Napalm is no longer manufactured.
It is not a gas.
It's basically a blend of polystyrene & gasoline. You can make your own by melting styrofoam cups into gasoline. (DO NOT try this at home!)
The trademark was, and I believe still is, owned by Dow Chemical or one of it's subsidaries and they haven't manufactured it since the late '60s (early '70s?).
The bad publicity and a public boycott worked quite well, thank you.
For the media to be using the term "Napalm", when they really mean incindiary device allows the Pentagon some time to plausibly deny using it... Because they aren't, and will have the newspapers giving more inches to retractions than reporting on the BLU-82, the real deal.
Quick clip from the Scotsman via blogworld: http://www.sternfannetwork.com/forum/showthread/t-6502.html [...] Officially called the BLU-82, the bomb was designed during the Vietnam war to clear helicopter landing zones in thick jungle, but has since been used as a psychological terror weapon to break enemy resistance at key points of the battlefield.
Eleven were used to devastating effect during the 1991 Gulf war, with one attack alone killing an estimated 4,500 Iraqi troops. US Special Force troops are the only units equipped with the bombs and they co-ordinate their attacks with leaflet drops and propaganda broadcasts to induce enemy troops to desert or surrender.
The tactic worked spectacularly well in Kuwait, where thousands of Iraqis surrendered rather than risk being on the receiving end.
According to one British Army expert: "Within the blast effect radius of the BLU-82, lethality to personnel is 100 per cent" - which is military speak for saying anyone caught by the explosion dies.
The weapons are a combination of warheads, which first explode and spread a fine kerosene vapour into the atmosphere. A secondary explosion then ignites the fuel vapour, creating a massive pressure wave. Anyone caught in the conflagration is incinerated and the blast wave sucks out oxygen behind it, creating a vacuum that ruptures lungs.
"Personnel near the ignition point are obliterated," added the expert. "Those on the fringes are likely to suffer internal injuries - burst ear drums, crushed organs, ruptured lungs, severe concussion and possibly blindness."
No confirmation has emerged from the Pentagon of where the BLU-82s have been used, but they are "wide area" rather than precision weapons so cannot be used near civilian population areas or Northern Alliance lines. [...]
Napalm's current replacement is basically a giant propane/kerosene bomb. Burns fast, does the same thing to the human organism that napalm did without any of the toxic jelly mess, and as an added bonus, is super efficient at sucking the oxygen out of the area in which it's ignited.
If you don't crisp... you suffocate
Nice shit!
Leigh
----- Original Message ----- From: joanna bujes To: lbo Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 10:31 PM Subject: [lbo-talk] napalm in Iraq?
Nov 28 2004
By Paul Gilfeather Political Editor
US troops are secretly using outlawed napalm gas to wipe out remaining insurgents in and around Fallujah.
News that President George W. Bush has sanctioned the use of napalm, a deadly cocktail of polystyrene and jet fuel banned by the United Nations in 1980, will stun governments around the world.
And last night Tony Blair was dragged into the row as furious Labour MPs demanded he face the Commons over it. Reports claim that innocent civilians have died in napalm attacks, which turn victims into human fireballs as the gel bonds flames to flesh.
Outraged critics have also demanded that Mr Blair threatens to withdraw British troops from Iraq unless the US abandons one of the world's most reviled weapons. Halifax Labour MP Alice Mahon said: "I am calling on Mr Blair to make an emergency statement to the Commons to explain why this is happening. It begs the question: 'Did we know about this hideous weapon's use in Iraq?'"
Since the American assault on Fallujah there have been reports of "melted" corpses, which appeared to have napalm injuries.
Last August the US was forced to admit using the gas in Iraq.
America, which didn't ratify the treaty, is the only country in the world still using the weapon.
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