Old Colonel Supports Sending Cluster Munitions to Ukraine But the Washington Post & Biden Administrations Don’t Understand Them

 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)

Then skip down to read my Wife’s WaPo commenting exposing the Military Ignorance of Sullivan, Leahy and Merkley that she posted in the comment sections for both articles.  The Old Colonel would have posted the criticism himself but as you can see from some of my other Blog articles, the Old Colonel has been banned for life for his previous comments embarrassingly pointing out gross errors in WaPo reporting, especially on Military subjects.  It’s obvious the WaPo does not like to be found wanting or publishing Fake News and anyone found guilty of embarrassing them will be first censored and if you persist will just preclude you from being able to post.  WaPo censors are thin skinned and don’t like it when their errors are pointed out, especially publically.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

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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)