US forces used chemical weapons?

[PornoDoggy]

As I have already stated, I'm not sure that I even consider the munitions in question to be chemical weapons.

I have also previously stated in this thread that American troops on the ground have the right to defend themselves with weapons appropriate to the tactical situation.

That being said - I no more believe that phosphorus was deployed only for illumination purposes than I do GW (and his lackeys, foreign and domestic) when they say this war has made the U.S. (and its lackeys) any safer from terrorism.

Trev, I feel for the local families you are describing. My girlfriend's son has made three combat deployments since 9/11 (he went into Afghanistan in 2001, and has made two deployments to Iraq). We just lost another local kid this week; I've lost count of how many that makes total, but this is the 3rd from the local guard unit this deployment.

However ... You have to admit that it's not very likely that U.S. or U.K. troops would be getting killed by Iraqis if we hadn't invaded their country. You have to admit that the absence of a realistic plan for the occupation of Iraq is a big part of why the resistance has taken hold. You'd be a damned fool to try and claim that citizens of the U.S. or the U.K. are in any way safer from the threat of terrorism as a result of the sacrifices of the poor dumb son-of-a-bitches that get to die for their country.

The "plan" for Iraq was either the result of stupidity that rivals isolationism and/or appeasement of the Fascists, or stupidity that rivals isolationism/appeasement of the Fascists coupled with a cynicism that the Fascists would envy. There are an awful lot of reasons that turning Iraq into a functional democracy would have failed with three times the number of troops to occupy it.

But the cheap-assed method used was guaranteed to fail. Either Bush and his bootlick Blair were stupid enough to believe their own rhetoric about the people greeting us with parades, or they knew damned good and well what kind of chaos would result from this half-assed plan and that the resulting chaos and ensuing conflict was deliberately caused.

Happy fucking Armistice Day ...