U.N. Denounces Israel for Use of Cluster Bombs
UN experts have found over 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets throughout Lebanon The cluster bombs, most of which were dropped in the last 72 hours of the conflict, continue to injure and kill Lebanese civilians (Also: What is a cluster bomb? ).U.N. experts have found over 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets throughout Lebanon. The cluster bombs, most of which were dropped in the last 72 hours of the conflict, continue to injure and kill Lebanese civilians. (Also: What is a cluster bomb? )
Wait, before you go…BBC: UN denounces Israel cluster bombs The UN’s humanitarian chief has accused Israel of “completely immoral” use of cluster bombs in Lebanon.
UN clearance experts had so far found 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets at 359 separate sites, Jan Egeland said.
Israel has repeated its previous insistence that munitions it uses in conflict comply with international law.
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The horror of Boston should be a reminder that the choice of weaponry can be in itself an act of evil.
Reports are in that Moammar Gadhafi’s forces are firing into residential neighborhoods with cluster bombs and ground-to-ground rockets, weapons criticized for their indiscriminate trajectories, as loyalists vow to crush the anti-Gadhafi rebellion in the city of Misurata.
When the United States finished bombing Laos back in the early 1970s, it left behind an estimated 80 million unexploded bombs. They are still exploding, maiming an average of 300 people a year in the sparsely populated country. What horrors will our current adventures bring decades from now?
It looks like a pact to ban current cluster bomb designs will take another step forward, with more than 100 countries slated to sign the treaty in the next couple of days. However, the U.S., Russia and China -- the largest cluster bomb manufacturers -- so far have refused to sign on.
One hundred eleven countries have signed a comprehensive ban on the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs, concluding a 12-day meeting on the issue in Dublin. Notably absent from the list of signatories was the U.S. -- the largest cluster bomb manufacturer in the world -- as well as military heavyweights Israel, Russia, China, India and Pakistan.
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