On Dec. 27, Israel attacked the Gaza Strip — a small coastal enclave abutting Israel and the very crowded home of 1.5 million Palestinians.
As of Jan., 1,080 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, 765 of them were civilians. An additional 5,100 Palestinians have been wounded. Thirteen Israelis have been killed. Three of them were civilians. An additional 80 Israelis have been wounded.
The disparity in the number of casualties is largely the result of each side’s relative military strength. Hamas, the militant group exercising semi-control of Gaza, is a sloppy gang of militants and terrorist dicktards. Its arsenal consists of guns and homemade rockets. If it were capable of killing more Israelis, it certainly would.
Israel, however, has one of the world’s largest, most technologically abundant militaries. Its arsenal includes tanks, advanced fighter jets, precision-guided bombs and missiles, a modern navy with submarines, and nuclear weapons. A vast majority of the Palestinian dead have been killed by conventional Israeli bombs, missiles and shrapnel. Nevertheless, much attention has been paid in recent days to Palestinian victims of white phosphorous weapons.
White phosphorous, or WP, is a man-made derivative of the chemical element phosphorous. Phosphorous is found on the periodic table of elements, nudged between silicon and sulphur. WP is most commonly used to make phosphoric acid, a key ingredient in chemical cleansers, fertilizers, and, um, Coca-Cola. Phosphoric acid is what gives Coke its tanginess.
Unfortunately, white phosphorous also contains chemical properties that make it very useful to a military. It burns very brightly, allowing illumination of battle areas at night. It also generates a lot of smoke, obscuring troop movements during the day. Packed in a bomb, grenade, or artillery shell, it’s a powerful incendiary, part of a weapon intended to set things on fire (as opposed to regular weapons, which destroy targets with explosions and flying metal).
WP incendiaries devices work by disbursing a cloud of white phosphorous dust, which then ignites at 86 degrees Farenheit. It won’t stop burning until its oxygen supply is cut-off.
When WP dust comes into contact with the human body (which is approximately 98.6 degrees Farenheit), it burns. And burns. And burns. It doesn’t stop until it digs all the way down to the bone. People killed or wounded by WP look like they’ve been dipped in acid. (more…)
After Iran’s nascent green revolution was forced from America’s collective consciousness by Gov. Mark Sanford’s public loss of virginity, Michael Jackson beating it, and Sarah Palin quitting to prove she’s no quitter, many of my friends were dismayed. Quite a few of them complained about how titillating news is always pushing important news out of the limelight.
