[BeserkWolf]

... for everyone but the people who actually use them! I don't know if anyone else saw this reported but I thought I'd let it sit awhile before bringing it up. Recently a treaty was signed in Dublin, Ireland called the Convention on Cluster Munitions. However those not signing this treaty included the U.S., Israel, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, North and South Korea. So basically the only country who signed the treaty that would actually be able to use cluster bombs was Britain. Hooray for people wasting their time. So what do you guys think?

[ForbiddenKnowledge]

The male in me says what a load of crap, cluster bombs rock.

The normal person in me agrees, and also wonders at the enormous waste of time and effort this was. Whats the point? Why bother with a treaty no one cares about. Just don't use them.

That said, in this day and age of laser/gps/UCAV, I don't see why we need cluster bombs, really. When you can have a Predator drop a laser bomb right on an insurgents head, why do you need to plaster the whole area?

[Sneaky Git Nurgling Lover]

Taking out a defensive postion for good would be a use although I agree in this war it isnt much of use but in upcoming wars when we face a highly organized threat (facing a country, not insurgents) then I could see much uses because there will be more troops to kill.

...and it makes a pretty "BOOM!"...

[GeekyGator]

Banning any type of weapon is stupid, because, if you get into a war bad enough, they will be used no matter what. Further for anybody to go back to using cluster bombs on a wide scale in this day an age would require a pretty major conlict.

[DELPHEUS]

Originally Posted by Rafe

The male in me says what a load of crap, cluster bombs rock.

The normal person in me agrees, and also wonders at the enormous waste of time and effort this was. Whats the point? Why bother with a treaty no one cares about. Just don't use them.

That said, in this day and age of laser/gps/UCAV, I don't see why we need cluster bombs, really. When you can have a Predator drop a laser bomb right on an insurgents head, why do you need to plaster the whole area?

It's called "Shock-And-Awe."

[khanaris]

It is a lot like the political situation with land mines. We don't like them, but we feel they are necessary. Weapons that we do not deem necessary we agree not to use (such as biological weapons in the U.S.). Treaties between countries that do not use them currently are a little silly, but at least it means they are less likely to start.

[Dangerman]

I think this treaty has something to do with the unexploded cluster munitions that lay in the target area during peacetime. Cluster munitions don't always detonate and do leave some unexploded ones behind. The problem is after a war has gone on the fields where these munitions were dropped people use once again. Especially in Lebanon and around Israel people are finding these cluster bombs and touching them consequently detonating them. They look just like a can of food but with a white streamer hanging off of them.

Personally IMO they are super effective at destroying convoys of enemy troops, and tanks with those new cluster bombs that have smart clusters in them that seek out heat signatures from tank engines.

Nevertheless these are like mines in peacetime, they lay around until some poor sod accidentally trips one off. This treaty is eliminating this problem from fields that have had cluster bombs used. Because they don't always record where these bombs were used. I saw this on a documentary shown to me in one of my International Criminal Justice lectures.

[VerjigormDeExile]

I want Cluter popcorn bombs.

[Vallessian]

This is kind of absurd.

War in itself is inhumane, so these attempts to humanize it are quite ridiculous, and are actually dangerous because the more "humane" war becomes, the less difficult it will become to go to war.

Cluster bombs kill lots of enemies quickly. Sounds like a weapon I would want my air support to be packing.