The U.S. military uses the munition for smoke screens and to light up battlefields. Rights advocates object to its use near civilians because the chemical burns human skin.
I disagree. The main reason they’re banned is due to the high risk of starting uncontrolled fires, which pose a danger to innocents. This indiscriminate danger is a similarity they share with chemical and bio weapons, but can be mitigated with responsible usage. It’s not just “wp is bad”.
Additionally, smoke munitions that rely on WP could potentially be very useful even when not used in direct attack. It’s already present on the battlefield in a variety of forms. Tracer rounds are phosphorous. If you’ve ever seen a tank shoot out a smokescreen for cover, that’s phosphorous too. This would just be another delivery mechanism.
For all intents and purposes, white phosphorus is a chemical weapon that causes chemical burns which means it’s use is highly susceptible to facilitating war crimes, even unintentionally. It’s use should be banned from war.
I disagree. The main reason they’re banned is due to the high risk of starting uncontrolled fires, which pose a danger to innocents. This indiscriminate danger is a similarity they share with chemical and bio weapons, but can be mitigated with responsible usage. It’s not just “wp is bad”.
Additionally, smoke munitions that rely on WP could potentially be very useful even when not used in direct attack. It’s already present on the battlefield in a variety of forms. Tracer rounds are phosphorous. If you’ve ever seen a tank shoot out a smokescreen for cover, that’s phosphorous too. This would just be another delivery mechanism.
For all intents and purposes, white phosphorus is a chemical weapon that causes chemical burns which means it’s use is highly susceptible to facilitating war crimes, even unintentionally. It’s use should be banned from war.