The wrong bomb

In military parlance a "cluster bomb" is made up of about 200 innocuous-sounding "bomblets". These bomblets are disgorged by a primary bomb at high altitude, enabling multiple strikes as the "bomblets" disperse. A bomblet can pierce an armoured tank, blow up a building or splinter into hundreds of shards of shrapnel, each with the velocity of a bullet.

The United States and NATO have consistently argued that "cluster bombs" do not breech the 1997 global treaty banning the use, production and development of landmines because they are not designed as "anti-personnel mines". Technically, this is true.

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which initiated the global landmines campaign more than a decade ago, is calling for an immediate moratorium on the use of cluster bombs.

The ongoing use of cluster bombs in Afghanistan can only heighten civilian suffering and sow the "killing fields" of the future.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald