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Iraqis
examine cluster bombed used in “Iraqi Freedom”
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On
April 1, 2003, Human Rights Watch
reported that US ground forces in Iraq were using cluster munitions with a high
failure rate creating immediate and long-term dangers for civilians and friendly
soldiers. On April 2, the US military officially acknowledged for the first time
that cluster bombs were being deployed in Iraq. American military officials said
that US B-52 bombers had dropped CBU-105 bombs - guided 500kg cluster bombs - on
Iraqi tanks defending Baghdad. Moreover, the British Ministry of Defense
publicly admitted that Israeli-manufactured cluster shells had been fired by the
Royal Artillery's long-range howitzers around Basra.
“Let's
be very clear, weapons are designed for war. There is no weapon that doesn't
cause harm except for the leaflets we have been dropping for the past month,”
said US Navy Captain Frank Thorp, a Central Command spokesman, as he confirmed
his country’s usage of cluster bombs in Iraq. The Anglo-American philosophy
behind the war has been clear from the very beginning: war is inevitable for the
“liberation” of Iraq. Weapons are designed to be used in wars, and cluster
bombs are just weapons; so they are expected to cause harm. Yet, it is important
to note that the harm caused by cluster bombs is extraordinarly grave.
What
Are Cluster Bombs?
A
cluster bomb is a canister that can be dropped from an aircraft, rocket, or
artillery projectile, that opens to release a number of 200-700 small
fragmentation explosives (bomblets) and scatter them over a wide area. When each
bomblet explodes it breaks into hundreds of shreds of jagged steel.
Cluster
bombs have a wide dispersal pattern and cannot be used for precise targeting as
they have no exact aim points, something that makes them especially dangerous
when used near civilian areas. They are particularly risky for their high “dud
rate”. With a 5-10% dud rate, there is a high probability that the
submunitions inside cluster bombs fail to explode and become hazardous
anti-personnel landmines that remain live and unexploded for a long time, until
they blast upon contact. Once someone stumbles on an unexploded bomblet, the
munition blows up to splinter into dozens of fiery material fragments, slicing
and burning into human flesh.
Types
of Cluster Bombs
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BLU97
bomblet
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Cluster
bombs, alternatively known as Cluster Bomb Units (CBUs), have many varieties (US
Air Force Online Encyclopedia):
Each
BLU97 canister contains 202 small bomblets the size of a soft drink can. The
cluster bomblets scatter over a large area — approximately the size of two
football fields. On average, 3-5% of the bomblets do not explode on impact.
Many
of the cluster bombs reportedly dropped from the air by US forces on civilian
areas during “Operation Iraqi Freedom” were of the type BLU-97 A.
The
CBU-105 releases 10 bombs. Each bomb fires four armor-penetrating or
house-penetrating warheads. Using infrared targeting, the warheads lock onto
cars, buses or human bodies within a 30-acre radius.
CBU-52B
holds 220 bomblets, each of which is softball-sized and can shred and dismember
soft-skinned targets, including both people and light-skinned vehicles.
This
cluster bomb is also used against light skinned objects. The dispenser holds 650
baseball-sized bomblets to be dispersed over a wide area.
The
Rockeye is a clamshell-shaped dispenser holding 247 dart-shaped bomblets. These
bomblets free fall and can cover a 3,300 square yard area.
A
newer version of the MK-20 Rockeye cluster bomb, the CBU 59B is used against
both modern armor and human bodies. Rockeye II and the older Rockeye I are dart
shaped bomblets with a small fuze in the pointed end of each bomblet. The
CBU-59B dispenser holds about 700 bomblets.
The
CBU-71/B is very similar to the CBU-58, carrying 650 baseball-sized bomblets.
The CBU-71 bomblets have “a random delay fusing option.” They are used as
landmines, set to explode at a variety of times after hitting the ground.
This
cluster bomb is different from all the others. It’s an extremely destructive
incendiary bomb, rather than a shrapnel bomb.
The
CEM dispenses 202 bomblets, each of which is capable of penetrating up to 177 mm
(seven inches) of armor and has fire-starting capabilities as well. They
dispense over an area patch of 800 feet by 400 feet. It is an area denial
cluster weapon. It is optimized against both lightly armored vehicles and
personnel. The CBU-87 was used extensively for interdiction during Desert Storm.
The
dispenser holds 72 anti-armor mines and 22 anti-personnel mines. It has a
magnetic influence fuze to sense armor; it also has deployed trip wires that
activate when personnel walk on or disturb it. Another feature of the GATOR is
the random delay function detonating over several days for highly effective area
denial and harassment operations.
CBU-97
combines 10 submunitions with 4 skeet type warheads. After release, a fuze
causes the dispenser to disperse the 10 submunitions, each stabilized by a
parachute. This weapon is good against armor and soft skinned targets, covering
a 4,800 square yard area.
Each
RBL-755 weighs 600 lb and breaks up in the air releasing 147 bomblets, each of
which has the explosive power to destroy a tank as it explodes into
approximately 2000 metal fragments. About the size of a soft-drink can,
parachutes slow the bomblets’ fall. RBLs are dropped from a high altitude,
something which acutely decreases the degree of accuracy in the delivery
process.
The
Price of Democracy
Amnesty
International (AI)
has recently released a document entitled, “Iraq:
Civilians Under Fire”, in which it expressed its concerns about the
mounting toll of civilian casualties in Iraq and the reported use of cluster
bombs by Anglo-American forces in heavily populated areas.
The
US and UK authorities had repeatedly promised that they would do everything
possible to protect the Iraqi people during the war. However, the US has
showered heavily populated residential areas with deadly cluster shells, and
Iraq’s hospitals are filled with bodies of men, women and children.
Cluster
bombs didn’t only harm the Iraqis during the war, but they will also continue
to be, in effect, hidden landmines for years to come. According to Human Rights
Watch, cluster munitions dropped in the 1991 Gulf war were to blame for the
deaths or injuries of more than 4,000 civilians after the fighting ended.
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| Nader may never see
again with his right eye
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Five-year-old
Nader stepped on one of the dozens of bomblets scattered around the city of Hilla.
Nader may not be able to see again with his right eye.
"What
did these little children do to the Americans? What did they do to [U.S.
President George W.] Bush?...May God avenge these children by sending Bush a
cluster bomb," Nader’s mother shouted.
Two-year-old
Hussein Ali Abed has a frightening fixed gaze.
"Since
the bombing, he has been like this…His mother, my wife, died in the bombing
when several bomblets landed on us during the night. So I really do not know
what to do to get him out of the shock," said his father.
For
the Iraqis to be “liberated”, they had to pay the price. They should bear
the pain caused by shrapnel of cluster bombs penetrating their bodies. Later on,
they will forget all the pain and enjoy living in a “free” democracy.
Sources:
Sara
Khorshid
is a staff writer for IslamOnline. She holds a BA in Political Science from
Cairo University and is currently studying for an MA in Political Theory. You
can reach her at sarakhorshid@islam-online.net
.
