[GVCP] GVCP Newsletter 11-11-16

The next regular GVCP Meeting is Sunday, November 20th, 1:00 PM (Lunch), 1:30 PM (Meeting). Omega Restaurant, 4182 Lakeville Road (Route 20A), Geneseo.  New members are welcome!

This Month’s Letter: Tell Pres. Obama to Oppose Russian Cluster Bombs in Syria: Cluster bombs are deadly weapons that contain multiple smaller bombs, which then scatter over a wide area.  They kill and maim civilians both during attacks and afterwards. (Unexploded bombs can cause death and injury for years after a conflict has ended.)
 
On June 16, 2014, Members of the House of Representatives voted to ban the U.S. transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, which has used them in civilian areas of Yemen, in violation of U.S. law.  The Obama Administration has said it has stopped the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.  Textron, the U.S. company that produced these bombs, has announced that it is getting out of the cluster bomb business because of opposition to cluster bombs in the U.S.
 
The current Russian-Syrian offensive in eastern Aleppo has used Russian cluster bombs. Unfortunately, the U.S., like Russia and Syria, has still not signed the Cluster Munitions Convention, banning the production, use, stockpiling, and transfer of these weapons.  But the U.S. can still act to uphold and reinforce the international norm against these weapons, even though the U.S. is not yet a party to the Convention.  This is what the U.S. did when it stopped shipping cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.
 
Urge President Obama to name, shame, and sanction actors who specifically contribute to the use of Russian cluster bombs in Syria.  Any U.S. move to sanction other manufacturers of cluster bombs is likely to be positively received in the 119 countries that are parties to the Cluster Munitions Convention.  [From Robert Naiman at Just Foreign Policy via MoveOn.org]

Please write/call President Obama:

Phone:  White House comments line: 202-456-1111

E-mail:  <http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments>

Postal:  President Barack Obama, The White House, Washington DC 20500