The opposition by some progressive Democrats to President Joe Biden’s decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine is yet another indication of how out-of-touch with reality they can be on certain issues.
To be sure, the use of cluster bombs can have many drawbacks, the most significant being that a certain percentage of the bomblets remain unexploded on the battlefield, thereby creating a hazard that remains long after the fighting is over. However, when compared to the horrors being wrought upon the Ukrainian people by the Russian invaders, the potential negative impacts of cluster munitions by the Ukrainian military are miniscule. Moreover, let’s not forget that the Ukrainians are using these weapons in their own country and will be targeting Russian troops at the front lines, thereby limiting the effect of these weapons upon their own civilian population, unlike the Russians, who indiscriminately have been dropping cluster bombs on Ukrainian civilians from the day they invaded.
In an ideal world, no nation would use cluster bombs — though in an ideal world, there wouldn’t be any war. The simple fact is that the Ukrainians will be using these weapons in their own defense on their own land and they should be the ones to decide what are the acceptable risks. The knee-jerk reaction of some Democratic politicians ignores the reality of what is happening in Ukraine each and every day.
Moreover, these Democrats who oppose the White House on this issue offer no solution to the imminent problem of the Ukrainians running out of artillery shells in their effort to dislodge the Russian invaders. In addition, these Democrats are playing into the hands of Putin, giving him some hope that American politicians will hamstring the Ukrainians in the defense of their country.
While it may be generally true that two wrongs do not make a right, that is not the case in Ukraine. If these cluster bombs help drive out the Russians, they will have been well worth it.
And to use another metaphor, we can’t allow the Ukrainians to bring a knife to a gunfight.
