card campaign will help humanize this issue for senators, representatives and their staffs. Simply copy the double-sided template on cardstock, distribute at your church or meeting, and ask people to mail as a holiday postcard or Christmas card enclosure to their senators. Go to www.banclusterbombs.org for an electronic template and for more information. For an organizing packet of cards and information on this campaign, contact Mary Trotochaud at 207-342-2251 or mtrotochaud [at] earthlink [dot] net

Background Update
Representatives of 130 countries met in Vienna from December 5-8 to negotiate a global ban on cluster bombs. With two thirds of the world’s nations in attendance, this was the largest of several international gatherings which are part of a Norwegian initiative launched in February when states agreed to conclude a new international ban treaty to be signed by 2008. Eighty three have committed to an international treaty to ban cluster bombs; this effort is globally fast tracked.
Before this conference began, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “I have on several occasions made known my views that the inhumane impact of these weapons requires urgent action. I have urged Member States to prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and to take domestic measures to freeze the use and transfer of all cluster munitions until a new legal instrument is adopted … These are high humanitarian, human rights and developmental stakes.”
The United States is not participating in this process, but the US Congress can do something to put US policy in line with the rest of the world by passing The Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007, S.594 and H.R.1755.

The U.S. is the world’s leading manufacturer, exporter and user of cluster bombs. The U.S. military stockpiles an estimated one billion cluster sub munitions. Our military has used these weapons three times in the last 10 years—killing civilians in each instance. Bombs the U.S. dropped on Laos 40 years ago are still killing today. “As a people, as a country, we are so much better than this,” said Lynn Bradach referring to the United States use and sale of cluster bombs. “Please help me celebrate my son’s life by saving others.” Her son Travis was killed in July 2003 while clearing unexploded U.S. cluster sub munitions from an Iraqi battlefield.

Our best avenue to restrict and eventually eliminate cluster bomb production, use and export is S. 594 and its companion bill in the House, H.R. 1755 - the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act. While the bill is not an outright ban, it would function as a de facto ban. The bill would prohibit the use of cluster bombs in civilian-populated areas. If they are to be used or exported for use in a combat zone, a key condition must be met: they must have a functioning rate of 99% or higher, so that they don’t leave a minefield of deadly ‘duds’ waiting for future generations of farmers, travelers, and children. None of the U.S. stockpile meets this functioning requirement; most U.S. cluster bombs have dud rates between 5-15%, far above the would-be maximum of 1%.

The main opposition to S. 594 focuses on the potential military utility of cluster bombs. However, this opposition is expressed almost exclusively in vague claims of military necessity, and doesn’t account for changes in the style of warfare since World War II. These weapons were originally designed for large troop and vehicle formations, which we rarely see today. Cluster bombs can actually be counter-productive to military goals. Unexploded remnants cause deep and long lasting resentment among local populations which can undermine efforts to quell counter-insurgencies.

TAKE ACTION

1. During the month of December, join our holiday postcard campaign. Send a message of hope and action for the children. Bring this campaign to your family, friends, co workers, faith community and community organizations. Go to www.banclusterbombs.org for more information. Or contact: Mary Trotochaud at: 207-342-2251, mtrotochaud [at] earthlink [dot] net

2. Educate your community. Organize a community showing of “Bombies” a documentary about the devastating long term effects the US use of cluster bombs during the Vietnam War has had on the population of Laos over the past 40 years. For more information: http://www.mcc.org/clusterbombs/bombies/

3. Be a peace lobbyist! Make an appointment to meet with Senators Collins and Snowe, Representatives Allen and Michaud during the holiday recess when they are likely to be in Maine. Remember: YOU are what a lobbyist looks like! For lobbying tips: http://www.fcnl.org/action/toolkit.htm