I'm told that US troops in Iraq commonly refer to Iraqis as "sand n*****s".

This right here should tell us whether or not there is any legitimate place for the word in our lexicon.

The fact that it is being used in reference to people who aren't Black, and specifically for the purpose of dehumanizing them to make them easier for us to kill, shows us that the word is being used, not to describe anyone's blackness, but to discribe the status the users of the word want to assign the group in question... that status being "less than human".

When words are used in such a way, they have a purpose... to marginalize and dehumanize the people being referred to in this way. And for that reason, they do have power. They have the power to promote hatred toward and descrimination against certain groups of people. And for this reason, they have no legitimate place in our lexicon. And I would say the same thing about words like "Jap", and all other words that are used in this way.