LAST WORD ON WILLY PETE?

NO ONE EXPECTS WAR to be sweet.  In Iraq few now believe it to be the cakewalk the latest one was sold as.  All death in war is terrible, but some more terrible than others.  So some weapons are banned and some just as terrible are not. The head of GlobalSecurity.org, John Pike, is a regular resource around here on weapons of war.  He has what might be the last word on both white phosphorus, WP, and willy pete and its perception in the world. This demands to be read in full beyond what is excerpted here.

The U.S. government only compounded the problem by denying that WP had been used in Fallouja for anything other than illuminating the battlefield. The government flatly rejected the charge that it had been used to burn enemy combatants. This claim, however, was untrue and easily disproved. An Army Field Artillery magazine article written earlier this year by soldiers who had fired the artillery in Fallouja described "shake and bake" missions — cannons firing WP incendiary rounds along with high-explosive shells to flush out insurgents from trenches and hiding places.
As usual, it is the coverup that gets you into trouble. The guilty flee where none pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion.
What are the facts? What is the law?

READ IT the whole thing, both for Pike’s facts and his conclusions. What seems the last word may in fact be the first of many.  Willy Pete is what it is.  War is the worst men do upon men, upon soldiers and civilians.  If we can discuss the worst that men do upon men, we may also ask about why, when and where.