Willy Pete: Rumsfeld's Buddy?

The US military now freely admits to using white phosphorus AKA 'Willy Pete' on Iraq.

From The Guardian:

[snip]...US forces yesterday made their clearest admission yet that white phosphorus was used as a weapon against insurgents in Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman told the BBC last night that it had been used as "an incendiary weapon" during the assault last year on Falluja in 2004.
Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable said the substance, which can be used to lay smokescreens but burns down to the bone in contact with skin, was not covered by international conventions on chemical weapons.

But Paul Rodgers of the University of Bradford's Department of Peace Studies said the substance would probably fall into the category of chemical weapons if used directly against people...[snip]

Simply lovely. Why do they hate us?

Continuing further down:

[snip]..."White phosphorus is a conventional munition. It is not a chemical weapon. They are not outlawed or illegal," he told the BBC. "We use them primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target marking in some cases. However, it is an incendiary weapon, and may be used against enemy combatants."

Asked if it was used as an offensive weapon during the siege of Falluja, he replied: "Yes, it was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. When you have enemy forces that are in covered positions that your high explosive artillery rounds are not having an impact on, and you wish to get them out of those positions, one technique is to fire a white phosphorus round into the position: the combined effects of the fire and smoke - and in some case the terror brought about by the explosion on the ground - will drive them out of the holes so you can kill them with high explosives."...[/snip]

White phosphorus was used in mortar rounds..Hardly a 'smart weapon.'

It's very likely that Iraqi civilians were killed, maimed, and otherwise traumatized by the mis-use of white phosphorus during the siege of Fallujah.

The now infamous quote via Field Artillery Magazine: "At the end of the fight we thought back on some of the things we were the proudest of. What jumped to the forefront was infantry and tank platoon sergeants ... telling us that the artillery and [white phosphorus] mortars were awesome. At the end of the day, that is what it is all about: our maneuver brethren recognizing why we are called the "King of Battle"'. — Captain James T. Cobb, First Lieutenant Christopher A. LaCour, and Sergeant William H. Hight in "The Fight for Fallujah."

More background on white phosphorus, and the US not signing Protocol III of the 'Convention on Conventional Weapons' - which "prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations or by air attack against military forces that are located within concentrations of civilians," can be found at wikipedia.

Hey, it's okay..Ya know, 'cause we didn't sign the paper.

It's really a dark time in US history.