Imagine a new war involving NATO. At the combined air-operations centre, the Americans want to destroy a concentration of enemy forces, or a column of vehicles, with cluster bombs, which rain bom-blets over a wide area. The tactic has often been used in American-led operations, including those in Afghanistan and Iraq.rnThis time, though, several European allies have signed a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs; they have vowed not to "assist" others in using cluster munitions and pledged to make their "best efforts to discourage" their use. What would happen in the heat of battle? Would allied commanders bicker over the legality of the weapons; would Europeans turn a blind eye to their use by America (through a separate American chain of command), accepting the po-
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