Strong support from governments for treaty

The motion at the First Committee of the General Assembly of the UN on moving towards an Arms Trade Treaty was co-sponsored by an impressive 116 governments; when it came to a vote on 27 Oct. 2006, 139 countries voted yes, 24 countries abstained and just one voted against, the country that hosts the Headquarters of the United Nations.  It was the United States of America that voted against, with Richard Grenell, spokesman for their mission to the UN, saying that "we had to vote against it to maintain our higher standards."  That's good then, here was I thinking that they voted against because they wanted to interfere with any progress on the Arms Trade Treaty, in case it slowed their arms exports.