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November 12, 2004
Finally . . .
Fox is finally running something other than the Peterson circus. They quote Islam Online as saying that US forces are using chemical weapons against insurgents in Fallujah. [I can't find the exact reference on the website.]
I agree with the comment of a reader the other day [can't find which post] who said that they are probably using White Phosphorous rounds, which burn the skin and smoke a great deal, and have the added benefit of serving as a marking technique for aerial fires to roll in and finish the job -- combined arms at work: You hit the target with small arms while you call for fire, then watch the bad guys skin burn off, then watch a jet toss something on them just to be sure. Then you do it again.
To the uninitiated, WP would look like chemical weapons.
UPDATE: To the reader who wonders the difference between chemical weapons and white phosphorus, I submit that they are both pretty bad if you are on the receiving end. I imagine that WP is just not considered a chemical weapon by various international treaties. I'll investigate further, but here are some links:
Artillery Terms and Tactics Let's not forget that any kind of artillery fire is pretty hellacious, and this link describes much of it.
Here's a description of a Soviet-made WP munition.
UPDATE 2: Many good insightful comments about this post. If only we had a subject matter expert who could answer our speculation about WP. Also, perhaps I spoke out of turn about the "watching their skin burn off" bit. A little too graphic perhaps. Keep the comments coming.
Posted by Chester at November 12, 2004 5:41 PM
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