Ariadne asked about the legal status of napalm use. Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on the subject.
Napalm was banned for use on civilian targets by a United Nations convention in 1980, but the U.S. did not sign the convention.
The U.S. "officially" destroyed its napalm arsenal in 1991, but "napalm like" bombs were used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
If I'm not mistaken, those "napalm-like" bombs are FAE - Fuel/Air Explosives - which can be read about here: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/fae.htm
ReplyDeleteand here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/gulf/jcs/960425/wa_2.htm
and succeeding pages.
They are "worse" in some ways than napalm, since the fuel aerolization produces a concussive effect.
Lurch
Lurch,
ReplyDeleteThese are called Mark 77 firebombs. Not sure if they're the exact same thing as FAE.
The "difference" between the stuff in Mark 77s and "napalm" is that the Mark 77 stuff is harder to put out.
Here's a pretty good article on how the Army tries to wriggle the terminology.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/08/1060145828249.html
Ah, good! So, it's a "new improved" product that has been jiggered and then re-labeled.
ReplyDeleteSort of like "compassionate conservatism."
Lurch
Compassionate napalm.
ReplyDelete