From the humanitarian perspective, the weapons have two main problems: they are difficult to target accurately, and they leave large numbers of unexploded bomblets, or duds.

While all weapons have a failure rate, cluster bombs are more dangerous because they release such large numbers of bomblets. As a result, every cluster bomb leaves some unexploded ordnance.

This high dud rate puts civilians at great risk. Unexploded bomblets become like landmines: they lie in wait, killing civilians who visit the battlefield days or weeks after an attack is over. Some people consider cluster bomblet duds even worse than landmines because of their extreme volatility.

Sadly, children are particularly vulnerable to unexploded bomblets because of their curiosity and failure to understand danger.

...According to Human Rights Watch, the U.S. Army did, in fact, use ground-based cluster munitions in populated areas of Baghdad, as well as other Iraqi cities. Its researchers believe that these weapons caused many more civilian casualties than did air-based cluster bombs. Media reports have confirmed these claims.

....The record shows that the military should not use cluster bombs of any type in populated areas. Moreover, given the weapon's terrible impact on civilians, the Pentagon should reconsider whether the cluster bomb is necessary to its arsenal.