To the Iraqis killed by burning fuel, it probably makes no difference if the Pentagon calls it napalm, Mark 77 or Dubya’s Morning Dew.

To Bush administration officials, the name seems to be the only way of snaking out of yet another one. When U.S. Marines admitted using napalm against Iraqi targets, the Pentagon dismissed the reports as untrue, claiming all of their napalm had been destroyed. They did not mention Mark 77 firebombs, which were being used, and whose composition is simply a new variation of napalm’s that gives identical results. A Pentagon spokesperson says that had reporters asked about firebombs in general, they’d have admitted their use.

The U.S. refused to sign a 1980 UN treaty banning the napalming of civilian targets—which they did a lot of in Vietnam—and are one of the few countries still using such concoctions. “The generals love napalm,” said Marine Air Group 11 commander Col. Randolph Alles. “It has a big psychological effect.”

» Scott Saxon