Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
jesus mu-shu dumplings wrote:
US admits use of white phosphorous in Iraq http://www.dawn.com/2005/11/17/top13.htm WASHINGTON, Nov 16: The Pentagon has admitted that US troops used white phosphorus as a weapon against insurgents in the Iraqi city of Fallujah last November. "It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," military spokesman Lt-Col Barry Venable told the BBC in Washington. snip White phosphorous, in a form used by the military, ignites when it is exposed to oxygen, producing such heat that it bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. It is used to mark enemy targets and to produce smoke for concealing troop movements. It can also be used as an incendiary device to firebomb enemy positions. It continues to burn until deprived of oxygen and, if extinguished with water, can later reignite if the particles dry out and are exposed again to the air. Not exactly. It can burn all the way through and out the other side. No need to stop at the bone. Water will not extinguish it. It will stop burning when it is deprived of oxygen or consumed. White phosphorous can cause painful burn injuries to exposed human flesh. If particles of ignited white phosphorus land on a person's skin, they can continue to burn right through flesh to the bone. Toxic phosphoric acid can also be released into wounds, risking phosphorus poisoning. Exposure to white phosphorus smoke in the air can also cause liver, kidney, heart, lung or bone damage and even death. Phosphorus isn't toxic enough to kill except in extremely large quantities. This kind of poisioning will make you sick, little else. The internal damage depicted here is unsupported by any information I have seen. A former US soldier who served in Iraq says breathing in smoke close to a shell caused the throat and lungs to blister until the victim suffocated, with the phosphorus continuing to burn them from the inside. He was discussing things he does not know about. False. Despite initial denials, the Pentagon has now acknowledged on Tuesday that US troops had used the substance as an incendiary weapon against insurgent strongholds there. The Pentagon has not denied the use of White Phosphorus. The UN Convention bans the use of incendiary weapons against civilans, not against humans. See for yourself: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/515?OpenDocument Of course any deliberate engagement or targeting of civilians is already a war crime. so that the US has not signed this one is not of especial import except to say that we aren't bound by it expressly. White Phosphorus is not banned. It also isn't a chemical weapon. We are signtory to the Chemical Weapons Convention which defines chemical weapons. See he http://www.opcw.org/html/db/cwc/eng/cwc_frameset.html So it isn't a chemical weapon and it isn't banned. Indiscriminate use is. The stories circulating do not support that contention. See he http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004...q/19_30_504_10... Bogert received the coordinates for the targets and recorded them on a map. This is proper procedure. He's receiving coordinates from a Forward Observer, indirect fire weapons never see their targets, the FOs do. The coordinates are plotted so that it is known what was ordered where. There is also a verification that takes place in the call for indirect fire to avoid problems with numerical transposition or other mistakes. |
#2
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
In article .com, RTO
Trainer wrote: jesus mu-shu dumplings wrote: US admits use of white phosphorous in Iraq http://www.dawn.com/2005/11/17/top13.htm WASHINGTON, Nov 16: The Pentagon has admitted that US troops used white phosphorus as a weapon against insurgents in the Iraqi city of Fallujah last November. "It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," military spokesman Lt-Col Barry Venable told the BBC in Washington. snip White phosphorous, in a form used by the military, ignites when it is exposed to oxygen, producing such heat that it bursts into a yellow flame and produces a dense white smoke. It is used to mark enemy targets and to produce smoke for concealing troop movements. It can also be used as an incendiary device to firebomb enemy positions. It continues to burn until deprived of oxygen and, if extinguished with water, can later reignite if the particles dry out and are exposed again to the air. Not exactly. It can burn all the way through and out the other side. No need to stop at the bone. Water will not extinguish it. It will stop burning when it is deprived of oxygen or consumed. Perhaps there is confusion here about poisoning by phosphorus ingestion, which the toxicology textbooks do cover since WP was once a major ingredient in a rat poison, which somehow became popular for suicide in some subcultures. Eating WP will usually kill by destroying the kidneys, but if that is survived and the phosphate ion gets into the system, it will bond to bone. White phosphorous can cause painful burn injuries to exposed human flesh. If particles of ignited white phosphorus land on a person's skin, they can continue to burn right through flesh to the bone. Toxic phosphoric acid can also be released into wounds, risking phosphorus poisoning. Clearly, this has to be quantified. Carbonated beverages, in the 19th and early 20th century, were called "phosphates" as phosphoric acid was used to generate carbon dioxide and still some flavoring. You will still find it in the ingredients of many sodas, especially colas. Phosphoric acid is a very good rust remover, which is why soaking a part in Coca-Cola can work. More commonly, people use trisodium phosphate, the active ingredient in many laundry detergents, for rust removal. Phosphorus is a normal and necessary component of the body; one of the key energy transfer mechanisms is the reversible conversion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to diphosphate (ADP). Ironically, too much phosphorus, especially in laundry detergents, creates a water purity problem: it overstimulates the growth of algae. Exposure to white phosphorus smoke in the air can also cause liver, kidney, heart, lung or bone damage and even death. Phosphorus isn't toxic enough to kill except in extremely large quantities. This kind of poisioning will make you sick, little else. The internal damage depicted here is unsupported by any information I have seen. Despite initial denials, the Pentagon has now acknowledged on Tuesday that US troops had used the substance as an incendiary weapon against insurgent strongholds there. The Pentagon has not denied the use of White Phosphorus. The UN Convention bans the use of incendiary weapons against civilans, not against humans. See for yourself: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/515?OpenDocument Of course any deliberate engagement or targeting of civilians is already a war crime. so that the US has not signed this one is not of especial import except to say that we aren't bound by it expressly. White Phosphorus is not banned. It also isn't a chemical weapon. We are signtory to the Chemical Weapons Convention which defines chemical weapons. See he http://www.opcw.org/html/db/cwc/eng/cwc_frameset.html So it isn't a chemical weapon and it isn't banned. |
#3
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
Napalm or napalm-like incendiary weapons are not outlawed.
International law permits their use against military forces. Incendiary devices like white phosphorous were banned by the Geneva Convention. The U.S. did not sign the relevant protocol to the convention. The use of white phosphorus or fuel air explosives are not prohibited or restricted by Protocol II: http://www.nawcwpns.navy.mil/~treaty/CCWC.html What is restricted is the purposeful and malicious targeting or making civilian populations the object of attack by incendiary weapons and restricts the use of incendiary weapons against military targets located within a concentration of civilians, and from what evidences are given and shown, there is little to no evidence given to conclusively indicate or prove that the US did in fact purposely and maliciously target civilians for attack with white phosphorous or other incendiary weaponry or devices in or within Fallujah. What appears to be white phosphorous in the Italian Neo-Kommie propaganda video has not been substantiated by any type of forensic evidence whatsoever. Probably will not be long before reports start circulating that the US somehow used Agent Orange in Fallujah and parts of Iraq, as well. |
#4
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() "SeeingEyeDog" wrote in message ... Probably will not be long before reports start circulating that the US somehow used Agent Orange in Fallujah and parts of Iraq, as well. We do know that the US has been using depleted uranium [DU] in several types of ordinance. Nasty crap. Has a half life of about 50K Years and atomizes into fine particles when it is dispersed by the resulting explosive charge around which the shaped DU is wrapped. Nice ****. Great way to get rid of the depleted nuclear waste from our reactors eh folks ??? Parts of Iraq will literally be radioactive HOT half a million Years from now. This is FAR WORSE than any alleged uses of WP. Adleast that crap is inert after it burns out. DU is HOT for 50,000 Years ! See: http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm |
#5
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() The Meatball Preacher wrote: "SeeingEyeDog" wrote in message ... Probably will not be long before reports start circulating that the US somehow used Agent Orange in Fallujah and parts of Iraq, as well. We do know that the US has been using depleted uranium [DU] in several types of ordinance. Nasty crap. Has a half life of about 50K Years and atomizes into fine particles when it is dispersed by the resulting explosive charge around which the shaped DU is wrapped. Nice ****. Great way to get rid of the depleted nuclear waste from our reactors eh folks ??? DU is 0.7 times as radioactive as natural uranium, which is considered "slightly radioactive". Since DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, there is very little decay of those DU. DU does not atomize. Recent research suggests that the particles of DU when pulverized by such actions a armor impacts are too large to be retained in the human body for any appreciable time and will be rejected. If so, there is little or no danger that DU will build up in a human even with repeated exposures. |
#6
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#7
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#8
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
In article , Carter-K8VT
wrote: wrote: DU does not atomize. That was the original thinking. Studies have since shown that DU particles become small enough to become wind borne and have been found up to 25 miles from the impact site. Recent research suggests that the particles of DU when pulverized by such actions a armor impacts are too large to be retained in the human body for any appreciable time and will be rejected. If so, there is little or no danger that DU will build up in a human even with repeated exposures. Also not true. The latest studies *have* found significant amounts of DU retained in humans. I'm interested in qualified scientific studies in this area. Have you any citations? |
#9
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() Carter-K8VT wrote: wrote: DU does not atomize. That was the original thinking. Studies have since shown that DU particles become small enough to become wind borne and have been found up to 25 miles from the impact site. Recent research suggests that the particles of DU when pulverized by such actions a armor impacts are too large to be retained in the human body for any appreciable time and will be rejected. If so, there is little or no danger that DU will build up in a human even with repeated exposures. Also not true. The latest studies *have* found significant amounts of DU retained in humans. This is someting I've been trying to follow. Can you offer a poiner to a study or a sory about it? Failing that, do you know how long between exposure and measuring the DU in the system? |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Beware of hams planting dis-information... | CB | |||
FYI: NOAA Lightning Safety Awareness Week | Policy | |||
GAY PRIDE WEEK VICTORY | General |