white phosphorus

Skip this if you're one of those few weird people who doesn't like politics or political discussion and thinks we should all just be nice.

So last week RAI broadcast a documentary called Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre.
Go ahead - watch it yourself HERE.

The video is about the American use of white phosphorus in its offensive at Fallujah.

At first, the Pentagon denied that it had used white phosphorus.

Now, the Pentagon admits it.

BUT, it says, it was against enemy combatants!

Ah, those pesky enemy combatants. In a place where standing armies are no longer standing, where loosely organized groups of resistance fighters, terrorists and just plain thugs, are all nicely blended in with the civilian population. Yes, I'm sure it was very easy to pick out on who to drop that lovely chemical.

BBC reports

White phosphorus is highly flammable and ignites on contact with oxygen. If the substance hits someone's body, it will burn until deprived of oxygen.

Globalsecurity.org, a defence website, says: "Phosphorus burns on the skin are deep and painful... These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears... it could burn right down to the bone."

Times Online has a story here.

The Independent's story is here.

But I just searched CNN for any mention of this story and found absolutely nothing.

**Edited Nov 16:

Wait, CNN has caught up to the rest of the world with a bit of amazing reporting. They actually managed to get the word "communist" into their report. (well, now, those stupid people don't seem scared enough of the terrorists, we'd better remind them of the red menace too, just to keep them in line).

It also has this gem:
"...[white phosphorus shells] ... are not banned by any international weapons convention to which the United States is a signatory."

Which adroitly avoids the terrible fact that the US has refused to sign protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons. Protocol III prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations or by air attack against military forces that are located within concentrations of civilians. There is a convention, there is a ban on using incendiary weapons in this way. The US didn't sign on and is now doing as it pleases.

CNN story, such as it is, is here.