Allies Defend Cluster Bombs
    Taliban Claims Chemical/Radiotoxic Weapons Used by US
    • Subject: [du-list] Reuters: Taliban C laims Chemical/Radiotoxic Weapons Used by US >
           Date:  Mon, 29 Oct 2001 22:45:03 +0100
           From: martin meissonnier <martinm@imaginet.fr>
       Reply-To:  du-list@yahoogroups.com
             To:    <du-list@yahoogroups.com>

      BURNING 'DEPLETED' URANIUM: A MEDICAL DISASTER
       

      The Times: Allies Defend Cluster Bombs;
      Reuters: Taliban Claims Chemical/Radiotoxic Weapons Used by US
       

      Allies defend cluster bombs
       

      BY RICHARD BEESTON AND HELEN RUMBELOW

      BRITAIN and America hit back yesterday at the growing international
      outcry over the use of cluster bombs and insisted that they would be
      used again in Afghanistan if required.

      Reacting to appeals from British and international charities to stop
      their use, Paul Wolfowitz, the US Deputy Defence Secetary, was
      uncompromising. "We lost somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 people in a
      single day. We are now being threatened with weapons that could kill
      tens of thousands of people, and we are trying to avoid killing
      innocent people, but we have to win this war and we will use the
      weapons we need to win this war," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

      A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence in London echoed the US
      position. She said that the weapons were legal and used for specific
      targets, such as armour or aircraft parked on a runway. "Before using
      any weapon we assess which is best suited to the job," she said.
      "Cluster bombs remain an effective weapon."

      Her comments were condemned as "utter nonsense" by Richard Lloyd, head
      of the Landmine Action charity, who led a chorus of British opposition
      to the weapons. "What they are saying is hard to believe because they
      really do know better than this," he said.

      "The Government know that in Kosovo and the Gulf very few cluster
      bombs hit their targets because they were blown off course. Add to
      that the fact that a high proportion don't go off and effectively turn
      into landmines."

      The Rev William Beaver, spokesman for the Church of England, said that
      many religious leaders were outraged that such an indiscriminate
      weapon was being used.

      "You will not win the hearts and minds of a people if, in your effort
      to provide them with a better future, your real legacy is to be
      associated with hidden deaths and hideous wounds for years to come,"
      he said.

      The British Red Cross called on America to suspend the use of cluster
      bombs because they had proved so dangerous to civilians in Kosovo.

      Christian Aid also joined the opposition, saying that the use of
      cluster bombs contradicted America's stated intention to minimise
      civilian casualties. "They are as dangerous as anti-personnel mines.
      In fact in Kosovo more people were killed in the years after the
      conflict by the bomblets left behind by cluster bombs than by
      landmines," a spokesman said.

      "We are told the attacks are targeted but cluster bombs cannot be
      targeted in that way. Britain should be putting pressure on America to
      stop using them."

      Unlike "smart bombs", the weapons used in the Gulf War, Kosovo and now
      Afghanistan to deliver a single bomb with pinpoint accuracy, cluster
      bombs are by their nature imprecise and designed to hit targets spread
      out over a wide area. They are dropped from heavy bombers or by
      ground-attack aircraft and regarded by military experts as a valuable
      weapon in attacking concentrations of troops, armour or artillery
      found in the Taleban's frontline positions.

      The US Air Force and the Royal Air Force have developed their own
      design, but the concept of the cluster bomb remains the same as when
      it was first used in combat during the Vietnam War.

      The American CBU87 is loaded on to a warplane as a single unit that
      looks like a large green pod. Inside the outer casing are about 200
      individual bomblets, each the size of a can of soft drink and
      containing various charges from high explosives to incendiary devices.
       

      After the bomb is released the outer casing falls away above the
      target and the bomblets rain down over a wide area. The higher the
      altitude that the bomblets are released, the wider the target zone. A
      single bomb is usually intended to hit an enemy spread over the area
      of a football pitch.

      As many as 10 per cent of the bomblets fail to explode and remain,
      often half-buried, as a long-term threat to civilians. Children are
      especially vulnerable since they are often attracted by the
      harmless-looking and brightly coloured bomblets. In Kosovo the cluster
      bombs were blamed for the deaths of 200 civilians and two British Army
      bomb-disposal experts.

      Cluster bombs have reportedly killed nine civilians in Afghanistan
      near the western city of Herat and are blamed for trapping other
      villagers too afraid to leave their homes.

      Anti-mine organisations have been particularly critical of the use of
      the weapons, because they are difficult and dangerous to clear. Two
      British charities, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and
      Landmine Action, appealed last week for a moratorium in the use of
      cluster bombs.

      They were joined on Friday by Handicap International. "Politicians
      must tell the military that they do not have the right to use arms
      they know have dramatic consequences against civilian populations,
      even after a conflict is over," Philippe Chabasse, the group's
      director, said.

      The appeal has won some backing in Europe. Nicole Fontaine, the
      President of the European Parliament, said that the bombs should be
      banned. The issue is likely to be raised at the United Nations, where
      Sweden is pressing for international action to regulate the use of
      cluster bombs.
      ~~~~~~~~~
      *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
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      is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
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      ~~~~~~~~~~
      http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011029/wl/attack_afghan_health_dc_1.
      html
      Monday October 29 8:45 AM ET
      Taliban Claim U.S. Using Chemical Weapons
      By Sayed Salahuddin
      KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban accused the United
      States on Monday of using chemical weapons and invited foreign
      observers to check the claim.
      But one deputy minister acknowledged that the war-shattered country
      did not have the facilities to test for chemical use.
      ``We have some patients with superficial injuries with symptoms of
      chemical weapons,'' doctor Wazir of Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan hospital,
      told a news conference.
      Public Health Minister Mullah Abbas also said the hardline Muslim
      militia had proof that chemical weapons were being used.
      ``Our findings prove that this is true. These bombardments have
      radioactive rays and chemical materials that also cause cancer,'' he
      told the same news conference.
      Both men cited cases of chemical poisoning. None of the claims could
      be independently verified.
      Deputy public health minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, said the
      government did not having testing facilities and would welcome outside
      observers.
      ``If there are more cases coming, we hope to be able to invite
      delegations to verify it and test it,'' he told Reuters Television.
      Doctors said such cases had been reported in several hospitals across
      Afghanistan, and Stanikzai cited between 10 and 15 cases.
      ``We can give details to people and doctors who understand for
      explanation. But we have several cases of acute diarrhea and also
      cases of breathing problems. In some of the cases it happened that
      people died,'' Stanikzai said.
      ``We do not have sophisticated laboratories in Afghanistan to test the
      blood of people and analyze it,'' he said, adding that the Taliban
      could not trust neighboring countries to carry out the testing because
      they backed U.S.-led attacks against them.
      Wazir described the case of a 10-year-old boy with superficial wounds,
      but with respiratory problems who died after six hours.
      He said a 50-year-old woman who had minor injuries had also died.
      ``They were both toxic cases,'' he said. ``We don't have the ability
      to make a diagnosis, but clinically we see symptoms as such.''
      ~~~~~~~~~~
      *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
      material
      is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
      interest in receiving the included information for research and
      educational purposes. Feel free to distribute widely but PLEASE
      acknowledge the original source. ***
       
       

    • LITERATURE

    • VETERANS ALERT ON URANIUM SHELLS in Afghanistan  By Macer Hall> (Filed: 23/09/2001)

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