Deadly weapons with long legacy

By RAYMOND WHITAKER

Cluster bombs are far more lethal than some of the weapons of mass destruction Iraq is alleged to possess, and there have been campaigns to declare them illegal.

While mustard gas, for example, is difficult to use and often as dangerous to the troops firing it as to their opponents, cluster munitions can spray hundreds of bomblets, each the size of a soft-drink can, over an area as large as 12 football pitches. They should never be used on towns of civilians.

One of their main uses is to destroy concentrations of troops or military vehicles.

Yesterday, the United States said it had used a new cluster bomb, the CBU-105, for the first time in combat.

B-52 bombers dropped six of the precision-guided, 453kg munitions, which each dispense 10 armour-destroying bomblets, to stop an Iraqi tank column heading towards American forces preparing to besiege Baghdad.

Some bomblets are designed to explode on impact, spreading needle-like shrapnel. Others bounce about 1.8m into the air before exploding, heightening their impact.

They can also be set to explode after a delay of as long as several days, or can float down on parachutes and act like landmines, denying an area to troops.

But 5 per cent of bomblets supposed to go off immediately fail, posing a deadly hazard to civilians for months or years afterwards.

It has been calculated that a full B-52 load of anti-personnel cluster bombs could produce an average of 1700 unexploded "sub-munitions".

The bomblets are usually dispensed from a casing that opens in mid-air, releasing up to 650 at a time.

The Pentagon says the weapons have been upgraded with fins and grooving to allow for wind and weather conditions, making them more accurate. But they remain a blunt instrument.

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Herald Feature: Iraq war