Humanitarian groups have long opposed cluster bombs. These unique weapons consist essentially of canisters full of small grenades or bombs that are launched or dropped on a target and then spread their payload far and wide.
Sometimes all the little bombs are designed to blow up on impact. Sometimes they are made to lie in the dirt and wait for a passing soul to disturb them before they erupt. And sometimes, no matter how they are designed, they just don't explode. Instead, they lie around for weeks, months, years, until someone stumbles upon them, and then, with no warning, they can burst, killing long after the serious fighting of a battle is done.
The United Nations says it has identified 249 cluster bomb strikes in southern Lebanon and expects to find more than 300 by the time the counting is through. Thousands of the little bomblets are believed to be scattered around these sites, posing a very real and mortal danger to both the UN peacekeeping soldiers and the Lebanese civilians who are now moving back home.
Military forces say cluster bombs are essential, powerful weapons, capable of wiping out a group of men operating a rocket launcher or even disabling a small patrol of vehicles. Others say any weapon that can kill a child by accident many years after the weapon was deployed is simply too crude and too imprecise to be used by civilized nations.
When it comes the worldwide battle against terrorist and militant groups, what do you think: Are cluster bombs a necessary tool or an avoidable evil?
