Willie Pete

Willie Peter or white phosphorus was used by US forces in Viet Nam. It’s horrible stuff that does horrible things to people who are hit with grenades, bombs and shells filled with it.  It will burn under water.  White phosphorus weapons were also used by the US Marines in Fallujah this summer; a fact that I found riddled with the worm of hypocrisy since white phosphorus weapons had been listed among the “chemical weapons” alleged to be in the possession of Saddam Hussein and thus necessitating the attack against Iraq.

Perhaps I’m unduly squeamish, but I’m not ashamed to feel repelled by the use of such weapons and particularly in areas where the civilian population will probably suffer the consequences. It’s another circumstance where “victory” may not be a victory when the means to it are fully considered.  The Geneva Conventions ban using white phosphorous against civilians or civilian areas and there are groups, such as the Red Cross who have vocally opposed it.

And so I have to feel equally as repelled by the admission that the Israeli military used white phosphorous bombs as well as cluster bombs against Hizbullah guerillas hidden amongst Lebanese civilians in August of this year.  Even though Hizbullah and similar vermin have never had the slightest scruple about specifically targeting civilians or specifically sacrificing the women and children of their host (or hostage) countries, I have to decry the use of any weapon that, like cluster bombs, go on killing for months and years after hostilities stop or like phosphorous, compared to which death by any other means would be preferable. I have to oppose it as much as I oppose suicide bombers and improvised bombs that kill, not just indiscriminately, but kill children and women and the elderly specifically.