CIVIC ACTION ALERT: Urgent Action Needed

Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005)

Farah Arkan Abdulah Majid lost her mother, an unborn sibling, her father, two uncles and a grandmother to US bombing during the Iraq war. Through the work of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) and its founder Marla Ruzicka, the family obtained a $5000 sympathy payment from the US government.Baghdad, Iraq. 27/04/2004Photo © J.B. Russell

CIVIC ACTION ALERT!
CIVILIANS IN SOUTHERN LEBANON IN IMMEDIATE DANGER FROM UXEXPLODED CLUSTER MUNITIONS. URGENT ACTION NEEDED...

Many hundreds of innocent civilians are at risk of serious injury and death due to Israel's use of cluster bombs in Southern Lebanon.
Cluster bombs when used in populated areas inevitably and indiscriminately kill civilians. Intended to shower hundreds of "bomblets" on an area that can span three football fields, cluster bombs leave behind hundreds of unexploded devices the size of a D-cell battery. These can explode if touched or moved. Between 1% and 40% bomblets fail to explode on impact, creating a deadly landscape for children and families now returning to their homes. Already 249 sites south of the Litani River have been found blanketed with unexploded bomblets. Reports of explosions killing or severely inuring civilians have begun to surface and an escalation of incidents like these is, tragically, inevitable.
The indiscriminate nature of cluster bombs means they are not appropriate when attacking a military target in an area populated by civilians. Three different types of US cluster munitions have been found in southern Lebanon and the US State Department has now launched an investigation "likely to focus on whether Israel properly informed the United States about its use of the weapons and whether targets were strictly military," according to the New York Times on August 24th.
TAKE ACTION! Click here to send a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urging a credible, thorough and transparent inquiry. The US must now end the sale of US cluster munitions to Israel, urge the Israeli government to cooperate with organizations locating and clearing the mines by informing them of target locations, and help fund de-mining programs in southern Lebanon.
The improper use of cluster bombs is a tremendously important issue - a matter of life and death for children, women and men living in war torn regions. Please help us minimize harm to civilians by ensuring these weapons are used in strict accordance with international law.
Thank you for taking action on behalf of victims of war.
The CIVIC Team