The fact that Moammar Gadhafi's military forces used cluster bombs in residential neighborhoods is indeed unconscionable ("'Indiscriminate' bombs rain on Libyan civilians," April 16).
And it is a breach of international law. On May 20, 2010, at the Convention on Cluster Munitions held in Dublin, Ireland, 111 nations formally adopted a landmark treaty outlawing the use of this weapon.
In August 2010, the treaty became binding international law. Sadly, the United States boycotted the convention and has refused to sign the treaty. U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey's response to the decision of 111 nations to ban cluster bombs was that the bombs were "critical and essential" for U.S. operations.
Yet, the best available research indicates that 98 percent of cluster bomb casualties are civilians. Should we be looking at the log in our own eye?
JOHN BRAUN, MINNEAPOLIS
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