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Posted on 11/06/2001 9:55:00 PM PST by HAL9000

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 ."

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