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.
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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. ***