November 19, 2005
HOW DO YOU SAY SHAKE AND BAKE IN LIMEY?:
Tim Collins trained troops to fight with white phosphorus (Sean Rayment, 20/11/2005, Daily Telegraph)
Col Tim Collins, the controversial Iraq war commander, trained his soldiers to use white phosphorus, which burns through flesh to the bone, in combat against enemy troops.The admission by the former Special Air Service officer, revealed in his autobiography Rules of Engagement, contradicts claims by the Ministry of Defence that the chemical was only ever used to create a smokescreen. [...]
Discussing the weapons to be used in the operation in the Basra area, he wrote: "The star of the show was the new grenade which had only been on issue since the previous summer. It absolutely trashed the inside of the room it was put into.
"I directed the men to use them where possible with white phosphorus, as the noxious smoke and heat had the effect of drawing out any enemy from cover, while the fragmentation grenade would shred them."
Col Collins' tactics mirror the United States army "shake and bake" technique which involves forcing troops out of cover with white phosphorus and then killing them with artillery rounds.
Which confirms the claim, no? Posted by Orrin Judd at November 19, 2005 8:47 PM
What the hell is wrong with the DT?
Free Conrad Black!
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at November 19, 2005 10:06 PMThe purpose of war is to break things and kill people.
Posted by: Gideon at November 19, 2005 11:22 PM"Shake and bake" is creative, if my old C.O. asked me for an opinion on it I would do some extra research before probably holding that it was acceptable, but it is a very close call.
The proposed use of WP is not to inflict casulties, but rather to compel the enemy to displace, so we're out of cruel weapon territory. The "noxious fumes" business gives me pause. It's probably a go, but, as I said, it's close.
Posted by: Lou Gots at November 20, 2005 8:55 AMDid the US ever officially deny that we used WP as an offensive weapon?
Posted by: Robert Duquette at November 20, 2005 10:12 AMHow about "singe and shred?"
Posted by: Mikey at November 20, 2005 11:01 AMhttp://www.defensetech.org/archives/001944.html
War is hell. But it's worse when the Marines bring out their new urban
combat weapon, the SMAW-NE. Which may be why they're not talking about it,
much.
This is a version of the standard USMC Shoulder Mounted Assault Weapon but
with a new warhead. Described as NE - "Novel Explosive"- it is a thermobaric
mixture which ignites the air, producing a shockwave of unparalleled
destructive power, especially against buildings.
"One unit disintegrated a large one-storey masonry type building with one round
from 100 meters. They were extremely impressed."
Kill them all. God will know his own.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 21, 2005 1:24 AMBoil in the bag?
Posted by: Brit at November 21, 2005 4:56 AMi saw an article on this rifle that had intelligent rounds. you load up a grenade type round, use the laser range finder to set the distance to target, then pull the trigger. the round counts how many times it rotates, which tells it how far it has travelled, and when it get's to the programmed range it explodes...downwards. so if someone is hiding behind a wall or something, this thing will explode right above/next to them. pretty sweet.