BBC News: US used white phosphorus in Iraq
If you use something as a chemical weapon - even if it is not classed as one - then it is a chemical weapon. White phosphorus was fired into the covered positions of insurgents, to "flush them out". In that case it is being used as a weapon, not as a smokescreen, and it has a chemical effect on human flesh, burning it down to the bone, therefore it's a chemical weapon.
2 comments:
A smoke screen can be used to flush people out. I think its the fact that it has a adverse affect on human skin that makes it a weapon. If non-harmful smoke was used to do the same job it wouldn't be a chemical weapon. What they did was bad in any case.
I suppose technically even bullets could be considered chemical weapons since they reply upon a chemical reaction mixed with sudden heat to provide the impetus to the projectile. Hmm, yes, let's ban bullets!!! Bear with me here, it may sound daft, but Americans can hang onto their constitutionally protected guns they love so much they just aren't allowed bullets anymore. That might make the world a little safer.
Seriously, I love the way the US lied about the use of this which clearly shows they know that it was wrong and that the rest of the world would perceive it to be wrong, so they lied. Presumably they were going to wait until a small child ran screaming, naked and burning down a road in front of the world's press before admitting it... They don't seem to have learned much since Vietnam, except how to try and muzzle the reporting of the events.
Post a Comment