U.S. using phosphorus bombs in Iraq

[Watchman]

I'll have to agree that I find slapping the label of "chemical weapons" on incendiaries rather odd, at least outside assorted official papers which for some pretty valid reasons need to be rather exact in their terminology.

Sort of like in the context of Vietnam I'd find it weird to call the deployement of napalm "chemical warfare" - although Agent Orange certainly qualifies.

Anyway, mincing words and getting tangled up in semantics and definitions on the topic is just beating around the bush and misses the main points.

Those are that particularly in the conditions in question are that white phosphorous is A) nasty enough stuff to raise public ire and B) sufficiently prohibited by assorted treaties and conventions (which the US has failed to ratify, which doesn't exactly help things any if you think about it) for that ire to have a decent legal basis.

That US authorities managed to stall the news this long suggests they're fully aware of both of the above, although one does wonder if whatever tactical advantage deploying WP afforded was necessary enough to justify all the PR trouble it brought. After all, the important thing in this conflict isn't winning battles by any means necessary - the US has enough advantage in firepower and so on that in practice it wins all the fights anyway, save for the succesful hit-and-run raids where the attackers manage to bug out before getting blown to bits.

No, this conflict is all about opinions.

...
...you know, I just started wondering if the whole thing was actually meant as a warning message to the resistance and their sympathizers ? "Oppose us, or harbor those who oppose us, and this is what happens" ? If so, the US must be getting pretty desperate (or frustrated) to stoop to terror tactics that low. Some critics have started wondering the same about the way they treat enemy prisoners - that the message sought after is "mess with us and we'll treat you like an animal."

If so, the machoBS hardliner crowd ought to be happy as their wishes about "getting tough" yadda yadda have actually been fulfilled...