[b4its2late]

If it looks like you shouldn't touch it..... don't touch it.

[gaspar]

Where is the United Nations Mine Action Service(UNMAS)? It was supposed to have a hundred explosive ordnance disposal experts on the ground and operating in Iraq by May.

[gaspar]

Maybe I am blind, but in re-checking the text that accompanies the map I see no mention of "cluster bombs". This is a Guardian production, and that paper is so left wing it will take the most honest appraisal and give it its most dishonest evaluation.

The problems in Kirkuk and the north were quite severe in the first two weeks following the war. Perhaps as many as 30 people were killed in various events, including explosions that occurred in abandoned arms depots. There was no mention of cluster bomb casualties, however, nor to my knowledge has there been one (although it would seem likely there must have been). An intensive campaign to educate the public has led to a lessening of the problem. Meanwhile, US EOD units are at work in a country just loaded with unexploded arms.

[Imal]

What a snow job!

There is no way to determine who dropped what where based on this apparently doctored, third-rate map, the legend of which has been deliberately obscured and amateurishly overwritten so that out of six symbols listed, only one, "unexploded ordnance", a notation obviously added to the PDF file by some "editor", is actually identified.

Additionally, this "evidence" is tainted by the running commentary on the right side of the image which "interprets" the map for us, filling in where some actual detail from the original would have served much better.

Couple all this with a headline beginning with the word "Revealed:", and it becomes emminently clear that The Observer is nothing more than the British wing of the Weekly World News.

Bat Boy says, "Why report real news when you can just make it up?"

[Luke Skyfreeper]

The shocking extent of unexploded cluster bombs dropped by American and British planes, which litter Iraq eight weeks after the conflict, is revealed in detail for the first time today.

Aw... stick a sock in it.

[thegreatbeast]

"Experts in clearing conflict zones of unexploded bombs say that millions of Iraqi adults and children are at risk..."
Wasn't it our intention to kill all the Iraqis in the first place? C'mon, Chickenlittle, is the sky really falling? We have nuclear weapons but what we use to take out millions are unexploded cluster bombs?

"The map, dated 13 May, was produced by the Humanitarian Operations Centre based in Kuwait, which is staffed by military personnel from the US, Britain and Kuwait and is based on the latest intelligence assessment of the danger of unexploded bombs." Oh, it's the old computer model gag! Done from Kuwait no less. Gimme a break!

A$$hole commie muslim limey journalists!

[DeepDish]

This article rates a level orange barf alert. Arguing
with people whose ink lacks the crucial ingredient of
honesty is like wrestling a pig; you're both going to
get dirty and the pig loves it.

[LadyDoc]

maybe I'm dense about this, but how did they get an accurate map of where the cluster bombs were? Do they glow in the dark or somthing? Yes, I know that we probably know where they were dropped, but presumably they were dropped on soldiers, and I would assume some of them actually detonated....

And then maybe I'm cynical, but what is this "millions of IRaqis" are in danger" stuff? Millions? from 10 000 bombs?

[piasa]

you could probably have some fun ripping this one up.

[error99]

"A map, reproduced left,
provided for Non-Governmental
Organisations tasked with bringing
humanitarian aid to the country
shows the vast extent of the
live munitions issue.
The map has been provided by the
Humanitarian Operations Centre..."
---
'nuff said.