111 Nations ban cluster bombs - meanwhile, the US,Israel,China,India,Pakistan look on

[financeguy]

111 Nations Ban Cluster Bombs - TIME

America finds itself in an interesting position - on the same side as the murderers of Palestinians, the murderers of Tibetans and the murderers of Chechyans (oops, best not mention the fact that some Muslims have good reason to be aggrieved)

Still, it's important to protect one's position - massacring kids with cluster bombs is, no doubt, of vital importance in the War for Oil, er sorry, I mean the War against Terra (TM).

I suppose that the spokesmen for the US and Russian military cannot be accused of double talk or hypocrisy - they both come across as almost embarassingly forthright and honest in their robust refusal to listen to those queer, peacenik, hippieish, West European libruls:-

Asked whether U.S. forces would ever ban or restrict cluster-bomb technology, Pike said, "It's not gonna happen. Our military is in the business of winning wars and using the most effective weapons to do so."

Ivan Oelrich, vice president for strategic security programs at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, said he expected U.S. forces to keep using shells, rockets and bombs that break apart into smaller explosive objects because they have 10 times or more killing power than traditional munitions, particularly against troops in exposed terrain or in foxholes.

Government and military spokesmen in other cluster bomb-defending nations were similarly dismissive of the treaty.

"Russia will not ban cluster bombs and land mines," Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Buzhinsky said earlier this week in Moscow. "We stand for evolutionary development of these weapons. Russia's Defense Ministry objects to radical and prohibitive measures of this kind."

 

[DrTeeth]

An excellent initiative and I'm very glad that my government decided to fully support it.

Also, completely unsurprising that the usual suspects are not on board.

 

[JCOSTER]

I just signed a petition for the banning of cluster bombs.