- Jan 20, 2001
- 10,737
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SFGATE
(excerpts)
Officer: Son, why are you speeding?
Me: I wasn't speeding . . . I was exceeding the posted speed limit . . . there's a difference.
Officer: Get out of the car . . . I'm going to whack you a couple of times with my baton . . . but it's not a violation of your civil liberties . . . there's a difference.
(excerpts)
"We napalmed both those (bridge) approaches," said Col. Randolph Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Unfortunately, there were people there because you could see them in the (cockpit) video.
"They were Iraqi soldiers there. It's no great way to die," Alles added.
"The generals love napalm," said Alles. "It has a big psychological effect."
During the war, Pentagon officials denied napalm was being used, saying the Pentagon's stockpile had been destroyed two years ago. Napalm, a thick, burning combination of polystyrene, gasoline and benzene, was used against people and villages in Vietnam. Its use drew widespread criticism.
According to the Union-Tribune report, the Marines dropped "Mark 77 firebombs," which use kerosene-based jet fuel and a smaller concentration of benzene. Marine spokesman Col. Michael Daily acknowledged the incendiary devices were "remarkably similar" to napalm weapons, but have less impact on the environment.
"You can call it something other than napalm, but it's napalm," said John Pike, defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a nonpartisan research group in Alexandria, Va.
Officer: Son, why are you speeding?
Me: I wasn't speeding . . . I was exceeding the posted speed limit . . . there's a difference.
Officer: Get out of the car . . . I'm going to whack you a couple of times with my baton . . . but it's not a violation of your civil liberties . . . there's a difference.