The U.S. decides not to join in the international ban of cluster bombs:

More than 100 countries reached agreement Wednesday to ban cluster bombs, controversial weapons that human rights groups deplore but that the United States, which did not join the ban, calls an integral, legitimate part of its arsenal.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose personal intervention Wednesday led to final agreement among representatives of 111 countries gathered in Dublin, called the ban a “big step forward to make the world a safer place.”

So what other countries joined us in not signing onto this ban? We got some nice company here:

In addition to the United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan — all of them major producers or users of the weapons — did not sign the agreement or participate in the talks.

Of course when you have a President that is too fucking chicken to actually fight in a war, then you have a President that doesn’t know the costs of war and what weapons like this actually do.