Cluster munitions and depleted uranium shells are war crimes when other nations use them, but not when the U.S. does. From Ted Galen Carpenter at fff.org:
U.S. officials invariably stress their commitment to human rights and are extremely quick to condemn other countries for alleged violations. However, Washington’s conduct too often makes a mockery of that supposed commitment. The latest examples of such hypocrisy are two aspects of U.S. policy regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, both involving the provision of highly controversial weapons to Ukrainian forces.
The most recent episode is the Biden administration’s decision to ship cluster munitions to Kyiv. News reports indicate that those deadly items already have arrived in Ukraine, although a meaningful congressional and public debate in the United States was barely underway. Even some NATO allies, including the United Kingdom and Spain, expressed discontent about Washington’s decision.
More than 100 countries have signed a treaty banning such weapons because of their indiscriminate effects on innocent civilians. In its response to Biden’s decision, Amnesty International highlighted the indiscriminate feature of cluster munitions and noted that they have caused “untold harm to civilians across the world.”
