In our years in Vietnam and Laos five decades ago, part of our assignment with the Mennonites was to clean up some of the unexploded munitions at the end of the Vietnam War. Most lethal to farmers and children were the small bomblets from the cluster munitions that had been dropped so indiscriminately during the war and are causing death even to this day. Use of these weapons has received near-total condemnation in the international community. Yet now we read in the July 7 front-page article “Cluster bombs on way to Kyiv” that President Biden is planning to send such munitions to Ukraine.
Will this senseless escalation of warfare have no end? There will be no perfect ending of this war. It is high time we find ways to talk and bring about an immediate cease-fire in this conflict.
Earl and Pat Hostetter Martin, Harrisonburg, Va.