NEWS: US Used White Phosphorus in Iraq

Well this is a surprise. They had insisted that they hadn't been using it as a weapon at all, and now they're coping to it. Why'd they deny it in the first place? Why'd they even bother using it? Its not a great weapon.

Im sorry but the ney sayers on this forum were wrong

Indeed, this is really stunning. They had said that they didn't and wouldn't, and pretty much most people agreed that it'd be wrong. It's not a toxic gas like vx or mustard gas, and burning weapons are permitted, but this is pretty terrible stuff, might as well be using vx or mustard gas on insurgent positions then. Napalm'll just wipe everything out, this stuff burns on contact with 'wet stuff', such as, well, human bodies, and can't get put out, and sears right through the body. Horrible stuff.

Here is it being used:


Most of us were looking at this and seeing it as the dropping of a flare or smokescreen, apparently they're targeting insurgent positions with it.




You know, this is a pretty big issue, its absurd that people are already tossing around the terms 'bu#es and cults' and all the rest of the politics. Lets leave that by the way side, this is a much bigger issue than politics.

[edit on 16-11-2005 by Nygdan]

[edit on 16-11-2005 by Nygdan]

When this Italian film was posted about here, there were many who came to call it lies against those of us who believed it (cuz this has been talked about before)...where are they now?! The US admits using it as a WEAPON...this is horrifying, and anyone who supports it has serious issues IMHO. It melts a person! I'd rather die from a bomb which is faster than being melted. Just BREATHING this stuff can kill you. Personally, this makes me sad, angry and sickened. It's time this administration is held accountable for the things they are doing in OUR name.....

This info just made it to NPR. The point they made was that this gas is used to flush out the enemy then they fill em full of holes. So it's not the gas that kills you. So it's not a WMD. It's just to get them in position for the turkey shoot.

Step #1: Marine sees insurgent.

Step #2: Marine thows phosphorus marker at insurgents position.

Step #3: 50 caliber Browing Machine Gun opens fire on position.

Step #3 alternate: 500 lbs of TNT are dropped on the marker's position reducing the whole building to gravel.

No can someone please explain why the phosphorus is a bigger threat? Why are we so worried about insurgents getting 3rd degree burns when the bullets and bombs are flying? The US did not sign-on to the treaty banning use of these materials, so there's nothing illegal about it as far as they are concerned.

In other news insurgents kill innoncent civilians every day with car bombs, but that's okay because the deaths are quick and the suffering is minimal.

here's an idea: these people attacking us start using their brains and stop and let us do whatever we need to do. barring genuine accidents there would not need to be a single loss of human life. if they are going to continue insurging against i say we repeal the weapons we ban in the warzone and start unloading on these coalition murderers. let them see the effects of some mustard gas or cyanide and things will turn around quickly.

Heres an idea: Grow up and grow a *sigh* heart.

Mod Edit: Please refrain from using profanity

[edit on 11/16/05 by FredT]

I have to agree with dbates here. They're going to get shot and killed, bombed and killed, or hit with WP an killed. Why is any one worse than the other one? They end up dead any way. A bullet to the gut it a horrible way to die, so is shrapnel from a 500 pound bomb, so is WP. War is terrible no matter how you look at it, or what weapons you use in it.

I can't say i'm very suprised about this to be honest if they can't see it's immoral to use depleted uranium i'd say they would happily use anything they have.

Phosphorous is a very nasty thing in my opinion a lot worse than napalm.

[edit on 16-11-2005 by Teknikal]

Phosphorous is a chemical and it's being used as a weapon.
Such hypocrisy, how shameful.

I think people are missing the point. If WP is not illegal and it's "just another weapon"...then why did the US Government deny using it in the first place? Something to hide? I would have to say yes.

edit: spelling

[edit on 16-11-2005 by MacMerdin]

The US is not a signatory of any treaty banning WP, but many other countries are. Maybe they didn't want to offend our allies that are in Iraq with us.

But they didn't want to "offend" them when using WP? Come on....

Yes, weapons CAN be worse than something else. WP MELTS PEOPLE...you don't mind? This doesn't bother you? The pain and suffering is TORTURE! Plain and simple. If you don't die, you are left disfigured and can be sick for the rest of your life. Just breathing it is bad...it kills. It is NOT a gas. Where did that idea come from?! As a HUMAN, all people should be ashamed and angered by this.

Just suggesting a possibility. Our allies weren't fighting in Fallujah with us, so any reported use of it that was denied by the gov't was just a rumor, and our allies could look the other way about it.

Well, I HOPE NOONE looks the other way about it. This is typical of the war mongoring administration we have. This sickens me and if it doesn't anyone else, then I'd say go get your head checked.

I can't believe that all this hoopla is being made over Willie Peter. It has been used, as someone said, since WWI, at least. It was used in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. It is used in flares, as smoke to screen troops, and as marker rounds for airstrikes.

The military never denied that it was used in Iraq. They did deny that it was used against combatants to smolke them out into the open where they could be killed. That has been corrected.

The substance is not illegal to use in combat and those who are making an issue of this fall into two camps. Those who want to find fault with the US on any account and those who are just plain ignorant.

[edit on 2005/11/16 by GradyPhilpott]

I have found one article of a suposed eyewitness.

“I saw cluster bombs everywhere, and so many bodies that were burned, dead with no bullets in them. So they definitely used fire weapons, especially in Julan district. I watched American snipers shoot civilians so many times. I saw an American sniper in a minaret of a mosque shooting everyone that moved.”

“I entered Fallujah near the Julan Quarter, which is near the General Hospital,” he said during an interview in Baghdad, “There were American snipers on top of the hospital shooting everyone.”

“Americans did not have interpreters with them, so they entered houses and killed people because they didn’t speak English! They entered the house where I was with 26 people, and shot people because they didn’t obey their orders, even just because the people couldn’t understand a word of English. Ninety-five percent of the people killed in the houses that I saw were killed because they couldn’t speak English.”

Full story:
An Eyewitness Account of Fallujah

[edit on 16-11-2005 by G_o_l_d_y]

So there it is, the people who argued AGAINST it being used, are now arguing that isnt 'technically under the book of munitions ' a WMD.
Big freaking deal?.. The US Used a method which was well known to be just as horrific as napalm, just because it ISNT napalm they thought it orite to use it.

The big thing here I feel is not having the respected amount of focus is that the US has just been caught flat out LYING to the world.
Not mistaken, not for having error of judgement but for FLATOUT LYING about what is happening in this country.

Anyone care to tell me how rightous and honest bush & co are now?

I mean seriously, since day 1 that Bush Jnr came to the forefront of politics there has been nothing but suspicions, irregularities, stuff ups, cover ups, mistakes, misjudgment, fraud accustations, suspicous stepdowns and complete stupidity..

Isnt it about time people started admitting there's more to the current US government than meets the eye?

How can there be so much indescrepencies surround a party with no major powreplayers stepping up demanding to know what exactly is going on?

I cant belive i live in a world where the strongest country in the world cant judge for itself that its curroption can be cured and confronted if people realised it.

Bush says he liberated Iraq from a horrible leader..
How about the people of the world liberate Iraq from a horrible leader, again? only this time they get for themselves INTERNATIOANL co-operation. Not a coalition of the bribed or blackmailed?

When will you people wake up?

How can you support a Government which lies to you? How can you even claim to support a Republic/Democracy if they lie to you?

Just last week they claimed one thing, now they claim another. Why? Because they were found out...what else have they done and lied to you about? How can you trust an administration which has been found time and time again to lie to the public?

This isn't democracy...it is lies, a Government based on lies and the Founding Father's of the United State's would be disgusted with anyone who supports the Government how it is now.

Originally posted by Smokersroom
So what if it is not a WMD? So what if its not officially designated as a chemical weapon? Its still a pretty horrific way of attacking people.

So is a rusty knife applied along the Adam's apple, while videotaping.
Did you complain about that?