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U.N. calls for cluster bomb ban at global gathering
The United Nations urged the world on Monday to back a global ban on cluster bombs, calling the munitions unreliable and indiscriminate.
| How about a ban on roadside bombs, too? |
Representatives from than 100 nations are gathered in the Irish capital Dublin for two weeks of talks aimed at hammering out an agreement after several years of negotiations.
| And a ban on chopping people's heads off? |
But the Dublin gathering has already been undermined by the absence of United States, China and Russia, which oppose a global ban.
| And maybe a ban on suicide boomers? |
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates that the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs should be prohibited. "Because they are inherently inaccurate and often malfunction, they are particularly indiscriminate and unreliable," Ban told the conference in a video message.
| The same can be said about suicide boomers and roadside bombs, though not about head choppers. |
Cluster munitions open in mid-air and scatter as many as several hundred "bomblets" over wide areas. They often fail to explode, creating virtual mine fields that can kill or injure anyone who comes across them -- often curious children.
Posted by: Fred 2008-05-20 |
