The great British bomb scandal INVESTIGATION INVESTIGATION They are

Sunday Herald, The, Apr 13, 2008 by Neil Mackay

THEY have been described as "beautifully, magnificently lethal". A single British Apache attack helicopter can launch 684 cluster bombs, known as M73 submunitions, in one furious volley of rocket fire. The bomblets rain down creating a "kill zone" which renders the entire area impassable for any soldier, tank or truck or any passing civilian or family car, for that matter.

Each Apache chopper is tted with four rocket pods, containing 19 rockets, and each rocket holds nine M73 cluster bomblets. In the face of global opinion, the UK wants to see the M73 granted exemption from prohibition at next month's Dublin summit at which 100 nations will try to force through a total ban on cluster bombs.

Another cluster bomb the British government wants to see saved is the M85 used to devastating effect by UK forces in and around the southern Iraqi city of Basra in 2003, and by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The UN's unexploded ordnance clean-up operation after the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006 identified more than 960 strike sites, and cleared 137,000 unexploded cluster bombs, including 1500 M85s. By late 2007, 220 injuries and 40 deaths had been recorded because of cluster bombs that failed to selfdestruct, as they are meant to do, in Lebanon.

In order to keep the weapons in the British arsenal, the UK government is attempting to redene the cluster bomb. The Ministry of Defence says a cluster bomb has to have 10 bomblets per rocket. The M73 has nine bomblets per rocket and falls outside the definition. Opponents say this new definition is extremely convenient. The M85 is defended because, in the MoD's words, it has an effective "self- deactivation device". However, as the experience of Lebanese civilians has shown, this often doesn't work .

The UK is also seeking an exemption for ballistic sensor fuzed munitions (BSFM).

While certainly "smarter" than most "dumb" cluster bombs, BSFM pose serious risks.

BSFM are comprised of two bomblets contained in an artillery shell. The bomblets are released from the shell and, in theory, are supposed to use heat sensors to locate the engines of tanks or personnel carriers.

However, it could just as easily lock on to an ambulance or civilian car.

Many members of the public might think a British army general who earned the nickname "Rambo" in Northern Ireland may be gung-ho about keeping UK forces well supplied with such lethal kit, but David Ramsbotham, now Lord Ramsbotham, is among the most scathing critics of cluster munitions. He points to an underlying failure in the government's argument that cluster bombs are of strategic importance.

If that's the case, he asks, why have UK forces never used the much-lauded M73? Many suspect it is because military commanders know that deploying the weaponry in Iraq or Afghanistan would be tantamount to tearing up the doctrine of winning hearts and minds, and branding British troops with the stain of civilian fatalities on a massive scale.

For Ramsbotham, there is no need for cluster munitions in the post-Cold War era. The weapons first created by the Nazi regime were seen as essential during the Cold War for holding back the Red Army if it tried to advance into western Europe.

Lord Ramsbotham is not alone. As many as 30 military top brass as yet unnamed from the rank of retired field marshal down to colonel are due to sign an open letter to the British government ahead of the Dublin negotiations, imploring ministers to vote for an outright ban on all cluster bombs.

Cluster bombs also seriously hamper postconict reconstruction. It's not an easy task for civilians to rebuild an area when there is unexploded ordnance scattered about.

Ramsbotham says he can't understand why the UK government is pushing for exemptions.

"What we need is more precision weapons, not indiscriminate ones, " he added. Ramsbotham also sees Britain's last use of M85 cluster munitions in Iraq in 2003 as "inappropriate".

"These weapons are inefficient. They cover large areas with lethal bomblets that may not self-destruct and can remain a problem for years. What's worse is that they are attractive to children, " Ramsbotham said. He believes that those in the military and the government who are pushing for the retention of cluster bombs are doing so simply because they don't like the idea of "losing something from the locker".

Ramsbotham also sits on the all-party group of cluster munitions. It is unanimous in its condemnation of the weapons and has expressed its concerns to the defence secretary, foreign secretary and the department of international development.

SIMON Conway is, like Rams botham, an ex-soldier. He retired a captain after tours of duty in Ulster and Germany with the Queens Own Highlanders. After leaving the military, he worked with the Halo Trust de-mining areas of Cambodia and Kosovo, and is now director of Landmine Action and a vociferous campaigner against cluster bombs. Like many campaigners, he was delighted when, in November 2007, Gordon Brown made a commitment to ban the munitions. His joy was short-lived.