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Cluster Bomb Survivors to For Immediate Release: 
President Douglas C. Bennett to host a presentation about the terrible impact of anti-personnel weaponry. RICHMOND, Ind. —The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs will stop at Earlham College on Monday, Oct. 13, at the invitation of President Douglas C. Bennett as a part of its Cluster Bomb Survivors Tour across the Midwest. The campaign is a coalition of thousands of organizations and people working to ban further U.S. use, production and export of anti-personnel landmines and cluster bombs. The Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers) is the coordinator for the campaign. Cluster bombs are large weapons containing dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions or bomblets that kill or maim in an area the size of two to four football fields. The vast majority of the victims of these weapons are civilians. In the last 10 years, the United States has used these weapons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. Unexploded bomblets dropped by the U.S. in Vietnam and Laos more than 30 years ago are still killing and maiming people today. The United States is the leading user, producer, stockpiler and exporter of cluster munitions. Although Congress has placed a one-year moratorium on the export of most U.S. cluster bombs, the Bush administration has refused to join the global negotiations leading to a cluster bomb treaty. While more than half of the world's governments, including the closest military allies of the United States, agreed to ban these weapons in May 2008, the Pentagon articulated a new policy that calls for the use and, if permitted by Congress, export of these weapons for another decade. The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs is touring Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio to build public support for Senate legislation that would effectively ban the U.S. from using and exporting cluster bombs. The support of Midwestern senators, including Indiana's Richard Lugar (R) and Evan Bayh (D), is seen as key to the passage of the proposed moratorium. Among the speakers traveling to Earlham will be a 17-year old Afghani teen who lost both legs to a cluster bomb, the father of a five-year-old boy who was killed by these weapons in south Lebanon, and the mother of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq while cleaning up munitions dropped by U.S. forces. "As a people, as a country, we are so much better than this," said Lynn Bradach, referring to the country's continued use and sale of cluster bombs. Her son Travis, a Marine, was killed in July 2003 while clearing unexploded U.S. cluster submunitions from an Iraqi battlefield. President Bennett will host a dinner for the campaigners, which will be followed by a presentation on the devastating effects of cluster bomb use at 6:45 p.m. in the Richmond Room, located on the first floor of the Landrum Bolling Center. The presentation is free and open to the public. — EC — Contact:
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |