U.S. Use of Clusters
in Baghdad Condemned
(New
York, April 16, 2003)
The U.S. Central Command
should respond publicly
to evidence that U.S.
forces used cluster munitions
in a populated area of
Baghdad, Human Rights
Watch urged today.
U.S. commanders
should never use cluster
munitions in populated
areas...These are wholly
inappropriate weapons
when civilians are around.
The reported use of cluster
munitions in Baghdad is
a serious charge and the
Pentagon must respond
publicly to it.
Kenneth Roth
Executive Director of
Human Rights Watch
According to a report
in yesterdays Newsday,
a Central Command spokeswoman
has anonymously confirmed
that U.S. forces have
hit urban areas of Baghdad
with cluster munitions,
stating that they were
aimed at Iraqi artillery
and missile systems located
inside the city.
U.S. commanders
should never use cluster
munitions in populated
areas, said
Kenneth Roth, executive
director of Human Rights
Watch. These
are wholly inappropriate
weapons when civilians
are around. The reported
use of cluster munitions
in Baghdad is a serious
charge and the Pentagon
must respond publicly
to it.
Newsdays reporter
provided Human Rights
Watch with a photograph
he had taken inside a
building in what he described
as a clearly residential
neighborhood well inside
Baghdad. Human Rights
Watch identified an unexploded
cluster submunition in
the photograph from either
a ground-based Multiple
Launch Rocket System (MLRS)
or an artillery projectile.
The damage to the surrounding
walls and floor were also
consistent with a cluster
munition strike. Human
Rights Watch has previously
reported that, according
to The Pentagons
own data, these particular
submunitions have an especially
high failure rate.
Human Rights Watch believes
that the use of cluster
munitions in populated
areas may violate the
prohibition of indiscriminate
attacks contained in international
humanitarian law. Despite
the utility of cluster
munitions in achieving
certain military objectives,
the wide dispersal pattern
of their submunitions
makes it very difficult
to avoid civilians if
they are in the area.
Moreover, because of their
high failure rate, cluster
munitions leave large
numbers of hazardous,
explosive duds to terrorize
civilians even after the
attack is over.
The U.S. Army and Marine
Corps may be taking less
care to avoid civilian
casualties with surface-delivered
cluster munitions than
the U.S. Air Force with
air-delivered cluster
munitions, Human Rights
Watch said.
Human Rights Watch conducted
detailed analyses of the
U.S. Air Forces
use of cluster bombs in
the 1999 Yugoslavia war
and the 2001-2002 Afghanistan
war. In Afghanistan, the
U.S. Air Force used cluster
bombs substantially less
often in populated areas
than they had in Yugoslavia,
and therefore caused far
fewer civilian deaths
with cluster bombs.
It seemed that
after Yugoslavia, U.S.
commanders learned that
cluster munitions cannot
be safely used in populated
areas, said Roth.
The use of cluster
munitions inside Baghdad
represents a disturbing
step backwards
with deadly consequences.
It is not yet known if
there were civilian casualties
at the time of the strike,
but Newsday reported on
several deaths and injuries
to children and others
who encountered the explosive
duds left by the cluster
munitions which failed
to detonate on initial
impact as designed. The
duds function as de facto
antipersonnel landmines.
This is the first confirmed
instance of U.S. use of
cluster munitions in Baghdad
or other highly populated
areas. There have been
many unconfirmed allegations
of use of both air-dropped
and surface-delivered
cluster munitions in urban
areas by the United States
and the United Kingdom.
Most notably, some press
accounts attributed the
deaths of scores of civilians
near the village of Hilla
in central Iraq on April
1 to U.S. cluster bombs,
but the facts have not
been established.
In light of its admission
of use of cluster munitions,
and the already documented
deaths and injuries to
children and other non-combatants,
Human Rights Watch called
on the United States to
take responsibility with
the utmost urgency for
assuring:
- the provision of warnings
and risk education to
the civilian population;
- the clear demarcation
of affected areas in
order to effectively
exclude civilians;
- the rapid clearance
of dangerous cluster
munition duds.
The Pentagon is
crowing about the Air
Force sparing civilians
by using only precision
weapons in Baghdad,
said Roth. But
thats a meaningless
achievement if the Army
then comes along and
indiscriminately batters
civilian neighborhoods
with cluster munitions.
Cluster
Bombs
Question:
Are
cluster
bombs
prohibited
under
International
Humanitarian
Law
?
Cluster
munitions
are
weapons,
delivered
from
the
air
or ground,
that
disperse
dozens
and
often
hundreds
of submunitions
(often
called
"grenades"
in surface-delivered
weapons
and
"bomblets"
in air-delivered
weapons)
over
a large
area,
thereby
increasing
the
radius
of destructive
effect
over
a target.
There
is no
specific
international
prohibition
of the
use
of cluster
bombs
(unlike,
for
example,
blinding
lasers
or chemical
weapons).
However,
customary
IHL
prohibits
attacks
that
strike
military
targets
and
civilians
without
distinction.
Because
the
"bomblets"
released
by cluster
bombs
have
a wide
dispersal
pattern,
they
cannot
be targeted
precisely.
As a
result,
they
are
prone
to being
indiscriminate
when
used
in or
near
populated
areas.
In addition,
cluster
bomblets
have
a high
initial
failure
rate-five
percent
or more-which
results
in numerous
explosive
"duds"
scattered
about
the
landscape,
which
pose
similar
risks
to civilians
as antipersonnel
landmines.
Human
Rights
Watch
believes
cluster
bombs
should
not
be used
in a
conflict
with
Iraq
because
of their
high
dud
rate.
At the
very
least,
they
should
never
be used
in or
near
populated
areas.
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