It would be far too glib and simplistic to say that cluster bombs are heinous implements of war.

They're not ordinary weapons.  Broadcast from the air as if they were seed, they cause unspeakable carnage and terror among civilian populations. 

"Duds" -- or, more aptly, "dud-ettes" -- can lie dormant in much the same fashion as land mines.  Long after a conflict has ended, they kill and maim innocents.

Yesterday, in Dublin, one hundred and eleven nations signed a treaty banning cluster bombs. Principal manufacturers of the munitions -- Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and the United States -- declined to sign.

The State Department trotted out a low-level spokesman, Tom Casey, who blithely dissembled that cluster bombs are"absolutely critical and essential" to our military.  Uh-huh.

Today, the Associated Press quotes one John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org:  "Treaties like this make me want to barf.  It's so irrelevant.  Completely feel-good." 

(Shall we call this despicable bit of drivel "Pike's Pique"?)

Why?  Why would the US refuse to sign?  Because the Pentagon crowd thinks the expedient way to wage and win wars is through extermination?  Because a ban would cut into our immensely profitable weapons-export business?  

Friends, we need to join the rest of the world and curb armaments.  And for that matter -- we need to stop exporting weapons.   I solemnly pledge myself to these tasks.