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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: FaultLine who wrote (92448)4/20/2003 6:10:47 PM
From: Sarmad Y. Hermiz  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
>> Until I hear specific details of cluster bombing of civilians, I for one have to say, I don't believe one word of it.

fl, here is an article with specific details. I bolded a quote from a US Army person, because you expressed disbelief in some of the press accounts that stated that cluster bombs were used in civilian neighborhoods.

fl: "I have no reason to believe it was. Lots of lies and misperceptions flying around..."

miami.com

[excerpt]

U.S. military officials acknowledge the damage in civilian neighborhoods. Two U.S. Army ordnance experts went street to street in al Kharnouq on Tuesday searching for the canisters that fluttered down April 7, leaving a virtual minefield amid the rows of split-level homes of designs that mix Frank Lloyd Wright and Mesopotamian inspirations.

"It's a big problem," said Army Corps of Engineers Capt. Thomas Austin, whose crews are responsible for disarming unexploded ordinance in part of Baghdad. "This is the worst neighborhood I've personally seen."

Austin defended the bomblets' use, saying the Iraqi military sometimes put anti-aircraft artillery in civilian neighborhoods and that the bomblets were meant to rain down on armor or anti-aircraft batteries, exploding when they hit their metal surfaces.

Instead, they landed on softer targets - lawns and trees, and in one instance the asbestos roof of 60-year-old Sabih el Bazzaz's carport - cushioning their fall, and failing to trigger them.
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