http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=121413
No escape for Taleban from the "daisy cutter"
By Tim Ripley
The Scotsman, 2001/11/07
AMERICA'S enemies in Afghanistan are now being attacked with huge
15,000lb fuel air bombs that kill every creature within a square mile
radius of the impact point.
The first of these weapons, sometimes called "vacuum bombs" or "daisy
cutters", were dropped out of the rear cargo ramps of a USAF C-130
Hercules transport aircraft on Sunday with the aim of terrorising
Taleban troops opposing Northern Alliance forces.
Short of nuclear weapons, fuel air explosives are the most powerful
weapons in the US arsenal and their use indicates that the Pentagon is
trying to break Taleban morale.
Officially called the BLU-82, the bomb was designed during the Vietnam
war to clear helicopter landing zones in thick jungle, but has since
been used as a psychological terror weapon to break enemy resistance
at key points of the battlefield.
Eleven were used to devastating effect during the 1991 Gulf war, with
one attack alone killing an estimated 4,500 Iraqi troops. US Special
Force troops are the only units equipped with the bombs and they
co-ordinate their attacks with leaflet drops and propaganda broadcasts
to induce enemy troops to desert or surrender.
The tactic worked spectacularly well in Kuwait, where thousands of
Iraqis surrendered rather than risk being on the receiving end.
According to one British Army expert: "Within the blast effect radius
of the BLU-82, lethality to personnel is 100 per cent" - which is
military speak for saying anyone caught by the explosion dies.
The weapons are a combination of warheads, which first explode and
spread a fine kerosene vapour into the atmosphere. A secondary
explosion then ignites the fuel vapour, creating a massive pressure
wave. Anyone caught in the conflagration is incinerated and the blast
wave sucks out oxygen behind it, creating a vacuum that ruptures
lungs.
"Personnel near the ignition point are obliterated," added the expert.
"Those on the fringes are likely to suffer internal injuries - burst
ear drums, crushed organs, ruptured lungs, severe concussion and
possibly blindness."
No confirmation has emerged from the Pentagon of where the BLU-82s
have been used, but they are "wide area" rather than precision weapons
so cannot be used near civilian population areas or Northern Alliance
lines.
The ideal targets would be concentrations of Taleban troops protected
by field fortifications, bunkers or armoured vehicles. The fuel vapour
of the weapon instantly penetrates into bunkers, vehicles or buildings
before ignition. Experts say conventional body armour and bunkers
provide no protection.
One US Special Forces soldier described the aftermath of a BLU-82
attack on Iraqi troops: "Many of our soldiers were at loss to explain
what caused the Iraqis to die. After days or even weeks worth of
exposure to the desert , evidence of blood had typically dried or
become obscured by oil and sand particles so the Iraqi corpses showed
absolutely no outward sign of violent death.
"Fuel air bombs merely suffocated their victims and they fell where
they stood. Victims were typically found with massive amounts of blood
flowing from all bodily orifices."
He added: "It is a very violent and painful way to die ."
