Willy Pete Was a Chemical Weapon Once Upon a Time

Stardate 4898.9

An ongoing debate recently has been the use of White Phosphorus Chemical Weapons by US forces against civilians in Fallujah. Now to me, the debate on this is highly misplaced, with a lot of arguing and waffling on whether or not WP is a chemical weapon, when the debate should be how it was used on civilian populated areas... but I digress.

I was reading through some Canadian Blogs, and a post from Murky View caught my eye. As it turns out, a Pentagon briefing paper from 1995 blatantly lumps white phosphorus in as a chemical weapon. This is a quote taken from Think Progress...

IRAQ HAS POSSIBLY EMPLOYED PHOSPHOROUS CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST THE KURDISH POPULATION IN AREAS ALONG THE IRAQI-TURKISH-IRANIAN BORDERS. […]
IN LATE FEBRUARY 1991, FOLLOWING THE COALITION FORCES’ OVERWHELMING VICTORY OVER IRAQ, KURDISH REBELS STEPPED UP THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST IRAQI FORCES IN NORTHERN IRAQ. DURING THE BRUTAL CRACKDOWN THAT FOLLOWED THE KURDISH UPRISING, IRAQI FORCES LOYAL TO PRESIDENT SADDAM ((HUSSEIN)) MAY HAVE POSSIBLY USED WHITE PHOSPHOROUS (WP) CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST KURDISH REBELS AND THE POPULACE IN ERBIL (GEOCOORD:3412N/04401E) (VICINITY OF IRANIAN BORDER) AND DOHUK
(GEOCOORD:3652N/04301E) (VICINITY OF IRAQI BORDER) PROVINCES, IRAQ.

Of course nowadays, in the modern conflict that is the mire of Iraq, the US military and administration says they are NOT chemical weapons. Let's get this straight. If Saddam used them, they were chemical weapons. If Bush used them, they are NOT chemical weapons. I have one thing to say...

A spade is a spade, and as this war drags on, yours is digging a bigger hole than ever.