Cluster bombs, Part Deux

Loyal readers may recall the Mandarin posted a mini-rant about cluster bombs not too long ago. He was not surprised to read today that, 1) a broad coalition of nations is moving to ban the use of cluster bombs, and 2) the U.S. and Israel did not attend the conference and absolutely refuse to join the ban. A U.S. government spokesperson said the United States "take(s) the position that these munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement."

In other words, "if nothing goes wrong, then everything will be fine." The problem is that cluster bombs are not precision munitions, and, according to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Handicap International, often everything goes wrong: the vast majority (they estimate 98%) of victims of cluster munitions are innocent civilians, many of them children who think the bomblets are toys.

Our tax dollars at work, unless we get our elected representatives to do something about it....

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Cluster****

If you thought the unexpurgated title was "clusterbomb," give yourself a point.

It turns out that a significant part of those Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (a/k/a cluster****s) the Mandarin wrote about recently were made in the good old U S of A and sold to Israel on the condition they not do exactly what they ended up doing after all: firing them into civilian areas.

Leaving a lot of unexploded bomblets that look like the photo - the kind of
brightly-colored thing that a kid might pick up. With allies like these, who needs enemies?

Yes, Yogi, its déjà vu all over again.

Crossposted from here.

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