Fire Bombs in Iraq: Napalm By Any Other Name

[rodeodance]

Fire Bombs in Iraq: Napalm By Any Other Name (Apr 2005)

An updated version of this briefing was posted on 17 April 2005.
http://www.iraqanalysis.org/briefings/232

> 4-18-05, 9:03 am
>
> From Iraq Analysis Group
>
> Summary
>
> This briefing examines the continuing use of incendiary weapons by the US military in Iraq. US officials have been forced to admit using the MK-77 incendiary, a modern form of napalm, at least during the initial fighting stage of the war. In direct contradiction, the UK government continues to deny that such weapons have been used in Iraq at any time. The UK is party to an international convention banning incendiaries where they may cause harm to civilians. In Iraq, UK forces are part of a coalition which does not adhere to internationally agreed standards of warfare.
>
> 1. Napalm past
>
> A fire bomb is a thin-skinned container of fuel gel. It ignites on impact, spreading the burning gel over a wide area. The composition of the fuel gel has evolved over the years:
> * World War II: gasoline plus naphthenic and palmitic acids
> * Vietnam & Korea: gasoline, benzene and polystyrene
> * Iraq (MK-77 Mod 5): kerosene-based jet fuel and polystyrene

....Napalm has also been used in Iraq in the past. The Ba’ath regime of Saddam Hussein used it during the 1991 uprising. In 1992 Human Rights Watch reported:
>
> Refugees alleged that Iraqi helicopters dropped a variety of ordnance on civilians, including napalm and phosphorus bombs, chemical agents and sulfuric acid. Representatives of human rights and humanitarian organizations who saw refugees with burn injuries or photographs of such injuries were unable to confirm the source of the burns, although doctors who examined injured Iraqis said that some of the wounds were consistent with the use of napalm.<1>
>
>
> 2. Napalm present
>
> The US military has in its current arsenal a modern form of napalm. Known as the MK-77 Mod 5, the bombs are dropped from aircraft and ignite on impact. They contain a lethal mixture of aircraft fuel and polystyrene, which forms a sticky, flammable gel. As it burns, the gel sticks to structures and to the bodies of its victims. The light aluminium containers lack stabilising fins, making them far from precision weapons........

[acmavm]

1. This is obscene. Napalm by any name or definition (of which this shit

fits)is an cruel, horrendous, evil, inhumane weapon. I am so ashamed and sick that the military in this country would, and is, using it on the Iraqis. This can't be justified, not even by a sick, dark, twisted mind like Rumsfeld's. Or Franks, or Sanchez, or any of those sick bastards that have found it's 'fun to kill some people'.

[FtWayneBlue]

2. I totally agree - those using it should be

up on war crimes charges in International court.

(whether they happen to belong to it or not)