Whisper Down the Lane

I love this post over at Mainstream Baptist

BBC has reported that Italian State TV has broadcast a documentary that accuses the U.S. military of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in Falluja.

Wow that is a lot of one guy telling the next guy about something else. Was a study hall involved? The response from the US military:

"Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Falluja, for illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters," the US statement said.

Or in other words, yes we did and there is nothing wrong with that.

Their eyewitness account leaves something to be desired though

Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Falluja, tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over military radio - and saw the results.

Wow a US soldier. That means US Army. Too bad the storming of Fallujah was a Marine Corp operation. One way or another someone involved in this story didn't do their legwork.

"Burned bodies, burned women, burned children; white phosphorus kills indiscriminately...

This is exactly why it is used sparingly, because it will kill our guys just as indiscriminately.

When it makes contact with skin, then it's absolutely irreversible damage, burning flesh to the bone," he says.

Wow good imagery Jeff. You should be a writer. But do you actually know this? Have you ever treated Willie Pete burns? Are you a doctor? No I didn't think so. WP is not harmless and will put a hurting on somebody, but so will high explosives and sharp metal fragments.

I can't wait until Italian TV starts eating up my documentary. I'll be exposing the fact that the US military is actually shooting people in Iraq. It's Europe so the thought of people actually shooting guns should be pretty mindblowing. I can just imagine the shock from the left now when they realize that fighting a war involves actually killing people.

UPDATE: Wizbang also has two posts on White Phospherous: When the Defendant is the US, the Guilty Bar is Lowered to the Floor and Killing Me Softly. His reasoning is similar to mine. Some commenters are also noting that we did not sign any of the conventions regulating its use.

Remember all the complaints about Depleted Uranium a few years ago? This is the same thing with a different part of the periodic table.