US admits using white phosphorous as incendiary in Fallujah

[Redleg]

What I disagree with, Seamus, is the argument that some were making, which is that any civilians caught in a war zone are fair game, that they 'chose' to be there and so don't have any right to protest when chemical weapons are used indiscrimanately against them. Arguments along the lines of, 'Yeah, but how can we kill the terrorists then?' thus carry no weight. The same arguments would justify dropping atomic bombs. This reasoning leads down a slippery slope to atrocity. Chemical weapons should not be used against civilian populations, period.

Especially by a government that claims to be fighting terror.

Your also using the same type of arguement in calling White Phosphorous a chemical weapon. Again White Phosphorous is not a chemical weapon it is an incedenary smoke round.

I don't believe in fighting next to a civilian population because it is messy and the risk is great to not only the civilians but to soldiers also - but war doesn't always give you that possiblity. Care must be exercised weighing the lose of civilian life against the necessary requirements of the military operation. Unfortunately the United States Government has not explained the case as well as it should have, which give such statements as I have seen in this thread to come about.

So I guess you must be another one who believes that because I shot WP to mark targets for the Airforce - those targets happen to be tanks and men - where the rounds landed within effective range of them - that I should be held on war crime charges.