Diehl denies cluster bombs claim
Controversy surrounds the use of cluster bombs because of their major risk to civilian life, and several German government ministers are pressing to outlaw their use. But a Diehl spokesman has told the Business Journal that it would only be able to export the munitions to Poland, even via the Slovakia-based Konstrukta, the apparent third party, if it had an export license provided by German export institutions and their Polish import counterparts.
"Bloomberg's suggestion that we are 'ignoring' government calls for the ban of cluster bombs is false," says Charles Weston, a public relations representative for Diehl, speaking from Diehl's Bodensee office. "We wouldn't waste time and money negotiating an export deal with a foreign client if we knew that we would not get an export license to complete the transaction," continues Bernd Joeris, speaking from the Diehl headquarters in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz.
Diehl's munitions exports are closely monitored by the German government, and from start to finish, negotiations are conducted in parallel with export officials. "Often companies make a preliminary enquiry with the licensing authority before they go ahead with the tender," says Ian Anthony of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), speaking after the Global Missile Conference in Warsaw last week.
According to a December 5 report by the New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch, over a thousand Iraqi civilians unnecessarily lost their lives to U.S. and British cluster bombs during Operation Iraqi Freedom this year.
The bombs can be dropped from an aircraft, and open up mid fall to release over 100 small bomblets, devastating an area of around 100m x 50m, depending on the specification of munitions. "The risks of using such munitions may out way the benefits," says Ian Anthony, "...because although cluster bombs have great utility in the battlefield, the negative impact on civilian casualties (has a political) cost."
A significant number of bomblets remain as 'unexploded ordinance,' as great a threat to civilians as landmines, according to Human Rights Watch. So far the Polish government have not moved to ban the use, production or import of cluster bombs.
As part of the requirements of NATO membership, Poland must upgrade its armed forces to comply with alliance partners. In a statement in early September, the Ministry of Defence announced an increase in its 2005 budget "...of 3.7 percent "in real terms over that for 2003" according to the European Industrial Relations Observatory. Polish defence spending is now 1.95 percent of GDP. Ministry of Defence spokesmen were unavailable for comment for this article.
"Bloomberg's suggestion that we are 'ignoring' government calls for the ban of cluster bombs is false," says Charles Weston, a public relations representative for Diehl, speaking from Diehl's Bodensee office. "We wouldn't waste time and money negotiating an export deal with a foreign client if we knew that we would not get an export license to complete the transaction," continues Bernd Joeris, speaking from the Diehl headquarters in Röthenbach an der Pegnitz.
Diehl's munitions exports are closely monitored by the German government, and from start to finish, negotiations are conducted in parallel with export officials. "Often companies make a preliminary enquiry with the licensing authority before they go ahead with the tender," says Ian Anthony of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), speaking after the Global Missile Conference in Warsaw last week.
According to a December 5 report by the New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch, over a thousand Iraqi civilians unnecessarily lost their lives to U.S. and British cluster bombs during Operation Iraqi Freedom this year.
The bombs can be dropped from an aircraft, and open up mid fall to release over 100 small bomblets, devastating an area of around 100m x 50m, depending on the specification of munitions. "The risks of using such munitions may out way the benefits," says Ian Anthony, "...because although cluster bombs have great utility in the battlefield, the negative impact on civilian casualties (has a political) cost."
A significant number of bomblets remain as 'unexploded ordinance,' as great a threat to civilians as landmines, according to Human Rights Watch. So far the Polish government have not moved to ban the use, production or import of cluster bombs.
As part of the requirements of NATO membership, Poland must upgrade its armed forces to comply with alliance partners. In a statement in early September, the Ministry of Defence announced an increase in its 2005 budget "...of 3.7 percent "in real terms over that for 2003" according to the European Industrial Relations Observatory. Polish defence spending is now 1.95 percent of GDP. Ministry of Defence spokesmen were unavailable for comment for this article.
