Blogcheck: Nov. 28, 2005

A year ago, when the U.S. military denied using chemical weapons in the Fallujah offensive, the Pentagon said white phosphorus (WP) was used only to illuminate the enemy’s position. So when DAILY KOS this month unearthed an article from the Army’s Field Artillery magazine in which Fallujah vets described WP “‘shake and bake’ missions”–to flush the enemy out of trenches and spider holes–the lefty megablog crowed, “Let’s see them deny this s___ now.” The Pentagon last week admitted that it used WP against insurgents but not against civilians, and said it therefore violated no chemical-weapons treaties. KOS ceded the technicality but continued to question “the U.S.’s moral standing in this war.”