Iraq's Children of the Bomblet: remembering the deadliest weapon

[G_j]

A year later, remembering the deadliest weapon
Iraq's Children of the Bomblet
by Kareem Fahim
March 23rd, 2004 12:45 PM


http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0412/fahim.php

In the months after the Iraq war, the unexploded bomblets sat idly in parks, sandlots, school yards, and fields, waiting for kids.

Nihad Jewad, like thousands of Baghdad's children, wandered out to play soccer in late April, after the fighting had stopped. His older brother wasn't sure whether Nihad picked up the device or fell on it. By the time he reached the Saudi-run field hospital, his left hand blown off along with the thumb on his right one, most of his life had flowed out of the blasted femoral artery in his leg.

As the doctors attempted to revive him, an American soldier guarding the clinic approached a photographer. "It's terrible about those land mines," he said, just like that. The comment struck the photographer as sarcastic. Or disingenuous, at least, since the boy clearly hadn't stepped on a mine. The clinic couldn't issue death certificates, nor did it supply coffins, so the Jewads would have to go to another hospital. Later that afternoon, Nihad's family buried him at the cemetery in Abu Ghreib.

The bomblets look like fun to kids. Shiny, tossable pieces of metal, they resemble a large D battery or a small hand grenade. Attached to the bottom are long, white ribbons, rather like streamers a child might fasten to the handlebars of a bike. Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates that coalition forces left 2 million of these little bombs all over Iraq, killing or injuring perhaps a thousand civilians. Cluster munitions, the group reports, caused more harm to noncombatants than any other weapon during the war.

...more...

[WEagle]

1. coalition forces left 2 million of these

coalition forces left 2 million of these little bombs all over Iraq, killing or injuring perhaps a thousand civilians. Cluster munitions, the group reports, caused more harm to noncombatants than any other weapon during the war.


I'm just curious, does Kerry ever talk about this kind of thing?

[Stone_Spirits]

2. it's criminal

criminal criminal, how can we Americans sleep at night?

[w4rma]

3. The Republican leadership are composed of psychopaths, imho. (nt)

[mulethree]

4. Not so sure

It sounds like the tons of vaporized depleted uranium from anti-tank shells and A-10 warthog cannons and such, could be a strong contender for that title.

[Desertrose]

5. I agree...this and DU(depleted uranium) are tied for the most inhumane

This breaks my heart...what the hell are we doing there??

And here we sit in the US all worried and panic stricken over code orange. Give me a break! We have no idea what it is like to live under the constant threat of attack and having our children play with something so deadly and cruel.....and the DU we used in Afghanistan& Iraq(?)...it is deadly for the next million or so years. What is anyone thinking...because its not *us* and its way over *there*?

We must be crazy to so foul our world. Do people really really believe we will all rise in the rapture to escape the frikkin mess we made?...or the mother ship will come and rescue us before the world implodes? Seems more likely to me that we will have to hang around and clean up the mess we made.....but how do we make repayment for so many lives and maimed children?? How can we undo so much thats gone wrong? How can the world continue when it is so out of balance.....?

Wish I had some answers.....but the longer we allow this to continue, for whatever the excuse, the harder it gets to set it all right...

Peace
DR

[G_j]

6. If the "rapture"

is going to take people "to heaven" who litter the earth with cluster bombs and depleted unanium then the world would be a safer place. If the "rapture" was meant for war crimials then 'bring it on'!

[Desertrose]

9. wouldn't that be sweet....

the rapture or whoever :evilgrin: takes them and all their little bomblets and depleted uranium and WMD and gwbush and asscroft and the rest of the friggin insanity all up to "heaven" and leaves us here on this sweet earth without them & their kind...oh yeah...that would be justice LOL

we can dream, right??

:hi: G_j

:hug:
dr

[G_j]

12. it could be heaven

this is a beautiful planet.


I just wish the Orc-types would stop poisoning everything, materially and spiritually.

p.s. :hi: :hug:

[G_j]

13. yes, I would like to hear

Kerry address the use of cluster bombs, DU and even napalm in Iraq. I'm not sure if he has, I hope so.

[G_j]

7. kick

[xchrom]

8. sheesh is that the saddest?

i can't believe it -- these stories just break your heart.
the world is what we make it -- and this is what we've made of it.

[G_j]

10. and our tax dollars

paid for this!

[m-jean03]

11. 30 years later,

people are still being injured/killed by these things in SE Asia, correct?

How long do you think they'll be doing damage in S W Asia?

[G_j]

14. another kick