April 2003

The Gloucestershire Green Party have called for a ban on cluster bombs.

Philip Booth, Gloucestershire Green Party spokesperson said;"If Blair is serious about protecting civilians he must stop using cluster bombs in Iraq. Aside from the immediate devastation these weapons cause, each cluster bomb dropped leaves the Iraqi people with a lethal legacy."

In 1991 in the last war in Iraq, over 24 million bomblets were dropped. These have already killed or injured 4,000 civilians since the end of the conflict. Amnesty International, Tearfund, Oxfam and many others are joining the call to ban cluster bombs.

Philip Booth continued:"Chemical weapons are abhorrent and banned under international law, because they are so indiscriminate. Cluster bombs also violate the underlying principle that there should be a distinction between civilians and belligerents. It is inconsistent to be using indiscriminate cluster bombs to remove Iraq's alleged indiscriminate chemical and biological weapons."

Philip Booth said:"If Geoff Hoon can justify the use of cluster bombs as they protect our troops from unnecessary risks, then will he be advocating a nuclear strike on Baghdad to avoid the deaths of about 30 UK troops? Surely he would also endorse Iraq using weapons of mass destruction for the same reason?"

Philip Booth concluded:"Cluster bombs must be banned and our government must commit to the new protocol to the UN convention on conventional weapons which obliges parties to remove cluster bombs once conflict has ended. Unless we do so, hearts will continue to be broken and minds will not be reconciled by the injuries and deaths that will continue long after the war has officially ended."