Phase 3

Hanley, D. C. (2003). Why did the united states use cluster bombs in iraq? The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, 22(5), 13-13. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.hacc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/218818607?accountid=11302

In this article Hanley discusses the wanton destruction of innocent lives through the use of cluster munitions and even goes so far as to call them weapons of mass destruction. She focuses on the civilian casualties caused by cluster munitions as well as the health risks supposedly caused by the fragments and unexploded rounds of these munitions. Hanley appeals to the emotional side of humans by sharing stories of children being killed or injured by cluster bombs. She also gives statistics on the amount of civilians injured and/or killed by cluster munitions. She seemed to be implying throughout the article that the U.S. had not considered the amount of civilian casualties caused by these cluster munitions and were not working on a solution for lowering these casualties.

Hinton, D. L. (2009). The stance on the cluster munitions ban: U.S. philosophy explained. Joint Force Quarterly : JFQ, (54), 103-109. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.hacc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/203705300?accountid=11302 

In this article Hinton explains the need for cluster munitions in the battlefield by discussing the tactical advantage and the flexibility they give our military commanders.  He states that cluster munitions can be deployed quickly, especially when there is not enough time to mount a strike or rescue force.  He also informs the reader that one of these weapons is capable of hitting multiple targets at once, whereas multiple unitarty muntions (single missiles or bombs) would be needed in the same situation.  Hinton does not try to hide or even minimize the fact that civilians are injured by cluster munitions and even goes into detail the amount of civilian casualties suffered in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Lebanon over the past several years.  He then explains that these casualties would have been greatly increased had unitary munitions been used because unitary munitions destroy everything in their blast radius, whereas cluster munitions are used specifically for enemy personnel, military vehicles including tanks, airstrips, and grounded aircraft.  He concludes stating that the U.S. government is working on a solution to further minimize civilian casualties caused by cluster munitions and that now that they have been introduced as a weapon they cannot be taken out of our inventory because then our enemies would be the only ones using them leaving us with disadvantage.

I chose these two articles because of the totally different angles the writers approached the topic of cluster munitions.  Miss Hanley addressed the humanitarian side of the story, showing her concern for the civilians affected by cluster munitions, whereas Mr. Hinton discussed the military aspect, showing the definite advantage these weapons gave our military as well as the effectiveness of these weapons.  I found especially interesting that Miss Hanley gave specific instances when civilians had been injured or killed by these munitions and that Mr. Hinton provided information concerning the "safety features" that have been installed in the newer designs, preventing them from being a hazard in the future.  One thing that Miss Hanley failed to bring up was the other side of the story.  She did not bring up the fact that these weapons give the user a definite advantage in the battlefield or the amount of lives these weapons have saved.  On the other hand Mr. Hinton took into account the harm cluster munitions can and have caused to civilians.

I have a much better grasp on the topic of cluster munitions.  I now understand that the main danger of these weapons to the civilian population is not so much the ones that explode, rather the duds that lay dorment for months or even years waiting for that one little bump that will cause them to go off.  I also know that there may be a solution the satify both parties.  For example, perhaps there is a way to take these cluster bombs and integrate this technology with missles.  This would allow us to add guidence systems to cluster munitions and reduce their randomness giving us something like the Jericho Missile from Ironman I.  This would alleviate the humanitarians concerns for the civilia populous, allow our military to keep the advantage on the battlefield, and would not hurt the weapons industry.  The question is, is this even possible?  How effective would it be? How expensive would it be? Or is this solution even nessecary? These are some of the questions I hope to answer as I learn more about this topic.