111 Nations, But Not US, Adopt Cluster Bomb Treaty

When over in Ireland two weeks ago, as we drove around Dublin and elsewhere I saw many posters and billboards pleading for passage of a treaty that would eliminate the manufacture and use of cluster bombs. This morning I read the AP announcement that 111 nations, but not the United States, have signed a treaty to "outlaw all current designs of cluster munitions and require destruction of stockpiles within eight years." The article points out that

The United States and other leading cluster bomb makers - Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan - boycotted the talks, emphasized they would not sign the treaty and publicly shrugged off its value. All defended the overriding military value of cluster bombs, which carpet a battlefield with dozens to hundreds of explosions.

But treaty backers - who long have sought a ban because cluster bombs leave behind "duds" that later maim or kill civilians - insisted they had made it too politically painful for any country to use the weapons again.

Let's hope so!