[WCUSP] IDF: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

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_http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761781.html_ 
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Last update - 14:20 12/09/2006
IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in  Lebanon

By Meron Rappaport

"What we did was insane and  monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster 
bombs," the head of an IDF  rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of 
cluster bombs and  phosphorous shells during the war. 

Quoting his battalion  commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF 
fired around 1,800  cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets.

In  addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used  
phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law.  
According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance  was 
fired in the final 10 days of the war. 

The rocket unit  commander stated that Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) 
platforms were  heavily used in spite of the fact that they were known to be 
highly  inaccurate. 

MLRS is a track or tire carried mobile rocket  launching platform, capable of 
firing a very high volume of mostly  unguided munitions. The basic rocket 
fired by the platform is unguided and  imprecise, with a range of about 32 
kilometers. The rockets are designed  to burst into sub-munitions at a planned 
altitude in order to blanket  enemy army and personnel on the ground with smaller 
explosive rounds.  

The use of such weaponry is controversial mainly due to its  inaccuracy and 
ability to wreak great havoc against indeterminate targets  over large areas of 
territory, with a margin of error of as much as 1,200  meters from the 
intended target to the area hit. 

The cluster  rounds which don't detonate on impact, believed by the United 
Nations to  be around 40% of those fired by the IDF in Lebanon, remain on the 
ground  as unexploded munitions, effectively littering the landscape with  
thousands of land mines which will continue to claim victims long after  the war 
has ended. 

Because of their high level of failure to  detonate, it is believed that 
there are around 500,000 unexploded  munitions on the ground in Lebanon. To date 
12 Lebanese civilians have  been killed by these mines since the end of the war.

According to  the commander, in order to compensate for the inaccuracy of the 
rockets  and the inability to strike individual targets precisely, units 
would  "flood" the battlefield with munitions, accounting for the littered and  
explosive landscape of post-war Lebanon. 

When his reserve duty  came to a close, the commander in question sent a 
letter to Defense  Minister Amir Peretz outlining the use of cluster munitions, a 
letter  which has remained unanswered.

'Excessive injury and unnecessary  suffering'

It has come to light that IDF soldiers fired  phosphorous rounds in order to 
cause fires in Lebanon. An artillery  commander has admitted to seeing trucks 
loaded with phosphorous rounds on  their way to artillery crews in the north 
of Israel. 

A direct hit  from a phosphorous shell typically causes severe burns and a 
slow, painful  death. 

International law forbids the use of weapons that cause  "excessive injury 
and unnecessary suffering", and many experts are of the  opinion that 
phosphorous rounds fall directly in that category.  

The International Red Cross has determined that international law  forbids 
the use of phosphorous and other types of flammable rounds against  personnel, 
both civilian and military. 

IDF: No violation of  international law
In response, the IDF Spokesman's Office stated  that "International law does 
not include a sweeping prohibition of the use  of cluster bombs. The 
convention on conventional weaponry does not declare  a prohibition on [phosphorous 
weapons], rather, on principles regulating  the use of such weapons. 

"For understandable operational reasons,  the IDF does not respond to 
[accounts of] details of weaponry in its  possession. 

"The IDF makes use only of methods and weaponry which  are permissible under 
international law. Artillery fire in general,  including MLRS fire, were used 
in response solely to firing on the state  of Israel."

The Defense Minister's office said it had not received  messages regarding 
cluster bomb fire. 
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