#1 According to figures released by the Disabled People's International (DPI) in 2006, at least 55 million cluster bombs have been dropped in Iraq during its two latest wars.
Yet the article clearly states she was killed by a land mine, not a cluster munition. Saddam planted hundreds of thousands of mines between Basra and the Iranian border. No one has ever tried to clean them up. Yet A$$hole al Iraq HAS to blame America.
As for "55 million cluster bombs", the average cluster bomb contains 36 individual weapons. that would require 1,527,777 bombs be dropped. At a maximum of eight bombs per sortie, that means 190,000 sorties. Only a small portion of all sorties are flown with cluster munitions. Even with half of them being flown with cluster munitions, it would require 400,000 sorties be flown to drop 55 million cluster bombs. That would require 5000 aircraft flying one sortie (8 bombs per sortie), or 500 aircraft flying 10 sorties, or 50 aircraft flying 100 sorties. The average pilot during the Vietnam war flew about 300 sorties during a one-year tour. The number in Iraq and Afghanistan have been significantly smaller, as the target data base was smaller, and the targets usually didn't survive a strike, as they did in Veitnam. Methinks DPI needs to put in some additional calculator time. (Since 80% of all cluster munitions explode, the number of "live" weapons that COULD exist in Iraq, according to DPI, is 11 million. That's STILL way too high a number. If that number were true, you'd hear of people being killed every day, not just once in a while). |