"How many people do you have to kill ...

posted by The Vidiot @ 7:10 PM Permalink

... before you qualify to be described as mass murderer and a war criminal?" - Harold Pinter

Israel wants hastened shipment of US rockets: NYT
Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:47 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israel has asked the Bush administration to hasten delivery of short-range anti-personnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hizbollah missile sites in Lebanon, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Sourcing its report to two American officials, the newspaper said the request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly.
[...]
The newspaper said the United States maintained a moratorium in the 1980s on selling cluster munitions to Israel, after it learned civilians in Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion. But the moratorium was lifted late in the Reagan administration, and some types of U.S. cluster munitions have been sold to Israel, one senior official said.
[...]
He added that it was likely that Israel will get the rockets, but will be told to "be careful."

"be careful"!? Be freakin careful!? How the hell can you be careful when you use a weapon that can spread explosive bomblets over 2 football fields?

BTW, the use of cluster bombs is a war crime when used in civilian areas.