White Phosphorus
For those of you not yet tired of the sorry parade of lies directed at U.S. forces abroad (you know, we torture, we deliberately target civilians, we have death squads that target journalists, we routinely rape Muslim women, etc.), the always out-of-touch Independent in Britain has been running a series claiming that the U.S. used "chemical weapons" in the Battle of Falujah in the form of white phonphorus shells.
Two things stand out about this charge.
First, the U.S. Government, which has conducted itself with honor to date in the prosecution of this war, has posted a detailed refutation of the charges, including a look at their origin. Read it yourself (you can find it here) and you'll see why the charges just don't stick.
Second, assuming for the sake of argument that the charge is true, White Phosphorus ammo and flares have never been considered "chemical weapons" by the main treaties banning them. In fact, the only arms control treaty that specifically mentions WP is the 1980 Convention on Chemical Weapons, Protocol III, to which the U.S. is NOT a signatory.
Our forces used WP in combat against both the Nazis and the Japanese militarists. For the sake of constancy, I expect every good liberal or leftist parroting the latest "war crimes" line to denounce as illegal World War II and call for the immediate investigation of U.S. war crimes committed against German and Japanese civilians by U.S. and Allied soldiers, sailors, and Marines still alive.
After all, there is no statute of limitations on war crimes, is there? Go get that criminal Roosevelt Administration, liberals!
And, hey, while you're at it, FDR also declared U.S. citizens "enemy combatants," except he didn't just have them held indefinitely.
He had them shot.
UPDATE: A friend writes to remind me that after the military tribunal for which the Ex Parte Quirin Nazi saboteurs were tried, President Roosevelt sentenced the enemy combatants, including the one who was a native-born U.S. citizen--to death by the electric chair. So, technically, Roosevelt had them fried and not shot.
I stand corrected.
Two things stand out about this charge.
First, the U.S. Government, which has conducted itself with honor to date in the prosecution of this war, has posted a detailed refutation of the charges, including a look at their origin. Read it yourself (you can find it here) and you'll see why the charges just don't stick.
Second, assuming for the sake of argument that the charge is true, White Phosphorus ammo and flares have never been considered "chemical weapons" by the main treaties banning them. In fact, the only arms control treaty that specifically mentions WP is the 1980 Convention on Chemical Weapons, Protocol III, to which the U.S. is NOT a signatory.
Our forces used WP in combat against both the Nazis and the Japanese militarists. For the sake of constancy, I expect every good liberal or leftist parroting the latest "war crimes" line to denounce as illegal World War II and call for the immediate investigation of U.S. war crimes committed against German and Japanese civilians by U.S. and Allied soldiers, sailors, and Marines still alive.
After all, there is no statute of limitations on war crimes, is there? Go get that criminal Roosevelt Administration, liberals!
And, hey, while you're at it, FDR also declared U.S. citizens "enemy combatants," except he didn't just have them held indefinitely.
He had them shot.
UPDATE: A friend writes to remind me that after the military tribunal for which the Ex Parte Quirin Nazi saboteurs were tried, President Roosevelt sentenced the enemy combatants, including the one who was a native-born U.S. citizen--to death by the electric chair. So, technically, Roosevelt had them fried and not shot.
I stand corrected.
