US plans to respond to international pressure over the use of cluster bombs by phasing out the amount of unexploded bomblets they contain, were today branded as "outrageous" by campaigners. A three-page Pentagon memo pledges that after 2018, more than 99% of the explosives in cluster bombs must detonate on impact. The defence department also agreed to reduce its inventory of devices that do not meet this standard from June next year. But it also defended cluster bombs, claiming they "provide distinct advantages against a range of targets and can result in less collateral damage" than other weapons and adds that total elimination would be "unacceptable". The memo is a response to talks in Dublin held in May, when 111 countries, including the UK, agreed to ban cluster bombs. The US did not attend, and neither did Russia, China,...
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