FW: Today's Papers -- cluster bombs

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

[it's finally in the mainstream US press]

today's papers 
Soft Money Shuffle 
By Brian Montopoli 
Posted  Thursday, Dec. 11, 2003, at 1:25 AM PT

USA Today goes above-the-fold with a story, four months in the
making, which heavily criticizes the U.S. military for going to
war "with stockpiles of weapons known to endanger civilians and
its own soldiers." The weapons in question are cluster bombs, and
the piece details how unexploded "bomblets"--large quantities of
small explosives that are packed into bombs, rockets or artillery
shells--often end up scattered on city streets, where they can
be, and often are, inadvertently detonated. The U.S. military
used more than 10,000 cluster bombs during the war, killing
hundreds of Iraqi civilians. Unexploded bomblets have also killed
or injured at least eight U.S. troops.