Bu$h's Humane War

U.S. Using Cluster Bombs In Iraq
Dar Al-Hayat 2003/04/03
The United States is showering targets in Iraq with the most unpredictable weapons in its arsenal: tiny cluster bombs so deadly they can demolish a tank, but so erratic they can take years to blow up.

The U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, said it is investigating reports that cluster bombs killed at least 11 civilians in Hillah, a city 100 kilometers south of Baghdad and the scene of heavy fighting.

The military acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that cluster bombs were being deployed. Human rights groups have called for their ban, and their use during the campaign to oust Saddam Hussein is particularly sensitive because of the stated aim of the U.S.-led force to minimize civilian casualties.

"Cluster bombs have a very bad reputation, which they deserve," said Colin King, author of Jane's Explosive Ordnance Disposal guide and a British Army bomb disposal expert from the 1991 Gulf War.

A Central Command spokesman, Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, said the munitions are playing a tactical role in the battlefield and work well against large targets, such as an airfield. "It's a very effective weapon," he said.

While protecting civilians is important, he said, "let's be very clear, weapons are designed for war. There is no weapon that doesn't cause harm except for the leaflets we have been dropping for the past month."

In Baghdad, Iraqi Health Minister Omid Medhat Mubarak accused U.S. and British forces were targeting civilians with cluster bombs.

"In Najaf, they destroyed a medical center," he said. "They bombed an ambulance and killed its driver."

The U.S. command has denied targeting civilians. A single cluster bomb can scatter hundreds of tiny bomblets over an area the size of a football field. These bomblets can be packed in rocket-fired artillery shells or dropped while housed in a shell that looks like a regular bomb, but opens to release scores of parachute-borne bomblets.

New York-based Human Rights Watch noted that two U.S. Marines were killed - one on Sunday and the other the next day - after stepping on unexploded cluster bombs. In 1991, six U.S. Army combat engineers were killed while disposing of cluster bombs.

"The United States should not be using these weapons," said Steve Goose, a Human Rights Watch weapons researcher. "Iraqi civilians will be paying the price with their lives and limbs for many years."

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