June 16,2008:
British AH-64 helicopter gunships
in Afghanistan recently used a new weapon; a Hellfire missile with a thermobaric warhead.
British commanders ordered the thermobaric Hellfires two years ago. But it took
nearly that long for the politicians and military bureaucrats to do their
thing, and get the missiles to the troops.
Thermobaric
warheads operate by dispersing an inflammable mist, then igniting it. This
produces an explosion that kills by
sucking the oxygen out of the surrounding areas, as well as creating a powerful
blast. Fired into a building, the thermobaric explosion would kill more people
inside, and do less damage to adjacent structures. These warheads work better
on caves than any other kind of weapon. Thermobaric warheads have been used
with great success in shoulder fired rocket launchers. U.S. Troops have been
using these for several years, as well as the Hellfire missiles so equipped.
British
politicians were fearful of media backlash. Some European media have demonized
thermobaric weapons, depicting them as inhumane. Exactly how a thermobaric
explosive is less humane than any other weapon is never investigated with much
vigor. Apparently thermobaric is bad, if
only because the Americans use them. Actually, it was the Russians who first
developed small thermobaric warheads. Since the Europeans consider the Russians
a bunch of barbarians (a centuries old tradition, which goes a long way to
explain why the Russians are so leery of Western Europeans), this all somehow fits
together.
Europeans
have a long history of trying to outlaw "inhumane" weapons. One of the earliest
efforts was against the cross bow. However, this terrible weapon (which enabled
a poorly trained commoner to easily bring down an armored aristocrat on horseback),
could be used against Moslems, and other non-Christians. The thermobaric
Hellfire will mostly be used to kill Moslems.