10. World in Conflict – Use of air strikes contrary to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Not many people know that cluster bombs are illegal in many countries under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. There’s good reason for this: 20-25% of the cluster bomblets dropped by NATO in Kosovo, and 40% of those dropped by Israel over Lebanon in 2006, failed to go off. The unexploded bomblets can lie in wait for years, and because they are often brightly coloured, are sometimes mistaken for toys by local children.
Shamefully, the United States has never signed up to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. But many of the other NATO countries – including Portugal, Spain, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom – are signatories. The separation of the NATO faction from the USA in World In Conflict, and its use of planes such as the French Mirage 2000 and the Harrier VTOL, indicate that it is intended to represent these countries. In that case, the NATO player who uses the off-map cluster bomb support weapon is engaging in war crimes.