The Bush administration used white phosphorous, an unlawful incendiary weapon, against civilians in Fallujah Nov. 2004, days after his reelection, burning them alive, BBC and The Guardian report. The Bush administration first denied the use, later admitted they had used it for "illumination purposes", and finally that they used it against "enemy combatants".  Fallujah was documented full of innocent civilians.

"It was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," spokesman Lt Col Barry Venable told the BBC (...) The US state department had earlier said white phosphorus had been used in Falluja very sparingly, for illumination purposes. (...) Col Venable denied that white phosphorous constituted a banned chemical weapon. Washington is not a signatory to an international treaty restricting the use of the substance against civilians"

The Guardian comments on this statement:  "The US (...) knows that its use as a weapon is illegal. In the Battle Book, published by the US Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, my correspondent David Traynier found the following sentence: "It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets."

(...) a declassified document from the US department of defense, dated April 1991, and titled "Possible use of phosphorus chemical". "During the brutal crackdown that followed the Kurdish uprising," it alleges, "Iraqi forces loyal to President Saddam may have possibly used white phosphorus (WP) chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels and the populace in Erbil ... and Dohuk provinces, Iraq. The WP chemical was delivered by artillery rounds and helicopter gunships ... These reports of possible WP chemical weapon attacks spread quickly ... hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled from these two areas." 

"Before attacking the city, the marines stopped men "of fighting age" from leaving. Many women and children stayed: the Guardian's correspondent estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 civilians were left".
   

"White phosphorus is highly flammable and ignites on contact with oxygen. If the substance hits someone's body, it will burn until deprived of oxygen.

Globalsecurity.org, a defence website, says: "Phosphorus burns on the skin are deep and painful... These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears... it could burn right down to the bone.", BBC writes in below article.

The effect of a white phosphorous attack.
The photo is from Israel's attack on Gaza. <