Rules of War

All military forces, land, air, and sea, are restricted as to the type of weapons and explosives they may employ. Military forces may not use arms, projectiles, or other materials calculated to cause unnecessary suffering, such as weapons that leave fragments of glass and plastic in the body. The United Nations has condemned thermal NUCLEAR WEAPONS because of their propensity to inflict unnecessary suffering and their inability to discriminate between combatants and noncombatants or military and nonmilitary targets.

The use of poisons, poisoned weapons, and poisonous gases by any branch of the armed forces is flatly prohibited, as is the use of bacteriological materials and devices that spread disease. However, U.S. tacticians used incendiary weapons, such as napalm, and chemical herbicides, such as Agent Orange, when enemy forces concealed themselves in a jungle or forest. Several countries have objected to the use of chemical and incendiary weapons even for such limited purposes.