US warned over cluster weapons

US warned over cluster weapons

Coalition forces regard such issues as "operational matters"

US ground forces in Iraq are using cluster munitions with a very high failure rate that create immediate and long-term dangers for civilians and soldiers, according to a human rights group.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that, when such munitions failed to explode on impact as designed, they became like volatile, indiscriminate anti-personnel landmines.

HRW argued that while the use of cluster munitions by US forces had not been confirmed by the military, it was evident from television images and stories from reporters embedded with US units that artillery projectiles and rockets containing large numbers of cluster munitions were being used.

"The United States should not be using these weapons," said Steve Goose, executive director of HRW's arms division.

"Iraqi civilians will be paying the price with their lives and limbs for many years."

Rocket launcher

HRW said it had seen footage showing the use of the Multiple Launch Rocket System by artillery units of the American 3rd Infantry Division.

This, the group contended, was a system that only used cluster munitions - and the failure rate of the type used was 16%.

It added that M483A1 and M864 grenades - a type of cluster weapon - were also being used by US forces. Their failure rate, it said, was 14%.

It is not clear whether air-dropped cluster bombs have been used in the air campaign. Iraqi officials have repeatedly alleged use of cluster bombs by US and British aircraft, but these reports have not been confirmed.

Warnings

Human Rights Watch has called for a global moratorium on the use of cluster munitions.

Separately, it has urged the US-led coalition to prohibit the use of any cluster munitions in attacks on or near populated areas, and to suspend use of cluster munitions that have been tested and identified as having high failure rates.

"The United States must rapidly provide extensive information and warnings to civilian populations to protect them from cluster munition duds," said Mr Goose.

"The United States now bears a special responsibility to help clear these deadly remnants of war as quickly as possible."