Biden Is Right on Cluster Bombs for Ukraine
Officials in Kyiv are best suited to weigh the risks to their own civilians. By The Editorial Board July 9, 2023 3:15 pm ET A man walks past an unexploded tail section of a 300mm rocket which appears to contain cluster bombs in Lysychansk, Ukraine, April 11, 2022. Photo: ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images No sooner had the Biden Administration announced that cluster bombs will be included as part of its $800 million package of military aid to Ukraine than President Biden was attacked by members of his own party and even some allies. Our only criticism is that the decision could have done more good earlier. Mr. Biden says it was a “very difficult decision.” Cluster bombs are anti-personnel weapons that eject multiple smaller bomblets over a large area. They can be very effective, and Russia has
A man walks past an unexploded tail section of a 300mm rocket which appears to contain cluster bombs in Lysychansk, Ukraine, April 11, 2022.
Photo: ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images
No sooner had the Biden Administration announced that cluster bombs will be included as part of its $800 million package of military aid to Ukraine than President Biden was attacked by members of his own party and even some allies. Our only criticism is that the decision could have done more good earlier.
Mr. Biden says it was a “very difficult decision.” Cluster bombs are anti-personnel weapons that eject multiple smaller bomblets over a large area. They can be very effective, and Russia has used them against Ukrainians from the start of the war. But 123 countries—not including the U.S., Ukraine or Russia—have signed a treaty banning their use because the unexploded bomblets can harm civilians years after the fighting has ceased.
The higher the percentage of unexploded bomblets, or dud rate, the greater the menace. The Pentagon says the cluster bombs they are sending to Ukraine have a dud rate of 2.35%. That compares with dud rates of up to 40% for Russian cluster bombs.
The U.K., Canada, Spain and New Zealand criticized Mr. Biden’s decision. And in the Washington Post, former Sen. Patrick Leahy and current Sen. Jeff Merkley called cluster bombs ”a weapon that the United States should be leading the global effort to prohibit.”
Pennsylvania Democrat Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran who co-chairs a bipartisan congressional caucus on unexploded ordinance, said the decision is “blurring the lines of moral high ground.”
Ukraine isn’t seeking to use these bombs against civilians. It wants them because they are running out of other munitions and figures they can compensate for some of the advantage Russia still holds. The greater risk to Ukrainian civilians is from Russia’s invading army and indiscriminate weapons targeting.
If you can’t see a moral distinction between Russia’s aggression and Ukraine’s use of cluster bombs for defense, then you have the blurred vision. Those best suited to make the tradeoff between risks are the Ukrainians whose lives are on the line every day.
Journal Editorial Report: Paul Gigot interviews Doug Schoen. Images: Getty Images/CNP/Zuma Press Composite: Mark Kelly The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
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