Pentagon and State Department Under Fire for Supporting Israel’s Actions in Gaza
Officials at the Pentagon and State Department have been working tirelessly for over 250 days, supporting Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, which has resulted in significant civilian casualties. While these departments are supposed to focus on defense and diplomacy, they have instead been instrumental in implementing and concealing Washington’s war policies, which have claimed more lives than those of any other government in recent times.
The Controversy Over Cluster Munitions
Cluster munitions are particularly devastating weapons of war. Recognizing this, 67 Democrats and an equal number of Republicans in the House of Representatives voted last week to stop the US government from continuing to supply these weapons to foreign armies. However, more than twice as many House members voted against this measure, defeating a Pentagon funding amendment that would have banned the transfer of cluster munitions to other countries. As a result, the US can continue supplying these weapons to the military forces of Ukraine and Israel.
International Opposition and Civilian Impact
So far, 124 nations have signed a treaty banning cluster munitions due to their indiscriminate impact on civilians. The bomblets from these munitions are particularly dangerous to children because they resemble toys, as highlighted by the group Just Security.
Domestic Implications
Despite the international outcry, members of Congress do not have to worry about their own children encountering such bombs. The Biden administration initially responded to reports (later confirmed) of Russia using cluster munitions in Ukraine by condemning the act. On February 28, 2022, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki stated that if the reports were true, it could potentially constitute a war crime.
At that time, the New York Times described cluster munitions as “internationally banned” weapons, which include rockets, bombs, missiles, and artillery shells that disperse lethal bomblets over a wide area, affecting both military and civilian targets indiscriminately.
Officials at the Pentagon and State Department have been working tirelessly for over 250 days, supporting Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, which has resulted in significant civilian casualties. While these departments are supposed to focus on defense and diplomacy, they have instead been instrumental in implementing and concealing Washington’s war policies, which have claimed more lives than those of any other government in recent times.
The Controversy Over Cluster Munitions
Cluster munitions are particularly devastating weapons of war. Recognizing this, 67 Democrats and an equal number of Republicans in the House of Representatives voted last week to stop the US government from continuing to supply these weapons to foreign armies. However, more than twice as many House members voted against this measure, defeating a Pentagon funding amendment that would have banned the transfer of cluster munitions to other countries. As a result, the US can continue supplying these weapons to the military forces of Ukraine and Israel.
International Opposition and Civilian Implication
Ders voted oppositely. They defeated a Pentagon funding modification that may have banned the switch of cluster munitions to different international locations. The legislators assured that America could proceed with supplying these weapons to the army forces of Ukraine and Israel.
Up to now, 124 nations have signed a treaty banning cluster munitions, which regularly destroy the bodies of civilians. The “bomblets” of cluster munitions “are notably engaging to youngsters as a result of they appear like a bell with a ribbon bow on the finish,” explains the group Simply Safety.
However, no member of Congress ought to fear that one among his or her youngsters would possibly someday choose up such a bomb, maybe mistaking it for a toy, and be killed immediately or maimed by shrapnel.
The Biden administration responded accurately to indications (later confirmed correct) that Russia was utilizing cluster munitions in Ukraine. On February 28, 2022, White Home spokeswoman Jen Psaki informed reporters that if experiences of Russian use of such weapons turned out to be true, “it could doubtlessly be a battle crime.”
At the moment, the Quilt of New York Instances described “internationally banned cluster munitions” as “quite a lot of weapons (rockets, bombs, missiles, and artillery shells) that disperse deadly bombs within the air over a large space, hitting army and civilian targets alike.”
Days later, the Instances reported that NATO officers “accused Russia of utilizing cluster bombs in its invasion,” and the newspaper added that “antipersonnel cluster bombs. . . “killing so indiscriminately that worldwide regulation prohibits it.”
However, when the Ukrainian army ran out of ammunition last year, the US administration determined to start sending them cluster munitions.
“All international locations ought to condemn the usage of these weapons beneath any circumstances,” Human Rights Watch stated.
BBC correspondent John Simpson summed it up 1 / 4 of a century in the past: “Used towards human beings, cluster bombs are a number of the most savage weapons of contemporary warfare.”
The Congressional Analysis Service (CAS) reported this spring that cluster munitions “disperse large quantities of submunitions imprecisely over a vast area.” They often fail to detonate and are challenging to detect, remaining a hazard for decades.
The CAS report adds: “Civilian casualties are primarily caused by munitions fired at areas where soldiers and civilians mix, inaccurate cluster munitions falling into populated areas, or civilians passing through areas where cluster munitions have been used but did not explode.”
The immediate devastating effects are just the beginning. Human Rights Watch notes, “More than five decades have passed since America dropped cluster bombs on Laos, the most bombed country per capita in the world.” The contamination from cluster munition debris and other unexploded ordnance is so extensive that less than 10 percent of affected areas have been cleared. It is estimated that 80 million submunitions still pose a danger, particularly to curious children.
Members of Congress who recently approved more cluster munitions are ignoring harsh realities. The prevalent approach is to proceed as if these human realities don’t matter when an ally uses these weapons (or when the United States has used them in Southeast Asia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen).
Overall, with the ongoing carnage in Gaza, it is clear that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown his true colors. But so have President Biden and the most powerful Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
While the United States has been supplying the majority of the weapons and ammunition imported by Israel, official Washington’s approach (with ineffective complaints) has allowed Israel to lethally restrict the entry of food into Gaza.
During his State of the Union address in early March, Biden announced plans for the United States to build a port on the coast of Gaza to bring in food and other vital aid. However, his speech did not mention the Pentagon’s expectation that such a seaport could take 60 days to become operational.
At that moment, a headline summed up the hollowness of the tactic: “Biden’s aid port plan is berated as a ‘pathetic’ PR effort as Israel starves Gazans.” Even at full speed, the planned port would not come close to compensating for Israel’s methodical blockade of aid trucks, the best way to get food to the 2.2 million people facing famine.
“We’re talking about a population that is now going hungry,” said Ziad Issa, head of humanitarian policy at ActionAid. “We have already seen children die of hunger.”
A Save the Children official provided a reality check: “Children in Gaza can’t wait to eat. They are already dying of malnutrition, and saving their lives is a matter of hours or days, not weeks.”
The Nation described the tragic absurdity of Biden’s Gaza policies: the US government is making elaborate plans to ameliorate a humanitarian crisis that would not exist without its bombs.
And this week, more than three months after the uproar over plans for a port on the coast of Gaza, news emerged that the entire effort is a colossal failure even by its terms.
“The $230 million temporary dock that the US military built at short notice to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza has largely failed in its mission, aid organizations say, and will likely end operations weeks earlier than initially expected,” reported the New York Times on June 18. “In the month since it was attached to the shore, the pier has been in service for only about 10 days. The rest of the time, they repaired it after rough seas damaged it, detached it to prevent further harm, or detained it for safety reasons.”
As Israel’s primary military backer, the US government could insist on an end to the ongoing massacre of civilians in Gaza and demand a complete cessation of interference with aid deliveries. Instead, Israel continues to inflict “unconscionable death and suffering” as mass famine looms.
Maya Angelou’s advice certainly applies. When the president and a large majority of Congress reveal that they are willing accomplices to mass murder, believe them.
It is fitting that Angelou, a renowned poet and writer, lent her voice to the words of Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death in 2003 while standing in front of an Israeli army bulldozer moving to demolish a Palestinian family’s home in Rafah.
Several years after Corrie’s death, Angelou recorded a video reading an email the young activist sent her: “We are all born and someday we’ll all die, probably to some extent alone. What if our loneliness is not a tragedy? What if our loneliness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? What if our solitude is what allows us to travel, to experience the world as a dynamic presence, as something changing and interactive
