Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers sounded particularly lame during yesterday’s Pentagon briefing, as he tried to deflect criticism about the thousands of unexploded cluster bomblets we’ve recently distributed throughout Iraq. From a State Department transcript of the briefing:

Q: Mr. Secretary, prior to the conflict, human rights groups complained about the use of cluster bombs by the United States. Now that the major combat phase is over, we’re seeing the evidence that this, in fact, is a weapon that can continue to kill after the hostilities are over. There’ve been a small but significant number of people maimed or killed, including some children and some American forces as well. Would you consider limiting the use of cluster bombs in the future, or perhaps even eliminating them from the U.S. arsenal in response to this kind of — type of criticism?

Myers: I think it gets back to — well, first of all, cluster bombs are not like mines, completely different subject. Cluster bombs are set to go off when they strike their target or whatever they do, so they’re not like a mine that lies there until it’s activated.

I have not heard of injuries due to cluster bombs, but we’ll look into it. It’s possible, of course, but we’ll have to look into it.

You do that, General Myers. See what you can turn up. Here are some links to get you started. From Newsday: Clusters of death: Bomblets wreak havoc long after their initial deployment. Or from the Dallas Morning News (as reprinted in the Billings Gazette): Toy-like bombs dropped by U.S. kill, maim kids. Or maybe Myers is a Beatles fan? McCartney wants cluster bomb ban.

This entry was posted by jbc on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2003 at 6:47 am and is filed under the_usa, war. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.