Winograd: Use of cluster bombs does not conform to int'l law

[bemildred]

Israel must consider whether it wants to consider using cluster bombs in the future, because its current manner of employing them does not conform to international law. The Winograd Committee made this recommendation in the chapter of its report dealing with Israel's conduct in the Second Lebanon War as it relates to international law.

Blah blah blah blah ...

In a special appendix dedicated to the use of cluster bombs, the committee determined that, "The cluster bomb is inaccurate, it consists of bomblets that are dispersed over a large area, and some of the bomblets do not explode and can cause damage for a long period afterward." The committee thus recommended that non-military elements be involved in assessing their future use in light of international law.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/949975.html

[Tom Joad]

1. It was a massive war crime. Monstrous act. and all so typical of

Israeli military leaders.

[LeftishBrit]

4. All so typical of leaders everywhere!

Do you really think Israel is exceptional here? We (US and UK) used the disgusting weapons in Iraq.

I think clusterbombs and landmines should be banned worldwide, especially as they present a continued danger to people even after wars are over.

[Tom Joad]

7. The leaders should be frog marched to the international court for

war crimes. Olmert. Bush. Blair. and they love each other so much, they should be able to serve time together.

So you do agree that the US should halt cluster bomb sales to any such country, and that anti-war people should call for legal accountability for all that have used such weapons.

[LeftishBrit]

9. I think that neither the USA nor anywhere else should be selling cluster bombs

to any country at all!

There is currently ambiguity about their legality (their morality is another matter!) I think that they should be banned, and henceforth, anyone who uses them should be criminally accountable. I don't believe in 'post facto' laws and punishment, so don't think leaders can be criminally punished for using them before the banning - morally and electorally accountable is another matter.

ETA: It is difficult to discuss some of these matters with you, because you often speak as though you regard Israel as some uniquely horrible country. My whole point is that no one *at all* (including America, UK, Israel, Russia, Monaco, etc.) should be allowed to use cluster bombs.

[Shaktimaan]

12. Why in the world

would you single those three specific individuals out to be tried for war crimes?

Not like I am a fan of Bush myself, but I can't think of any real war crimes that (I know) he committed... or any of these three really. But if they are guilty of war crimes in your opinion, wouldn't a great deal of the world's political and military leaders also fall into this category?

[wtmusic]

2. We're still using white phosphorus in Afghanistan

so don't count on the US giving up clusterbombs anytime soon.

Not to mention the "smart" bombs which we rain down wherever we like in Iraq, not having a clue who is underneath them.

[kayecy]

3. Was the war necessary?

ANALYSIS: Was Lebanon War necessary? Report doesn't say

By Tom Segev, Haaretz Correspondent

The committee avoided this question. The decision to go to war was "pivotal," it wrote. But was it essential? The committee ducks the issue. It was a "fateful" decision. But was it justified? The committee produces the following convoluted sentence: "We do not determine, and have not determined, that the decision to go to war following the kidnapping was unjustified." This is not good enough.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/949993.html

[Englander]

5. Israel's withholding of maps still hampers demining

ZAWTAR WEST: Deminers clearing Israeli-dropped cluster bombs in South Lebanon are turning up an average of 10 new sites per month, while Israel continues to ignore requests for data that would assist clearing the estimated 1 million unexploded bomblets, which continue to kill and maim civilians and decimate rural livelihoods. A single cluster bomb can disperse hundreds of bomblets.

"All these weapons systems are computerized and grid references are entered before the bombs drop. Not receiving the cluster-bomb strike data from the Israelis remains our biggest obstacle to clearance," Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the UN Mine Action Coordination Center for South Lebanon (MACC), told IRIN.

The UN estimates that Israel rained down approximately 4 million bomblets - most US-supplied - onto South Lebanon in the last three days of its summer 2006 war against Lebanon, when a cease-fire had already been agreed.

In a December 24 report last year the Israeli military cleared itself of accusations that it had violated international law in its use of cluster bombs against Lebanon. In a statement, the army quoted its chief investigator, Major General Gershon HaCohen, as saying: "It was clear the majority of the cluster munitions were fired at open and uninhabited areas, areas from which Hizbullah forces operated and in which no civilians were present."

Some 1 million bomblets failed to explode on impact, leaving roads, schools, homes and fields littered with lethal explosives that detonate when touched, making them a danger similar to anti-personnel mines.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=88319

[kayecy]

6. No maps provided? - Isn't that a crime?....n/t

[subsuelo]

8. did not go into this issue in depth

"We did not find it appropriate to deal with issues that are part of a political and propaganda war against the state"

Excuses excuses. Wonder who ordered them where to draw the line.

[azurnoir]

10. That was the "punch line" so to speak

the preface-The committee decided not to examine in depth individual complaints about violations of international law committed by Israel in the course of the war, which included claims about the selection of illegitimate targets, the use of cluster bombs, the disproportionate harming of civilians and infrastructure in Lebanon and the use of civilians as "human shields." Instead, the committee made do with general conclusions, in part because, "We did not find it appropriate to deal with issues that are part of a political and propaganda war against the state."


In other words "we can't disprove it so we will simply call it "propaganda" against the state"

sounds like the old Soviet republic almost

[azurnoir]

11. Blah blah blah blah ...

love it for the seriousness of the matter had a Leslie Nielson flash :evilgrin:

[Shaktimaan]

13. the OP title seems inaccurate.

The committee thus recommended that non-military elements be involved in assessing their future use in light of international law.

How did Ha'aretz get "does not conform to int'l law" from this statement? Seems more like "someone non-military should look into whether this is a war crime before we think about using them again."

[kayecy]

14. Do you happen to know..........

There was supposed to be a Pentagon inquiry into whether Israel had illegally used US-supplied cluster bombs in Lebanon. Do you happen to know if this inquiry has been completed?

[Shaktimaan]

15. Me? Nope, I have no idea. np