U.S. and U.K. oppose worldwide call for ban on cluster bombs

Well i am not surprised at the list of non attendees The war machine at its best!! Nice post mischa.

Never have I seen a more warlike nation than the one in which I live today. Yet, thankfully, many do want this to stop. The hold this war machine administration has on all of us was evident in 2000, but few bothered to notice. Comedians poked fun at Palm Beach County ballots, but it is all part of the same thing. It is all part of a great take over of this government by those who seek only to increase their own power while running over the rights of those who seem too polite and afraid to step out and start shouting about these injustices. There is still time to change our path, but it will take stepping out of the media induced slumber so many are experiencing.

anything that helps get rid of weapons is good, although most of the nations will probably replace them anyway. I cant believe that the US is still allowed to call itself a 'civilised' country

How can we hold a debate on which weapons designed for mass killing are OK and which ones aren't. Cluster bombs are to be banned, but normal bombs are fine?

It seems like flawed logic to me, but I can see how this might be seen as a step in the right direction.

This issue is the MAIN reason I will not vote for Hillary Clinton. If she does become the nominee and others find alternative candidates to run in November, I would look long and hard at what they bring to the table.

Hillary Clinton will not support the ban on Cluster Bombs? I just can't understand it? I don't even care. In my heart 'Cluster Bombs' are just wrong! Would we want 'Cluster Bombs' used against us, here in America? Hell no! There's no doubt, 'NO CLUSTER BOMBS ON MY NEIGHBORHOOD' AND NOT IN THEIRS!

CLUSTER BOMBS AND ALL OTHER BOMBS THAT HURT CIVILIANS SHOULD BE BANNED! COLLATERAL DAMAGE IS UNACCEPTABLE! NOT IN MY NAME ‘AMERICAN’ 'CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'! I WANNA BE PROUD OF IT!

CLUSTER BOMBS ARE A 'SHAME'!

To an imperialist government cluster and atomic bombs are like it's manhood, without them how can it continue to threat other nations and add to it's empire?

The US' statement says "We are opposed to any ban on cluster munitions. We do not believe they are indiscriminate weapons."
If they're not indiscriminate, neither is cancer.

If it gets the job done with minimal outside causalties, then its fine, but if it has a lower chance of hitting a target and an even greater chance of hitting civilians then it should be banned.

So many civilian lives lost long after the inital military strike due to unexploded bomblets now acting as landmines.

"Melkert said there are billions of unused cluster munitions stockpiled by some 75 countries"

I dont see the Generals being in any rush to wipe these 'assets' off the books.

dmass5, who determines what number is an acceptable number of minimal outside causalties. Every outside casualty is a human being; a mother, a father, a son, or daughter. Hell, sometimes it's even their pets.

Cluster bombs should be banned! Period!

Why would the US agree to this?

Its always the poor countries suffering. The future will be cruise missiles vs ak-47 insurgency/guerrilla warfare. Oh wait, thats us now.

Once again, the UN proves how useless it is. I mean, what the hell is the point of a ban if the biggest perpetrators don't agree to it?

The U.S. bows out of ANYTHING ethical, say, Kyoto treaty for example

!

First waterboarding, now cluster bombs? What's next napalm? WTF?

What? Americans intentionally reducing their ability to swiftly and without concern or aim eliminate it's foes? Preposterous!

people always have and will kill each other. most of us think cluster bombs are terrible, but don't give a dang, because it's NOT happening to us or next door.

Its so frustrating when the U.S government opt's out of extremely important worldwide initiatives because they don't suit its interests. First Kyoto now cluster bombs, these treaties are basically made null and void because the U.S gov isn't interested in the greater good of the world if it conflicts with its own interest.

Cluster bombs are so bad because they don't just affect combatants on the field but civilians as well, often killing children who mistake the brightly colored bombs for toys.

Such a shame, the rest of the world might as well not bother. How can we expect smaller countries to adhere to this ban when one of the world biggest powers just ignores it?

I think the term is "war"
If we outlaw the cluster bombs, only criminals will have cluster bombs.

Connie, you do have a point, but cluster bombs have been around for such a long time. They have played roles in our military, but if they kill more then they help, then i guess we dont need them.

it's not surprising that the nations that have strong militarys won't show to a treaty hearing against weapons that they've paid millions or billions of dollars to stockpile.

We know America is for peace!.........................right?

I have a strong feeling that the bomblets could easily explode perfectly when they're supposed to, just that somebody is giving orders to fudge the fuses.

It really says something when our country is grouped with the other countries that chose to play hookie. (I want to travel to two of them, so I will refrain from making a negative comment about them) This disgusts me but does not surprise me. *sigh* I guess I am use to being disappointed.....

Why would the American military give up a very powerful weapon. Just so you wackos could sleep bettter at night?

I don't see any comments about how deeply disturbing and sad this image is. Perhaps that is part of the problem, the ability to completely disassociate the human ramifications? What could we possibly be fighting for that justifies this kind of treatment of human beings? It's an absolute disgrace.

The United States is ridiculous. We go into other countries and tell them that they can't have nuclear bombs but then we go and have a stockpile of them which we are supposed to be getting rid of but have plans to update them. We preach that we are so civilized and religous but then go and kill thousands upon thousands of people. Does this make any sense?

hunter cry me a river

Clayjj05, to answer your question, "Why would the American military give up a very powerful weapon. Just so you wackos could sleep bettter at night?"

No, it is not so us wacko's can sleep better at night. The intended purpose of the United States military disarming it's more deadly weapons is to; 1) give the rest of the world an example to follow, and 2) make other nations more comfortable disabling their weapons.

Why, you might ask, would the other nations feel more comfortable disabling their weapons in the instance that we would disable our own? Simple, why do you have such weapons? To blow the shit out of someone when they launch their own weapons at you. If someone does not have those weapons that can be launched at you, then your weapons for retaliation purposes have no use.

This is of coarse over simplifying the issue. There will be other nations, or organizations, or just plain nut jobs who will steal, buy, or make their own weapons of power. Sadly we should at this point in time keep our weapons to retaliate should such forceful means be brought against us or our allies.

Still, the problem is that most of these weapons are not "smart" weapons. They are meant to indiscriminately plaster an area like a shotgun shell and civilians like the person portrayed in the photo get caught in the crossfire. We can build smarter and more effective weapons, the problem is the same problem that we had armoring our soldiers hummers. It costs money. And we can't really spend money to develop accurate and effective weapons when we're spending the majority of it to develop the Iraq oil fields.

I've very disappointed to see that, Purdey, especially since Gordon Brown promised last year "to work internationally for a ban."

Varex-Sythe: you're spot on with the shotgun analogy.

I have to agree with phillyharper. Perhaps cluster bombs are more insidious in that they are designed to blow up and kill people all around... On the other hand, normal bombs, while perhaps not exploding shrapnel all over the place, also blow up and kill people all around. Both seem pretty bad to me. But I guess getting rid of some types of weapons is better than nothing.

This sucks, how can they oppose it. look at the picture.

Thanks for the link Purdey, I can't believe they are supposedly blocking the signing of the treaty, seems almost incomprehensible.

I was watching something a while ago on either the science channel or the military channel (in all fairness it was most likely the military channel, I just can't specifically recall), where a company was attempting to build an artillery shell that could correct itself for changes in the wind on it's path to the target. I think it could hit it's intended target within 5 to 10 yards. That might seem like a big margin for error, but for long distance artillery it is a good step forward.

United States, Israel, China, Russia, India, and Pakistan


Meet the new Axis of Evil!!!

United States, Israel, China, Russia, India, and Pakistan. Not surprised at all!