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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums⚡️ Russia uses white phosphorus bombs in Hostomel and Irpin.
The Kyiv Independent
@KyivIndependent
·
4m
⚡️ Russia uses white phosphorus bombs in Hostomel and Irpin.
Russian forces targeted Kyiv suburbs with phosphorus bombs on the night of March 22, according to Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Markushin.
The use of such weapons against civilians is banned by the Geneva Conventions.
Donkees
(31,091 posts)Igor Kossov
@IgorKossov
calimary
(80,700 posts)COL Mustard
(5,784 posts)Of Russian war crimes.
Sigh...it's just one more.
Peacetrain
(22,836 posts)ColinC
(8,232 posts)Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to be sent out. But do you really think NATO would respond to a chemical attack?
Buckeyeblue
(5,491 posts)Honestly, is there a difference between civilians being targeted by conventional weapons rather than chemical weapons? I know chemical weapons sound worse but dead is dead.
I think NATO only responds with military action if Russia fucks up and attacks a NATO country. Then all bets are off.
But the longer Russia continues to destroy the infestructure of Ukraine, the more difficult it will be to ever normalize relations with them.
sarisataka
(18,222 posts)Just go-
For U.S. Air Force veteran Mark Lindquist, its a new beginning: a journey to war-torn Ukraine.
Look at whats happening over there, he says. You watch the news. You see the tragedy.
Lindquist, 40, served in the Air Force from 2006 to 2012, including serving in Afghanistan. He retired as a Staff Sergeant.
The Moorhead resident recently put a halt to a potential political career, dropping out of the 7th District congressional race to either fight alongside Ukrainians or help with the humanitarian effort.
ColinC
(8,232 posts)And I won't do well in prison.
sarisataka
(18,222 posts)sarisataka
(18,222 posts)Until your current contract ends
ColinC
(8,232 posts)I'll give you one though: 1m.
sarisataka
(18,222 posts)Complete your tour and head to Ukraine
BTDT and have the t-shirt to prove it. Can't say either was a highlight of my life but I don't have regrets either. I hate war but am pragmatic enough to realize it is a neccessary evil. My time however is done. Between a family to care for and medical issues due to to the glorious results of a misspent youth I would not be an asset in a combat zone.
ColinC
(8,232 posts)The gift backpack they gave me when I enlisted is worn out and unusable. The least they can do is give me a new backpack
sarisataka
(18,222 posts)We didn't get new gear- I swear some of my 782 saw action in Korea
Fiendish Thingy
(15,371 posts)IIRC, The US used WP in Iraq.
At this point, the west is too fearful that Putin might use nukes to defend Ukraine.
sarisataka
(18,222 posts)We routinely use?
Note- its use is only prohibited for the purpose of inflicting casualties. It is legal to use for illumination and to mark targets. Of course those legal uses can cause incidental casualties...
Dial H For Hero
(2,971 posts)uponit7771
(90,225 posts)48656c6c6f20
(7,638 posts)So he won't use nukes? I mean it's Wednesday, he said he might use nukes if another Wednesday happens in March.
SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)KS Toronado
(16,917 posts)The munitions allegedly contained white phosphorusa self-igniting chemical that can burn at upwards of
4,800 degrees Fahrenheit once it makes contact with air. "It's a horrific weapon.
IronLionZion
(45,269 posts)Is Putin ever going to face any real consequences? I'm imagining him discovered hiding in a bunker somewhere and hung by his toenails or something.
Traildogbob
(8,584 posts)A well proven technique for peace keeping forces.
Gaugamela
(2,486 posts)A recent documentary by the Italian state broadcaster, RAI, claimed that Iraqi civilians, including women and children, had died of burns caused by white phosphorus during the assault on Falluja. The report has been strenuously denied by the US. But Col Venable said it had been used to dislodge enemy fighters from entrenched positions in the city.
"White phosphorus is a conventional munition. It is not a chemical weapon. They are not outlawed or illegal," he told the BBC. "We use them primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target marking in some cases. However, it is an incendiary weapon, and may be used against enemy combatants."
Asked if it was used as an offensive weapon during the siege of Falluja, he replied: "Yes, it was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. When you have enemy forces that are in covered positions that your high explosive artillery rounds are not having an impact on, and you wish to get them out of those positions, one technique is to fire a white phosphorus round into the position: the combined effects of the fire and smoke - and in some case the terror brought about by the explosion on the ground - will drive them out of the holes so you can kill them with high explosives."
The Guardian columnist George Monbiot said yesterday that accounts of the use of white phosphorus during the battle for Falluja were published in the March 2005 edition of Field Artillery, a magazine published by the US army. A reporter with California's North County Times, embedded with the marines during the offensive, also reported soldiers firing into buildings a mixture of white phosphorus and high explosives known as "shake'n'bake".
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/16/iraq.usa
All this because four Blackwater mercenaries were ambushed and killed by local civilians.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)malaise
(267,845 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)The thread is about Ukraine.
Not a match
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)childfreebychoice
(476 posts)malaise
(267,845 posts)https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/u-s-official-admits-phosphorus-used-as-weapon-in-iraq-1.557818
A spokesman for the U.S. military has admitted that soldiers used white phosphorus as an "incendiary weapon" while trying to flush out insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Fallujah last year.
"White phosphorus is a conventional munition," Lt.-Col. Barry Venable told the British Broadcasting Corporation. "It is not a chemical weapon. They are not outlawed or illegal."
He added that though used mostly to provide smokescreens and flashes of light, in the Fallujah battle, "it was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants."
High-ranking U.S. officials had earlier insisted that the substance, which can burn skin to the bone, was used only to help illuminate battle scenes.
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See what happens when there are no consequences!
That is all
Submariner
(12,485 posts)Practice artillery shells armed with white phosphorus so smoke would mark the landing spot were shot out into a huge Alaska wetland.
Thousands of ducks killed.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1474672/
A USFWS biologist friend described cutting open the body cavity and digestive system of the ducks in the field, and when exposed to air, most of the ducks would start smoking from the phosphorus pellets igniting from exposure to the fresh air.
librechik
(30,663 posts)NATO must stick to the rules and allow people to suffer. But Psychotintin gets to be a horrifying villain without restraint.
How long must we allow this? Is there a "spirit" of NATO rather than by-the-book reading of the treaty? Seems like yes, in history.
But USA is scumbag due to Iraq. We have scant moral standing compared to Russia. That kind of mobe takes a better actor than us.
I don't know. This is an intolerable situation.
BGBD
(3,282 posts)Unless it's being used to burn down villages or something.
This pictures doesn't show much but doesn't seem to be what's happening.
This isn't a game changer in terms of posture. Unless they start dropping VX or something.