The dud rate refers to the percentage of unexploded rounds. In previous conflicts, cluster munitions have had a high dud rate, which meant that thousands of the unexploded bomblets remained behind and killed and maimed civilians. That’s happened recently in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, but the grisly impact can be felt decades later, as seen in parts of Southeast Asia, where people are still killed by explosives from the Vietnam War.

It’s like the depleted uranium story from earlier. Sure, you can request these things and use them, but it’s a bad decision because you’re just going to end up maiming and disabling generations to come.