A proposed global ban on cluster bombs could jeopardize U.S. participation in joint peacekeeping and disaster relief operations around the world, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.
Representatives of over 100 nations are meeting in the Irish capital Dublin to hammer out an agreement against use of cluster munitions, although the United States, China and Russia are not participating. Critics say such munitions are unreliable and indiscriminate.
But Stephen Mull, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said the weapons have a "certain military utility."
