Unexploded bomblets a danger in Lebanon ( Cluster Bombs )

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060817/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_unexploded_weapons

TYRE, Lebanon - Hamid Asan Hasan dropped his wallet, and as he stooped to pick it up he spotted the small round object. Curious, he picked that up too. It exploded and blew off part of his hand.

<snip>

"The place is full of unexploded ordnance, shells and mortars," said Chris Clark, program manager for the U.N. Mine Action Coordination center in Tyre.

But that's not the biggest problem, he said.

The most dangerous of the ordnance littering south Lebanon after 34 days of Israeli bombardment are bomblets spewed from cluster bombs packed into Israeli artillery shells, Clark explained.

"Our primary problem is the cluster bombs," he said. The bomblets they spit out are small round explosives that Clark likened to a small grenade. A cluster bomb can be delivered either by air or by artillery shells. In this war, he said, Israel delivered them by shells that exploded before hitting the ground. That sprayed small bomblets over an area half the size of a football field.

[HereSince1628]

1. They are still clearing those fucking things from Cambodia

and the post-conflict injury to civilians is why they are so damned inhumane.

[DemoTex]

5. The Ho Chi Minh Trail areas in Laos were the hardest hit.

I was often privy to the ordnance on air-strikes coming into Laos bound for the "trail." Snake, nape, and gravel were the operative radio slang for the fighter-bombers' loads. Snake was HE (high-explosives), nape was napalm, and gravel was anti-personnel cluster bombs. Those gifts are still giving today, courtesy of US tax dollars.


The bombed-out Ho Chi Minh Trail near Tchepone, Laos. The visible trail was no longer in use. Once bombed-out, the trail moved back under the jungle cover. The bombed-out part was still used during dark nights under black-out travel conditions.
(Photo by DemoTex, 1970)

Read: The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War , by John Prados

[saigon68]

14. Tchepone was a mother fucker

Check this out.

"The operation was conceived in doubt and assailed by skepticism, preceded in confusion."

Dr. Henry Kissinger speaking on Operation Lam Son 719


http://www.a101avn.org/LamSon719.html

[ecoalex]

17. But Israel denies using cluster bombs

Their spokesman said "we did not drop cluster bombs". Ya right add that to the long list of lies.

[tnlefty]

2. So many maimed so little time to discuss.

I've already read articles stating that kids were being killed or maimed by these clusters. Same as it ever was. :sarcasm: Until the people of the world unite to say that these damned things are truly illegal I don't have much hope that they won't be used.

I seem to remember that they were used in Afghanistan, Iraq...

[MrPrax]

3. sad...sad...sad...

Politics aside, there are only so many special teams in the world that are experienced enough to remove mines and bombs...and they are busy allover the place.

So what is going to happen is that those teams, who are already trying to clear fields elsewhere, will be deployed to this new 'hot spot' and as such, the place they left will also now feel the effects of this war and what Israel has done.

It makes you cry...that some poor kid, looking for scrape metal to help the family, will die...

[sofa king]

4. Those things really suck.

The damned things never work right. The bomblets have a high failure rate--maybe as high as one in twenty, and kids just love to play with them.

Cluster bombs--our cluster bombs--actually turned out to be the greatest hindrance and worst threat to the U.S. First Armored Division during the first Gulf War. Unexploded submunitions forced troops to slow down their advance, and caused thousands of civilian casualties in Iraq and Kuwait in the years following that war.

[acmejack]

6. 5 Panel Cluster Bomb Tutorial

More than you ever wanted to know

[sutz12]

7. Ah, yes, the war that keeps on giving.

:evilfrown:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. Gee, thanks George, Dick, Paul, John, Scooter, and evrybuddy else.

I mean, shalom, these bombs just rock! We can kill kids and parents months after the fact!

[Purveyor]

9. All nicely stamped with "Made In USA", no doubt. Are you proud? n/t

[DemoTex]

10. See #5

It goes back a long way.

[lumpy]

11. It was my understanding that Israel

denied using cluster bombs.

[LynnTheDem]

12. America's and Israel's gift that keeps on taking.

And taking...and taking...and taking...

Maybe one day America will be littered with unexploded cluster bomblets; then maybe Americans will finally understand what's been done, being done, in their names to so many other people's kids.

I hope it never happens to us...what we do to others. But sometimes learning the hard way is the only way, especially in a nation with so many incredibly deeply ignorant morans.

[hedgehog]

13. These are truly awful

Right up there with land mines.

[OneBlueSky]

15. they're all over Iraq, too . . . and no doubt responsible for . . .

many of the injuries and deaths among children . . .

along with depleted uranium and white phorphorous, cluster bombs are weapons of mass destruction and/or inhumane weapons that are banned under international law . . .

not that BushCo cares one whit, mind you . . .

[krispos42]

16. The problem is they are an effective weapon

If I was being attacked I would love to have them on my side.

Having said that, I think they could do a hell of a lot better making them. Paint the bastards bright red so that any that don't detonate can be easily seen and destroyed. It's suppose to be easy with a rifle bullet. Just stand back and aim carefully.

And make the fuses better. We have ISO 9001 and those other quality-standards shit, make the damn fuses work. No timers on them, impact only. A 5% failure rate is unacceptable! I don't want any of these things lingering around after they hit the ground!

[Up2Late]

18. Cluster Bombs a Cruel Legacy of Lebanon Conflict (NPR)

(Very troubling report)

Cluster Bombs a Cruel Legacy of Lebanon Conflict

(Hear audio at link above)
by Jamie Tarabay

Morning Edition, August 24, 2006 · Cluster bombs are not
illegal, but many anti-war groups say they should be.
Israel used the weapons against Hezbollah. As a result,
the U.N. Mine Advisory Group says, many areas in south
Lebanon are littered with thousands of unexploded "bomblets."
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5701622>