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Thursday, November 10, 2005

White phosphorus just isn’t deadly enough

Willy Pete is another name for the brand of a pyrophoric phosphorus manufactured for the military. The substance, as high school graduates know, is useful because it burns very brightly. The military uses bursts of WP dispensed from few-inch shells. It lights upon firing and disperses a hundred feet or so. WP has recently been in the news because munitions experts-cum-antiwar activists have declared in “indie documentary” form that the United States is using banned chemical weapons of mass destruction against Iraq civilians.

If you, dear reader, have made it to this line after reading the above sentence, and have not yet discharged your breakfast in a spew of incredulity, I am impressed. Because the claim is so ridiculous—and so appealing to a certain set—that it hardly merits retort. But read these three posts. Turns out that Willy Pete, first off, would be a decidedly inefficient way to kill the masses. If the United States, or any modern military, wanted to rain fire, we’d use napalm or one of its derivatives. We would not powderize roadside flares and sprinkle them down.

WP is also not weaponized: it comes in star-shaped bursts meant strictly for illumination. It could hardly be used to effect mass burns.

And, though WP burns and is more difficult than a match to extinguish, it is by no means a chemical weapon. Most exposures are accidents and medical help will mitigate or erase most effects. Systemic results of exposure include minor respiratory issues, dried eyes, toothache and excessive salivation. It’s smoke.

Finally, WP is fully permitted under current treaties and international law.

But as unhappy a point as it may be, the real reason this story is bunk is that white phosphorus just isn’t deadly enough. I and most people refuse to believe that American soldiers would deploy chemical weapons of mass destruction against civilians, but if they were to do that, actual WMDs would be used. Even that, of course, would never happen. If only for the reason that there are no “insurgent headquarters” in Iraq ripe for the burning. The terrorists are distributed and attempt to blend in: that is why American soldiers are so careful about distinguishing between civilians and enemies. It is, in fact, the terrorists who have become indiscriminate in their bombings: and that to the terrible cost of their own people.

Posted on November 10, 2005 06:22 AM. Permalink