WMD
So at last the Americans admitted that they have used a form of chemical weapon in the fight to free Iraq. After all the talk about the original reason for going to war, namely that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that could be used against not only its own people but also other foreign powers the double standards employed by the Americans is really startling.The American view point that the use of White Phosphorus is acceptable and does not convene and code as it can be used to illuminate theatre areas during times of darkness or can be used as a screen to cover troop movements but the use to which they put it to as in firing it at insurgents in order to force them out of their holes and then to use high explosives to take out the ensuing emerged insurgents sure contravenes any code of basic human rights.
To give you some background White phosphorus has been used commonly by the military as an incendiary agent or as an ignite for munitions. It commonly is found in hand grenades, mortar and artillery rounds, and smoke bombs.
Munitions-quality white phosphorus commonly is found in solid form. When exposed to air, it spontaneously ignites and is oxidised rapidly to phosphorus pentoxide. Such heat is produced by this reaction that the element bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. Phosphorus also becomes luminous in the dark, and this property is conveyed to "tracer bullets." This chemical reaction continues until either all the material is consumed or the element is deprived of oxygen.
White phosphorus results in painful chemical burn injuries. The resultant burn typically appears as a necrotic area with a yellowish colour and characteristic garlic like odour. White phosphorus is highly lipid soluble and as such, is believed to have rapid dermal penetration once particles are embedded under the skin. Because of its enhanced lipid solubility, many have believed that these injuries result in delayed wound healing. This has not been well studied; therefore, all that can be stated is that white phosphorus burns represent a small sub-segment of chemical burns, all of which typically result in delayed wound healing.
Few studies have investigated the degree of tissue destruction associated with white phosphorus injuries. In the experimental animal model, most tissue destruction appears to be secondary to the heat generated by oxidation.
Systemic toxicity has been described extensively in the animal model. Pathological changes have been documented in the liver and kidney. These changes result in the development of progressive anuria, decreased creatinine clearance, and increased blood phosphorus levels. Oral ingestion of white phosphorus in humans has been demonstrated to result in pathological changes to the liver and kidneys. The accepted lethal dose is 1 mg/kg, although the ingestion of as little as 15 mg has resulted in death. Individuals with a history of oral ingestion have been noted to pass phosphorus-laden stool ("smoking stool syndrome").
So surely to use it in the way that the Americans have done in the The Fight for Fallujah contravenes any agreement on the use of White Phosphorus. An article published in the March edition of Field Artillery Magazine entitled "The Fight for Fallujah" states, "WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out." In other words the claim by the US Government that White Phosphorus was used only for illumination at Fallujah had been pre-emptively debunked by the Army. Indeed, the article goes on to make clear that soldiers would have liked to have saved more WP rounds to use for "lethal missions." But the articles fails to state that . . . there is no way you can use white phosphorus like that without forming a deadly chemical cloud that kills everything within a tenth of a mile in all directions from where it hits. So it seems clear that the effect of such deadly clouds weren't just psychological in nature.
A journalist embedded with the US troops provides further testimony to the use of White Phosphorus.
Fighting from a distance
After pounding parts of the city for days, many Marines say the recent combat escalated into more than they had planned for, but not more than they could handle.
"It's a war," said Cpl. Nicholas Bogert, 22, of Morris, N.Y.
Bogert is a mortar team leader who directed his men to fire round after round of high explosives and white phosphorus charges into the city Friday and Saturday, never knowing what the targets were or what damage the resulting explosions caused.
"We had all this SASO (security and stabilisation operations) training back home," he said. "And then this turns into a real god damned war."
Just as his team started to eat a breakfast of packaged rations Saturday, Bogert got a fire mission over the radio.
"Stand by!" he yelled, sending Lance Cpls. Jonathan Alexander and Jonathan Millikin scrambling to their feet.
Shake 'n' bake
Joking and rousting each other like boys just seconds before, the men were instantly all business. With fellow Marines between them and their targets, a lot was at stake.
Bogert received coordinates of the target, plotted them on a map and called out the settings for the gun they call "Sarah Lee."
Millikin, 21, from Reno, Nev., and Alexander, 23, from Wetumpka, Ala., quickly made the adjustments. They are good at what they do.
"Gun up!" Millikin yelled when they finished a few seconds later, grabbing a white phosphorus round from a nearby ammo can and holding it over the tube.
"Fire!" Bogert yelled, as Millikin dropped it.
The boom kicked dust around the pit as they ran through the drill again and again, sending a mixture of burning white phosphorus and high explosives they call "shake 'n' bake" into a cluster of buildings where insurgents have been spotted all week.
They say they have never seen what they've hit, nor did they talk about it as they dusted off their breakfast and continued their hilarious routine of personal insults and name-calling.
So where do we go from here? Not only were we told numerous lies about the reason for war but now it transpires that the same people who went to war because of a stockpile of chemical weapons has in fact used similar tactics against the people it stated it came to protect and free. Isn't it time everyone came clean and told us what was really going on. We know whats going on but it would makes for a major change for someone to stop treating us as idiots and come out and tell us the real truth, that way we might even find it in our hearts to respect them.
(Sources:- BBC News, news.bbc.co.uk ; Daily Kos, www.dailykos.com ; ATSDR - www.atsdr.cdc.gov )
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