Anybody knows why Hillary voted against

[ProSense]

this bill to protect civilians from cluster bombs:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress - 2nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate


Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Feinstein Amdt. No. 4882 )
Vote Number: 232 Vote Date: September 6, 2006, 12:00 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 4882 to H.R. 5631
Statement of Purpose: To protect civilian lives from unexploded cluster munitions.
Vote Counts: YEAs 30
NAYs 70

SA 4882. Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. LEAHY) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill H.R. 5631, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes; as follows:


At the end of title VIII, add the following:

Sec. 8109. No funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act my be obligated or expended to acquire, utilize, sell, or transfer any cluster munition unless the rules of engagement applicable to the cluster munition ensure that the cluster munition will not be used in or near any concentrated population of civilians, whether permanent or temporary, including inhabited parts of cities or villages, camps or columns of refugees or evacuees, or camps or groups of nomads.

From a CNN report:

What are the ground rules for the U.S. use of cluster bombs? Why does the United States use cluster bombs?

MCINTYRE: Well, they say they are an effective weapon for an area of attack, and to deny an area to the enemy. And they say that they are used against legitimate military targets.

The question here is, do you use them in an area where there are going to be a lot of civilians? And that's what they are looking at, how they were used.

And, of course, human rights advocates claim that even if you only use them against military targets, they're still an indiscriminate weapon because they can explode days or even months later when innocent people come by and pick them up. They equate them to landmines.

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From Think Progress: Senate ok’s cluster bombs.