May 8, 1999

FACTS:

75% of all dumb bombs in Desert Storm landed off target
93% of all bombs dropped in Desert Storm were conventional ("dumb")
Source: US Air Force (after the war was over)

The latest NATO massacres:

* It's easier to get information about China's *protests*
than to get details about the destruction of their embassy
in Belgrade by NATO missles yesterday
http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/080599/world/926160480-90508104830.newsworld.htm
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* NATO drops cluster bombs on marketplace, hospital
http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/080599/world/926097000-90507171008.newsworld.htm
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"I survived World War II, but I haven't seen anything like this,"
Mrs. Smilja Djuric, 73

* An incomplete list of NATO bombs and missles that have killed
civilians (refered to by the military-industrial-media complex as
"blunders.")
http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/080599/world/926160000-90508104023.newsworld.htm
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All about cluster bombs *
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/cbu-87.htm

"The bomblet case is made of scored steel designed to break
into approximately 300 preformed ingrain fragments (heavy
shrapnel) for defeating light armor and personnel. 202 of
these bomblets are loaded in each dispenser enabling a
single payload attack against a variety and wide area
coverage."

202 "bomblets" times 300 fragments = 60,600 shrapnel
fragments per payload. Many bomblets sit in the
ground unexploded detonating later when disturbed.

During Desert Storm (alone) the US Air Force dropped
10,035 CBU-87s, a vartiey of cluster bomb

Cost per "bomblet" = $13,941
Cost of one payload = $2,816,082
Manufacturer: Aerojet General / Honeywell

* NATO is using clusterbombs at this point because they're close
to exhausting other munitions options. Wars are often about little more
than liquidating inventory so that arms merchants can have a new selling
season. You'll never guess where the US military stashed billions
of dollars worth of equipment and arms intended for but never used
in the Pacific Theater right after World War II: South Korea and
South Vietnam. Foresight? Coincidence? "Luck"?

A review:

April 13, 1999

- On the accuracy of bombing

"After the war was over, the Air Force announced that laser- and
radar- guided bombs made up just 7% of all U.S. explosives dropped
on Kuwait and Iraq. The other 93% were conventional "dumb"
bombs, dropped primarily by high flying B-52s from the Vietnam
era.

Ten percent of those "smart" bombs missed their targets, the Air Force
said, while ***75% of the dumb bombs were off target***. In all,
about 62,000 tons - or 70% - missed their targets."

Source: John McArthur, "Second Front: Censorship and
Proganda in the Gulf War" p. 161
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0520083989/emediaA

All told, one hundred and twenty MILLION pounds of high explosives
"missed" their intended targets during Desert Storm. These
are the Air Force's own figures. How can they be surprised
by civilian casualties?

Recall that not long ago, these "blunders" were written
off as "Serb propaganda."