White phosforus has many \'regular\' uses, flashbang type use, for blinding opponents, night illumination of outdoor areas, as well as it\'s use as a napalm-like weapon that consumes anyone unfortunate enough to be where it\'s dropped.
The gist of this problem is that *some* sources are reporting that they basically carpeted certain areas of certain cities, using it in it\'s most \'offensive\' style, and didn\'t worry about collateral damage. On the other hand, other sources say that they were carefull to target it at known locations of enemies, and use it in it\'s more conventional bliding/illuminating roles.
We all know that the fanatics they\'re fighting down there have no problem forcing innocents to shelter them, so I\'m not particularily surprised when I read about high collateral damage. As long as they\'re *trying* to avoid civilian casualties (unlike terrorists, who are trying explicitly to cause civilian casualties) then we maintain our high moral ground.
--
For some reason the term \'chemical weapon\' in this case has been coopted to phosphorus as it is so \'obviously\' a chemical. But this is not a \'chemical weapon\'. Nerve agents, biotoxins are chemical weapons, and generally they\'re the non-directible WMD variety that are classified as \'chemical weapons\'. HE (high explosives) and bullets are made with \'chemicals\' too, but it\'s just a matter of pointing out that white phosphorus is not a WMD, but rather an incidiary explosive.
