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Democrats Question Biden’s Decision to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine – Watch

Democrats Question Biden’s Decision to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine – Watch

A group of Democratic lawmakers is expressing reservations about President Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Cluster munitions are a type of weapon that disperses smaller bombs or submunitions over a wide area. These submunitions can often fail to explode on impact, posing a danger to civilians long after a conflict has ended.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) criticized the move on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, saying the weapons “should never be used.” Similarly, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told Fox News’s Shannon Bream that he has “real qualms” about the decision, which Biden said was “very difficult” for him to make.

“Once you see what takes place, we know what takes place in terms of cluster bombs being very dangerous to civilians,” Lee told host Jake Tapper. “They don’t always immediately explode. Children can step on them. That’s a line we should not cross.”

“And so I’m hoping that the administration would reconsider this because these are very dangerous bombs,” Lee said. “They’re dangerous weapons. And this is a line that I don’t believe we should cross.”

Other Democrats who have expressed reservations about Biden’s decision include Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the ranking member of the House’s defense appropriations subcommittee. McCollum said that the decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine is “unnecessary and a terrible mistake.” She argued that the weapons are “inhumane” and that they “pose a serious risk to civilians.”

And these Democrats have expressed reservations as well:  Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). Kaine said that he has “real qualms” about the decision, while Lee said that it “could give a green light to other nations to do something different as well.”

“There is an international convention against [the] use of these cluster munitions that dates back to 2008,” Kaine told Fox News. “And the reason the prohibition was put in place, as you have described, is that these are kinds of munitions that can lead to some downstream risks to civilians.”

Written by Mark Stevens - July 9, 2023