Biden is right to send cluster bombs to Ukraine

War is bad. Unless it is a just war. Then war is good.

Ukraine's war against Russia is a just war, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and shows no sign of stopping that unprovoked aggression.

That's why I support President Biden's decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. Cluster bombs have been banned by over 100 countries, but not by the United States or Russia. 

Russia has used them against civilians in Ukraine. Ukraine, on the other hand, only will use them against the Russian military. 

Today I heard a CNN interview with Wesley Clark, a retired U.S. Army general who was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000.

He supported Ukraine getting cluster bombs, saying that this will shorten the war, not prolong it, since Russia will only stop fighting when the cost of its invasion is painful enough to cause Russia to engage in talks to end the war in a reasonable fashion, not on Russia's terms.

Clark said that Ukraine is running short of shells for its artillery and it will take about six months for the United States to replenish its rapidly diminishing stock of these shells. The cluster bombs will aid Ukraine in its current counter-offensive against the Russian forces.

A big problem with cluster bombs is that some of the bomblets that form the cluster don't explode upon impact, leaving them lying around on the ground where civilians, including children, might encounter them with disastrous consequences.

But I recall Clark saying that Russian cluster bombs have a 30% failure rate, while the bombs being sent to Ukraine by the United States have a much lower failure rate, around 1%. Nonetheless, after the war ends, there will have to be an effort to clear Ukraine of unexploded ordnance, including cluster bombs.

An important thing to keep in mind by those opposed to cluster bombs is that Ukraine is using them to defend its own territory, and protect its people, while Russian is using them as part of its invasion of Ukraine.

So the moral high ground clearly is on Ukraine's side. 

Realizing this, Clark said that he feels President Biden is wrong to demand that NATO admit Ukraine only after its war with Russia is over. Clark considers that NATO should proclaim that in 2024 Ukraine will become part of NATO unless Russia withdraws its forces from Ukraine.

This would provide a powerful reason for Russia to stop its aggression against Ukraine, while Biden's position that Ukraine can't become part of NATO until the war ends gives Russia a strong reason to keep on fighting.