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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 125608 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL MOPS
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE ON CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  On December 3, the Convention on 
Cluster Munitions will be opened for signature in Oslo, 
Norway.  The United States will neither sign this 
Convention nor participate as an observer in the 
ceremonies.  Many of our allies and partners will sign 
this Convention at the Head of State or Foreign Minister 
level.  Posts should expect questions and criticism of the 
United States position.  Posts may draw on the talking 
points in paragraph 2 to address these questions or in 
making any statements to the press.  The Department also 
requests that Posts report back on any official government 
statements concerning the signing of the Convention or any 
significant press coverage.  All posts will receive 
demarche instructions septel, except for Belgrade and 
Zagreb, which will receive the septel for info.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Begin Talking Points: 
 
U.S. Views on the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM): 
 
-  The United State will not sign the CCM. 
 
-  We share the humanitarian concerns of the signatories 
to the CCM but believe that the Convention does not 
balance both humanitarian and national security 
considerations. 
 
-  The CCM constitutes a ban on most types of cluster 
munitions; such a general ban on cluster munitions will 
put the lives of our military men and women and those of 
our coalition partners at risk. 
 
-  Cluster munitions are legitimate weapons that provide a 
vital military capability when used properly and in 
accordance with existing international humanitarian law. 
No other weapon offers an equivalent combination of range, 
destructive power, and responsiveness as cluster 
munitions.  Moreover, there are no easy substitutes for 
these area-effect weapons, and alternatives (e.g., carpet 
bombing, massed artillery barrages) have very pronounced 
and potentially more adverse humanitarian consequences. 
Use of cluster munitions can result in less collateral 
damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure than 
unitary weapons. 
 
-  If the United States adhered to this ban it could 
require U.S. forces to fire many times more non-cluster 
projectiles to achieve the same objectives on certain 
missions, risking greater collateral damage.  The United 
States does not rule out that these missions may be part 
of future military operations given the range of our 
security commitments worldwide. 
 
U.S. Efforts to Address the Humanitarian Concerns 
Associated with Cluster Munitions: 
 
-  Secretary Gates signed the U.S. Department of Defense 
on Cluster Munitions and Unintended Harm to Civilians on 
 
STATE 00125608  002 OF 002 
 
 
June 19, 2008, concluding a year-long review that 
addresses both humanitarian concerns and national security 
considerations. 
 
-  According to the new U.S. cluster munitions policy, by 
the end of 2018, the Defense Department will cease to 
employ cluster munitions which, after arming, result in 
more than 1 percent unexploded ordnance across the range 
of intended operational environments.  For further details 
on the new cluster munitions policy, please contact the 
Defense Department.  (This policy found at 
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080709cmpo licy.pdf.) 
 
-  The United States takes a comprehensive approach to 
dealing with explosive remnants of war (ERW) of all types, 
as embodied in Protocol V of the Convention on 
Conventional Weapons (CCW).  The United States is the 
single largest donor in this area, having provided well 
over $1.4 billion in aid to clear landmines and other ERW, 
including unexploded cluster munitions, since 1993. 
 
-  We continue to support the conclusion of a protocol 
within the framework of the CCW that addresses both the 
humanitarian and national security concerns associated 
with the use of cluster munitions.  Unlike the CCM, the 
CCW framework encompasses all major military powers and 
stockpilers of cluster munitions. 
 
U.S. Position on a Cluster Munitions Protocol in the CCW: 
 
-  The United States strongly supports the negotiations on 
cluster munitions within the framework of the CCW. 
 
-  We are deeply disappointed that the CCW States Parties 
could not reach agreement on a new protocol on cluster 
munitions in 2008 which is due to a group of states that 
blocked progress on this important humanitarian effort. 
We will continue to fully support the efforts to conclude 
a cluster munitions protocol in the CCW in 2009. 
 
-  We came very close to reaching an agreement on a draft 
CCW protocol, but a number of states demanding provisions 
similar to the CCM that would not achieve consensus in the 
CCW. 
 
-  The draft text left on the table during the November 
2008 session of the CCW would have provided real 
humanitarian benefit by phasing in requirements for 
technical improvements that would affect the majority of 
the world's cluster munitions, which are largely held by 
states that will not sign the CCM.  In the end, we left 
significant humanitarian benefits on the table with a 
number of delegations arguing that the decision to do so 
was motivated solely by humanitarian concerns.  (For more 
information, refer to the November 13, 2008, statement by 
the U.S. Head of Delegation to the CCW meeting on cluster 
munitions at 
http://geneva.usmission.gov/ccw/statements/11 13ClosingState 
ment.html.) 
 
¶3.  (U) For more information on any of the topics please 
see reftel paragraphs 7-10 or go to the Cluster Munitions 
Summary page on the DOS website: 
http://www.state.gov/t/pm/wra/c25930.htm. 
RICE