Please Don't Eat The Cluster Bombs

"Cluster bombs" are a hideous military weapon for use against people, an "antipersonnel device" developed and used by the U.S. during the Vietnam war to maim, terrorize and demoralize both soldiers and civilians. Today the U.S. began broadcasting radio warnings to Afghanistan civilians to not confuse yellow unexploded cluster bombs with yellow food packets, both being dropped from the air by the U.S. The warning claims that it is "unlikely" but "possible" that some of the cluster bombs will fail to explode and thus threaten anyone who comes across them. However, retired major general Bill Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations said today on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" that under the best conditions ten percent of cluster bombs will fail to explode on impact, posing a continuing danger to terrified civilians.

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