The Carnage of Cluster Munitions

[babylonsister]

The Carnage of Cluster Munitions
by Chris Cobb


There are few sadder experiences than coming face-to-face with a young person crippled by a landmine or its more insidious cousin, the cluster bomb.

It’s the nature of developing societies, where life is grueling enough with two arms and two legs, that these children and young adults have not only lost limbs but in a split, blinding second have had their entire futures blown apart. And for what? Innocently playing games, or gathering firewood in a place where long-departed soldiers or some passing bomber had years ago deposited a deadly legacy.

Cluster bombs are notoriously inaccurate and indiscriminate munitions that scatter toy-like bomblets over wide areas. The bomblets have a high failure rate and can lie dormant but deadly for years. Unlike landmines, which are relatively predictable, cluster bomblets can be detonated not just by touch but also by slight movement of the ground around them.

It’s heartening news that in Dublin at the end of last week, diplomats and civil society groups representing 111 countries, including Canada, reached an agreement to ban cluster bombs and ‘adopted’ an international treaty — the first step towards formal ratification. When 30 countries have ratified, it becomes international law.

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The Americans, who have a billion or more bomblets stockpiled, boycotted the Dublin talks along with the Russians and Chinese. But they cannot escape the reality that this treaty will stigmatize their cluster munitions whether they sign or not.

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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/02/9370/