War crimes? All war is a crime.

The concept of “war crimes” was an effort to pretend that war isn’t intrinsically a crime, and thus make it palatable for civilians and politicians. There are no just wars; there are no proper wars; there are no good wars. War is evil. That it is sometimes a necessary evil doesn’t make it any less evil. In 1944, we needed to invade Europe in order to defeat Nazi Germany; this means we had to do a bad thing to stop a worse thing.

Let’s all take that as read, shall we? While I can imagine objections to it, I can’t imagine any logical or well-reasoned ones. (If you disagree, that’s why we have a Comments section. Take your time and get it right, because if you don’t I’m going to mercilessly rip you apart. -Editor)

Now, within that framework, let’s examine cluster bombs.

Cluster munitions are highly effective at destroying large formations of tanks on a battlefield or planes on a runway. The danger of cluster munitions is that they become anti-civilian weapons easily if they have a high dud rate. The Russian model is a case in point: They’re actually specifically designed to have a high (40%) dud rate in order that they may be used profligately as an anti-civilian weapon. Similarly, land mines and missiles aimed at cities are anti-civilian weapons. Russia is using these on a routine basis in the Ukraine war. Again, there is no reasonable counterargument to any of this.

Thus it follows logically that any army that employs anti-civilian weapons in war is conducting a war on a populace rather than against an enemy military. This is generally considered the definition of a war crime. Russia is presently engaging in war crimes in Ukraine, and they’re doing so on a deliberate wholesale basis. (As a result, if Vladimir Putin happens to suffer acute Hellfire poisoning from an American-made Predator drone in the near future, I confess that I for one will feel justice has been done. – Editor)

Now, let us examine American-made cluster munitions.

These bomblets, in stark contrast with their Russian counterparts, have a 2% dud rate, and the duds generally are full duds rather than delayed detonations. The higher tendency for American bomblets to suffer internecine detonation reduces this in practice to a statistically negligible number. It is therefore reasonable to take the position that American-made cluster munitions are not anti-civilian weapons. Therefore, supplying them is no more a war crime than is supplying a HEAT round.

Please note that this is the same whether one is discussing the aircraft-based Rockeye platform or the M864 designed to be fired from a 155mm Howitzer. The only differences are of a technical nature, and immaterial to this discussion.

I’m going to go a step further:
This is not information that’s unavailable. It’s readily accessible, and among even those poorly-educated empty suits known as “pundits” it is or at least ought to be common knowledge. When the Biden campaign opposed them, and before him the Obama campaign and the H. Clinton campaign and the Gore campaign and the Clinton campaign, I made the same point. They’re either idiots or hypocrites, and in some instances the argument could reasonably be made that they’re both.

Here among readers of The Not Fake News, I expect a higher bar than that set for politicians. Alas, there are always the deluded, who accept as factual only that information that supports their position.

A note on the deluded: Depending on the topic, I’ve seen delusive behavior from even the most reasonable people, and I can only assume that I too fall victim to it on occasion. It’s worthy of pity, certainly, and definitely of correction, but perhaps not absolute censure.

One final note: This is a factual position. The Not Fake News has no position on American involvement in the Ukraine war save only that wars are bad. As such, our bias in this venue, such as it is, is based on facts, on verifiable information, rather than any desire to support our position.

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