US blasted for supplying cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia
The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) has denounced the United States for planning to supply 1,300 cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. ■ “We are disappointed with the US decision to export cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia as both countries acknowledge the negative humanitarian impact of these weapons on civilians,” CMC Director Sarah Blakemore said on Thursday. “Cluster munitions have been banned by more than half the world’s nations so any transfer goes against the international rejection of these weapons,” she added. The US Defense Department announced on Tuesday that Textron Defense Systems won a contract valued at $641 million to build the bombs for the Persian Gulf state. The contract, expected to be completed by 2015, formalizes the sale of CBU-105 cluster bombers. Congress was first notified about the deal in December 2010.