In July, as rifle-wielding militias in Iraq slaughtered civilians, the United Nations held a conference on small arms. The conference aimed at creating an international treaty limiting the trade in small arms -- weapons designed for personal use, which cause about a thousand deaths worldwide each day. But after intensive debate, and despite the support of many nations, even the normally sunny Kofi Annan had to admit that the conference had collapsed or, as he put it, had ''ended without agreeing on an outcome.''