Clusterbombs are used in Basra Iraq 77 civlians killed
Clusterbombs are used in Baghdad as well
USA and UK continue devaluate themselves to rogue states
March 26 2003

Visie foundation
 
March 26th 2003

From:  davey garland <thunderelf@yahoo.co.uk>

The Iraqis call it orange weather: some say it is on
their side. It’s not even 5 o’clock and the sun won’t
set till nearly seven but it’s dark outside. I half
imagined the war being like this, the sky staying dark
all the time, but without the orange. It stinks as
well, of smoke and oil and I don’t know what else. The
darkness and the grime and the fierce cold wind lend
an unnecessary sense of apocalypse to the flooded
craters, broken trees, gaping windows and wrecked
houses where the bombs have hit. 

I know I’m not supposed to understand this, so I won’t
bother telling you I don’t. Today I met Essa Jassim
Najim, a 28 year old first-year engineering student
from a farming family near Babylon. He couldn’t speak
because of shrapnel wounds to his head and neck but
his father explained that three days ago they were
attacked by two groups of Apache helicopters. The
first group attempted to land and the farmers resisted
them with guns, aided by the Civil Defence Force. The
second group of helicopters attacked the house,
destroying it with a missile.

Another farming community in Al Doraa also reported an
attack by Apache helicopters at 4pm on Saturday. Atta
Jassim died when a missile hit his house. Moen, his
eight-year-old son had multiple bowel and intestinal
injuries from shrapnel: part of his intestine had been
removed. His six-year-old brother Ali and mother Hana
were also injured by shrapnel.

Saad Shalash Aday is another farmer, from Al Mahmoodia
in South Baghdad. He had a fractured leg and multiple
shrapnel wounds including a ruptured spleen,
perforated caecum, colon and small bowel, abdominal
and leg wounds. Two of his brothers, Mohammed and
Mobden, were also injured and ten year old twin boys
Ahmed and Daha Assan were killed in the same house
when a bomb exploded two or three metres from the
building. The doctor, Dr Ahmed Abdullah, said two
other men were killed in the same attack around 6pm
yesterday (Tuesday): Kherifa Mohammed Jebur, a 35 year
old farmer and another man whose name nobody present
knew.

Eight houses and four cars were destroyed and cows,
sheep and dogs were killed. The eyewitnesses described
two bombs, each causing an explosion in the air, and
cylindrical containers – cluster bombs, some of which
exploded on the ground. Others did not explode. The
two explosions were about 300 metres apart, with a few
minutes between them. From first hearing the plane
overhead until the second explosion, they estimated,
took about 10 minutes. 

“Is this democracy?” the men demanded to know,
gathered by Saad’s bed. “Is this what America is
bringing to Iraq?”

At 9 this morning a group of caravans was hit with
cluster bombs, according to the doctors. A tiny boy
lay in terrible pain in the hospital, a tube draining
blood from his chest, which was pierced by shrapnel.
They said he was eight, but he looked maybe five. The
doctors were testing for abdominal damage as well. I’m
not sure whether he knew yet, or could understand,
that his mother was killed instantly and his five
sisters and two brothers were not yet found. His
father had gone to bring blood for him and his uncle,
Dia, was with him. 

Rusol Ammar, a skinny ten year old girl with startling
eyes, flinched occasionally when breathing hurt her –
she had multiple injuries from glass and shrapnel, as
well as a fractured hand. Dr Ahmed explained that, at
the velocity caused by an explosion, even a grain of
sand could cause injury to a child Rusol’s size. They
weren’t yet sure what was in her chest. 

Her dad said something hit their street and exploded.
They were in their house and tried to close the door
against the fireball but the windows blew in and the
glass and shrapnel flew everywhere. His other children
were unhurt. Rusol smiled the most gorgeous smile when
we told her how brave she is, and that it will give
courage to children everywhere when we tell them how
brave she is. 

Her dad asked the same question we’d heard before. “Is
this democracy?” 

Dr Ahmed is Syrian but has lived and worked 27 years
in Iraq. He wasn’t working yesterday but estimated
about 30 casualties came into Al Yarmouk hospital.
That’s just one hospital and yesterday was a fairly
light day of bombing. It makes no sense for me to
speculate about the plans and intentions of the US/UK
military, because I don’t know, but several incidents
of attacks on farms have been reported to us. 

Farms are not a legitimate target, even if you want to
land your helicopter on them. From the legal
perspective, the presence of a military objective
within a civilian area or population does not deprive
the population of its civilian character, even if you
can call landing a helicopter a military objective.
You cannot bomb an area of civilian houses knowing
that people in the vicinity are likely to be hurt by
flying glass and shrapnel. 

More than that though, more than the illegality of it,
this is wrong. It’s desperately, horrifyingly,
achingly wrong. I don’t mean this to be a casualty
list, never mind a body count – I couldn’t even begin
and I’ve no intention of describing blood and gore to
you, but take this as an illustration, as a small
picture of what’s happening to people here, of what
war means.

The internet connection is down today. I don’t know
whether it’s because of the sandstorm or the bomb
damage or the attempt to control information. Phone
lines are moody even within Baghdad. The Iraqi TV
station was hit last night. Friends in the south of
the city said there was no water or electricity when
they woke up. 

Afghanistan
Date:  Mon, 29 Oct 2001 22:45:03 +0100
               From: martin meissonnier <martinm@imaginet.fr>

          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.

          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.
the B2 bomber carries 8 GBU87 clusterbombs

From: martin meissonnier <martinm@imaginet.fr>
Visie foundation
 
Times Online  October 29 2001 

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 uncom- promising. “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.

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