-Caveat Lector- "Last month, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was unfortunate that the bomblets and aid packages were the same color and said the Pentagon would change the color of the food rations. " -- DUH!
Groups criticize use of cluster bombs By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press LONDON (December 2, 2001 11:27 p.m. EST) - The war on terror in Afghanistan has left a deadly legacy of unexploded cluster bombs capable of maiming or killing thousands of civilians, campaign groups said Monday. Landmine Action and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund claim U.S.-led bombing missions have dropped some 600 cluster bombs, each containing 202 "bomblets," on Afghanistan. They estimate up to 30 percent of the bomblets would not have exploded on impact, and, in a statement released Monday, called for an international law requiring nations who drop the bombs to clear them. "Like land mines, unexploded cluster bombs represent a lethal threat," said Andrew Purkis, chief executive of the fund set up in Diana's memory. "They can lie in the ground for years, until a child or a farmer disturbs them." Cluster bombs drop smaller bombs, called bomblets, over a wide area. Some explode on contact. Others delay exploding until a certain amount of time has passed, becoming what amounts to an air-dropped minefield. Richard Lloyd, director of Landmine Action, said Afghan children had already been injured, after mistaking the bomblets for aid packages dropped by the U.S. Air Force. Both are the same bright yellow color. The United States has defended the use of cluster bombs in its campaign to topple the Taliban regime and force out Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. Last month, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was unfortunate that the bomblets and aid packages were the same color and said the Pentagon would change the color of the food rations. Lloyd called for a debate on cluster bombs at a conference in Geneva later this month to review the 1980 United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. He said nations who use cluster bombs should be legally responsible for clearing them away, for providing appropriate warnings to civilians and for giving the United Nations and mine clearance groups information about the types of bombs used. Campaigners also called for a permanent ban on the use of cluster bombs against military targets in civilian areas and said they should be fitted with self-destruct mechanisms which would cause them to detonate if they did not explode on impact. Last month, leaders of Green parties with government roles in France, Belgium and Finland condemned U.S. use of cluster bombs in Afghanistan, echoing the concerns of several humanitarian groups. "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." -GW Bush during a photo-op with Congressional leaders on 12/18/2000. As broadcast on CNN and available in transcript on their website http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
