BURNING
'DEPLETED' URANIUM: A MEDICAL DISASTER
The
Times: Allies Defend Cluster Bombs;
Reuters:
Taliban Claims Chemical/Radiotoxic Weapons Used by US
Allies
defend cluster bombs
BY RICHARD BEESTON AND HELEN RUMBELOW
BRITAIN
and America hit back yesterday at the growing international
outcry
over the use of cluster bombs and insisted that they would be
used
again in Afghanistan if required.
Reacting
to appeals from British and international charities to stop
their
use, Paul Wolfowitz, the US Deputy Defence Secetary, was
uncompromising.
"We lost somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 people in a
single
day. We are now being threatened with weapons that could kill
tens
of thousands of people, and we are trying to avoid killing
innocent
people, but we have to win this war and we will use the
weapons
we need to win this war," he told The Sunday Telegraph.
A spokeswoman
for the Ministry of Defence in London echoed the US
position.
She said that the weapons were legal and used for specific
targets,
such as armour or aircraft parked on a runway. "Before using
any
weapon we assess which is best suited to the job," she said.
"Cluster
bombs remain an effective weapon."
Her
comments were condemned as "utter nonsense" by Richard Lloyd, head
of
the Landmine Action charity, who led a chorus of British opposition
to
the weapons. "What they are saying is hard to believe because they
really
do know better than this," he said.
"The
Government know that in Kosovo and the Gulf very few cluster
bombs
hit their targets because they were blown off course. Add to
that
the fact that a high proportion don't go off and effectively turn
into
landmines."
The
Rev William Beaver, spokesman for the Church of England, said that
many
religious leaders were outraged that such an indiscriminate
weapon
was being used.
"You
will not win the hearts and minds of a people if, in your effort
to
provide them with a better future, your real legacy is to be
associated
with hidden deaths and hideous wounds for years to come,"
he
said.
The
British Red Cross called on America to suspend the use of cluster
bombs
because they had proved so dangerous to civilians in Kosovo.
Christian
Aid also joined the opposition, saying that the use of
cluster
bombs contradicted America's stated intention to minimise
civilian
casualties. "They are as dangerous as anti-personnel mines.
In
fact in Kosovo more people were killed in the years after the
conflict
by the bomblets left behind by cluster bombs than by
landmines,"
a spokesman said.
"We
are told the attacks are targeted but cluster bombs cannot be
targeted
in that way. Britain should be putting pressure on America to
stop
using them."
Unlike
"smart bombs", the weapons used in the Gulf War, Kosovo and now
Afghanistan
to deliver a single bomb with pinpoint accuracy, cluster
bombs
are by their nature imprecise and designed to hit targets spread
out
over a wide area. They are dropped from heavy bombers or by
ground-attack
aircraft and regarded by military experts as a valuable
weapon
in attacking concentrations of troops, armour or artillery
found
in the Taleban's frontline positions.
The
US Air Force and the Royal Air Force have developed their own
design,
but the concept of the cluster bomb remains the same as when
it
was first used in combat during the Vietnam War.
The
American CBU87 is loaded on to a warplane as a single unit that
looks
like a large green pod. Inside the outer casing are about 200
individual
bomblets, each the size of a can of soft drink and
containing
various charges from high explosives to incendiary devices.
After
the bomb is released the outer casing falls away above the
target
and the bomblets rain down over a wide area. The higher the
altitude
that the bomblets are released, the wider the target zone. A
single
bomb is usually intended to hit an enemy spread over the area
of
a football pitch.
As
many as 10 per cent of the bomblets fail to explode and remain,
often
half-buried, as a long-term threat to civilians. Children are
especially
vulnerable since they are often attracted by the
harmless-looking
and brightly coloured bomblets. In Kosovo the cluster
bombs
were blamed for the deaths of 200 civilians and two British Army
bomb-disposal
experts.
Cluster
bombs have reportedly killed nine civilians in Afghanistan
near
the western city of Herat and are blamed for trapping other
villagers
too afraid to leave their homes.
Anti-mine
organisations have been particularly critical of the use of
the
weapons, because they are difficult and dangerous to clear. Two
British
charities, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and
Landmine
Action, appealed last week for a moratorium in the use of
cluster
bombs.
They
were joined on Friday by Handicap International. "Politicians
must
tell the military that they do not have the right to use arms
they
know have dramatic consequences against civilian populations,
even
after a conflict is over," Philippe Chabasse, the group's
director,
said.
The
appeal has won some backing in Europe. Nicole Fontaine, the
President
of the European Parliament, said that the bombs should be
banned.
The issue is likely to be raised at the United Nations, where
Sweden
is pressing for international action to regulate the use of
cluster
bombs.
~~~~~~~~~
***
NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
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~~~~~~~~~~
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011029/wl/attack_afghan_health_dc_1.
html
Monday
October 29 8:45 AM ET
Taliban Claim
U.S. Using Chemical Weapons
By
Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL
(Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban accused the United
States
on Monday of using chemical weapons and invited foreign
observers
to check the claim.
But
one deputy minister acknowledged that the war-shattered country
did
not have the facilities to test for chemical use.
``We
have some patients with superficial injuries with symptoms of
chemical
weapons,'' doctor Wazir of Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan hospital,
told
a news conference.
Public
Health Minister Mullah Abbas also said the hardline Muslim
militia
had proof that chemical weapons were being used.
``Our
findings prove that this is true. These bombardments have
radioactive
rays and chemical materials that also cause cancer,'' he
told
the same news conference.
Both
men cited cases of chemical poisoning. None of the claims could
be
independently verified.
Deputy
public health minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, said the
government
did not having testing facilities and would welcome outside
observers.
``If
there are more cases coming, we hope to be able to invite
delegations
to verify it and test it,'' he told Reuters Television.
Doctors
said such cases had been reported in several hospitals across
Afghanistan,
and Stanikzai cited between 10 and 15 cases.
``We
can give details to people and doctors who understand for
explanation.
But we have several cases of acute diarrhea and also
cases
of breathing problems. In some of the cases it happened that
people
died,'' Stanikzai said.
``We
do not have sophisticated laboratories in Afghanistan to test the
blood
of people and analyze it,'' he said, adding that the Taliban
could
not trust neighboring countries to carry out the testing because
they
backed U.S.-led attacks against them.
Wazir
described the case of a 10-year-old boy with superficial wounds,
but
with respiratory problems who died after six hours.
He
said a 50-year-old woman who had minor injuries had also died.
``They
were both toxic cases,'' he said. ``We don't have the ability
to
make a diagnosis, but clinically we see symptoms as such.''
~~~~~~~~~~
***
NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material
is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest
in receiving the included information for research and
educational
purposes. Feel free to distribute widely but PLEASE
acknowledge
the original source. ***