Use of White Phosphorous Confirmed

The U.S. forces in Iraq acknowledged today that they had used white phosphorous as "an incendiary weapon" in the assault of Falluja in 2004. Previously they had claimed only to use white phosphorous as a smokescreen. While the use against insurgents does not necessarily make it a chemical weapon (CW) banned under international law, the possibility that it was used in targeting civilians would. And despite the caveats that it was used only against insurgents and not a CW, it is still a nasty way to attack. As the Guardian describes:
white phosphorous "burns down to the bone in contact with skin". Sounds like a chemical weapon to me.

Col. Venable, quoted in the article, admitted:

"Yes, [white phosphorous] was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. When you have enemy forces that are in covered positions that your high explosive artillery rounds are not having an impact on, and you wish to get them out of those positions, one technique is to fire a white phosphorous round into the position: the combined effects of the fire and smoke - and in some cases the terror brought about by the explosion on the ground - will drive them out of the holes so you can kill them with high explosives"