[Imc-chicago-audio] AVAIL FOR INTERVIEW: Frida Berrigan on deadly legacy of cluster bombs

[Erin Polgreen]

MEDIA ALERT|AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW

December 12, 2005 | For Immediate Release

The Worldwide Legacy of Cluster Bombs

Dating from World War II to Israel’s recent 34-day war against  
Lebanon, cluster munitions are responsible for hundreds, if not  
thousands of civilian casualties every year—the majority of whom are  
children.

In “What We Leave Behind,” In These Times’ Contributing Writer Frida  
Berrigan delves into the deadly and controversial legacy of cluster  
munitions and how the United States is blocking the international  
effort to ban them.

By redistributing its cluster bomb stockpiles to allies such as  
Israel, the U.S. has failed to lead in efforts to ban the weapon. In  
Israel’s recent war against Lebanon, “at least two of Israel’s  
cluster bomb and launch systems were U.S. manufactured,” Berrigan  
reports. The U.S. has also been using cluster bombs in Iraq for the  
last 15 years. In the periods between 2003’s “shock and awe” and  
“mission accomplished” campaigns,” Berrigan reports, U.S. forces  
dropped over 14,500 cluster bombs on Iraq.

“With a failure rate of up to 40 percent,” Berrigan writes, “more  
than one of every three cluster bombs may not detonate immediately— 
lying in wait for children, trucks and livestock.” That’s as many as  
5,800 cluster bomb remnants in Iraq from 2003 alone.

What are cluster bombs?
“A cluster munition is essentially a large canister packed with  
bomblets or submunitions,” Berrigan writes. Launched from the air,  
the canister is designed to break and spread submunitions, which look  
like small tins over areas as large as two or three football fields.

Frida Berrigan is a senior research associate with the Arms Trade  
Resource Center, a project of the World Policy Institute.



For the full text of this article, visit: http://www.inthesetimes.com/ 
site/main/article/2934



For more information, or to interview Frida Berrigan, please contact:



Erin Polgreen, Advertising and Marketing Coordinator

erin at inthesetimes.com

773/772.0100 Ext. 225
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