Cluster Bombs Convention – Update

What exactly has been achieved in Dublin about Cluster Bombs?

1. Over 100 countries agreed to ban “the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of all existing and future cluster bombs“
2. There is no exception, and no transition period. The ban covers all kinds of “submunitions“
3. Stockpiles must be destroyed within 8 years
4. A new standard has been defined for humanitarian assistance for victims, families and communities
5. A “Treaty” will be signed in Oslo in December 2008 (Nobel Peace Prize, anybody…)
6. It will then take 30 countries to officially adopt the Treaty, for this to actually enter into force
7. Afterwards it will be a matter of monitoring the situation
8. Last but not least, the muribund UN talks on conventional weapons may be brought back to life

Countries such as the USA, Russia and China do not appear likely to join the ban on cluster bombs. Some say “submunitions” are essential to modern war and without them many of their soldiers may get killed.

The best reply to that, I have read it somewhere on the web: “Cluster bombs save soldiers’ lives? So would anthrax…“