The Sunday Read International For 8/1/10: Cluster F---

Photo from AFP

"The best humanitarian law in the last decades" is just too good, peaceful, and rational for our war mongering United States leaders to sign it:

A global treaty banning cluster munitions has gone into force.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which became binding international law on Sunday, prohibits the use, production and stockpiling of the weapon, which is blamed for killing and maiming tens of thousands of civilians.

Thomas Nash, from the Cluster Munition Coalition, a network of 200 civil society organisations, hailed the ban.

"This is the most significant piece of international humanitarian law to enter into force since the land mine ban 10 years ago. From this moment on, countries have a legal obligation to assist the victims," the Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

The treaty requires signatories to destroy stockpiled cluster munitions within eight years, clear contaminated areas within 10 years and help affected communities and survivors.

And our excuse for not signing the treaty.....we'll do it in a few years time:

Countries that have signed the treaty into law include the UK, France, Germany and Japan, all of which have significant stocks of the weapon.

But the Cluster Munition Coalition said it needs to persuade more states to sign.

The United States, the world's largest producer with the biggest stockpile of 800 million submunitions, has refused to sign the treaty so far, although it says it will ban the weapon from 2018.

Though to be fair, we aren't the only prominent name to not sign on:

China, Russia and Israel have also stayed away and do not disclose their stocks.

I bet though that if we had signed on, for sure Israel would have went right along.