Evidence of UK forces using White Phosphorus in Afghanistan?
By Ian Sinclair at Feb 25, 2009 |
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On the Monday 23 February 2009 edition of BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/worldtonight/) there was a debate on whether there should be a possible arms embargo on Israel and Palestinian forces.
In the course of the discussion, Colonel Richard Kemp, Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan in 2003. now retired, said the following:
“…when, for example, we [the British armed forces] are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course we have to use aerial weapons like artillery and White Phosphorus, and we do use those weapons, even in areas that do have a certain amount of civilian population…”
Not only does this seem to the first mention of British forces using White Phosphorus in Afghanistan, but by noting the weapon is used "in areas that do have a certain amount of civilian population" Kemp inadvertently raises very important issues of legality.
Ian Sinclair



By Ishaq, Arif at Feb 27, 2009 02:44 AM
That's a bright intuition!
But what is actually interesting to me is your concern over the "legality" of these actions. You say, The statement "raises very important issues of legality". How about morality? How about human rights? Unless you see those as part of the legality issue.
I'm not trying to criticize you. I'm more than 100% sure that you are a concerned person. Just that this keeps popping up everywhere, so I ask: What exactly is legal? And who defines that legality?
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