[Peace-discuss] More cluster bombs

[Szoke, Ron]

U.S. Will Keep Older Cluster Munitions, a Weapon Banned by 102 Nations

By JOHN ISMAYDEC. 1, 2017

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[cid:37C77788-F6A3-489A-95DF-7AFCD300BCC1 at hsd1.il.comcast.net]
Members of the South Korean Air Force prepared to load cluster bombs onto a fighter during an exercise in August at an air base in Suwon, South Korea. CreditKim Jong-soo/Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will allow the United States military to once again arm itself with older cluster munitions, a type of weapon that has been banned by 102 countries largely because of concerns that they disproportionately harm civilians.

The change, detailed in a memo released on Friday, reverses a prohibition issued under President George W. Bush, and appears to be a concession by the United States that finding safer variants of the weapons has so far failed.

Most American cluster munitions held abroad appear to be positioned for a possible war with North Korea. Under a 2008 agreement, the Pentagon maintains a stockpile of more than 1.5 million cluster munitions, containing over 90 million bomblets, in South Korea.

Cluster munitions include a wide variety of rockets, bombs, missiles and artillery projectiles that scatter smaller weapons, called submunitions, over a target area. Some dispensers can release as many as several hundred bomblets.

Though the United States is not a signatory to the international treaty banning the weapons, it pledged in June 2008 to sharply restrict their use and reduce risks to civilians.

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