Pope calls for end to land mines, cluster bombs.

As our President takes a firm and moral stand in Prague against our unusable nuclear weapons (although leaving an "all-due-haste" deadline) let us pray that he will take as well the only possible just and moral step in signing this treaty banning the possession, production and use of cluster bombs, whose principle victims are children years after their deployment. Israel has dumped thousands of these bomblets upon southern Lebanon, and with the USA is a major producer. Let us loudly promote a pro-life stance in urging our President and Congress rejoin the civilized nations of this Earth in banning cluster bombs.

Those who remember Lady Diana Spencer recall her courageous stance against the use of land mines, which cluster bombs essentially become. Let us join now in forbidding them from the face of the earth, that farmers may plow in peace and children may play upon our green fields without fear of losing life and limb to injustices long since passed. Amen.

Pax tecum
frere charles

Thank you and God bess you Holy Father!

This topic does not (unfortunately) have anything to do with:
SEX, CONDOMS, PROCREATION, and WOMEN.
Hence many members of USCCB may NOT have a "clue" as to what the Pope is talking about.

To help these "clueless" folks, here is some background material :

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/02/27-5

US: Join Allies in Banning Landmines
February 27, 2009

Obama Should Reverse US Stance as Landmark Treaty Marks 10th Anniversary
WASHINGTON - February 27 - The United States should reconsider its stance and join the treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, Human Rights Watch said today. Sunday, March 1 will mark 10 years since the treaty became binding international law.

"In the decade since the Mine Ban Treaty took effect, the weapon has become so stigmatized that it is almost inconceivable that the United States would ever use it again," said Steve Goose, director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch. "The US should stop being the odd man out and join its allies in banning antipersonnel mines."

Except for the US, every NATO member has foresworn the use of antipersonnel mines, as have other key allies, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Australia, and Japan. In the Western Hemisphere, only the US and Cuba have not joined the Mine Ban Treaty.

"A decision to sign the Mine Ban Treaty would certainly reinforce President Obama's stated commitment to international humanitarian law, protection of civilians, arms control and disarmament, and multilateralism," said Goose.

The Clinton administration in 1997 set the objective of joining the Mine Ban Treaty in 2006, but the Bush administration reversed course in February 2004 and announced that it did not ever intend to join.

On March 1, 1999, the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force, just 15 months after it was negotiated - the shortest time ever for a modern international treaty. The treaty comprehensively bans all antipersonnel mines, requires destruction of stockpiled mines within four years, requires destruction of mines already in the ground within 10 years, and urges extensive programs to assist the victims of landmines.

Since the treaty came into force, the use of antipersonnel mines has largely dried up; in recent years only the pariah government of Burma and a few rebel groups have laid significant numbers of mines. Trade in these weapons has virtually stopped. Only about a dozen of the more than 50 countries that manufactured antipersonnel mines in the past still retain the capacity. Some 42 million antipersonnel mines have been destroyed from stockpiles. Large tracts of land have been cleared of these mines and returned to productive use. The number of civilians killed and wounded by mines each year has fallen dramatically.

A total of 156 nations are party to the Mine Ban Treaty, and another two states have signed, but still not ratified. China, Russia, and the United States are among the 37 states that have not yet joined. But nearly all of those states are in de facto compliance with most of the treaty's provisions.

The United States has not used antipersonnel mines since 1991 (in the first Gulf War), has not exported them since 1992, has not produced them since 1997, and is the biggest donor to mine clearance programs around the world. But it still stockpiles more than 10.4 million antipersonnel mines for potential use in the future.

"The US did not need to use antipersonnel mines in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, or any place else in the past 17 years," said Goose. "Clearly the weapon has little or no military value to US forces today, and the political costs of using landmines would be very high."

On February 10, leaders from 67 national nongovernmental organizations issued a letter calling on President Obama to join the Mine Ban Treaty. Though he was supportive of efforts to restrict landmines during his time in the US Senate, the new administration has not yet taken a position on the agreement.

The letter also called on the Obama administration to join the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008 and has been signed by 95 governments to date. The Bush administration chose not to participate in the development or negotiation of that convention banning cluster munitions, which was modeled on the Mine Ban Treaty.

Human Rights Watch is a founding member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The ICBL is commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty with events and activities in more than 50 countries. In New York City, a treaty event featuring Steve Goose and the Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams will be held at 6 p.m. on March 2 at Scandinavia House.

Peace

Good job, Pope Benedict XVI!

God Bless Pope Benedict XVI

Does the USCCB have any interest in Pope Benedict's call on nations to end the production, stockpiling and use of land mines and cluster bombs?

Or is it one of those "PROLIFE" Issues that only affects "life after birth", and is therefore not the concern of the USCCB?

http://www.clusterconvention.org/pages/pages_i/i_statessigning.html

Ratifications and Signatures banker
The Convention enters into force six months after the 30th state have submitted their Instrument of Ratification to the Secretary General of the United Nations. 94 states signed, and four of these ratified the Convention in Oslo on 3-4 December 2008. The Convention is open for signing at the UN Headquarters in New York. This list will be updated with new ratifications and signatories as they are recorded.
Ratifications (alphabetical order)

Austria, The Holy See, Ireland, The Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Norway,

Sierra Leone

Signatories (by region)

Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, The Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia

Americas: Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay

Asia: Afghanistan, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR and Philippines

Europe: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, The Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Middle East: Lebanon

Oceania: Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau and Samoa

The article states: "Thirty-nine countries, including the United States, China, Russia, most countries in the Middle East and many countries in Asia, have not ratified the anti-personnel mine ban treaty, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines."

It does not specify that Lebanon, whose southern region has been heavily infested by Israeli cluster bombs, is a signatory, while Israel, our staunch ally, is not. Both we and the Israeli in fact are major producers and exporters of these little land mines which lie in wait to cripple and kill passing children, wildlife and innocent farmers who wield a hoe and plow, not assault rifles and tanks.

These vicious weapons targetting civilian populations therefore do not meet the "proportionate" criteria of the obsolete "just war theory" nor do they in any way meet the "discriminating" criteria, and therefore are condemned by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

Pacem in Terris.