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An
Iraqi man stands near an unexploded cluster bomb
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LONDON,
June 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - After eight weeks of the
ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, mind-boggling unexploded
cluster bombs, anti-tank mines and anti-personnel mines litter Iraq, a
leading British newspaper revealed Sunday, June 1, in detail for the
first time.
The
map, obtained by the Observer, is based on military
intelligence, showing the vast area of the country which is at danger
from live munitions.
The
map reveals that hundreds, or possibly thousands, of the bombs - which
produce hundreds of 'bomblets' scattered out over a large area - failed
to detonate.
The
map depicts a mass of green circles, diamonds and rectangles, each
showing an individual site of what is described as an 'explosive
location'.
Each
green circle, rectangle or diamond is an example of an unexploded
anti-personnel mine, anti-tank mine, a mixture of both or what is
described on the map as a 'SubMunition', otherwise known as a cluster
bomb. Yellow rectangles are described as 'unknown' unexploded munitions.
The
greatest concentration is seen in the centre of
the map,
around Baghdad and on the main road routes between the capital and the
British-occupied regions of Basra and Umm Qasr in the south-east.
There
are further concentrations around the southern Iraq town of Nasariyah
and the mountains to the north and east of the Kurdish city of Kirkuk,
with 'SubMunition' diamonds make up the bulk of the unexploded locations
around Baghdad, Nasariyah and north of Basra.
Another
Kosovo, Afghanistan
Sarah
Green of Amnesty International, which has campaigned for a ban on the
use of cluster bombs, expects that a repetition of what had happened in
Kosovo and Afghanistan in Iraq.
“We
will see the desperate affects of this conflict, just as we have seen in
Kosovo and Afghanistan, for years to come,” Green said.
Richard
Lloyd, director of Landmine Action, who is traveling to Iraq this
weekend to assess the extent of the danger, told the respected British
daily that the map “shows an appalling level of contamination.”
“It
also confirms that American and British forces attacked built up areas
in cities with cluster bombs…The coalition forces have a
responsibility to protect those Iraqi civilians who now live with this
lethal legacy all around them.
“It
has to be highly questionable whether the use of such weapons in
built-up areas is legal under international law,” he added.
Although
it is impossible to judge precisely the number of unexploded bombs,
landmine experts say that up to 10,000 separate cluster bombs and
bomblets could be lying in cities, farmland and on the main road
arteries across the country.
Experts
in clearing conflict zones of unexploded bombs say that millions of
Iraqi adults and children are at risk, along with humanitarian aid
workers, United Nations personnel, civilian staff and military
officials.
Aid
agencies say that hundreds of civilians have
already been maimed after tampering with unexploded cluster bombs. The victims are often
young children scavenging for the valuable metal that encases the
explosives.
The
map, dated 13 May, was produced by the Humanitarian Operations Centre
based in Kuwait, which is staffed by military personnel from the U.S.,
Britain and Kuwait and is based on the latest intelligence assessment of
the danger of unexploded bombs.
It
was given to select Non-Governmental Organizations tasked with providing
humanitarian aid to the country.
Its
revelation raises fresh questions for British Tony Blair and U.S.
President George Bush, who insisted that post-conflict Iraq would be a
safer place than it was under Saddam Hussein, the Observer
said.
Last
week Adam Ingram, the Armed Forces Minister, admitted that cluster bombs
were used in built-up areas in “specific circumstances where there is
a threat to our troops.”
