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WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 9, 2008) - The Defense Department today
announced new standards for cluster bombs to protect civilians and
civilian infrastructure from the unintended consequences of
unexploded munitions.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates signed the policy that aims to
reduce collateral effects of cluster munitions used to pursue
legitimate military objectives.
The new policy is designed to eliminate the number of bomblets
dispersed by cluster bombs that don't explode on impact, explained
Air Force Lt. Col. Almarah Belk, a Pentagon spokeswoman. It sets
new safety standards that, by 2018, would require 99 percent of all
bomblets to explode on contact.
The military will begin reducing its inventory of cluster bombs
that don't meet that standard as soon as possible, and will stop
using them altogether by 2018, the policy notes.
The new policy is designed to eliminate the chance that the
bombs could remain active and pose a potential threat to civilians
on the ground after the hostilities, Belk said.
A State Department white paper attributed fewer than 400
casualties to cluster bombs in 2006. Intent on reducing these
numbers, the Defense Department launched a year-long review of its
previous cluster munitions policy, Belk said.
The new policy strikes a critical balance between operational
requirements and safety concerns, she said. "The United States
believes that the new cluster munitions policy will provide better
protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure following a
conflict, while allowing the retention of a legitimate and useful
weapon," she said.
Belk noted that cluster bombs offer distinct advantages against
a range of targets while reducing risks to U.S. forces and saving
U.S. lives.
Defense Department officials view the new policy as a viable
alternative to a complete ban on cluster bombs, as proposed last
month by the Oslo Process in Dublin, Ireland, she said. With no
alternative to cluster munitions, she said, eliminating them
altogether would create a critical capability gap.
"This would make the wholesale elimination of cluster munitions
unacceptable," Belk said.
Future adversaries are likely to use civilian shields for
military targets - for example, by placing a military target on the
roof of an occupied building, she noted. Under circumstances like
that, she said, cluster bombs would cause fewer civilian casualties
and damage than other, far more destructive weapons.
The United States will use the policy in its negotiations toward
an international agreement at the U.N. Convention of Conventional
Weapons that began July 7. The United States hopes to see a new
cluster bomb policy completed by the year's end.
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