US urged to rethink bomb use

Unexploded bombs are deadlier than mines

Human rights campaigners have called on the United States to reconsider its use of cluster bombs during a possible war with Iraq.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based organisation, says the main lesson from the US campaign in Afghanistan is that cluster bombs should not be used in or near residential areas.

As war looms in Iraq, the United states should learn from the lessons of its Afghanistan air war

Bonnie Docherty
Human Rights Watch

Cluster bombs are large weapons that release hundreds of smaller bomblets when detonated.

More than 1,200 cluster bombs were dropped on Afghanistan, releasing nearly 250,000 bomblets, according to a 65-page report by HRW.

About 12,400 of those bomblets did not explode on impact, and effectively work as anti-personnel mines.

They look like small cans, and usually explode when picked up - spraying tiny fragments of metal, each capable of killing a person.

Heavy use

The bomblets continue to claim civilian lives every day, the report says.

Taleban areas were pounded during the war

About 70% of victims are children, according to HRW.

"As war looms in Iraq, the United states should learn from the lessons of its Afghanistan air war," said HRW's Bonnie Docherty.

She says the US should not use cluster bombs until the proportion of unexploded devices has been greatly reduced.

"At the very least," she says, "it should never use cluster bombs near inhabited towns and villages."

The United States used cluster bombs heavily in the 1991 Gulf War and in the Balkans, as well as in Afghanistan.

'Inaccurate'

The report says the weapon has "fundamental flaws and should be specifically regulated under international law".

But HRW has made clear it is not arguing for an outright ban on cluster bombs.

Cluster bombs were also used during the 1991 Gulf War

"What we want is better targeting and technology in order to reduce the humanitarian side effects," Ms Docherty said.

"Countries that use cluster bombs bear a special responsibility to clear bomblets," she added.

The report emphasises that the US provided the United Nations with "inaccurate and inadequate" information about its air strikes in Afghanistan, which hampered clearance efforts.

A UN sponsored conference in Geneva last week failed to inter into negotiations on cluster bombs.

However participating states agreed to discuss issues of mine clearance in former war zones.