‘A Line We Should Not Cross’: House Democrat Condemns Biden Plan to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) called for the Biden administration to reconsider their plan to send cluster bombs to Ukraine for their ongoing war against Russia’s invasion.

Lee, the only member of Congress to vote against the war in Afghanistan, joined CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday for State of the Union, where they discussed Pentagon’s announcement that cluster munitions will be included in the newest military aid package to Ukraine. The use of cluster bombs is banned by over 100 countries, and even though the U.S., Ukraine and Russia aren’t part of that international agreement, Tapper noted that the bombs are notorious for their high risk of civilian casualties.

Lee outlined the various dangers to civilians as she made the case that “cluster bombs should never be used.”

We know what takes place in terms of cluster bombs being very dangerous to civilians. They don’t always immediately explode. Children could step on them. That is a line we should not cross. I think the president’s been doing a good job managing this war, this Putin-aggressive war against Ukraine, but I think that this should not happen. He would have to ask for a waiver under the Foreign Assistance Act just to do it because we have been preventing the use of cluster bombs since I believe 2010.

Since the White House previously described Russia’s use of cluster bombs as a potential war crime, Tapper asked, “Do you think that, therefore, the U.S. government — the Biden administration — will potentially be engaging in war crimes if this goes forward?”

“What I think is that we would risk losing our moral leadership,” Lee replied. “Because when you look at the fact that over 120 countries have signed the convention on cluster munitions saying they should never be used, they should never be used. And in fact, many of us have urged the administration to sign on to this convention.”

“And so I’m hoping that the administration will reconsider this,” Lee concluded, “because these are very are very dangerous bombs, these are dangerous weapons, and this is a line that I don’t believe we should cross.”

Watch above via CNN.