Here's one story that didn't make much news in the mainstream media: the US military used the incendiary weapon white phosphorus during the 2004 assault on city of Fallujah, in Iraq, to allegedly horrific consequences.
First, a US official insisted that US forces "do not use napalm or white phosphorus as weapons."
Then, the military denied that white phosphorus was used against civilians but defended use of the munition against insurgents.
It's a bit like saying that the US did not intentionally target civilians with the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Or it's like insurgents in Iraq saying that it's okay to bomb hotels because even though there will a lot of 'secondary' carnage of innocent civilians, it's not their primary target. Such crude weapons do not distinguish between civilians and insurgents, unless a scientist or military official wishes to contradict me.
The use of white phosphorus against civilians or against military opponents within concentrations of civilians was banned by a international treaty, though the US did not sign the protocol that specifically dealt with white phosophorus and other incendiary weapons. White phosphorus is normally used as a smokescreen to hide troop movements. However, the heat from the weapons can burn a person to the bone.
It is a highly flammable incendiary material which ignites when exposed to oxygen, and will burn human skin until all the oxygen is used up. A doctor from Fallujah described victims in the US siege "who had their skin melted".
Iraq's acting human rights minister has said that a team from the sovereign government would be dispatched to Fallujah to investigate whether civilians were killed, maimed or injured by white phosphorus.
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