British soldiers get super-weapon to fight war on terror in Afganistan - 2 years after USMC tried it in Iraq

A story broke out yesterday about a brutal new 'war on terror' super-weapon being supplied to British soldiers in Afghanistan. It employs technology based on the "thermobaric" principle which uses heat and pressure to kill people targeted across a wide air by sucking the air out of lungs and rupturing internal organs.

The "enhanced blast" weapon has been used before. The Soviet Union used it in Afganistan, then the Russians quite succesfully used it in Chechnia, where these powerful bombs were dropped both during the siege of Grozny, the Chechen capital, and in the mountains against the rebels hiding in caves and underground bunkers. They were later used by the US in "bunker busters" bombs and more recently against al-Qaida and Taliban underground bases.

Such weapons are brutally effective because they first disperse a gas or chemical agent which is lit at a second stage, allowing the blast to fill the spaces of a building or the crevices of a cave. Combined heat and pressure kill people over a wide area by sucking the air out of lungs and destroying internal organs.

One post-action report from Iraq by US Marines described them as "an awesome piece of ordnance", as it proved highly effective in the battle for Fallujah.

UK defence officials insisted yesterday that the British bombs were different. "They are optimised to create blast [rather than heat]". In a typical double-speak they describe the new weapon as a "Shoulder-launched Light Anti-structure Munition" (SLAM?). According to them, the new weapons would be more effective against buildings and structures used by the Taliban then conventional munitions. They also said the bombs would be also more effective when compared to anti-tank missiles which often miss their targets, insisting that the damage is limited to a confined area.

So, why have they been so coy about it until now? Well, these days every civilian casualty means the loss of more “hearts and minds”, and thermobaric weapons almost invariably lead to civilian deaths. The Soviet Union was heavily criticized for using thermobaric weapons in Afghanistan because they were held to constitute "disproportionate force," and similar criticisms were made when thermobarics were used by the Russian forces in the Chechen conflict.

According to Human Rights Watch, thermobaric weapons

"kill and injure in a particularly brutal manner over a wide area. In urban settings it is very difficult to limit the effect of this weapon to combatants, and the nature of these explosions makes it virtually impossible for civilians to take shelter from their destructive effect."

So, it’s understandable why the Marines have made so little noise about the use of the SMAW-NE (Shoulder Mounted Assault Weapon - New Explosive) in Fallujah. However, keeping quiet about controversial weapons is a lousy strategy, as these days, with the Internet, mobile phones, etc, the truth will out very quickly, the media will find out – as they just did - and we end up handing another bit of propaganda to the bad guys.

Interestingly enough, it seems that the Parliament hasn't been told about this "super toy". Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, always very quick to react on these matters, said "We need much more transparency. The deployment of these weapons should have been announced to MPs." He described the weapons as a "serious step change" for the British army. And of course he is absolutely right in stating that, "...the continuing issue of civilian casualties in Afghanistan has enormous importance in the battle for hearts and minds. If these weapons contribute to the deaths of civilians then a primary purpose of the British deployment is going to be made yet more difficult."

Which raises the real question: what is a primary purpose of our troops being in Afganistan? Are we fighting the war - if yes, then surely the more brutal the impact to deliver quick result with minimum loss of our lives, the better? Or are we there performing policing and peace-keeping role, which presumes the war is over and one can concentrate on 'hearts-and-minds'? If the answer is the latter, then it sucks, because clearly in the eyes and minds of everybody except the US and British Governments, the war is being fought at full blast. Therefore, see the comment re question No.1. Pity about the soldiers, because it is they who are in the middle of this mess.