Article

2005-11-16 Iraq

Pentagon Confirms White Phosphorus Use in Fallujah

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Posted by Wheting Omuns4432 2005-11-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 More much ado about nothing. "Insurgents" tend to be combatant civilians who look a helluva lot like noncombantant civilians when pacified -- ie killed. Noncombatant civilians were given ample opportunity to exit Fallujah. Next "atrocity"....

Posted by Hupeasing Jatch2629 2005-11-16 00:06|| 2005-11-16 00:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Article: It can cause painful burn injuries to exposed human flesh.

As opposed to your standard 5.56mm hi-velocity round, which can remove big chunks of exposed or unexposed human flesh.

Posted by Elmenter Snineque1852 2005-11-16 00:34|| 2005-11-16 00:34|| Front Page Top

#3 Maybe we should have just levelled the place and avoided the controversy over Willie Pete. No, then we would have been criticized for indiscriminate bombing. Maybe we should have blocked off the place, no water, no food and starved them out. Hmm...that does not bear up to criticism either. Maybe we should have given them all doughnuts and coffee. No, too many trans fatty acids. I dunno. It's a quagmireâ¢.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2005-11-16 01:01|| 2005-11-16 01:01|| Front Page Top

#4 WTF -- they're gotta die anyway. Better them than us.

Posted by Captain America 2005-11-16 01:06|| 2005-11-16 01:06|| Front Page Top

#5
Phospherous is used by all armys from marking low and high points of a target (bracketing) just before firing on the enemy's position to being used in many high explosives.

Goof balls are trying to say that stuff is all of a sudden banned chemical weapons.

Not so. Morons these libs are...

Posted by RG 2005-11-16 02:50|| 2005-11-16 02:50|| Front Page Top

#6 At first it seemed that the esteemed Italian 'intellectuals' had confused phosophorus with phosgene. Although phosgene was banned by the Hague Convention of 1907, use of white phosphorus is not specifically banned by any treaty. Then it came clear that the ~~anti-war~~ anti-US commies are just picking at us for not signing the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons (Protocol III) which prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations.

Posted by GK 2005-11-16 05:34|| 2005-11-16 05:34|| Front Page Top

#7 Next bogus claim: US uses lead, a known toxic agent, in Iraq. If it's toxic, it must be a chemical weapon, right commies?

Posted by Dave 2005-11-16 05:48|| 2005-11-16 05:48|| Front Page Top

#8 ...Well, a great deal of this comes from the fact that
1)it's almost impossible to find a reporter who has ANY significant military experience, so their chances of actually knowing what's being referred to here are slim and none.
2)it's almost impossible to find a reporter who is willing to do the heavy lifting to research if something like this is actually true. (And when you consider that 'heavy lifting' means Googling, for God's sake, you see how bad this is.)
3)it's almost impossible to find a reporter who doesn't loathe the military enough to just simply pass something like this on.

Legend has had it for nearly 40 years that the press lost us the war in Vietnam. One can argue that point, but if we lose here, there will be NO question the Media led the way.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-11-16 07:25|| 2005-11-16 07:25|| Front Page Top

#9 The tought of willie-peter on a terrorist instead of a 5.56mm is kinda good. I suspect the terrorist pucker factor goes up sharply at the thought of the wp in a closed room providing a psychological advantage.

Posted by anymouse">anymouse 2005-11-16 07:40|| 2005-11-16 07:40|| Front Page Top

#10 From Vietnam: "Willie Peter--makes 'em a believah!"

Posted by mac 2005-11-16 07:46|| 2005-11-16 07:46|| Front Page Top

#11 Because of this, WP has long had a secondary role as an incendiary, either directly or more usually as a "first fire" material. Contrary to another popular myth, it does not burn particularly fiercely, especially in comparison to other incendiaries like thermite. As an incendiary, it is most effective against highly flammable targets like very dry vegetation or petrol, oils and lubricants. However a WP fire does have the special difficulty that if extinguished with water, even to the point of being quite cold, it may reignite later when it dries out and exposes the WP to the air again.

The use of incendiary bombs against civilian targets or concentrations of civilians with no military function is forbidden by Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Although the US ratified Protocols I and II of the Convention, it does not appear to have adopted Protocol III into US law.

Even looking at Protocol III, though, one gathers the use of WP in Fallujah would be permissible.

I. 1. (b) Incendiary weapons do not include:

(i) Munitions which may have incidental incendiary effects, such as illuminants, tracers, smoke or signalling systems;

II.
1. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects the object of attack by incendiary weapons.
2. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons.
3. It is further prohibited to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by means of incendiary weapons other than air-delivered incendiary weapons, except when such military objective is clearly separated from the concentration of civilians and all feasible precautions are taken with a view to limiting the incendiary effects to the military objective and to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.

Posted by Groluque Omeart4634 2005-11-16 08:37|| 2005-11-16 08:37|| Front Page Top

#12

The liberals would like our combat soldiers to use stern looks and harsh language. Maybe even a "time-out" or two.

TV-Man

Posted by TV-Man 2005-11-16 08:46|| 2005-11-16 08:46|| Front Page Top

#13 I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Posted by Corporal Hicks 2005-11-16 09:13|| 2005-11-16 09:13|| Front Page Top

#14 Contrary to another popular myth, it does not burn particularly fiercely

Tell that to Hank Erwin.

Posted by Elmalet Juting3430 2005-11-16 09:19|| 2005-11-16 09:19|| Front Page Top

#15 As a Man who was in Fallujah last November, I can say I saw its use, and I approve of its use! Crispy Critters, Eat them up, Yum Good!

Posted by Bamaman 2005-11-16 09:34|| 2005-11-16 09:34|| Front Page Top

#16 WP is great for destroying weapons too. Also good for clearing out a room. Throw a WP grenade in there and watch 'em run! Of course, you have covering fire on all exits to mow 'em down as they flee...

Posted by mmurray821 2005-11-16 09:38|| 2005-11-16 09:38|| Front Page Top

#17 WP is great for clearing bunkers and caves. The dense white smoke penetrates vents and escape routes, and marks their locations on the surface with plumes. Can't be breathed, burns, good marker; what's not to like? A couple of things - it can drift back onto you, and the grenades are heavy, limiting throw range. Long-fused too, if I recall.

Posted by Whiskey Mike 2005-11-16 09:59|| 2005-11-16 09:59|| Front Page Top

#18 #15 As a Man who was in Fallujah last November, I can say I saw its use, and I approve of its use! Crispy Critters, Eat them up, Yum Good!
Posted by Bamaman 2005-11-16 09:34|| Front Page|| ||Comments Top
___________

Hey Bamaman: If you were with the MARINES, and I'm assuming you were, do you know Cpl. Ryan D. Groves? Lost a leg to an RPG around late October 2004 just on the outskirts of Fallujah.

I created this page to help him out:

HELP A WOUNDED MARINE: CPL. RYAN D. GROVES

Posted by The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen 2005-11-16 10:02|| http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com]">[http://www.calderonswirbelwind.blogspot.com] 2005-11-16 10:02|| Front Page Top

#19 Ah yes, to fight the "good" fight, and be PC.
We need to allow our military to fight without getting their hands slapped.
Haw, AP, if we would have blocked food and water, someone would have insisted on tube feeding them.

Posted by Jan 2005-11-16 10:28|| 2005-11-16 10:28|| Front Page Top

#20 Why did I not give a sh*t, besides 'they're the enemy' and desensitization to the MSM's latest memes?

Because this is OLD NEWS. I'd heard about it way earlier this year from 1LT Neil Prakash's blogpost about 8 November 2004:
In preparation for the assault, artillery guns dropped white phosphorus or âWilly Peteâ on the city."

Posted by Edward Yee 2005-11-16 11:16|| http://edwardyee.fanworks.net]">[http://edwardyee.fanworks.net] 2005-11-16 11:16|| Front Page Top

#21 Pentagon Officials Admit Using Chemical Weapon White Phosphorous In Fallujah Battle... This from Arianna Huffnpuff"s blog.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2005-11-16 12:20|| 2005-11-16 12:20|| Front Page Top

#22 So what's the problem???

Posted by Gletch Whomong5036 2005-11-16 12:26|| 2005-11-16 12:26|| Front Page Top

#23 The loonies are in an absolute frenzy over at Huffnpuff's. Calls for trying the soldiers who used this "chemical weapon" as war criminals and equating the use of willy pete with saddam gassing the Kurds. It's really hard to believe the level of insanity over there.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2005-11-16 12:32|| 2005-11-16 12:32|| Front Page Top

#24 The stuff coming out of the collective mouth of the liberal demos sounds a lot like treason.

Posted by Gletch Whomong5036 2005-11-16 12:39|| 2005-11-16 12:39|| Front Page Top

#25 So does this mean white phosphorus has now replaced depleted uranium on the lefty list as DEADLIEST WEAPON OF ALL TIME!!!

Posted by tu3031 2005-11-16 12:50|| 2005-11-16 12:50|| Front Page Top

#26 WP = chemical weapons = WMD to the MSM.
No real story here just the one the MSM is predictably trying to create.

Sorry but I have to keep repeating this. Reporters are the enemy. You attack the enemy. You don't make excuses for them. The MSM wants AQ to win. OBL is a hero to them. They can't be allowed to use "freedom of the press" as a refuge. Just because 1/10 of 1% of them "are on our side" doesn't give them a free ride and free reign to be part of our destruction.

Posted by Sock Puppet OÂ´ Doom 2005-11-16 14:56|| 2005-11-16 14:56|| Front Page Top

#27 NEWSFLASH:

"American Armed Forces Admit to Killing Enemy Combatants and Breaking Things Since the Founding".

Posted by Special Rapporteur 2005-11-16 15:17|| 2005-11-16 15:17|| Front Page Top

#28 this 'lawfare' stuff is getting tiring, sighs. i wish someone in the pentagon would just say grow up to the little commie's.

Posted by Shep UK 2005-11-16 15:26|| 2005-11-16 15:26|| Front Page Top

#29 Gletch,

That's because it is treason. The liberal media are solidly against the US in this war. That includes Time, Newsweek, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, the NYT, the LAT, and the BBC. I wouldn't blame Marines who punched out reporters from any of these outfits. The ink-stained wretches are more dangerous in the long run than Al-Qaida because this war, like Vietnam, will be won or lost in America, not overseas. If we find the guts to stick it out over there it will be in spite of all the MSM could do to persuade us to quit--and because of blogs like the 'Burg managing to get a lot of the truth out to the public.

Posted by mac 2005-11-16 15:32|| 2005-11-16 15:32|| Front Page Top

#30 ...blogs like the 'Burg managing to get a lot of the truth out to the public.

Bless the 'burg founders hearts.

Posted by mmurray821 2005-11-16 17:18|| 2005-11-16 17:18|| Front Page Top

#31 Again,

Burn Em Out, shoot em when they run!

EP

Posted by ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding 2005-11-16 18:26|| 2005-11-16 18:26|| Front Page Top

#32 When will the Pentagon confess to the criminal use of GUNPOWDER in Iraq?

Posted by Whutch Threth6418 2005-11-16 21:59|| 2005-11-16 21:59|| Front Page Top

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