The US Routine Use of Chemical Weapons

The latest attack on US operations in Iraq include accusations of the usage of the chemical weapon White Phosphorus (WP or Willy Pete in military jargon) in last year's battle of Fallujah. These charges are being raised in an Italian documentary called "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre."

What exactly is a chemical weapon? Is the usage of any chemical in a weapon deem it a chemical weapon? These questions are conveniently overlooked in the documentary and by the apocraphetics blathering on the issue over at the Democratic Underground and Daily Kos.

Writing in Townhall, Michael Fumento has a few observations. Jeff Goldstein, on his benchmark blog Protein Wisom, has had some thoughts over the past week as well.

Now, after all this has been said this morning, I feel a need to ingest the chemical C8H10N4O2. I hope I don't splash too much of it down my windpipe and die an excrutiatingly painful "chemical" death.