Why hasn't the United States ratified the ban on cluster bombs?

[Igel]

4. Because they have better uses and worse uses.

Like landmines.

They good anti-infantry weapons. You have a large number of soldiers coming towards your lines on foot, cluster munitions are the way to go. They're a pain to clean up, and you shouldn't use them in urban or populated areas. But in a field or away from people, yeah.

The downside is that the few kids that get out to play with them while their parents aren't watching them or don't know what the little bomblets are get killed. The upside is that hundreds of other kids still have their daddies.

One confound is that "cluster bomb" is often used by reporters like "assault rifle" is. It's a scary term with a precise meaning, but all they get is a "sort-of/kind-of" meaning for a scary term that they want to use because it's scary. We all fear "assault rifles." "Semi-automatic" doesn't carry the same "I'm afraid" cachet, so everything that's semi-automatic is an "assault rifle." Just like all dogs are pit bulls and all cats are lions.