The Ill-Logic of the U.S. Predator Drone Campaign
Wednesday, 12. May 2010
William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of the law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast. Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of the law, for my own safety’s sake! A Man For All Seasons
With the U.S. already having cut down every law in the forest when it comes to terrorism in the last 9 years, there was nothing left for Barack Obama’s war cabinet to do but risk a hazardous new escalation of its AfPak war following the attempted bombing in Times Square by Pakistani Taliban-trained Faisal Shahzad.
The administration sold its own version of the Afghan war originally by narrowing it to hunting Al Qaeda in Pakistan regardless of the moral, ethical, legal or even political consequences. It continues to claim success in its greatly expanded use of Predator drone assassinations. But as the administration scrambles to counter something that was apparently beyond what it thought possible, it must now face the grim reality that warfare, no matter how high tech or expensive, is and will continue to be a two way street. It must also finally face up to the fact that its glaring lack of sophistication in its dealings with Afghanistan and Pakistan have made the U.S. more vulnerable to attack and not less.
The entire strategy for a draw-down of U.S. forces in 2011 rests on the blindly unrealistic assumptions that a NATO-trained Afghan Army and police force can somehow magically replace American “boots on the ground,” while the drone campaign will deter the enemy’s leadership from acting effectively and frighten away potential recruits. Up to now, the administration’s policy has rested on the claimed effectiveness of these strikes to weaken the Taliban and make them more receptive to a peace agreement that would bring them into the Afghan government. But in a gaping breach of logic, the possibility that they might actually retaliate on U.S. soil, was never even factored into the equation.
The efficacy of assassinating Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects with such weapons challenges at least two major assumptions. The first is that the weapons themselves are not a technically suitable replacement for human counterinsurgency forces (which in and of themselves are beset by problems). The second and perhaps more important, is whether high tech warfare – with all its imperial-death-from-above implications – isn’t actually self-defeating, given the negative political impact it has on the local population. Critics of the Predator attacks have warned of the potential blowback for years.
In 2004, Robert A. Pape, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago warned of the negative consequences of an over reliance on drone technology in a Foreign Affairs commentary. “Decapitating the enemy has a seductive logic. It exploits the United States’ advantage in precision air power; it promises to win wars in just days, with few casualties among friendly forces and enemy civilians; and it delays committing large numbers of ground troops until they can be welcomed as liberators rather than conquerors. But decapitation strategies have never been effective, and the advent of precision weaponry has not made them any more so.”
According to counterinsurgency experts David Kilcullen and Andrew Exum, the strategy of predator drone strikes in Pakistan fails on all counts by creating a siege mentality among Pakistan’s civilian population, “exciting visceral opposition across a broad spectrum of Pakistani opinion,” while actually being only a “tactic,” masquerading as a “strategy,” which only “encourages people in the tribal areas to see the drone attacks as a continuation of [British] colonial-era policies.”
Kilcullen and Exum explain the ill-logic of the U.S. Predator campaign. “Imagine, for example, that burglars move into a neighborhood. If the police were to start blowing up people’s houses from the air, would this convince homeowners to rise up against the burglars? Wouldn’t it be more likely to turn the whole population against the police? And if their neighbors wanted to turn the burglars in, how would they do that exactly? Yet this is the same basic logic underlying the drone war.”
Drone attacks and targeted assassinations have already opened a Pandora’s box of legal demons for the United States that will someday have to be faced. On February 14, 2010 the Washington Post reported on the gory details of how the administration had come to deal with the inflammatory legal issue of jailing terror suspects by choosing to kill, rather than capture those it deemed terrorists. But, in the ten days following the failed terror attack in New York, instead of pausing to reconsider the consequences of such draconian tactics, the U.S. responded by threatening Pakistan with a direct U.S. military “boots-on-the-ground” expansion while accelerating pilotless attacks in the tribal area of North Waziristan even further, firing 18 missiles on May 10, alone.
That the Obama administration continues to believe its response to the “almost” Taliban attack in New York will “soften up” Pakistan’s Taliban after 9 years of softening, is a bad omen for America. Having already discarded the “benefit of the law,” for our own safety’s sake, it will only be a matter of time before the devil comes knocking again.
Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, a husband and wife team, began their experience in Afghanistan when they were the first American journalists to acquire permission to enter behind Soviet lines in 1981 for CBS News and produced a documentary, Afghanistan Between Three Worlds, for PBS. In 1983 they returned to Kabul with Harvard Negotiation project director Roger Fisher for ABC Nightline and contributed to the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. They continued to research, write and lecture about the long-term run-up that led to the US invasion of Afghanistan. They are featured in an award winning documentary by Samira Goetschel. Titled, Our own Private Bin Laden which traces the creation of the Osama bin Laden mythology in Afghanistan and how that mythology has been used to maintain the “war on terror” approach of the Bush administration. Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story published by City Lights, January 2009 chronicles their three-decade-focus on Afghanistan and the media. Their next book Crossing Zero The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire will be published February, 2011.
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Simon Says:
Aye, Fitzgerald-Gould you’ve properly understood the game. What we really want is Obama’s soul. If he allows the death of enough humans innocent of blood, we have him. Then we can mend, and bend the world to our heart’s desire. And that is – to be rid of the lot of you. Kipling had it right awhile back with Kim on the Grand Trunk road. High tech is always vulnerable to low tech. Geeks of the world rise up. Get a conscience.
lmlewis Says:
I wish more people remembered that quote from “A Man for All Seasons.” It’s so apropos to discussions of due process for terrorists.
To eliminate due process for a ‘terrorist’, someone has to first determine that a suspect is ‘guilty’ of being a terrorist, without due process. But, the whole purpose of due process is to avoid the condemnation of innocent people due to ignorance, political pressures or expediency. And, as Sir Thomas More points out in the play, once someone has that kind of power, what’s to keep them from using it against you and me?
In fact, 300 years earlier King John had abused his powers so egregiously that two dozen powerful barons had forced him to sign the Magna Carta, formalizing the right of citizens to due process. But, no military equivalent of the rebel barons exists today to check over-reaching by a U.S. President.
camusrebel Says:
well said Imlewis. This guy supposedly plants a non-bomb(wrong fertilizer and firecrackers) after 5 monthes training in Pakistan?
Oh, and he was also in contact with that dastardly New Mexican Imam who just so happens to also be ministering to crotch bomber (who was put on a plane by a well dressed chap who said to the gate person questioning no passport,”we do this all the time”
AND…..wait for it……….the Ft. Hood guy. You remember, Magic-pistols Pete. The guy who, while surrounded by the best trained killers this planet has ever known, kills 12 and wounds 31!!!! All by himself!!!! With only a couple sidearms!!!! Lets not forget that all the cable news channels were for the first several hours talking about 2 or 3 gunmen. Remember? Where, oh where are the eyewitness testimonys? Security video? Cell phone pictures?
Come on people. IT IS ALL COMPLETE BULLSHIT. Just like nine eleven, this entire war on terror is one hundred percent fabrication.
The purpose of the drone attacks that are indiscriminately raining death on thousands of women, children, grandparents is to CREATE A POPULATION THAT HATES US SO MUCH, THEY WANT REVENGE. Voila…now you have yourself some “terrorists”.
That and good old target practice. When they bring that show to a theatre near you they want it to be in perfect operating condition.
ZicaTanka Says:
@Fitzgerald and Gould:
Thanks for sharing, but I still can’t get myself to buy this story’s incompetency line. Like whoa, they’re so dumb and we’re so smart.
How about finding and writing about actionable illegality and criminality and not relying on an insult to the war machine’s intelligence to bring any more justice or change than an ineffective “I told you so” falling no where near their ever richer and more powerful ears?
Maybe you’re saying more than some others, but I still don’t buy it.
remo Says:
imagine if the drones were striking pennsylvania. washington suburbs or Nantucket. There would be no talk of ‘law’ on that sacred ground. No moot car bomb in kARACHI would do.
If you could turn all this around.
Discussion of the law is all we have to struggle with this war machine running above and outside of it? it seems so. Quite a fait accompli.
Speaking of LAW, anyone out there know where a little white-with-blue-stripe twin engine jet with VH-LAW on the engine cowl could come from? or be going to?
Kingfisher Says:
I’m reading this book about drones and robots by P.W. Singer called Wired For War: The Robotics Revolution And Conflict In The 21st Century. This book is awesome! So freaking cool, its unreal some of the stuff that can be done. Drones are just the tip of the iceberg. I highly recommend this book. It gets the Kingfisher seal of approval.
Kingfisher Says:
“Speaking of LAW, anyone out there know where a little white-with-blue-stripe twin engine jet with VH-LAW on the engine cowl could come from? or be going to?”
Its the Illuminati coming for you, nemo!
camusrebel Says:
hurray for the fisher-bitch, he is in love with drones, isn’t that nice.
Little fascist punk, ohhhh ripping children apart is soooo freakin cool!
When beautiful ol grandma’s get obliterated w/zero warning by a soulless automaton retard with a joystick 4,000 miles away…AWESOME
Its unreal what my fists would do to your face if my prayers were ever answered and we could meet, you think it was wonderful what your masters did to Rachel Corrie….I got some bulldozing for you inhuman scum.
ZicaTanka Says:
@remo: We can talk about criminality and start naming names of perps or we can discuss camusrebel’s last, uncool and unhelpful, comment.
ZicaTanka Says:
Let’s all carry our copy of the Conservative with Sibel’s pic on the cover down to the Justice Department steps and make some noise.
Ishmael Says:
Here’s the actual clip from the film. I use it a lot as well. Proper credit to Robert Bolt for writing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=WMqReTJkjjg
I alternate it or include it with this one from Judgement At Nuremburg, The Verdict:
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=N3BwK51YFgQ
We have been sold a bill of goods with the claim that we are spreading “Democracy” to other lands. How can we make this claim with any semblance of truth if we deny or advocate the denial of simple individual rights to people solely on the basis of their religion. If we believe in Democracy and the Rule of Law, then we MUST SHOW that everyone, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Agnostic or anyone else is equal before the law. We don’t. The wealthy have one law where no defense is necessary. We have the other law where no defense is possible. Meanwhile, our military wargames future wars against the poor as we fight the current ones against the poor of the Mideast. At the same time, we have our own war here against the poor and middle class whose sole purpose is to provide cannon fodder to feed the lance. So I leave you with this video. Sandy Denny and Fotheringay doing “Banks Of The Nile”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=6i7hs2HEFLg
Some things never change.
JamesLaffrey Says:
Returning to the article by Fitzgerald and Gould …
I agree with a couple of strong comments already posted. Mine is similar:
F & G have the point of view that what our criminal-infested government does is “illogical.” And they end with the assumption that “the Obama administration continues to believe its response to the ‘almost’ Taliban attack in New York will ‘soften up’ Pakistan’s Taliban after 9 years of softening,…”
That is all wrongheaded. Please, F & G, try to see the logic in what they are doing. They are not stupid. They are criminals being directed by supreme criminals. You should look at what they’ve done and what they are doing as mostly successful from their point of view. Then, you can raise your analysis to a sufficient and useful level.
After you gain a proper worldview, you won’t spin your wheels in the “illogic” of what leaders do. You’ll understand what they’re doing. Only at that point can you become really useful in our effort to defeat them.
Again, I offer some help:
http://www.EqualPartyUSA.org
remo Says:
@zica.its a fairly solid effort of feeling described for sure.I cannot say I disagree with its intention entirely. Drone technology being sung of in such lipid form doesn’t fill me with love for those who hold it. not that that would worry them.
Though I would insist on a referee.That might be the difference between us.
This is an old war. There is plenty enough hate to go round and the rebel killing rage illustrates the point- represents the exact result drone attacks are having on those loosing their families up there in the hills. strategists know this. drone murder in Pakistan will ferment retaliatory attack back home with mother. There is a reason for that. Thats why 911 was done. to ferment revenge. Behavioral economics. Program traders. drone ‘pilots’. Fresh kill.
Anyway.the law is the disappointment in all of this. Predator/reaper guys don’t give a hoot for the law, because the law just can’t keep up[so far]. Bush taught them and us that. No court in the land can try any of this stuff, because ‘it’ has learned how to confuse the law and ‘the law’ struggles, a baby in the nests of thieves. Cannibals actually. And where the law could apply, there will lie a pardon. .Or states secret. or an assassination.
And the next election. toot toot.
VH-LAW. what is it?
ZicaTanka Says:
@remo: I’m not sure where you’re going with this. Joining a militia? Finding the value in adolescent tough guy talk.
You’re sounding a little like those in power who justify going outside the law with their tactics against their enemies.
Back to the quote at the beginning of the article.
All’s I’m saying is let’s go after the criminals for their crimes, not for their supposed lack of logic or intelligence.
And why the cryptic airplane story? Why don’t you make a suggestion?
camusrebel Says:
I’m a fledgling rock star. I sing and paly harmonica with some friends and I need a lot of practice, so….last night I went out to work on my craft at a Karaoke place. In the process I got fairly drunk. Am I apologizing for my “adolescent tough guy talk”. No, not really, more like explaining it.
For those taking me to task for my temporary lack of decorum, does that reprimand indicate you are comfortable with KF talking about how cool and neato kazeeto he thinks these flying killer robots are?
His enthusiasm for wanton indiscriminate mass murder from the air is sickening to me. As was his glee in the way Rachel Corrie was murdered. Do you all share his grotesque joy in evil done? If so, I would also like to punch you in the face, repeatedly, until your nose bone comes out the back of your skull and the remaining bloody pulp could not be recognized by your own mother, but that’s just me blowing off steam.
I am carrying a lot of anger recently. I have family living on the Gulf and their future looks more horrific every day.
Of course juvenile comments about kicking some idiots ass anonymously made on line never further an intelligent discussion, I am fully aware of that. But, damn, it sure helps vent some of the rage.
ZicaTanka Says:
@camusrebel:
Hey, I got nothing against the harmonica. Please don’t kill me. I’ve been guilty of commenting drunk here too, but don’t think of this place as my dumping ground.
I think you’re reading a lot more into both of KF’s comments:
1) He called Corrie a fool, or something to that effect. He wasn’t gleeful, but he was shamefully disrespectful. I said so at the time.
2) He said the drone technology was cool. He didn’t say it was cool to use it to kill grandmothers. It’s disrespectful how he gets off on your kind of reaction and that he probably said that as bait.
I’m sorry to hear about your family and your anger.
ZicaTanka Says:
And I would like an apology for your threat of violence against me and for even mentioning my mother, you jackass.
(Grrr… If I don’t get one, well I’d like to… Grrr…. I have problems too… Grrr….)
camusrebel Says:
Thanks ZT. You are right, a fisher needs his bait and I have mostly ignored his provocations. Not proud of dumping here but in its rarity I feel some dispensation is not asking too much.
I find nothing cool in technology that kills. Cool technology would be the repressed zero-point field stuff that can produce clean free energy to everyone on the planet. When we eliminate the energy corporations, after the entire gulf is dead, we will be much closer to getting such cool technology to our beleagured world. I believe SOME good can and will come from this unmitigated, horrific catastrophe. Entire paradigms will shift tectonicly and capitalism itself will be at least neutered.
Kingfisher Says:
hahahaha! Rachel Corrie! Again?….really? You are obsessed, CR.
You know its interesting, the Israeli bulldozers are now unmanned robots controlled by remote. I’m not kidding.
Hezbollah has robots and drones now too, pretty good ones actually.
Rachel Corrie should have sent a robot instead of herself.
KF
camusrebel Says:
sometimes it is the person who does not get angry who has a problem.
Often in insane times the sane man looks crazy and the crazy sane.
ZicTanka I do not believe you share a “grotesque joy in evil done” therefore I was not threatening you nor ever mentioned dear sweet Mrs. Tanka.
That being said I do not wholly refute that I can behave like a jackass at times and will attempt to refrain doing so here. Peace.
Also Zic, a small matter of clarification for the record, I had not seen your 10:56 before I poated my 11: 16
remo Says:
@Zica.To be clear. go after them for their crimes.Yes please. The only way through is trial by law for crimes done not militia no not the adolescent bit either. will have to clean up my writing if thats what you got out of it. pointing out the law seems a bit tied up at the moment. very busy. Unable to cope with complexities confronting it obviously. As if it has forgotten what it is here for. Cases don’t reach court! the cryptic airplane landed at an airfield near me and I am asking anyone to identify the VH-LAW marking. thats all.
ZicaTanka Says:
@camusrebel: I missed the “you all” in your “mother won’t recognize you” bit. I thought you were being specific to me and that’s why I called you a jackass. Thanks for clarifying and peace.
@remo: I agree with you about the current state of our “justice” system. Is there something unusual about a plane landing in an airfield near you? According to this wikipedia entry for aircraft registration – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_registration – it looks like the plane might be from Australia.
True Oil Says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Kingfisher
This large species feeds on crabs, fish, and frogs, caught in the typical kingfisher way by a dive from a perch. The number of these birds appears to have declined, possibly as a result of pesticides.
——
Thought I’d clear up what seems to be a somewhat confusing reference to what Kingfisher is.
The Giant African Kingfisher is actually a bird and EATS frogs.
remo Says:
at zico. we can call it our current state agreement on Justice.[CSAJ]
2 I am keeping my eyes out for international terrorists .
3 What makes you say australia ?
The kingfisher is a beautiful bird. It shimmers green and platho blue. It has a haunting and beautiful call., lonely but very clear. It carries an echo bound up in every note, so that it calls you back to the earth, and the poisons it it., back to the water , and the poisons in it. to the wicked witch of the west, and the poison in it.
edit_mommies Says:
“masquerading as a “strategy,””
emphasis on a widely supported need for predator relationships. Thank you Sibel Edmonds.
ZicaTanka Says:
@remo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_registration#List_of_countries.2Fregions_and_their_registration_prefixes_and_patterns
remo Says:
@zt
yp.
thanks.
Simon Says:
While this site awaits Sibel’s return, it is not a long shot to tie our self-righteous efforts in Afghanistan with what we do right here at home. As a trained biologist, I consider the testing we normally do before introducing biological controls. It is a multi million dollar minimum over twelve year effort in most cases before something like the fungus is placed on U.S. soil. Which reminds me of my cousin-in-law who was injured over in Malaysia fighting pirates. He came from a sleepy town in Indiana, where schools are closing and WalMarts are growing. His name among his buddies was ‘Dead Meat. Man they took out slant eyes, ragheads, and gooks wherever they could. The pirates in Malaysia, part of Chinese expansion plans, are armed with speed boats and a single 50 Millimeter gun. They leave the U.S. floating barges in the dust, but the U.S. has four man teams that come ashore covertly and take out the enemy. This cousin-in-law lost sight in one eye and injured his back, but as soon as he could he was going back as a trainer. What actually happened was that he threw a white phosphorus grenade into the pirate lair just as a pirate was emerging. The grenade went off. When ‘Dead Meat’ came to, his buddies had dragged him back to safety. Which reminds me of a local expedition I made recently:
Hand grenades
I had learned from a former employee that in nearby Perry, Fl was the largest manufacturer of hand grenades. Nobody in Tallahassee knows of this company, and since Perry is a redneck town with 17 churches; it is not the sort of place that most from Tallahassee visit. I decided to check on this, and see what I could learn. Still dressed in cowboy hat, and farm clothes I would fit right in. Entering town, a white PT cruiser had this bumper sticker, ‘if you don’t like what marines do, get in front of them’. I went into the local sheriff’s office, got a map, and directions – poor but adequate to head 9 miles south of town into the middle of the swamp on Puckett Rd. Just as I was approaching Martin Electronics, the 4-o-clock shift was getting out. I drove in behind a shuttle bus, and then headed back toward the old dilapidated buildings widely spaced on about thirty acres. Only one warehouse off to the right looked the least modern. Interesting, I mused, judging by the number of cars that were leaving, fifty people were regularly employed. Must be to deflect aerial surveillance. At that point I decided I had better go back and look for a main office near the gate. I parked by the most modern looking building across from the gate house. A middle aged gentleman was crossing toward the guard house. I politely asked him where I could get an application for employment. He said gruffly, “Where are you parked?” I answered, “right there”, and pointed to my truck. He said, “How did you get past the guard – visitors park over there outside the gate?” I smiled and said I wouldn’t do it again. He introduced me to the guard who was just relaxing from directing all the off shift traffic. He was a big fellow, ex-military of some sort. I apologized, saying I hoped he wouldn’t get in trouble for missing my entrance. He gave me an application and I left.
If you scroll down below you can see what Martin Electronics does. I have it on good authority from one who had security clearance to the plant that white phosphorus grenades are made there. I know from a soldier in Malyasia, that they use WP grenades on pirate assaults.
Chemring Group PLC, along with its subsidiaries, is engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of energetic material products and countermeasures. It has two operating divisions: Energetics and Countermeasures. The Energetics division includes three businesses: Pyrotechnics, Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and Munitions. Pyrotechnics includes signals and illumination devices and payloads; cartridge/propellant actuated devices, and pyrotechnic devices for satellite launch and deployment. Its EOD business includes explosive ordnance disposal equipment; demilitarisation services, and improvised explosive device (IED) detection equipment. Its Munitions business includes ammunition, missile components, propellants, warheads, fuzes and energetic materials. The Countermeasures division provides expendable countermeasures. In November 25, 2009, it acquired Hi-Shear Technology Corporation. On January 19, 2010, it announced the conditional acquisition of The Allied Defense Group, Inc.
LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) – British military consumables maker Chemring Group Plc said on Tuesday it would buy ammunition and fuse maker Martin Electronics Inc (MEI) for $70 million, its second U.S. pyrotechnics purchase in a month.
Chemring, which makes countermeasures for use on land, at sea and in the air, and ammunition and explosives, said it was placing 2.67 million new shares at 2,250 pence apiece to fund the MEI deal and also pay for its May 27 purchase of Scot Inc for $40 million.
Its shares were down 1.9 percent at 2,277 pence at 0800 GMT.
Chief Executive David Price said MEI meant Chemring would have 6 percent of the $1.9 billion U.S. market for pyrotechnics and munitions components, “a substantial platform” for growth.
Price said he had a pipeline of further acquisition opportunities but would likely remain within a policy of spending 100 million pounds ($197 million) in any 12 months.
Chemring also posted a 17 percent rise in underlying first-half profit to 23.6 million pounds, on revenue from continuing operations up 41 percent to 150 million in the six months to end-April.
Price said he was confident of meeting analysts’ full-year forecasts and that MEI, like Scot, would be earnings enhancing before exceptional items in its 2008-09 year.
MEI made an underlying pretax profit of $4.2 million in 2007, on turnover up a third to $25.3 million. Its order book has swollen to $60 million on orders for 40 millimetre grenades. (Reporting by Dan Lalor; editing by Sue Thomas)
http://www.martin-electronics.com/
The No. 77 Grenade was a British white phosphorus grenade used during the Second World War. The No. 77 was introduced in 1943 and consisted of 8 ounces of white phosphorus, an impact fuse and a tin casing. It was intended for laying down smoke screens and as a signaling device. The grenade was also very effective as an anti-personnel and incendiary weapon.
Once the grenade exploded, the contents (i.e. the white phosphorus) would scatter and ignite as soon as they touched the air. This made the grenade extremely dangerous — hence its usefulness in combat.
When the war had ended, many of the grenades had become dangerous, due to the corroding of the tin plating. In 1948 the grenade was determined to be obsolete and all were destroyed to minimize the danger they could have caused.
However, these were produced and used in Canada until the 1950s, for the quality and manufacturing of them was better than found in Britain.
The M15 White Phosphorous grenade is a bursting type grenade used for signaling, screening, and incendiary purposes. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, 27 December 1988
WP use is legal for purposes such as illumination and obscuring smoke, and the Chemical Weapons Convention does not list WP in its schedules of chemical weapons.
The March 2005 edition of the U.S. Army magazine Field Artillery , contained an article on using white phosphorus as an “effective munition” for flushing out insurgents during the Fallujah attack of November 2004:
“WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE (High Explosive) Rounds. We fired ‘shake and bake’ missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out.”
On November 30, 2005, General Peter Pace defended use of WP, declaring that WP munitions were a “legitimate tool of the military”, used to illuminate targets and create smokescreens, and that there were better weapons for killing people:
It is well within the law of war to use those weapons as they’re being used, for marking and for screening… A bullet goes through skin even faster than white phosphorus does”.
On June 22, 2007New York Times correspondent Michael R. Gordon was interviewed on National Public Radio in a story called “Baquba Residents Displaced by Insurgents” by Melissa Block and Michele Norris. In this interview, Gordon was asked about civilian casualties in Baquba, Iraq. He responded by saying “Yeah, there have been civilian casualties. I was just talking to our photographer and he had seen people who are hurt by phosphorus shells.” The photographer was not identified in the interview and the report was not corroborated.
ZicaTanka Says:
Here is an Italian documentary that discusses the use of WP in Fallujah
Simon, why did you go to Martin Electronics? Did you get the job?
Simon Says:
@ZicaTanka This is a public forum so trolls are allowed to participate and all can review what is written. I have nothing to hide. I went to investigate, because I am against war and killing of innocents. I did not plan to seek employment at Martin but wanted a plausible cover. Obtaining an application was a plausible cover. The more deeply disturbing aspect was the infiltration of local churches to create a warrior cult. Even if you take Jesus seriously, there is no place in the New Testament that advocates violence. Some have mistakenly cited overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers as evidence that Jesus used violence – wrong. Maybe he drove the cattle out with a prod. That’s the way you move cattle. Just a holy look at a moneychanger would be enough to drive them out.
ZicaTanka Says:
@Simon:
“…judging by the number of cars that were leaving, fifty people were regularly employed. Must be to deflect aerial surveillance.”
Could you add some stepping stones for me?
Simon Says:
@ZicaTanka My bad – grammar that is. Then the cars were one shift from one entrance. Are there other shifts, other access points? I don’t know. It was a one time visit, but for a plant to generate $100 million a year, then I would suspect there is a lot more than meets the eye – referring to the conspiracy thread in the next discussion after this post. Actually those were notes based on real fact for the following short story:
The business plan for Martin Electronics depended upon a poorly educated, racially biased, working class. Churches in the rural southern town of Perry, Florida acted as the primary control mechanism. The company qualified under the Military Secrets Act to prevent anyone using Google Earth from reading the sign at their entrance. The complex located on thirty acres appeared as a ramshackle array of old outbuildings. The above ground warehouses had the latest shielding from any kind of tomography or satellite surveillance. Just a small weapons manufacturer in a sleepy southern town was the image Martin sought to project.
CHG group in London had recently acquired ownership. BAE had done the same with the HAARP weapons technology. The Brits had a hundred year plan to reign in their errant colony and bring her to her knees. Meanwhile, Martin Electronics made hand grenades. They made white phosphorus hand grenades. They were the largest producer in the U.S. with contracts totaling $100 million annually.
Seth was seriously pissed off that this kind of corruption existed so close to his hometown. He determined to do something about it in a manner consistent with his unorthodox thinking. Dressed as a field hand in old Carhartts, cotton tee shirt, and a cowboy hat, he began his preparations. Stealth mentality required a quiet mind and inconspicuous clothes. A dose of healthy sweat would add reality to the illusion.
At a farm near Monticello, he started pulling weeds around leeks and harvesting the last of the carrots. By one-o-clock with temperatures around 90, he was developing a healthy sweat. Across the field he saw a recognizable figure with her dreads beneath a scarf, dressed in black, walking with someone over by the squash. Seth moved up the leek rows behind some trees and along the edge of the field toward a stand of triticale that he had planted. He carefully cut one of the nearly ripe heads to show her.
He stood some 800 yards from Barbara, the statewide small farms coordinator and some tall, white male.
As they moved along the row, he headed down toward them, always keeping the male blocking Barbara’s view of his approach. Arriving, he stood quietly unnoticed while they discussed squash borers and squash bugs.
Looking up, Barbara saw Seth, “How did you get here?”
Seth replied, “I have the power.”
“Neil, this is Seth. He is a biologist and Ag expert. Neil is an entomologist with the USDA.”
“Howdy, I’ve been telling everyone I can get to listen that the solution to insects is rock dust. Phil Callahan, an entomologist like yourself, came up with the idea. Insects see in the infrared and target plants accordingly.”
Neil said, “That’s true. In fact organic farmers are requesting a silver sheen plastic for weed control so that insects won’t see just the vegetable plant in a field. The plastic reflecting infrared confuses them. There may be something to what you say.”
After awhile Seth left them to head down to Perry. He knew that most people functioned much like a deaf man. The newly deaf read lips, but do not realize that they have converted over to visual mode when facing hearing loss. A poorly understood sensory organ in the hippocampus allowed spatial orientation, but also recognition of anything with a low level electromagnetic field. Often attributed to divine providence, much of what passed as accident avoidance was simply the operation of this sensing mechanism. Seth would employ that and a refined sense of timing to penetrate the apparent innocuous security of Martin Electronics.
A white PT Cruiser passed Seth upon his entry into the outskirts of Perry. It’s bumper sticker read, “Don’t like what marines do, walk ahead of them.” Seth located the sheriff’s office in the county courthouse. A young woman just out of high school and her feller were the only two in the office.
“Howdy,” Seth said, “I’m from Tallahassee and don’t know my way around. I’d like directions and a map.” He carefully matched his southern accent to theirs to put them at ease.
The girl produced a map and Seth asked her how to get to that hand grenade place. She said, “You mean Martin?”
The young fellow chimed in with something that sounded like ‘Fuck it’, but was really Puckett.
Looking at the map, Seth said, “I guess I can take 221 down there.”
“Oh, that’s Jefferson. Just go round the corner, and head that way.” She pointed south. “I ain’t much good with directions.”
“You did good, Ma’am,” Seth said, “Thank you.” as he headed out the door.
He drove the nine miles south through reclaimed swamp a little under the speed limit. Just as he was about to give up, he saw a line of cars pulling out. Getting closer, he saw it was the end of a shift at 4-o-clock. He pulled in behind a shuttle bus as the security guard was busy directing traffic leaving Martin Electronics. When the shuttle turned off, Seth continued on. The place did not look like much with buildings like small shacks scattered far apart and a few warehouse type buildings. He decided there was no big modern building like he expected for a $100 million a year business. Must be part of the low profile he thought. He turned around, approached a modest brick one story building across from the gate and parked. A gentleman was crossing to the guard house. Seth raised his voice, “Excuse me. Do you know where I can get an application?”
The gentleman looked like retired CIA. “Where are you parked?” he asked suspiciously.
“Right there,” Seth pointed to his truck.
“How’d you get past the guard? Visitors park outside the gate.”
“Sorry, I won’t do it again.” He followed the CIA guy to the guard who was just sitting down from the traffic rush. “Hope I didn’t get you in trouble getting past you like that. I just want an application. The guard, an ex-military type, pulled open a drawer and offered Seth a standard application form. CHG Group was the only significant information that he noted.
“Thanks,” Seth grinned.
The guard smiled back, “No problem. You want to fill it out here or take it with you?”
“I’ll take it with me.” Seth left and as he passed through the gate, thought, “Man, with security like that a terrorist could get in here easy.”
Camouflage works two ways. Few in Tallahassee knew about Martin and their low profile. Few knew about Seth and his low profile.
mei edmonds Says:
I wish many people remeber this.