Cluster Bombs Decried in Bill

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5haTLOCrj-hNmVmOsqCas31UuyEYw

By WILLIAM C. MANN – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation passed by the Senate to pay for aid and other State Department operations abroad would restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs, lethal munitions that spread death over wide areas and often kill civilians.

A cluster bomb is designed to break up in the air and disperse 200 to 400 bomblets over an area 500 yards across. The weapon is meant to disrupt large-scale troop formations, but cluster bombs have been used increasingly in civilian areas in military confrontations across the world. snip

As passed by the Senate Thursday night, the $34 billion bill would forbid transfer or sale of any cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1 percent. The idea is to reduce the number of incidents involving unexploded munitions.

The cluster bomb restriction was sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

"These volatile relics of the Cold War have taken their lethal toll on civilian populations all over the world for too long, from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East," Feinstein said in a statement Friday.

Leahy said the standards set by the bill could "greatly reduce the gruesome casualties these weapons needlessly inflict on innocent civilians."

[frogcycle]

1. oh come on

you can't run a real cluster fuck of a war without them!