Cluster Bombs

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the Iraq conflict with regard to the issues surrounding cluster bombs and the humanitarian threat their legality poses. The paper explains that cluster bombs are not always discriminating in their targets, and once fallen, bomblets can remain inactive for some time before exploding. The paper contends that cluster bombs pose an unacceptable risk to civilians, especially children and discusses the lack of global legislation forbidding cluster bomb use. The paper looks at some nations' actions in improving the reliability of cluster munitions, but claims that this does not help when countries use old stockpiles. The paper strongly asserts that it is time for the cluster bomb to be made illegal on the international stage.

Outline:
Introduction
Cluster Bombs: The Facts At A Glance
Cluster Bombs: Position By Country
Are Cluster Bombs Illegal?
Why Cluster Bombs Should Be Made Illegal
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The cluster bomb and its legitimacy as a weapon of war has recently come under fire, hot on the tails of use during recent conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Concerns over the power of the weapon have primarily been humanitarian, as cluster bombs - shells which release submunitions, or bomblets, from either air or land, with the intention of killing "soft" targets such as enemy soldiers - are unreliable, shedding highly explosive and volatile submunitions over a wide area, often failing to explode on immediate impact. As the target area related to the cluster bomb is wide, and as apparently faulty cluster bombs may be later activated by accidental interference, the threat to civilians lives from delayed detonation is high. Recent media attention on cluster bombs has focused on the loss of civilian life in Iraq, one of the most prominent armed conflicts of recent times."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Cluster Bombs: Effective Weapon or Humanitarian Foe?" Conference Documentation, hosted by DanChurchAid and MP Morten Helveg Petersen. Date accessed: October 27, 2006. Available: <www.stopclustermunitions.org/files/DCA%20CM%20conference.pdf>.
• "Cluster Bombs in Afghanistan." Human Rights Watch Backgrounder. October 2001. Date accessed: October 27, 2006. Available: <http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/arms/cluster-bck1031.htm>
• "Foreseeable Harm: The Use and Impact of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon: 2006." Landmine Action. October 2006.
• "Global Overview of Cluster Munition Use, Production, Stockpiling, and Transfer." Human Rights Watch. March 2006. Date accessed: October 26, 2006. Available: <http://hrw.org/arms/pdfs/munitionChart.pdf>
• Norton-Taylor, Richard. "Cluster Bombs: The Hidden Toll." The Manchester Guardian (UK). August 8, 2000. Date accessed: October 26, 2007. Available: <http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/080800-01.htm>

More papers on Cluster Bombs:

• Term Paper # 130227 : "Cluster Bombs"
• Research Paper # 99732 : "The Mutation Cluster Region of the APC Gene"
• Analytical Essay # 65371 : "Earl R. Beck's "Under the Bombs"

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