Illegal?

This is coolbert:

"Flechette Shells: An illegal weapon"

Here from an Israeli web site, a discussion of the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] use of flechette rounds.

Used during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. And used most recently during the incursion into Gaza.

Described in the headline as AN ILLEGAL WEAPON!

Whoa! Flechette has been a topic for the blog!

"The flechette shell is an anti-personnel weapon that is generally fired from a tank. The shell explodes in the air and releases thousands of metal darts 3.75 mm in length, which disperse in a conical arch three hundred meters long and about ninety meters wide.

Flechette rounds can be fired from a tank or an artillery piece. The most common caliber [the only caliber in the U.S. arsenal] is the 105 mm round?

"The IDF uses flechette shells that are 105 mm in diameter and are fired from tanks.
The primary military advantage of the flechette over other munitions is its ability to penetrate dense vegetation very rapidly and to strike a relatively large number of enemy soldiers."

Neither in Lebanon or in Gaza DID YOU HAVE AREAS DENSE IN VEGETATION NOR DID YOU HAVE LARGE MASSED NUMBERS OF ENEMY TROOPS IN THE OPENING CHARGING AT YOU.

The headline too is misleading? A more approriate headline would read: "An Illegal Weapon?". With a question mark!

This article concedes that the flechette round of itself is NOT an illegal weapon of war. What is the contention here is the manner with which the Israeli forces use the flechette round. Used in a built up area, lots of civilians present, and FEW enemy fighters. Used indiscriminately - - the proverbial sledgehammer cracking the eggshell!!

To my knowledge, the U.S. military in Vietnam used flechette rounds ONLY in the most desperate of combat circumstances, or in addition, to clear vegetation in an area thought to harbor hidden enemy combatants. Other uses of flechette rounds would have been non-existent?

coolbert.