from an article here...
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/ne...rus-debate.htm
Also on Tuesday ---- after seeming to have the last word on the cover-up controversy last week when he said U.S. forces had used the chemical as a perfectly legal "incendiary weapon" against insurgents ---- Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable backtracked on that statement and denied the weapon was used to burn insurgents or civilians.
He said it was only used to drive enemy fighters out of their hiding places so they could be killed by other means.
"We do not use it as an incendiary weapon," said Venable, contradicting his earlier statements.
"But it has incendiary effects," he added.
In his rolling Texas drawl, Venable compared the use of white phosphorus in Fallujah to lawmen trapping "bad guys" in a Western film.
If the fugitives are holed up in a building and "you can't shoot 'em any other way," he said, "you set fire to the building and shoot 'em when they run out.
"That's how they (white phosphorus bombs) were used in Fallujah," Venable said.
Venable, even as he further parsed his previous statements on white phosphorus, blamed the controversy on inaccurate reporting, and mistakes made by government officials.
Yes, there was a stink about it at the time.