Human Rights Watch: Georgia admits to dropping cluster bombs

Human Rights Watch says that the Georgian Defense Ministry has admitted to using cluster bombs in the recent conflict in South Ossetia. Cluster bombs are basically one large bomb that fractures in mid-air, releasing dozens, or hundreds of smaller bomblets over a wide area. Cluster bombs are considered an especially horrible weapon because the bomblets do not always explode on contact with the ground, and can remain lethal for months or even years after they're dropped, often killing innocent civilians long after a conflict ends. There has been a worldwide movement to stop their production or use with over 100 nations committing to the ban, though most notably Russia, the United States and Isreal have all refused to sign the ban.

Human Rights Watch accuses Russia of using cluster bombs as well during the conflict, a claim that Russia denies.

The same day the revelation about Georgia's use of cluster bombs came out, a controversy erupted over a story in a well-respected German news magazine that condemns Georgia's actions in the war.

In their Monday edition, Der Spiegel claims to have leaked documents from an Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe report on the war that accuses Georgian President Mikheil Sakaashvili of starting the conflict by ordering the all-out assault on Tskhinvali without provocation. Sakaashvili has claimed that he ordered Georgian forces into action only after a large force of Russian tanks entered South Ossetia. The same report also accuses Sakaashvili of lying to both the United States and Europe over the causes of the war, and formally condemns Georgia for the conflict.

Not so fast, says the OSCE. They say that the OSCE regularly reports to all member nations (inlcuding Russia) and that no such report like the one Der Spiegel cites has been circulated to them. The OSCE also says that the Der Spiegel contains information that the group does not have access to, like intercepted telephone calls.

We’ll see if Der Spiegel has a reply to the OSCE’s charges.