[WCUSP] Fw: ATFL Campaign: Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb

Fri Feb 2 14:10:30 CST 2007

----- Original Message ----- 
From: AAI Alert 
To: Libby Frank 
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 3:02 PM
Subject: ATFL Campaign: Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb

AAI is forwarding on the following message on behalf of the American Task Force for Lebanon and its campaign to ban deadly cluster bombs. 

For more information about this effort, please visit their website at www.atfl.org or call 202-223-9333.

      ATFL Campaign: Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb

      Consumer advocate Ralph Nader endorses campaign

      WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 -- The American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL, http://www.atfl.org/) has begun a campaign to ban the deadly cluster bomb. The campaign has been endorsed by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

      After returning from a ten-day fact-finding trip to Lebanon, ATFL Executive Director Dr. George Cody said: "The problem of unexploded cluster munitions is the number one humanitarian issue that Lebanon faces today." You can read the ATFL report on the unexploded ordnance problem in Lebanon, "A Million Unexploded Cluster Bomblets: The Deadly Legacy of Israel's Assault on Lebanon," on the ATFL website: http://www.atfl.org/cbombreport/

      During the 34-day Israeli military operation in Lebanon last summer, Israel dropped an estimated 1.2 to 4 million cluster "bomblets" on Lebanon from rockets, artillery, and airplanes. Bomblets are about the size of a D-cell battery and have an approximate 30% to 40% failure rate. The UN estimates that Israel fired 90% of these munitions in the last 72 hours of the conflict. The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center South Lebanon confirms that 27 people have been killed and 179 injured from unexploded ordnance since August 14, when hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel ended (http://maccsl.org/).

      Consumer advocate Ralph Nader stated: "I commend the American Task Force for Lebanon for its determined campaign to ban cluster bombs from this Earth. These unexploded ordnance are, like landmines, hidden takers of innocent life, and their use is a crime against humanity. The unknown locations of vast numbers of these deadly destroyers make uninhabitable large areas of agricultural, residential and schooling terrain in Lebanon, where civilians and their children live, work, study, and play.

      The ATFL campaign will focus on these six objectives:

      1. Make clearing the bomblets in Lebanon a top U.S. priority.

      2. Ban U.S. cluster bomb transfers to all countries.

      3. Call for an international treaty to ban cluster weapons.

      4. Press the U.S. to insist that Israel provide the site coordinates marking cluster bomb strikes against Lebanon.

      5. Support the State Department investigation into whether Israel's use of U.S.-manufactured cluster bombs in southern Lebanon violated secret agreements with the U.S. that restrict the employment of such weapons in civilian areas.

      6. Gather signatures for an online petition to the Congress, President Bush and the State Department to "Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb." You can see the petition and sign it yourself by clicking on the green banner below:

      CONTACT: Dr. George Cody, Executive Director
      PHONE: 202-223-9333
      EMAIL: codytennis at aol.com 

      The American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) is a 501(c)(3) nonsectarian and nonprofit, tax-exempt organization comprised primarily of prominent and dedicated Americans of Lebanese heritage who share a common interest in Lebanon and the goals of the organization. The unifying goal is to work towards re-establishing a secure, stable, independent, and sovereign Lebanon with full control over all its territory. At all times, the mission and objectives of the ATFL shall be in the best interest of the United States.

      To make a secure, tax-deductible donation to ATFL, click the button below:

      American Task Force for Lebanon, 2213 M Street NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20037, T: (202) 223-9333 F: (202) 223-1399.

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