Just wanted to comment on the allegations going 'round 
    about "indiscriminate" use of white phosphorus against 
    civilians. I'm a former armor officer and Vietnam vet who 
    has used WP on quite a number of occasions. So far as I 
    know it is no longer made for tank (or Bradley) guns, but 
    is fired by artillery and at times by mortars. 

    We use WP as a marking round, because it makes a nice 
    column of white smoke that's easy to see. The most common 
    use is with air strikes and helicopters -- you can direct 
    them in relation to the smoke column and thus avoid 
    hitting your own troops or civilians. I suppose you could 
    use it as an incendiary (and it says so in the book) but 
    I've never seen it used that way, because it's not very 
    efficient. 

    So did we use WP in Fallujah? Maybe -- but the effects 
    would have been quite limited because the burst radius is 
    about 150' (that for a 155mm shell), and it only affects 
    people who get some particles of it on them. We also have 
    a non-WP smoke round that we use for screening.

    Now, WP is nasty stuff, no doubt. If you get it on you it 
    will burn you badly and it's very difficult to 
    extinguish. But it's not a "chemical" weapon except in 
    the sense that any non-nuke is a chemical weapon i.e. it 
    works by means of a chemical reaction. Nor is it in any 
    sense banned by any sort of international convention. 
    Some of the drivel coming from these so-called human 
    right organizations is unbelievable -- that people can be 
    burned or "caramalized" (what does that mean?) without 
    their clothes burning. WP will burn anything it comes in 
    contact with.

    Or...that WP creates a killing toxic "cloud." I'm sure 
    breathing the smoke isn't the best thing for you, but 
    Sarin it ain't. Both these statements ought to be your 
    clue that you're dealing with pure BS.

    It always amazes me what people will believe, but 
    apparently there is a segment of the MSM that will 
    believe anything as long as it's anti-American.

    Look for the next breathless reporting about weapons in 
    Iraq to include the startling news that bullets are being 
    used, and they hurt people. White phosphorus has been 
    around at least since World War II--and it was used as an 
    antipersonnel weapon. Like napalm, it was useful against 
    targets protected from conventional explosives. In my 
    Army days, 1959-61, we fired WP ("Willie Peter") shells 
    from 4.2 inch mortars for practice. When the round lands, 
    it produces a cloud of white. (Watch for this in WWII 
    documentaries, especially from the Pacific.) Nasty stuff, 
    we were told, because the dispersed particles stick to 
    cloth and skin and cannot be extinguished with water. 
    Bad, but certainly not new. This is what happens when 
    news staffs have nobody with any military connections. 
    Reminds me of a Wall Street Journal headline from decades 
    ago that referred to a .30 caliber cannon. That would be 
    an accurate descriptor, of course, only in the 
    Lilliputian army.