NATO is under attack from so many forces (mainly the EU wanting a common defence policy) that it’s hard to work out what will eventually break up the alliance. But the cluster bomb conference in Dublin that starts today may be the one.
No one likes cluster bombs, and we’d all like to live in a world without them. But there is a difference between smart bombs and “dumb” bombs – a difference observed by the MoD, which wants to keep using its smart munitions like the M73 and M83 which self-destruct if they don’t detonate. The Foreign Office disagrees and we’re having what Lord Malloch Brown calls an “internal discussion” – i.e. a Prime Minister who can’t decide.
The risks raised by a Dublin Treaty are many, including the prospect of British soldiers hauled up in court if they call in US air support which then use the wrong kind of cluster bombs.
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