Purcellville, VA, —Retired Air Force Colonel Mike Turner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in Virginia’s 10th District, issued his position on the use of area munitions in light of the recent conference in Oslo concerning a global ban on cluster bombs. The Associated Press reported that "the treaty formally adopted on Friday by 111 nations, including many of America's major NATO partners, would outlaw all current designs of cluster munitions and require destruction of stockpiles within eight years. It also opens the possibility that European allies could order U.S. bases located in their countries to remove cluster bombs from their stocks."

Turner said, "The issue here is less about a particular weapon and more about the proper and legal use of what are known as area munitions (napalm, Cluster bombs, etc) during a conflict. I believe that the use of cluster bombs against civilian targets should be internationally outlawed."

Turner believes the U.S. should actively participate in more international conferences, and should have participated in the Oslo discussions.

Turner added, "At Oslo, the U.S. should have pressed the international community for a treaty limiting the use of cluster bombs to strictly military targets and for the creation of a set of international legal restrictions defining an 'area munition' and restricting the employment of such munitions based on civilian proximity, likely collateral effects, dud rate, and delayed detonation. In the event such a solution proves impossible to implement, then I would consider a more generalized global ban, not just on cluster bombs, but on the indiscriminate use of any area munitions which had a high likelihood of civilian death or injury."

Turner had posted his positions on several additional human rights issues on his website: www.MikeTurnerforCongress.com.