Awful stuff that white phosphorous



Warning Very graphic footage , wasn't the use of it banned ?

Legality

The assumption that white phosphorus is considered a chemical weapon, and thus constitutes a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, is false. During the testimony of Prof. Michael A. Newton at the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict he said "the law is clear that there are some authorized, perfectly valid uses of white phosphorus munitions". Newton mentions legitimate marking of targets and illumination and shielding of movements as common uses. In urban areas, white phosphorus can prevent incendiary leveling of an area by masking movements in order to avoid snipers or explosive devices. However, a legal weapon can be used in an unlawful way. An intentional attack on a playground would be different than an attack on other areas, and thus is ruled by different sets of international law. Protocol I demands proportionality and 'feasible measures' in order to minimize or eliminate damage to civilian lives or property, stating "It [white phosphorus] is not strictly prohibited, but it[s use] has to be done carefully, and tightly controlled and on the basis of a very detailed targeting analysis".[4][5]

Colonel Desmond Travers, a UN investigator, has said that while white phosphorus is not a chemical weapon, it is harmful to the environment and dangerous for both victims and the doctors that treat them.[4]

According to Lt. Col. Raymond Lane, the quality of smoke created by white phosphorus is superior to other smoke producing agents such as Hexachloroethane and Titanium Tetrachloride, and thus difficult to match for blanket coverage.[4]

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Jan 18^th, 2016 at 6:37am:


How much time have you spent in Israel Andrei?

What always mesmerises me is the readiness of people the other side of the world to jump onto one side in this conflict knowing pretty much nothing about it and not realising that side houses terrorists and those who slit the throats of children and innocent civilians.

The Australian Green being set of useful 1diots.

What always mesmerises me is the readiness of people the other side of the world to jump onto one side in this conflict knowing pretty much nothing about it and not realising that side houses terrorists and those who slit the throats of children and innocent civilians.

The Australian Green being set of useful nice people.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Jan 18^th, 2016 at 6:37am:

If that's true, you must spend most of your life in a dazed hypnotic funk...

As Tariq Ali said at Sydney's Festival of Dangerous Ideas, - the videos of ISIS committing atrocities against innocent individuals shocks and angers us (as it should), but what is our reaction, Ali goes on to say, to a drone strike on a group of 50 people, where maybe 2 or 3 Taliban/ISIS associated people are present (and its usually impossible to confirm), leaving the majority of the drone strike dead or damaged with severe life-altering injuries? How, he asks, is that any less an atrocity than ISIS terrorists' committing unjustified executions?

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Jan 20^th, 2016 at 6:23am:


I have a Jewish friend with extreme views on what should happen to Palestinians.  'Just shoot them all'.

Turns out that his views are more extreme than most who live in the Israel.  I see that in you.