Posted on 11/18/2005 7:10:29 PM PST by ncountylee
PERHAPS the biggest weapon in the arsenal of the US's critics is carefully selective amnesia. Conveniently forgetting important historical facts enables tactical amnesiacs to make claims about US policy that seem to support their contention that the country's Government is uniquely evil.
The latest evidence that George W.Bush is a war criminal has apparently come this week with the acknowledgment that the US military used white phosphorus (WP) on enemy positions in Fallujah. This is deemed an outrage. And the discovery that US soldiers refer to WP cavalierly as "shake and bake" seems to have come as an additional shock to the easily agitated sensibilities of the critics.
WP is not a chemical weapon, and is not banned by any treaty to which the US is signatory. It has been used by the armed forces in all countries in wars for decades. Indeed, if you look up the roll of US Congressional Medal of Honour winners, you will discover that quite a few received this highest military decoration precisely because they used "shake and bake" to successful effect.
I wait with anticipation for the shocking evidence that the US has used "bullets" and "bombs" in its attacks on the enemy.
There is useful amnesia too on the issue of torture. The White House is in the dock over this one because it wants Congress to refrain from imposing a total ban on anything that might resemble mistreatment of prisoners.
No one wants to make torture an everyday military tool. But does anyone think that in the course of the many wars fought by the US and its allies, brutal techniques have not been used?
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Sounds like something American GIs would come up with.
You gotta love 'em!!
Shame that "nape & bake" is banned.
Actually, I'm not sure that napalm is illegal... Just took a UCMJ/ROE test(Uniform Code of Military Justice/Rules of Engagement) for my upcoming deployment the other day and I could have sworn Napalm was specifically discussed as legal. I've never seen it in the bomb dump or on an aircraft, but we may have stopped using it due to the heat (pun intended) we took for using it in Vietnam. Just 'cause we don't use it don't mean its illegal, but I could be wrong. JAG Freepers????
Doesn't a daisy cutter use napalm?
No, but it does have a fuel.
thanks.
By the way, what does the white phosphorus do?
Good article - interesting that The Australian, located half a world away, sees the dems more clearly than our old media does. Of course, it's hard for old media to see much of anything since their heads are up their a**es.
And (whispering softly so as not to look too ignorant) what's a daisy cutter?
Burns brightly.
White phosphorous rounds (which are NOT napalm) are used for illumination; it burns brightly. White phosphorous, when activated, is a class D fire--it will burn underwater, straight through flesh and bone, etc. I'm sure it's not pleasant to get scorched by it, but I give not a single damn how the 'insurgents' and their Democrat allies feel about it.
Thanks.
White phosphorus has been used commonly by the military as an incendiary agent or as an igniter for munitions. It commonly is found in hand grenades, mortar and artillery rounds, and smoke bombs.
Munitions-quality white phosphorus commonly is found in solid form. When exposed to air, it spontaneously ignites and is oxidized rapidly to phosphorus pentoxide. Such heat is produced by this reaction that the element bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. Phosphorus also becomes luminous in the dark, and this property is conveyed to "tracer bullets." This chemical reaction continues until either all the material is consumed or the element is deprived of oxygen.
No, Air Force daisy cutters were just regular bombs with long nosed, instantaneous fuses designed to detonate a foot or so above the ground. Now we use radar fuses to do the same thing. They work well.
And now they're trapped. So they resort to the coward's defence throughout history: "He made me do it." Most Americans have better memories.
No they don't.
Most Americans couldn't remember the face of Hanoi Jane when she made a mint off her workout videos... or that the entire Democratic party wanted to capitulate to the Soviets less than a decade before they elected Bubba.
Now conservatives have better memories. There are those who are still stark, raving made about that whole Battle of Hastings thing.
thanks for the detailed explanation of WF
was this used in Vietnam?
Now we use radar fuses to do the same thing.Almost everything we use works well. Or rather, everything that works well, we keep using, and discard the other stuff. I am proud of America's history of not only fighting war for just causes, but learning how to become technically proficient at war as we go along.
I believe there are many reasons to be in Iraq. And one of the positive side-effects is our war-fighting ability continues to improve.
The cost is high. And that's very sad. But the cause is just, it's for the defence of America, and at the same time, we just keep getting better and better at killing bad guys.
I just love it when we blow stuff up "real good"!
Cluster bombs, FAE's. KA-BOOM!!!!
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