willy pete vs. cluster munitions

in that yesterday's headlines responded to the Human Rights Watch call for the immediate cessation of indiscriminate weapons like cluster munitions, i wonder why the press and hrw are prioritizing cluster munitions over other violations of international humanitarian law.

in particular, a friend mentioned the use of chemical weapons about ten days ago and naharnet reported the use of phosphorus bombs (16 july) and implosion bombs, though the claims remained unverified until last Sunday. not sure if testimonial from a doctor necessarily verify the use of phosphorus bombs by iaf but there's some press articles and video footage of two kids with chemical burns. as for implosion bombs, i think i heard two of them at tayyoune square on the night of 13 july.

phosphorus bombs are an incendiary issue. the us never signed a UN protocol that prohibited their use (1980) and the us army continues their use in the iraq war, e.g. the following quote issued in nov 2005 regarding Fallujah:

Yes, it was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. When you have enemy forces that are in covered positions that your high explosive artillery rounds are not having an impact on and you wish to get them out of those positions, one technique is to fire a white phosphorus round into the position because the combined effects of the fire and smoke - and in some case the terror brought about by the explosion on the ground - will drive them out of the holes so that you can kill them with high explosives (i.e. "shake & bake").
— Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Venable, Dept. of Defense spokesman

so hrw isn't interested in waging a battle on chemical warfare that imbricates ongoing us actions

but cluster munitions? these are a timely issue. norway gave a moratorium on them last month and they're up for debate at the UN's Convention on Conventional Weapons. they are produced largely within israel, and are not imported from the us like smart bombs.

so the priority given to cluster munitions is a strategy that not only exposes iaf's imprecision and offers means to tabulate the toll on lebanese civilians, but is also a way to stay clear of us interests. if there's anything humane that comes from this crisis, i hope that it serves as a tipping point to a ban on cluster munitions.