US Admits WP Used As Weapon

Ending extended blogosphere speculation, US Pentagon officials confirmed today -- after earlier denials -- that military forces used white phosophorus (WP) as an "incendiary weapon" in the battle for Falluja last November. The spokesman denied targeting civilians, and cited an official report which stated, in part, "We fired `shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE (high explosive) to take them out."

Today Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called WP (Willie Pete was its shorthand during Vietnam) part of the "conventional weapon inventory." Earlier this week, US ambassador Robert Holmes Tuttle said that the US "do[es] not use napalm or white phosphorus as weapons." The BBC credits the blogosphere with forcing the reversal in official stand.

The Geneva Convention on Conventional Weapons prohibits using incendiary weapons against civilians or against military targets if there are high concentrations of civilians. The United States did not sign the treaty.

The Pentagon spokesman implied that "shake and bake" meant that WP was used to flush out the enemy, followed by high explosives to kill or maim. However, according to the BBC, an embedded reporter from California filed this report at the time, suggesting this was not two separate actions but a combined effort where WP was, in fact, used to maim and kill:

"The boom kicked the dust around the pit as they ran through the drill again and again, sending a mixture of burning white phosphorus and high explosives they call 'shake 'n bake' into a cluster of buildings where insurgents have been spotted all week."

The debate about WP centers around its categorization (semantics): is it a conventional weapon or chemical weapon? According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague (per BBC):

White phosphorus is normally used to produce smoke, to camouflage movement... If that is the purpose for which the white phosphorus is used, then that is considered under the Convention legitimate use.

If on the other hand the toxic properties of white phosphorus, the caustic properties, are specifically intended to be used as a weapon, that of course is prohibited, because the way the Convention is structured or the way it is in fact applied, any chemicals used against humans or animals that cause harm or death through the toxic properties of the chemical are considered chemical weapons.

See Q&A on White Phosophorus (BCC), as well as BBC, CNN, Reuters

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