Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Titus Peachey on Cluster Bombs


Titus Peachey, director of peace education for MCC U.S., holds the head of a garden hoe that struck a cluster bomb submunition in Laos. Peachey attended a recent conference that led to an international ban on cluster bombs. Photo by Melissa Engle

AKRON, Pa. – Longtime peace advocate Titus Peachey said he is amazed and pleased that 111 countries formally agreed to adopt a ban on cluster bombs at a recent international conference that he attended in Dublin, Ireland. "After working at this for 28 years, to actually be at a place where governments are ready to ban these things is really amazing," Peachey said. However, many nations that use cluster bombs did not agree to the ban, including the United States, Russia, China and Israel, Peachey said. He adds that the United States did not send a representative to the conference and reportedly lobbied behind the scenes against the treaty. Canada agreed to the ban. Click for the complete article by Tim Shenk June 2, 2008