Further confirmation of US white phosphorus use in Fallujah
Wayne Madsen, posted by Styve | 20.11.2007 12:32 | Anti-militarism | World
November 19, 2007 --
WMR has learned from U.S. military sources who participated in the 2005 "Siege of Fallujah" that U.S. troops used deadly "white phosphorus" (WP) on civilian targets. The Pentagon apparently used a loophole in the Chemical Weapons Convention that does not list white phosphorus in its annex as a chemical weapons. However, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against civilians or civilian areas. The convention defines an incendiary weapon as "any weapon or munition which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons through the action of flame, heat, or combination thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target." White phosphorus meets the definition of an incendiary weapon. It is the Napalm of the 21st century.
WMR has learned from U.S. military sources who participated in the 2005 "Siege of Fallujah" that U.S. troops used deadly "white phosphorus" (WP) on civilian targets. The Pentagon apparently used a loophole in the Chemical Weapons Convention that does not list white phosphorus in its annex as a chemical weapons. However, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against civilians or civilian areas. The convention defines an incendiary weapon as "any weapon or munition which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons through the action of flame, heat, or combination thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target." White phosphorus meets the definition of an incendiary weapon. It is the Napalm of the 21st century.
Some of the U.S. military personnel involved in the WP chemical attacks on Fallujah are now reportedly suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).
On November 7, 2005, WMR reported, "The editor has seen gruesome evidence gathered by the Italian RAI TV network documenting America's use of deadly and horrific white phosphorus weapons, including grenades, mortars, and artillery shells, on civilians in Iraq. Weaponized white phosphorus, also called "Willy Peter," literally melts skin upon contact. However, the WP munitions used in Iraq have apparently been modified so that most of a targets' clothing is not burned but skin and bones are horribly melted. The results are fully clothed macabre corpses -- the intention of which is to frighten civilians and insurgents alike as an extreme form of psychological warfare operations (psyops). The editor also saw evidence that women and children were victims of WP weapons. Age and gender could be readily determined based on the clothing worn by the victims."
On January 18, 2006, WMR reported the link between the assassination of the number two man in charge of SISMI Italian military intelligence Nicola Calipari and the attempted killing of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who Calipari had succeeded freeing from hostage takers in Fallujah. The two were targeted by the U.S. military in a purposeful assassination on March 4, 2005 while they were en route to Baghdad International Airport after Sgrena was freed by her Iraqi insurgent captors. Both Italians had reportedly been given information by the insurgents about U.S. war atrocities committed in Iraq, including the use of WP against civilians, and other sensitive information that was embarrassing to the Bush administration.
Calipari's cell phone conversations to Rome had been monitored by the National Security Agency (NSA) and details of the explosive information from Fallujah was known to senior levels of the Bush administration. It was Calipari's cell phone signal that pinpointed his vehicle's location to NSA, thus resulting in the ambush by U.S. troops. Adrienne Kinne, a NSA Arabic linguist at the Regional Signals Intelligence Operations Center (RSOC) at Fort Gordon, Georgia, reported that a Baghdad hotel targeted by the U.S. military in Iraq also housed journalists. She reported that her supervisor revealed the target was to be bombed regardless of the presence of the journalists.
On October 25, 2007, an Italian court dismissed charges against the New York National Guardsman charged with killing Calipari.
Wayne Madsen, posted by Styve
