[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 36 (Thursday, March 10, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1559-S1561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Bingaman, Mrs. 
        Boxer, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Casey, 
        Mr. Durbin, Mr. Franken, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Johnson of South 
        Dakota, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Mikulski, 
        Mrs. Murray, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Udall of New 
        Mexico, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Wyden):
  S. 558. A bill to limit the use of cluster munitions; to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today with my friend and 
colleague from Vermont, Senator Leahy, and 20 co-sponsors to introduce 
the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2011.
  Cluster munitions are large bombs, rockets, or artillery shells that 
contain up to hundreds of small submunitions, or individual 
``bomblets.''
  They are intended for attacking enemy troop formations and armor 
covering over a half mile radius.
  But, in reality, they pose a deadly threat to innocent civilians. 
Before I discuss our legislation, I would like to share a few stories 
that show what these weapons can do.
  Several months after the end of the Iraq war, Ahmed, 12 years old 
from Kebala, Iraq, was walking with his 9-year-old brother and picked 
up what he thought was just a shiny object, but was, in fact, a cluster 
bomb.
  It exploded and Ahmed lost his right hand and three fingers off his 
left hand.
  He also lost an eye and suffered shrapnel wounds to his torso and 
head.
  A young shepherd, Akim, 13 years old, from Al-Radwaniya, Iraq, was 
playing on his parents' farm when it was hit by a cluster bomb attack.
  He suffered burns to his lower limbs and multiple fractures to his 
right leg.
  His wounds became infected and he developed pressure ulcers.
  In 2003, 30 years after the Vietnam war, Dan, 9 years old from 
Phalanexay, Laos, was injured when he picked up and played with a 
cluster bomb. It exploded.
  He suffered massive abdominal trauma, multiple shrapnel wounds, and a 
broken arm and leg.
  Waleed Thamer, 10 years old, is from Iraq. In 2003, he was wounded by 
a cluster bomb on his way to the local market.
  He lost his right hand and suffered shrapnel wounds to his eyes, 
neck, torso, and thighs.
  These stories are deeply distressing. But they show us why our 
legislation is necessary.
  Our legislation places commonsense restrictions on the use of cluster 
bombs. It prevents any funds from being spent to use cluster munitions 
that have a failure rate of more than 1 percent; and unless the rules 
of engagement specify the cluster munitions will only be used against 
clearly defined military targets; and will not be used where civilians 
are known to be

[[Page S1560]]

present or in areas normally inhabited by civilians.
  Finally, our legislation includes a national security waiver that 
allows the President to waive the prohibition on the use of cluster 
bombs with a failure rate of more than 1 percent, if he determines it 
is vital to protect the security of the United States to do so.
  If the President issues the waiver, he must issue a report to 
Congress within 30 days on the failure rate of the cluster bombs used 
and the steps taken to protect innocent civilians.
  If our bill is enacted, it will have an immediate impact.
  Out of the 728.5 million cluster submunitions in the U.S. arsenal, 
only 30,900 have self-destruct devices that would ensure a less than 1 
percent dud rate.
  Those submunitions account for only 0.00004 percent of the U.S. 
total.
  So, the technology exists for the U.S. to meet the 1 percent standard 
but our arsenal consists overwhelmingly of cluster bombs with high 
failure rates.
  Simply put, our bill will help save lives.
  As the above stories demonstrate, cluster bombs pose a real threat to 
the safety of civilians when used in populated areas because they leave 
hundreds of unexploded bombs over a very large area and they are often 
inaccurate.
  Indeed, the human toll of these weapons has been terrible:
  In Laos, approximately 11,000 people, 30 percent of them children, 
have been killed or injured by U.S. cluster munitions since the Vietnam 
war ended.
  In Afghanistan, between October 2001 and November 2002, 127 civilians 
lost their lives due to cluster munitions, 70 percent of them under the 
age of 18.
  An estimated 1,220 Kuwaitis and 400 Iraqi civilians have been killed 
by cluster munitions since 1991.
  In the 2006 war in Lebanon, Israeli cluster munitions, many of them 
manufactured in the U.S., injured and killed 343 civilians.
  During the 2003 invasion of Baghdad, the last time the U.S. used 
cluster munitions, these weapons killed more civilians than any other 
type of U.S. weapon.
  The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division described cluster munitions as 
``battlefield losers'' in Iraq, because they were often forced to 
advance through areas contaminated with unexploded duds.
  During the 1991 Gulf War, U.S. cluster munitions caused more U.S. 
troop casualties than any single Iraqi weapon system, killing 22 U.S. 
servicemen.
  Yet we have seen significant progress in the effort to protect 
innocent civilians from these deadly weapons since we first introduced 
this legislation in the 110th Congress.
  In December 2008, 95 countries came together to sign the Oslo 
Convention on Cluster Munitions which would prohibit the production, 
use, and export of cluster bombs and requires signatories to eliminate 
their arsenals within 8 years.
  This group includes key NATO allies such as Canada, the United 
Kingdom, France, and Germany, who are fighting alongside our troops in 
Afghanistan.
  It includes 33 countries that have produced and used cluster 
munitions.
  To date, 108 countries have signed the convention and 48 have 
ratified it.
  It formally came into force on August 1, 2010.
  In 2007, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law a 
provision from our legislation contained in the fiscal year 2008 
Consolidated Appropriations Act prohibiting the sale and transfer of 
cluster bombs with a failure rate of more than 1 percent.
  Congress extended this ban as a part of the Omnibus Appropriations 
Act for fiscal year 2009 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 
2010.
  These actions will help save lives. But much more work remains to be 
done and significant obstacles remain.
  For one, the United States chose not to participate in the Oslo 
process or sign the treaty.
  The Pentagon continues to believe that cluster munitions are 
``legitimate weapons with clear military utility in combat.''
  It would prefer that the United States work within the Geneva-based 
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, CCW, to negotiate limits on 
the use of cluster munitions.
  Yet these efforts have been going on since 2001 and it was the 
inability of the CCW to come to any meaningful agreement which prompted 
other countries, led by Norway, to pursue an alternative treaty through 
the Oslo process.
  A lack of U.S. leadership in this area has given cover to other major 
cluster munitions producing nations--China, Russia, India, Pakistan, 
Israel, and Egypt--who have refused to sign the Oslo Convention as 
well.
  Recognizing the United States could not remain silent in the face of 
international efforts to restrict the use of cluster bombs, Secretary 
of Defense Robert Gates issued a new policy on cluster munitions in 
June 2008 stating that after 2018, the use, sale and transfer of 
cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1 percent would be 
prohibited.
  The policy is a step in the right direction, but under the terms of 
this new policy, the Pentagon will still have the authority to use 
cluster bombs with high failure rates for the next 10 years.
  That is unacceptable and runs counter to our values. The 
administration should take another look at this policy.
  In fact, on September 29, 2009, Senator Leahy and I were joined by 14 
of our colleagues in sending a letter to President Obama urging him to 
conduct a thorough review of U.S. policy on cluster munitions.
  On April 14, 2010, we received a response from then National Security 
Advisor Jim Jones stating that the administration will undertake this 
review following the policy review on U.S. landmines policy.
  The administration should complete this review without delay.
  Let us not forget that the United States maintains an arsenal of an 
estimated 5.5 million cluster munitions containing 728 million 
submunitions which have an estimated failure rate of between 5 and 15 
percent.
  What does that say about us, that we are still prepared to use, sell 
and transfer these weapons with well-known failure rates?
  The fact is, cluster munition technologies already exist, that meet 
the 1 percent standard. Why do we need to wait 10 years?
  This delay is especially troubling given that in 2001, former 
Secretary of Defense William Cohen issued his own policy on cluster 
munitions stating that, beginning in fiscal year 2005, all new cluster 
munitions must have a failure rate of less than 1 percent.
  Unfortunately, the Pentagon was unable to meet this deadline and 
Secretary Gates' new policy essentially postpones any meaningful action 
for another 10 years.
  That means if we do nothing, by 2018 close to 20 years will have 
passed since the Pentagon first recognized the threat these deadly 
weapons pose to innocent civilians.
  We can do better.
  Our legislation simply moves up the Gates policy by 7 years.
  For those of my colleagues who are concerned that it may be too soon 
to enact a ban on the use of cluster bombs with failure rates of more 
than 1 percent, I point out again that our bill allows the President to 
waive this restriction if he determines it is vital to protect the 
security of the United States to do so.
  I would also remind my colleagues that the United States has not used 
cluster bombs in Iraq since 2003 and has observed a moratorium on their 
use in Afghanistan since 2002.
  We introduce this legislation to make this moratorium permanent for 
the entire U.S. arsenal of cluster munitions.
  We introduce this legislation for children like Hassan Hammade.
  A 13-year-old Lebanese boy, Hassan lost four fingers and sustained 
injuries to his stomach and shoulder after he picked up an unexploded 
cluster bomb in front of an orange tree.
  He said:

       I started playing with it and it blew up. I didn't know it 
     was a cluster bomb--it just looked like a burned out piece of 
     metal.
       All the children are too scared to go out now, we just play 
     on the main roads or in our homes.

  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. We should do 
whatever we can to protect more innocent children and other civilians 
from these dangerous weapons.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.

[[Page S1561]]

  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 558

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Cluster Munitions Civilian 
     Protection Act of 2011''.

     SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON THE USE OF CLUSTER MUNITIONS.

       No funds appropriated or otherwise available to any Federal 
     department or agency may be obligated or expended to use any 
     cluster munitions unless--
       (1) the submunitions of the cluster munitions, after 
     arming, do not result in more than 1 percent unexploded 
     ordnance across the range of intended operational 
     environments; and
       (2) the policy applicable to the use of such cluster 
     munitions specifies that the cluster munitions will only be 
     used against clearly defined military targets and will not be 
     used where civilians are known to be present or in areas 
     normally inhabited by civilians.

     SEC. 3. PRESIDENTIAL WAIVER.

       The President may waive the requirement under section 2(1) 
     if, prior to the use of cluster munitions, the President--
       (1) certifies that it is vital to protect the security of 
     the United States; and
       (2) not later than 30 days after making such certification, 
     submits to the appropriate congressional committees a report, 
     in classified form if necessary, describing in detail--
       (A) the steps that will be taken to protect civilians; and
       (B) the failure rate of the cluster munitions that will be 
     used and whether such munitions are fitted with self-destruct 
     or self-deactivation devices.

     SEC. 4. CLEANUP PLAN.

       Not later than 90 days after any cluster munitions are used 
     by a Federal department or agency, the President shall submit 
     to the appropriate congressional committees a plan, prepared 
     by such Federal department or agency, for cleaning up any 
     such cluster munitions and submunitions which fail to explode 
     and continue to pose a hazard to civilians.

     SEC. 5. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

       In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional 
     committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 
     Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on 
     Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign 
     Affairs, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 
     on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
                                 ______