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| 7/8 |
| 2005/11/15-16 [Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:40601 Activity:kinda low 90%like:40610 |
11/15 Pentagon used white phosphorous in Iraq:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051116/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_white_phosphorous
\_ yeah, we know. the u.s. didn't sign any treaties prohibiting WP use
as an anti-personnel weapon against combatants, so it's "legal" ...
even though it fucks up your lungs (in enclosed spaces) and also
acts as napalm-lite (if it gets on you). Your jaw only falls off
with long-term exposure (months/years).
with long-term exposure (months/years). fyi, it's "legal" to use
napalm against military targets too, although the military says it
decommissioned its napalm stores (they had better napalm-like stuff
to use in 2003 Baghdad, no need for Original Napalm(TM)).
\_ The very concept of legal or illegal weapons is just stupid.
If you're willing to kill people, you're willing to kill people.
Civilians get killed by bullets, bombs, fire, cold, disease,
starvation, land minds, etc, etc in war. War kills civilians.
Now if you wanted to declare genocidal race destroying bio
weapons or nukes or whatever 'illegal' sure, that makes sense
in a twisted sort of way but not that it matters if someone
manages to wipe out the entire race anyway. The M16 has killed
more people than WP or napalm. Let's declare the M16 an illegal
weapon. Whatever. This is all bullshit to keep food on the
table of diplomats, lawyers, politicians, and other scum.
\_ Is the previous poster an Asian? |
| 7/8 |
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| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051116/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_white_phosphorous Pentagon officials acknowledged Tuesday that US troops used white p hosphorous as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle o f Fallujah last November. But they denied an Italian television news rep ort that the spontaneously flammable material was used against civilians . Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said that while white phosp horous is most frequently used to mark targets or obscure a position, it was used at times in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon against enemy com batants. The spokesman referred reporters to an article in the March-April 2005 ed ition of the Army's Field Artillery magazine, an official publication, i n which veterans of the Fallujah fight spelled out their use of white ph osphorous and other weapons. The authors used the shorthand "WP" in refe rring to white phosphorous. "WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition," the authors wrote. "We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fi ght, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench l ines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE (hig h explosive)" munitions. "We fired shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out." The authors added, in citing lessons for future urban battles, that fire- support teams should have used another type of smoke bomb for screening missions in Fallujah "and saved our WP for lethal missions." The battle for Fallujah was the most intense and deadly fight of the war, after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003. The city, about 35 miles west of Baghdad on the Euphrates River, was a key insurgent stronghold. The a uthors of the "after action" report said they encountered few civilians in their area of operations. Italian communists held a sit-in Monday in front of the US Embassy in R ome to protest the reported use by American troops of white phosphorous. Italy's state-run RAI24 news television aired a documentary last week a lleging the US used white phosphorous shells in a "massive and indiscr iminate way" against civilians during the Fallujah offensive. The State Department, in response, initially denied that US troops had used white phosphorous against enemy forces. "They were fired into the a ir to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters." The department later said its statement had been incorrect. "There is a great deal of misinformation feeding on itself about US for ces allegedly using outlawed' weapons in Fallujah," the department said . Venable said white phosphorous shells are a standard weapon used by field artillery units and are not banned by any international weapons convent ion to which the US is a signatory. White phosphorous is a colorless-to-yellow translucent wax-like substance with a pungent, garlic-like smell. The form used by the military ignite s once it is exposed to oxygen, producing such heat that it bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. It can cause painful bu rn injuries to exposed human flesh. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |