Soldiers exposed by cluster bomb treaty
Tim Shipman; 19/5/08
Soldiers fighting alongside American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq would face criminal prosecution if allied governments go ahead with plans to sign a treaty limiting the use of cluster bombs, US diplomats have warned. US officials are concerned Britain may trade the rights of British soldiers to placate critics of cluster bombs. Representatives from 122 nations, including Britain and Australia, will meet in Dublin today to set the terms of a deal that would outlaw the use of most cluster munitions. Pressure groups have battled for a decade to ban the bombs, because the small bomblets dropped on airfields and enemy tanks do not always explode during wartime and have been blamed for killing civilians later.