While the U.S. government is so concerned about putative weapons of mass destruction held by other nations, it is by far the greatest purveyor and possessor of such weapons. It is, in reality, the only nation on earth that regularly uses such weapons against other nations and peoples. I have catalogued below some of this remarkable arsenal that has actually been used against the people of Iraq in both the First and Second Gulf War.
Weapon Description
BLU-82 (daisy cutter) Fuel-Air Explosives: cover 1000 feet long with blast pressures of 200 pounds per square inch (psi). The human body can endure 40 psi.
Napalm Bombs: contain a mixture of gasoline and benzene with aluminum or polystyrene as a thickener. The burning gel envelops large areas and does considerable damage to humans and the environment.
Rockeye II Mk 20: Cluster Bombs: spread hundreds of bomblets over an acre at high velocity causing considerable damage to any humans in the vicinity. One type referred to as “gut rippers” bounce when they hit the ground and explode at stomach level.
GBU-28 Superbomb: extreme high explosives.
DU Weapons: Ordinance lined with radioactive uranium to produce hardened projectiles. When such ordinance explodes, it releases particulates containing highly carcinogenic and radioactive Uranium with a half-life of millions of years.
Phosphorus Weapons (Willy Pete): Weapons containing white phosphorus and used as an incendiary device. It can burn skin and flesh on contact. This has been admittedly used during the attack on the city of Fallujah: a city that was essentially obliterated.
It is important to note that the United States, so persistent in its claims of moral righteousness, has refused to be a signatory of many international treaties and conventions designed to restrict or ban certain weapons from use. An example of such a treaty is Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons that bans the use of phosphorus containing incendiary devices. The U.S. government refused to sign this convention.
The use of such weapons not only demonstrates an extreme disregard for human life and human suffering, but also indicates the degree of cowardice demonstrated by the perpetrators of the employment of such a malevolent arsenal against an obviously defenseless government and people.
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