Unexploded Cluster Bombs Litter Iraq

KAMAL AHMED / Washington Post 5jun03

Leaked map shows danger to millions

A section of the map showing the locations of unexploded munitions around Basra in southeast Iraq

The shocking extent of unexploded cluster bombs dropped by US and British planes, which litter Iraq two months after the war, was revealed in detail for the first time this week.

The first map based on military intelligence to show the location of unexploded anti-personnel mines, cluster bombs and anti-tank mines reveals a vast area of the country in danger from live munitions. Experts in clearing conflict zones say that millions of Iraqis are at risk, as well as humanitarian workers, UN personnel, civilian staff and military officials.

The revelation raises fresh questions for President George Bush and the British prime minister, Tony Blair, who insisted that post-conflict Iraq would be a safer place than it was under Saddam Hussein.

The map reignites the controversy over the use of cluster bombs by the coalition forces. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of the bombs, which each produce hundreds of "bomblets", failed to detonate. Anti-land mine campaigners insist that US and British troops should clear the "lethal legacy" as an urgent priority.

"This shows an appalling level of contamination," said Richard Lloyd, director of Landmine Action, who is in Iraq this week to assess the danger. "It also confirms that American and British forces attacked built-up areas in cities with cluster bombs."

The map, dated May 13, was produced by the Humanitarian Operations Centre based in Kuwait, staffed by military personnel from the US, Britain and Kuwait. It was given to selected non-governmental organisations providing humanitarian aid to Iraq and depicts a mass of green circles, diamonds and rectangles, each showing an "explosive location".

Land mine experts say that up to 10,000 separate cluster bombs and bomblets could be lying in cities, farmland and on main roads.

"We will see the desperate effects of this conflict, just as we have seen in Kosovo and Afghanistan, for years

to come," said Sarah Green of Amnesty International. Each circle, rectangle or diamond is an example of an unexploded anti-personnel mine, anti-tank mine, a mixture of both or what is described on the map as a "SubMunition"; otherwise known as a cluster bomb. Some rectangles are "unknown" unexploded munitions.

The greatest concentration is seen in the centre of the map, around Baghdad and on the main road routes between the capital and the British-controlled regions of Basra and Umm Qasr in the southeast.

Some of the munitions are from the 1991 Gulf war and may have been fired by the Iraqis, but experts believe most are from the recent conflict. Aid agencies say hundreds of civilians have been maimed by unexploded cluster bombs. The victims are often young children.

The British armed forces minister, Adam Ingram, said last week that cluster bombs were used in built-up areas in "specific circumstances where there is a threat to our troops".