Senate upholds cluster bomb use

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Senate yesterday rejected a move by Democrats to stop the Pentagon from using cluster bombs near civilian targets and to cut off sales unless purchasers abide by the same rules.

The Senate voted 70-30 to defeat an amendment to a Pentagon budget bill to block use of the deadly munitions near populated areas. The vote came after the State Department announced last month that it is investigating whether Israel misused American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon.

Unexploded cluster bombs -- which spray bomblets over a wide area -- litter homes, gardens and highways in south Lebanon after Israel's monthlong war with Hezbollah guerrillas.

Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont have long sought to keep cluster bombs from being used near civilian-concentrated areas. They say that as many as 40 percent of the munitions fail to detonate on impact, leaving civilians and children vulnerable to injury or death long after hostilities have ceased.

Relief organizations and the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center reported finding evidence that Israel used three types of U.S.-made cluster bombs during the war in Lebanon. Israel also manufactures its own cluster munitions.

"For too long, innocent civilians, not enemy combatants, have suffered the majority of casualties from cluster munitions," Mr. Leahy said. "The recent experience in Lebanon is only the latest example of the appalling human toll of injury and death. Strict rules of engagement are long overdue."

But Sen. Ted Stevens said, "The rules of engagement properly belong with the Department of Defense and the commander in chief."

The Alaska Republican argued that the amendment would restrict "the ability of our military to use these munitions to protect our people."