Very long. We have no reason to want to help them. Were gonna drag our feet until the rest of the world decides we cant turn a blind eye to this type of warfare any more.
Honestly dont see that happening either unless some reporters do a big article on it and show peoples faces melting off though.
Eh, white phosphorus is more of a tweener of the "chemical" weapons that are abhorred. It's not mustard or sarin or VX gas. It's nasty, but it's more like napalm than poison.
There's no way that article is about white phosphorus. They're talking about actual nerve gas. White phosphorus just burns like mad and makes really good smoke bombs.
Well, only two people died, and no specific agent has been pegged, so...
The article does say phosphorus in it.
Erm, this article: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2...al-weapon?lite
"Doctors are describing the chemical weapon used as phosphorus that hits the nervous system and causes imbalance and loss of consciousness,”
regardless there will be no intervention for 2 dead rebels
unless Assad's regime unleashes a repeated and more widespread implementation of chemical weapons or hits a civilian site there will be no intervention; regardless of how McCain and Graham and the other Senate hawks squawk the country is quite sick of war, the military itself is quite sick of war, and the administration would view foreign intervention as a disastrous misuse of national attention + political capital with such an ambitious domestic agenda and only a single term left to achieve it
it's hard to explain exactly but simplified the presence of phosphorus is indicative of one of many nerve agents
actual white phosphorus as a weapon is different, though, the smoke it makes isn't particularly harmful (beyond, you know, being smoke), the reason it's frowned upon (not banned, like nerve agents are) for military use is that it's like... sticky, and burns hot as fuck, and does not stop burning until it's completely consumed or there's no oxygen for it whatsoever
so, like, they blow up a white phosphorus bomb, it looks like fireworks or something, except all the ash that rains down is still an extremely hot burning metal that will hit your skin and just burn right through it, and keep on burning inside
also as a smoke bomb it blocks infrared and shit as well as actual vision
that sounds... useful. and also scary as shit.
Yeah, it's nasty stuff used that way. And the U.S. may or may not have used it that way in Iraq. We most definitely used the smoke to clear out buildings and shit, though.
And Israel still occasionally blows them up over civilian areas of Palestinian territory.
I don't know how accurate the depiction I saw of it is, since it is a video game, but white phosphorous was used in the campaign of Spec Ops: The Line to pretty disturbing effect.
Its related because the soldier was fighting against Assad with the rebels.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/28/justic...html?hpt=hp_t2
Can someone please enlighten me on just exactly why an RPG is suddenly a WMD?Washington (CNN) -- A former U.S. soldier has been arrested and charged with illegally using a weapon on behalf of an al Qaeda-affiliated group in Syria.
Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix was arrested Tuesday night by the FBI at a hotel near Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. A Justice Department official tells CNN that FBI agents questioned Harroun at the hotel, then took him into custody.
Harroun appeared Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, and was charged in connection with his alleged use of a rocket-propelled grenade in Syria.
The law used to charge him states, "Any national of the United States who, without lawful authority, uses or threatens, attempts, or conspires to use a weapon of mass destruction outside of the U.S. shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or if death results, may be punished by death."
Harroun served with the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2003. He is not charged with targeting U.S. troops in Iraq.
The organization he allegedly fought with, al-Nusra Front, is one of several aliases used by the al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist organization. The organization claims responsibility for nearly 600 terrorist attacks in Syria, the Justice Department said.
An FBI affidavit says Harroun crossed into Syria in January 2013 and fought against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces. He posted photos and videos of himself on the Internet handling RPGs and other weapons, it said.
The Pentagon declined to comment on Harroun's arrest. However, "It's always a concern when terrorist networks in that part of the world and elsewhere seek to recruit Americans, whether they're in the military or not," spokesman George Little told CNN's Erin Burnett.
"I don't think this is a widespread phenomenon, and most of our people in this country -- and certainly most men and women in the military -- would not consider joining a terrorist network," Little added.
Ex-U.S. soldier charged with helping terrorists in Syria
Saudi native charged in New York with fighting for al Qaeda
You would think with all the civilians the U.S. has killed in comparison to the terrorists since we started this war, we would start putting up terrorist most wanted lists on our own commanders.
WP is nasty. in korea i met a guy while on loan to the ammo depot that had been involved in an incident involving the old style WP mortar rounds. they have to be stored upright; storing them horizontally causes some of the components of the round to separate, and they will cook off when moved. this fellow had dime-sized holes all up and down his arms (and he said his chest as well). not sure how close he was when the round went off; i think he'd probably say 'too fucking close.'
jesus. how deep were they?
it varied; the ones that were on his arms went through the layers of skin down to the fascia and were just scarred over. some were like the size of a pencil eraser, some were about dime sized and deep. usually you have the whole show and tell with scars when you get soldiers together. we all passed on this one, no one wanted to see any more. dude was really lucky to have gotten out with what he did.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...l-weapons.html
U.S. says Syria has used chemical weapons twice
U.S. intelligence has concluded “with some degree of varying confidence” that the Syrian government has twice used chemical weapons in its fierce civil war, the White House and other top administration officials said Thursday.
However, officials also said more definitive proof was needed and the U.S. was not ready to escalate its involvement in the troubled country. That response appeared to be an effort to bide time, given U.S. President Barack Obama’s repeated public assertions that Syria’s use of chemical weapons, or the transfer of its stockpiles to a terrorist group, would cross a “red line.”
The White House disclosed the new intelligence Thursday in letters to two senators, and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, travelling in Abu Dhabi, also discussed it with reporters.
“Our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically, the chemical agent sarin,” the White House said in its letter, which was signed by Obama’s legislative director, Miguel Rodriguez.
Shortly after the letters was made public, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Capitol Hill that there were two instances of chemical weapons use.
Hagel said the use of chemical weapons “violates every convention of warfare.”
It was not immediately clear what quantity of weapons might have been used, or when or what casualties might have resulted.
Ahmad Ramadan, a member of the Syrian National Coalition opposition group’s executive body, called the U.S. assertion an “important step” that should be followed by actual measures taken by the UN Security Council and Friends of Syria group.
Ramadan told The Associated Press by phone from Istanbul that the U.S. has a “moral duty” to act to prevent President Bashar al-Assad from using more chemical weapons.
'Game-changer'
Obama has said the use of chemical weapons would be a “game-changer” in the U.S. position on intervening in the Syrian civil war, and the letter to Congress reiterated that the use or transfer of such weapons in Syria was a “red line for the United States.” However, the letter also suggested a broad U.S. response was not imminent.
Rodriguez wrote that “because the president takes this issue so seriously, we have an obligation to fully investigate any and all evidence of chemical weapons use within Syria.”
The letter went to Republican Sens. John McCain, and Democrat Carl Levin.
The assessment, Rodriguez said, was based in part on “physiological samples.”
The letter also said the U.S. believes the use of chemical weapons “originated with the Assad regime.” That is consistent with the Obama administration’s assertion that the Syrian opposition does not have access to the country’s stockpiles.
A senior defence official cautioned that the White House letter was not an “automatic trigger” for policy decisions on the use of military force. The official alluded to past instances of policy decisions that were based on what turned out to be flawed intelligence, such as the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq after concluding that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons.
The official commented only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
McCain quoted from the letter in making his own comments to reporters on Capitol Hill.
“We just received a letter from the president in response to our question about whether Assad had used chemical weapons,” McCain said following a closed briefing with Kerry on Syria and North Korea.
U.S. commanders have laid out a range of possible options for military involvement in Syria. They have also made it clear that any U.S. action would likely be either with NATO backing or with a coalition of nations.
The military options could include establishing a no-fly zone or a secured area within Syria, launching airstrikes by drones and fighter jets, and sending in ground forces to secure chemical weapons supplies.
While Obama has called that a “red line” for taking some kind of further action to assist the rebels, administration officials say the intelligence is not solid enough to warrant such a move.
inb4 it has to be a large scale chemical weapons use for intervention
This is pretty intense
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22417482
Israeli rockets have hit a research centre near Damascus, Syria says.
Witnesses heard huge explosions near the Jamraya facility, which Western officials have suggested is involved in chemical weapons research.
Residents told the BBC that nearby military positions were also hit.
Israel has not confirmed the strike, but sources say it targeted weapons bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. It is the second suspected Israeli strike in two days.
On Friday Israeli aircraft hit a shipment of missiles in Syria, according to unnamed US and Israeli officials.
Israel has repeatedly said it would act if it felt advances weapons were being transferred to militant groups in the region, especially Hezbollah.
'Mild earthquake'
Heavy explosions shook Damascus overnight. Amateur footage posted online claimed to show the blasts at the Jamraya research centre.
Syrian state media said the attack showed that there was an organic link between Israel and the rebels.
"The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army," state TV said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Damascus-based journalist Alaa Ebrahim told the BBC it was "the biggest explosion" the city had seen since the conflict began two years ago.
He said residents living near Jamraya reported feeling a "mild earthquake" just before the blast, indicating that the rockets may have hit an underground facility.
He added that the Syrian army was likely to have suffered major casualties in the attack.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses in the area as saying they saw jets in the sky at the time of the explosions.
The Jamraya facility, designated by Syria as a scientific research centre "in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence", was also apparently hit in an Israeli air strike in January.
Israeli officials confirmed the strike, but insisted it had targeted trucks carrying missiles to Hezbollah.
After the latest attack, unnamed Western intelligence sources have again said the target was a weapons cache heading for Lebanon.
'Horrific reports'
The latest attacks come amid reports of massacres in a campaign of sectarian cleansing near the coastal region of central Syria.
Activists said that more than 100 people, including women and children, were killed in the Sunni village of al-Bayda and the nearby coastal town of Baniyas.
There was fighting in the area before al-Bayda was overrun by government forces and the Alawite shabiha militia on Thursday.
The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says there was a strong sectarian dimension to the reported actions.
Alawites, who make up about 10% of the Syrian population, have largely stayed loyal to Mr Assad.
The government said it had pushed back "terrorist groups" and restored security to the area.
The US said it was "appalled by the horrific reports" but that it did not foresee sending US troops to tackle Syria's civil war.
US President Barack Obama reaffirmed on Friday that clear evidence of chemical weapons would be a "game changer", but that any response would not be rushed.
However his administration is no longer ruling out supplying weapons to the rebels.
Syrian troops and opposition forces have been fighting around Damascus for months, but neither side has gained the upper hand.
More than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011.
Despite what you think of Assad, this is a sovereign nation.