Saturday, April 19, 2003
Here is another example of the terrible things that come from war, our modern high tech weapons. The weapon I am specifically writing about is cluster bombs and our military is using them in Iraq. The medical staff in Iraq call them "Child Killers"
The military has a number of different kinds of cluster bombs.
CBU-52B
The sub-munition in the CBU-52 is softball sized and effective against soft-skinned targets. The dispenser holds 220 of the sub-munitions and is best used against personnel or light-skinned vehicles.
CBU-58A/B
This cluster munition is optimized for soft skinned targets to include personnel and light skinned military vehicles. The dispenser holds 650 of the baseball sized bomblets to be dispersed over a wide target area.
CBU-71/B
The CBU-71/B is very similar to the CBU-58, carrying 650 baseball-sized bomblets. However, the CBU-71 sub-munitions have a random delay fuzing option making this cluster weapon great for area denial against soft- skinned targets (light or no armor).
CBU-87 CEM Combined Effects Munition
The CEM dispenses 202 bomblets over an area patch of 800 feet by 400 feet. It is an area denial cluster weapon. This single payload is optimized against both lightly armored vehicles and personnel, in one highly effective sub-munition. The CBU-87 was used extensively for interdiction during Desert Storm.
The delivery system for these cluster bombs are varied as well. They can be distributed via artillery rounds or in bomb casings. The above mentioned military descriptions says that each bomb can contain from 202 to 650 bomblets, the size of soft drink cans. One bomb usually scatter over an area the size of 2 soccer fields. Many of them explode on contact, but many do not, they sit there, primed and ready to explode. These unexploded ordinance is aptly called "child killers" because the unexploded canisters are brightly colored, which entices children to pick them up. Victims say they run when they hear one go off, but sometimes they run right into a batch of other unexploded bomblets. "It's terrifying"
The doctors at the newly named Central Children's Hospital have seen hundreds of patients since the air attacks started because of these cluster bombs. Doctor Geert Van Moorter, in Iraq for a Belgian medical charity, said "I've seen more than a 100 victims of these things, probably half of them children. And they are still arriving at the hospitals. The bombs are still on the ground," Moorter said. "We see many injuries to the legs and abdomen from shrapnel, lesions everywhere," he adds. "In many cases, the families have been too frightened until now to leave the house and bring them to the hospital, so we see a lot of infections and amputations."
Cluster bombs were also used by the British armed forces. A Ministry of Defense spokesman said: "We have used them elsewhere." Its director Richard Lloyd said: "As we know from Afghanistan, Kosovo and the last Gulf war, The military spokesman said. There is little the allied forces could do to prevent the occasional loss of life.
Lieutenant-Colonel B.P. McCoy of U.S. Marine Regimental Combat Team Seven, now patrolling eastern sections of Baghdad, said his forces had encountered some, unexploded bomblets from artillery rounds fired by U.S. forces outside the city.
The first Iraqi war left a lot, of unexploded bomblets By the end of last year, close to 2,000 people in Kuwait had died or been seriously maimed by bomblets and other explosive leftovers from that war, according to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which campaigns against land mines. British charity Landmine Action has also condemned their use. Human Rights Watch said in a statement this week it was appalled the U.S. military could have dropped cluster bombs in civilian areas of Baghdad, an act it described as a possible violation of international law.
These weapons are not the "smart bombs" we hear so much about. These are despicable weapons, that do not, discriminate between combatant and noncombatants. Long after this war is decided, these time bombs will sit there, in their bright, attractive colorings. They will patiently wait for, either their safe disposal or for their accidental detonation with tragic consequences.
Ali is an Iraqi teenage victim, who recently came upon one of these bombs. He sat up in his bed, grimaced from his painful injuries, and said "Before the war started the Americans said they would come to liberate the Iraqi people so we could walk in peace and joy," "Now we are all suffering."
Ali is not the first nor the last to be injured by these uncaring weapons. These are uncaring and vile weapons, used by an obviously uncaring superpower. Us.
Sources Cited:
Human Rights Watch
BBC News Online
Maxwell Air Force Base Information Web site
Rosalind Russell Reuters
The military has a number of different kinds of cluster bombs.
CBU-52B
The sub-munition in the CBU-52 is softball sized and effective against soft-skinned targets. The dispenser holds 220 of the sub-munitions and is best used against personnel or light-skinned vehicles.
CBU-58A/B
This cluster munition is optimized for soft skinned targets to include personnel and light skinned military vehicles. The dispenser holds 650 of the baseball sized bomblets to be dispersed over a wide target area.
CBU-71/B
The CBU-71/B is very similar to the CBU-58, carrying 650 baseball-sized bomblets. However, the CBU-71 sub-munitions have a random delay fuzing option making this cluster weapon great for area denial against soft- skinned targets (light or no armor).
CBU-87 CEM Combined Effects Munition
The CEM dispenses 202 bomblets over an area patch of 800 feet by 400 feet. It is an area denial cluster weapon. This single payload is optimized against both lightly armored vehicles and personnel, in one highly effective sub-munition. The CBU-87 was used extensively for interdiction during Desert Storm.
The delivery system for these cluster bombs are varied as well. They can be distributed via artillery rounds or in bomb casings. The above mentioned military descriptions says that each bomb can contain from 202 to 650 bomblets, the size of soft drink cans. One bomb usually scatter over an area the size of 2 soccer fields. Many of them explode on contact, but many do not, they sit there, primed and ready to explode. These unexploded ordinance is aptly called "child killers" because the unexploded canisters are brightly colored, which entices children to pick them up. Victims say they run when they hear one go off, but sometimes they run right into a batch of other unexploded bomblets. "It's terrifying"
The doctors at the newly named Central Children's Hospital have seen hundreds of patients since the air attacks started because of these cluster bombs. Doctor Geert Van Moorter, in Iraq for a Belgian medical charity, said "I've seen more than a 100 victims of these things, probably half of them children. And they are still arriving at the hospitals. The bombs are still on the ground," Moorter said. "We see many injuries to the legs and abdomen from shrapnel, lesions everywhere," he adds. "In many cases, the families have been too frightened until now to leave the house and bring them to the hospital, so we see a lot of infections and amputations."
Cluster bombs were also used by the British armed forces. A Ministry of Defense spokesman said: "We have used them elsewhere." Its director Richard Lloyd said: "As we know from Afghanistan, Kosovo and the last Gulf war, The military spokesman said. There is little the allied forces could do to prevent the occasional loss of life.
Lieutenant-Colonel B.P. McCoy of U.S. Marine Regimental Combat Team Seven, now patrolling eastern sections of Baghdad, said his forces had encountered some, unexploded bomblets from artillery rounds fired by U.S. forces outside the city.
The first Iraqi war left a lot, of unexploded bomblets By the end of last year, close to 2,000 people in Kuwait had died or been seriously maimed by bomblets and other explosive leftovers from that war, according to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which campaigns against land mines. British charity Landmine Action has also condemned their use. Human Rights Watch said in a statement this week it was appalled the U.S. military could have dropped cluster bombs in civilian areas of Baghdad, an act it described as a possible violation of international law.
These weapons are not the "smart bombs" we hear so much about. These are despicable weapons, that do not, discriminate between combatant and noncombatants. Long after this war is decided, these time bombs will sit there, in their bright, attractive colorings. They will patiently wait for, either their safe disposal or for their accidental detonation with tragic consequences.
Ali is an Iraqi teenage victim, who recently came upon one of these bombs. He sat up in his bed, grimaced from his painful injuries, and said "Before the war started the Americans said they would come to liberate the Iraqi people so we could walk in peace and joy," "Now we are all suffering."
Ali is not the first nor the last to be injured by these uncaring weapons. These are uncaring and vile weapons, used by an obviously uncaring superpower. Us.
Sources Cited:
Human Rights Watch
BBC News Online
Maxwell Air Force Base Information Web site
Rosalind Russell Reuters
# posted by Thomas @ 12:39 AM 
