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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E who wrote (8808)	5/17/1999 8:39:00 PM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 17770

I haven't found anything specific yet. But I did find the following which I am finding fascinating: fas.org This is the USAF Targeting Guide, which presumably governs our activities in Kosovo. Just on a cursory reading it seems to me we are violating a lot of these regulations. One example from it: A4.3.2. Prohibition of Attack on Undefended Areas. Under the Hague Regulations, towns, vil-lages, dwellings, or buildings that are undefended may not be attacked or bombarded. An undefended place is any inhabited place near, or in, a zone where opposing armed forces are in contact, and which is open for occupation by an adverse party without resistance. Hmmm. Wasn't the Chinese embassy undefended? Aren't the transmission towers we attack with "soft bombs" undefended? By saying "buildings" one assumes they mean that a general defense of a whole country doesn't count -- it has to be that building. Or tractor. Interesting. One part I found scary: A4.9. Nuclear Weapons. The US does not regard the use of explosive nuclear weapons, whether by air, sea, or land forces, as a violation of existing international law.

To: E who wrote (8808)	5/17/1999 8:57:00 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17770

Found the following information: 1) the use of cluster bombs was apparently the basis for a war crimes charge against Milan Martic. War Crimes and Individual Responsibility: A PRIMA FACIE CASE FOR THE INDICTMENT OF SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC With respect to direct evidence of the ordering of war crimes, the Tribunal has indicted Milan Martic on the basis of evidence that he directly ordered the firing of Orkan rockets equipped with cluster bombs into Croatian population centers. nesl.edu 2) A study and case for cluster bombs being illegal: mcc.org 3) UN Concern over cluster bombs: "1. At its forty-eighth session, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, in its resolution 1996/16 of 29 August 1996, concerned at the alleged use of weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction both against members of the armed forces and against civilian populations, resulting in death, misery and disability, and concerned also at repeated reports on the long-term consequences of the use of such weapons upon human life and health and upon the environment, urged all States to be guided in their national policies by the need to curb the production and the spread of weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect, in particular nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, fuel-air bombs, napalm, cluster bombs, biological weaponry and weaponry containing depleted uranium." P.S. We have used both cluster bombs and weapons containing depleted uranium. unhchr.ch 4) Wisconsin International Law Journal abstract: The Tragedy of Cluster Bombs in Laos: An Argument for Inclusion in the Proposed International Ban on Landmines by Carmel Capati: Page 227 Using the example of post-Vietnam War Laos, the author argues for inclusion of cluster bombs in the International Ban on Landmines. Asserting that cluster bombs are as destructive as the other forms of antipersonnel weapony the Ban would seek to eliminate, the comment reveals the evolution of cluster bombs in Laos, their technological aspects as weapons of mass destruction, and argues that continued unfettered use will result in continued violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. students.law.wisc.edu 5) From the nternational Helsinki Federation for Human Rights report on Human Rights violations by Russia in Chechnya: There were also disturbing allegations that Russian Federation forces had employed prohibited or restricted weapons against civilian populations, including extensive anti-personnel mining of civilian areas. Civilian survivors of attacks claim that cluster bombs, chemical weapons, and fuel air explosives had been used. However, Major-General Vladimir Shamanov, commander of Defense Ministry troops in Chechnya, denied on 23 July that Russian Federation forces have used chemical weapons against Chechen separatists. He made no statements concerning the use of such weapons against civilians. The use of such weapons would be in direct violation of commitments to the UN Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects (including Protocol II on anti-personnel mines). ihf-hr.org That's all I have gathered so far -- I'm being called to dinner!