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Pace answers questions on white phosphorous

AP:

The top American general defended the use of white phosphorus in Iraq and said Tuesday the U.S. military goes to greater lengths than any other force to protect civilians from being harmed by its weapons.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the incendiary agent is used primarily as a flare, to light up a target for airstrikes, and as a shield of smoke to hide troop movements.

“White phosphorus is a legitimate tool of the military,” Pace said at a news conference in the military’s Pentagon headquarters.

“It is not a chemical weapon. It is an incendiary. And it is well within the law of war to use those weapons as they’re being used, for marking and for screening.”

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When white phosphorus strikes skin, it ignites and continues burning straight through or until it is cut off from oxygen.

In Tuesday’s news conference, Pace was asked the wisdom of using such a weapon, even for shielding or illumination, in a crowded place such as Fallujah.

“No armed force in the world goes to greater effort than your armed force to protect civilians and to be very precise in the way we apply our power,” Pace said. “A bullet goes through skin even faster than white phosphorus does.”

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