“I’m A Huge Fan Of Cluster Bombs” - Part One

by Darren

Cluster bombs have been in the news lately in a larger than usual quantity. Human rights groups have achieved some major successes in the eradication of the dangerous weapons, in recent months, but haven’t quite been able to assure their complete removal of the devices from the lexicon of modern warfare. Over 111 nations have signed a new treaty that would eliminate cluster bombs, but the biggest offenders in the world, including my beloved United States, refused to sign off, which makes the agreement somewhat useless, considering these are the nations whose miltaries use the weapons the most.

Who loves cluster bombs?

The title of this post is a statement I truly can’t picture any sane and caring modern person making. Only a military person or war profiteer could possibly say the love cluster bombs and what they do to countries. Long after you declare peace with an enemy, the cluster bombs you leave lying around the country blow up innocent people. And any country that has a casual attitude about maiming non-combatants once a military conflict is over will surely lose the respect of any sane citizens.

So why are cluster bombs still around?

Cluster bombs are still here because they’re effective. Although in many sense, they represent a rather primitive technology, the technique of cluster bombing has been used to much effect in most major conflicts. The military of the United States views cluster bombing as an important technique.

Military officials like them because they leave a large “footprint” and are highly versatile, if not accurate. “There is some category of targets where cluster bombs are the preferred ammunition,” Pike says. For example, he says, they are highly effective against soft, or unarmored, targets like airfields or an infantry battalion walking down the road. Dropping one 1,000-pound bomb may not find enemies in a foxhole, says Ivan Oelrich, vice president of the Strategic Security Project at the Federation of American Scientists. “But if I drop a thousand one-pound bombs,” he says, “a certain fraction will find people in a foxhole. It’s many times more effective to take my explosive package and divide it up into smaller subdivisions.”

Experts estimate that there’s a stockpile of 4 billion cluster bombs in the world, mostly in the hands of the U.S., China, and Russia.

Cluster bomb use has risen in the last 15 years, and the use of the weapons in the 2006 conflict between Hamas and Israel in Lebanon seems to have galvanized a number of nations against their use. Other weapons treaties have had a positive effect for human rights, so a number of groups are quite happy about the results of the recent accord. But many experts recognize the need to go much further when it comes to banning certain munitions.

…..to be continued…..