Deny, Deny, Deny, Deny, Deny, Admit

I mentioned the use of incendiary bombs in a column last week, and now the Pentagon has finally admitted that it has used these "white phosphorus" bombs as a weapon, and not just as they had claimed, as a "smokescreen" to obscure troop movements, etc. The irony of the word "smokescreen," is, unfortunately, quite rich.

US forces used 'chemical weapon' in Iraq

The Pentagon has admitted US forces used white phosphorus as "an incendiary weapon" during the assault last year on Fallujah. A Pentagon spokesman's comments last night appeared to contradict the US ambassador to London who said that American forces did not use white phosphorus as a weapon.

There's some debate about whether white phosphorus qualifies as a chemical weapon, though its effect -- basically burning skin instantly and right down to the bone -- is similar to that of many chemical munitions. There's no point in a semantical debate; these weapons burn people alive. In Fallujah, that included women and children.

And let me take this opportunity to add some thoughts about the dangerous moral position we're in today -- as exemplified by this admission. For context, here's a British cabinet official defending the use of incendiary bombs against people:

"And I think that, although white phosphorus is a brutal weapon, we need to remember that we were talking about some pretty brutal insurgents. These were the people who were hacking off hostages' heads with knives."

Let me state this as clearly and plainly as I can: As horrific and awful and criminal and immoral are the strategies and tactics of terrorists, our values require that we don't respond in kind. It's why we don't -- or didn't, until recently -- torture prisoners, be they insurgents, foreign soldiers, or those branded with the presidentially declared status of "enemy combatant."

It is simply not an acceptable defense for the United States of America to use the terrorists' tactics as justification for our own. The rule of law, due process, international agreements, fundamental human values ... we are letting these slip away, bit by bit. To once again use a phrase I hate, letting those values slip away are, indeed, a "victory" for the terrorists.

The evidence is everywhere. A few days ago, the national security advisor, Stephen Hadley, repeated the president's inaccurate statement that "we do not torture," but also managed to qualify that statement with the common subterfuge of the so-called "ticking time-bomb" scenario -- a favorite of those seeking to justify torture.

Though in the new, Orwell-tinged venacular of the Bush administration, it's no longer called torture. It's called "enhanced interrogation techniques."

What are they doing to our country?