The
Good: Biden Approves Cluster Munitions Transfer to Ukraine; The Bad & The
Ugly: White House National Security Advisor & Then Dem Senators Demonstrate
Extreme Ignorance About What Cluster Munitions (FASCAM) Are.
Over
the past few days the Washington Post (WaPo) has published the below two
articles about President Biden approving the transfer of Cluster Munitions or
FASCAM to the Ukraine Military for use in their fight for survival against the
invading Russians. The Family of Scatterable Mines or FASCAM is the
umbrella term for a category of mines but ALL self-destruct and become inert after
a set time.
Unfortunately,
the White House made this announcement of the FASCAM release at the afternoon White
House Press Conference and they had National Security Advisor Josh Sullivan do
it. Sullivan knows less about anything Military than any ten people randomly
picked off a DC sidewalk and he botched it by failing to explain exactly what
FASCAM are, how they work and that they self-destruct and become harmlessly
inert after a set period of time between 4 hours and 15 days, depending on the
type. (See the first WaPo article next below & FASCAM description at bottom)
Then,
a few hours after the first article was published, former Vermont Senator Patrick
Leahy and current Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, published their
opinion piece second below criticizing the Biden decision and making the
identical blunder Sullivan made. I guess they ALL can be excused for being
Military ignorant as none have ever served although Leahy was of prime draft
age during the Vietnam War. (See the second WaPo article below)
There
are “lies of commission” where the WaPo prints outright falsehoods or Fake News
they know to be untrue and “lies of omission” where they conveniently omit
Facts to give a false impression or mislead readers. The WaPo is a master at
both but these articles are an excellent example of the latter.
EUROPE
What are cluster
munitions, the widely banned weapons Biden is sending to Ukraine?
By Eve Sampson, Victoria
Bisset and Júlia Published 7 July 2023
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/cluster-munitions-biden-ukraine/
Following months of debate within his
administration, President Biden has approved the provision to Ukraine of long-sought cluster munitions,
bypassing legal restrictions. The munitions are banned in much of the world.
Here is what to know about them and why they are so controversial.
Follow the above link to read the actual WaPo
article.
Opinion
Here’s why supplying
Ukraine with cluster munitions would be a terrible mistake
By Patrick Leahy and Jeff
Merkley, Published 7 July 2023
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/07/leahy-merkley-ukraine-cluster-munitions/
“….supplying Kyiv with cluster
munitions would come at an unsupportable moral and political price. Knowing
that these weapons cause indiscriminate terror and mayhem, both of us — like
many others in the international community — have worked for years to end their
use…. The impact of cluster munitions on innocent civilians persists for weeks,
months, even years, sometimes long after a conflict ends. These weapons are
designed to disperse swarms of small
submunitions, known as “bomblets,” over large areas, causing widespread death and destruction…. In
Laos and Vietnam, some of the tens of millions of
unexploded U.S. cluster munitions deployed more than 50 years ago continue to maim and
kill civilians.
Follow the above link to read the actual WaPo
article.
A_Soldiers_Wife
Yesterday the White
House had National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan do the Daily Press briefing
on Cluster Munitions and this article shows that Leahy and Merkley are possibly
the only people around that know as little about FASCAMs as Sullivan. I could walk
around any Army post and randomly pick out any E-4 Engineer or Artillery
Soldier and they would give a more accurate and informative briefing on the
employment of the family of FASCAM munitions these three. They never even
mentioned the most important fact about FASCAM, they are ALL engineered to self-destruct
or become inert between 4 hours and 15 days after employment. The number that
fail to self-destruct is infinitesimal and the benefits far outweigh the risks.
They can be deployed by helicopter, artillery or vehicle and are ideal for
canalizing attacking formations, protecting flanks and protecting defensive
positions. Planning FASCAM deployment, like planning for all minefields, is an
Engineer responsibility and any Engineer Second Lieutenant fresh out of BOLC
would have given a far better briefing than these clowns. This begs the
question, why did the White House put someone as obviously ignorant about all
things Military as Sullivan on parade yesterday in front of the WH press corps,
all three of the Cable News Networks and C-SPAN to make a fool of himself?
I would recommend these
guys study up a bit on US war fighting doctrine before they demonstrate their
ignorance to the public. I suggest they begin by read ADP 3-90 paying
particular attention to Chapter 4 to understand the importance of cluster mines
on the battlefield. By the way Leahy and Merkley, we didn’t have FASCAM or any
self-destructing mines in Vietnam because they hadn’t been invented yet. Maybe
a little research might be in order before you put pen to paper.
All that said, I
strongly support the decision to provide FASCAM to Ukraine. They could prove to
be a game changer.
Thumbs up 54
replyReply
puckettdon65
4 hours ago
Thank you for taking the
time to provide very useful information on this topic.
Family of Scatterable Mines (FASCAM) is an umbrella term for a range of systems of the
armed forces of the United States, which allows a maneuver commander to rapidly
place mines as a situational obstacle; as a reserve obstacle emplacement
capability; and to directly attack enemy formations through disrupt, fix, turn,
and block. Modern fusing, sensing, and anti-disturbance devices allow
scatterable mines to defeat enemy attempts to reduce and/or clear the
minefield. FASCAM mines are delivered through artillery, rocket launchers,
indirect crew served weapons, special mine sowing vehicles, helicopters and
aircraft. FASCAM mines utilize a random
or pre-programmed self-destruct period, countermeasure hardening and
anti-disturbance features. All FASCAM mines have an active life cycle and
self-destruct (SD) time after their active life has expired. The duration of the active life varies from 4
hours to 15 days depending on the system.
Systems that are part of the FASCAM range include:
·
Remote
Anti-Armor Mine System (RAAMS) (a 155mm howitzer shell)
·
Area Denial
Artillery Munition (ADAM) (a 155mm howitzer shell)
·
GATOR mine system (air dropped)
·
Volcano mine system (various
vehicles)
·
GEMSS mine system (various vehicles)
·
Modular Pack Mine
System (MOPMS) (a manually emplaced mine dispenser consisting of 17 AT and 4 AP
mines released on command from a remote control system)
