A deadly legacy: the cluster bomb

[cal04]

It is feared that thousands of bomblets lie unexploded in Iraq, capable of maiming or killing innocent civilians. This week, more than two years after they were dropped, Britain is finally being held to account. Tony Blair is facing fresh fury over the use of controversial munitions in the Iraq war. Campaigners lambasted the Ministry of Defence over its use of deadly cluster bombs and shells during the invasion, warning that they could contravene international law. MPs are to table a raft of new questions today over the affair amid fears that thousands of bomblets released during the war will leave a deadly legacy for Iraqi civilians. They warned that any unexploded bomblets could kill or maim civilians for years to come.

The dispute over British use of cluster bombs will be intensify this week with the publication of a report by the pressure group Landmine Action, which raises questions over the efforts made to ensure that the weapons did not harm civilians. It comes as international signatories to the international convention on conventional weapons meet in Geneva this week, amid pressure for a moratorium on the production of cluster bombs and tough new limits on their use. The report, funded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, said British officials had failed to gather field data about the failure rates of cluster bomblets, and had done "little or nothing to gauge the humanitarian impact of these weapons".

It said that the UK had "failed to undertake any significant effort to understand better the impact of cluster munition use and has continued to use them. As was foreseeable, these cluster munitions have been a cause of civilian casualties." Michael Moore, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, said: "This is a very significant report which raises some very serious issues. There is clearly a lack of information and I will be tabling questions and writing to the Secretary of State with a copy of this report seeking detailed answers to the questions it raises. The jury may be out on the political legacy of the coalition's time in Iraq but the military legacy could be absolutely devastating."

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North, also said he would raise fresh questions about the affair. He said: "My concerns about the issue of cluster bombs are as strong as they ever were. Unexploded bomblets lying around can be picked up by farmers and children in the community and can be lethal. They can be buried and can be as bad as land mines." A report published in 2003 by the group Human Rights Watch said British forces had killed dozens of civilians in and around Basra using ground launched cluster munitions.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article328300.ece

[AuntPatsy]

1. Recommended...my God, will it ever end...

[niallmac]

2. We try to solve our problems with cluster bombs. To the U.N. the only

alternative to killing and maiming we send...John Bolton, a cluster fuck.

[BrotherBuzz]

3. I am from the school that believes....

A strong case can also be made that cluster bombs are illegal under the Geneva Convention, which demands the protection of civilians even when intermingled with military personnel. Mr Suarez, Jesus' father, agrees.

Dead Soldier's Dad Finds No Enemy in Iraq
by Rebecca Romani

ESCONDIDO, California - Fernando Suarez del Solar is a busy man. He is busy opening boxes, counting pills, counting bandages; he is busy checking everything in the boxes that come addressed to him from all over the United States.

Suarez stops for a moment. "There are other boxes," he says, "many of them in San Francisco, in New York, in Chicago. So many boxes."

He could be doing other things. It is holiday time, after all, and the Mexican immigrant could be out shopping for his grandchildren; he could be out enjoying the unusually balmy weather.

But he needs to be checking these boxes. Like Suarez, their contents will be heading for Iraq, on a mission that memorialises his only son, Jesus, one of the first soldiers to die in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Jesus died Mar. 27, 2003, after stepping on an unexploded U.S. cluster bomb. An advocate for the poor in his native Mexico, his father, who departed Monday, has been an outspoken advocate and tireless campaigner against the war ever since.

<snip>

At the hospitals he saw youngsters dying from the lack of medicine and learned that a number of others had been killed picking up unexploded cluster bombs or when trying to hand them in to U.S. soldiers.

The bombs look like tennis balls or beer cans, Suarez explains. And when the children try to give them to U.S. soldiers, they are shot on the spot -- military orders.

Cluster bombs, munitions that scatter hundreds of small "bomblets" over a wide area, are designed to inflict high numbers of casualties. "I asked a colonel why they couldn't clean up the cluster bombs, and I was told, confidentially, that they couldn't, there were too many."

And then Suarez's voice gets hard.

"They say Saddam had illegal weapons. Jesus died because of an illegal weapon. Cluster bombs are illegal under the Geneva Conventions."

The story of Jesus A Suarez del Solar Novaro and the cluster bomb that killed him is not a pretty one and despite what must be hundreds of tellings, his father's anger and grief are still just under the surface, tightly controlled.

<more>



http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1230-01.htm

A MUST READ!

[Gregorian]

7. I thought cluster bombs were illegal under the Geneva Convention.

I saw a heartbreaking documentary of an Iraqi woman who lost her son to a piece of cluster bomb that came through their house wall. And as we sit here, she is in grief today. It was sadder than anything I've ever seen. But corporations and governments don't care about people.

Who's going to hold these politicians and corporations accountable, if these bombs were illegal. (Even if they weren't, I say).

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

8. I agree completely, although I'd like to see an equivalent Ottawa Treaty

to outlaw them outright. (Of course, whether the US would ratify it is another matter.)

[Up2Late]

4. Maybe they should see the television ad at this website, it's...

...very effective, but VERY upsetting.

Warning! If you have any sort of War related PTSD,
you might consider NOT watching this video at the website at this link: <http://www.stoplandmines.org/slm/index.html>



The videos at this website (below) are less traumatic:

<http://www.thislandwasmine.org/tlwm/index.html>



What would you do if you had to worry about landmines every time you went to the store, took a drive in the countryside or went to see your doctor?

That's the reality for millions of people in about 80 countries. With such large numbers of people affected by landmines in countries that may seem very far away, it's sometimes easy to forget about the problem.

Landmines may not be in your backyard, but they're in the backyards of people all over the world. The United Nations is helping dozens of countries end the threat of landmines. You can help too by donating to have a minefield cleared.

The fight against landmines is a fight for the rights of people to live free from fear, in a safe environment conducive to development and peace.

Here's a link to more info on Clusterbombs: <http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/cluster.htm>

[daleo]

5. They almost seem like indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction.

One more in a near infinite list of Bush/Blair hypocrisies regarding Iraq.

[OneBlueSky]

6. damn . . . we sure are one hell of a civilized nation, aren't we? . . .

cluster bombs . . . depleted uranium weapons . . . white phorphorus . . . napalm . . . tactical nukes . . .

and not even a twinge of conscience amongst our "leaders" . . . no room for ethics and morality when you're fightin' those unethical and immoral terrorists, don'tcha know . . .

when this is all over -- if it ever is -- these people should be tried for violating international law, violating the Geneva Conventions, war crimes, and crimes against humanity . . .

[ChefJeff]

9. War is Hell

As a retired military member, I do not agree with outlawing this type of weapon. It is very important to be able to sweep and area and prevent it from being inhabitable for some time. This helps are military fight a better war. God Bless our Troops!!!

[Dora]

10. Your opinion will be in the minority here.

Welcome to DU.

[MarsThe Cat]

12. but if cluster bombs are OUTLAWED-

that means that ONLY the United States of America can use them- we just won't have to worry about them being used against us.

freedom isn't Free, people...!

[GregW]

11. Why are ration packs and cluster bomblets the same color?

Just boggles the mind.

http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/news01/uns01388.htm

Widespread news reports have said the ration packs are being changed to blue to avoid their being confused with unexploded yellow-colored from cluster bomb canisters. Not so, said Air Force Maj. Mike Halbig, a Defense Department spokesman.

The department is planning to change the color of the ration packs, he said, but it hasn't decided on the new color. "We're still evaluating and researching what the
right color should be," he said. "We want to avoid offending any cultural or religious sensibilities."

He said officials also want to make absolutely sure there are no similarities between the ration packs and U.S. or coalition munitions.

U.S. C-17 cargo planes since Oct. 7 have dropped more than 1.2 million Humanitarian Daily Rations into Afghanistan, where officials say many people are in danger of starvation as winter descends on the country.

[GregW]

13. Why do air-dispersed PFM-1 "Butterfly" mines look like children toys?

[Up2Late]

14. And then their are the cluster bombletts that are almost the same size...

...as a Baseball or Cricket ball:

<http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/cluster.htm>