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Pentagon given stricter standards for cluster munitions

An international treaty banning existing cluster munitions and requiring the destruction of existing stockpiles in eight years was adopted May 30 by 111 countries, including US allies. But the United States, Russia and China have refused to join.
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) July 8, 2008
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has directed the Pentagon to set more stringent standards for cluster munitions by 2018 to reduce the danger to civilians from unexploded munitions, a US defense official said Tuesday.

The new policy, set forth in a memorandum recently signed by Gates but not officially made public, already has been criticized by human rights group as not going far enough.

"The policy is that by 2018 we will procure cluster munitions that only have a proven dud rate of less than one percent," said a senior defense official, who asked not to be identified.

Cluster bombs can release hundreds of bomblets over an area the size of two or three football fields.

Used against troop formations, tanks, airfields and electric power lines, the bomblets are designed to explode on contact.

But they fail to detonate in five percent to 16 percent of cases, leaving battlefields littered with unexploded ordnance that can put civilians at risk for years.

An international treaty banning existing cluster munitions and requiring the destruction of existing stockpiles in eight years was adopted May 30 by 111 countries, including US allies.

But the United States, Russia and China have refused to join.

Steve Goose, of Human Rights Watch, said the new US policy was "too little, too late."

"Most key US allies have already rejected cluster bombs because innocent civilians are killed and maimed, not only when the weapons are used but also months and years after that.

"Knowing this, how in good conscience can the US wait 10 years to accept a lesser standard?" he said in a statement.

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