US Army Admits Use of White Phosphorus as Weapon
Daily Kos (reposted by DB) | 10.11.2005 12:39 | Anti-militarism | Globalisation | Health | World
The claim by the US Government that White Phosphorus was used "only for illumination" at Fallujah has been pre-emptively debunked by the US Army.
US Army Admits Use of White Phosphorus as Weapon
by Steven D
Wed Nov 09, 2005 at 02:48:58 PM PDT
(From the diaries. Let's see them deny this shit now -- kos)
That's right. Not from Al Jazheera, or Al Arabiya, but the US fucking Army, in their very own publication, from the (WARNING: pdf file) March edition of Field Artillery Magazine in an article entitled "The Fight for Fallujah":
http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/Previous_Editions/05/mar-apr05/PAGE24-30.pdf
"WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out."
* Steven D's diary :: ::
http://steven-d.dailykos.com/
In other words the claim by the US Government that White Phosphorus was used only for illumination at Fallujah:
http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive_Index/Illegal_Weapons_in_Fallujah.html
...had been pre-emptively debunked by the Army. Indeed, the article goes on to make clear that soldiers would have liked to have saved more WP rounds to use for "lethal missions."
However, as Mark Kraft, an emailer to Eric Alterman's blog, Altercation, points out today:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/
...the Field Artillery Magazine article fails to inform its audience that"
". . . there is no way you can use white phosphorus like that without forming a deadly chemical cloud that kills everything within a tenth of a mile in all directions from where it hits. Obviously, the effect of such deadly clouds weren't just psychological in nature."
Furthermore, (from a link provided by Mr. Kraft, thank you very much):
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/11/military/iraq/19_30_504_10_04.txt
... testimony about the use of these "shake and bake" techniques of WP usage are detailed in an account by an embedded Journalist regarding the April 2004 attacks on Fallujah by the Marines:
Fighting from a distance
After pounding parts of the city for days, many Marines say the recent combat escalated into more than they had planned for, but not more than they could handle.
"It's a war," said Cpl. Nicholas Bogert, 22, of Morris, N.Y.
Bogert is a mortar team leader who directed his men to fire round after round of high explosives and white phosphorus charges into the city Friday and Saturday, never knowing what the targets were or what damage the resulting explosions caused.
"We had all this SASO (security and stabilization operations) training back home," he said. "And then this turns into a real goddamned war."
Just as his team started to eat a breakfast of packaged rations Saturday, Bogert got a fire mission over the radio.
"Stand by!" he yelled, sending Lance Cpls. Jonathan Alexander and Jonathan Millikin scrambling to their feet.
Shake 'n' bake
Joking and rousting each other like boys just seconds before, the men were instantly all business. With fellow Marines between them and their targets, a lot was at stake.
Bogert received coordinates of the target, plotted them on a map and called out the settings for the gun they call "Sarah Lee."
Millikin, 21, from Reno, Nev., and Alexander, 23, from Wetumpka, Ala., quickly made the adjustments. They are good at what they do.
"Gun up!" Millikin yelled when they finished a few seconds later, grabbing a white phosphorus round from a nearby ammo can and holding it over the tube.
"Fire!" Bogert yelled, as Millikin dropped it.
The boom kicked dust around the pit as they ran through the drill again and again, sending a mixture of burning white phosphorus and high explosives they call "shake 'n' bake" into a cluster of buildings where insurgents have been spotted all week.
They say they have never seen what they've hit, nor did they talk about it as they dusted off their breakfast and continued their hilarious routine of personal insults and name-calling.
So who you gonna believe? The US Department of Defense or the US Army and the US Marine Corps? Decisions, decisions . . .
by Steven D
Wed Nov 09, 2005 at 02:48:58 PM PDT
(From the diaries. Let's see them deny this shit now -- kos)
That's right. Not from Al Jazheera, or Al Arabiya, but the US fucking Army, in their very own publication, from the (WARNING: pdf file) March edition of Field Artillery Magazine in an article entitled "The Fight for Fallujah":
http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/Previous_Editions/05/mar-apr05/PAGE24-30.pdf "WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out."
* Steven D's diary :: ::
http://steven-d.dailykos.com/ In other words the claim by the US Government that White Phosphorus was used only for illumination at Fallujah:
http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive_Index/Illegal_Weapons_in_Fallujah.html ...had been pre-emptively debunked by the Army. Indeed, the article goes on to make clear that soldiers would have liked to have saved more WP rounds to use for "lethal missions."
However, as Mark Kraft, an emailer to Eric Alterman's blog, Altercation, points out today:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/ ...the Field Artillery Magazine article fails to inform its audience that"
". . . there is no way you can use white phosphorus like that without forming a deadly chemical cloud that kills everything within a tenth of a mile in all directions from where it hits. Obviously, the effect of such deadly clouds weren't just psychological in nature."
Furthermore, (from a link provided by Mr. Kraft, thank you very much):
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/11/military/iraq/19_30_504_10_04.txt ... testimony about the use of these "shake and bake" techniques of WP usage are detailed in an account by an embedded Journalist regarding the April 2004 attacks on Fallujah by the Marines:
Fighting from a distance
After pounding parts of the city for days, many Marines say the recent combat escalated into more than they had planned for, but not more than they could handle.
"It's a war," said Cpl. Nicholas Bogert, 22, of Morris, N.Y.
Bogert is a mortar team leader who directed his men to fire round after round of high explosives and white phosphorus charges into the city Friday and Saturday, never knowing what the targets were or what damage the resulting explosions caused.
"We had all this SASO (security and stabilization operations) training back home," he said. "And then this turns into a real goddamned war."
Just as his team started to eat a breakfast of packaged rations Saturday, Bogert got a fire mission over the radio.
"Stand by!" he yelled, sending Lance Cpls. Jonathan Alexander and Jonathan Millikin scrambling to their feet.
Shake 'n' bake
Joking and rousting each other like boys just seconds before, the men were instantly all business. With fellow Marines between them and their targets, a lot was at stake.
Bogert received coordinates of the target, plotted them on a map and called out the settings for the gun they call "Sarah Lee."
Millikin, 21, from Reno, Nev., and Alexander, 23, from Wetumpka, Ala., quickly made the adjustments. They are good at what they do.
"Gun up!" Millikin yelled when they finished a few seconds later, grabbing a white phosphorus round from a nearby ammo can and holding it over the tube.
"Fire!" Bogert yelled, as Millikin dropped it.
The boom kicked dust around the pit as they ran through the drill again and again, sending a mixture of burning white phosphorus and high explosives they call "shake 'n' bake" into a cluster of buildings where insurgents have been spotted all week.
They say they have never seen what they've hit, nor did they talk about it as they dusted off their breakfast and continued their hilarious routine of personal insults and name-calling.
So who you gonna believe? The US Department of Defense or the US Army and the US Marine Corps? Decisions, decisions . . .
Daily Kos (reposted by DB)
Homepage:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/9/164137/436
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
Admits ?
10.11.2005 14:18
WP is used by just about every army in the world. Yes it's awful stuff but so is a .45
Grown Up
what happens when people bypass the Mass Media?
10.11.2005 15:06
The DVD's actually contained information like the above article, detailing the atrocities that had been committed against muslims across the recent years. How do I know- because THAT is what the racist psychopath that is describing the "police investigation" is careful to state, if you listen to him in various interviews.
So we have a situation, IDENTICAL TO THAT WHICH EXISTED IN NAZI GERMANY, where those that attempt to get details of the atrocities committed by the state widely known, are directly accused of being terrorists.
THINK ABOUT THIS. In the UK now, if you actively communicate details of Blair's atrocities to others, the police now consider you a terrorist, and will persue you as such.
The irony is that I first heard of this story via "whatreallyhappened"- ironic because the guy that runs the site promotes such distribution methods for bypassing the Mass Media, and yet he immediately fell for the Black Propaganda description of the DVD's as "terror tapes".
Of course, your regular NEW REICH goons here will seek to state that if the DVD's are as I described (or actually, as the police thug described), the people who produced them have nothing to fear. YEAH RIGHT!!! Being called "terrorist recruiters" all across the BBC, and being told that they are being ruthlessly persued, and if not murdered during that persuit, will have to prove their motives in reporting TRUE EVENTS to members of the public, if they are not to be locked up for decades, is what we ALL think of as a free society, isn't it.
The "white phosphorus" article above is excellent, but think for a moment of its significance. So, those of you here have an answer to Blair's New Reich goons who deny this particular atrocity in Fallujah (remember, the BBC immediately doctored its reporting on the issue to remove the term "chemical weapons"). However, Blair's goons apart, those of us here ALREADY represent the "converted".
Indymedia is created to be a "watering hole" where people ALREADY of a certain political outlook will come to drink. We already have a thirsting mind, and suppressing our curiosity would be counter-productive. However, the information we discover MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO DISSEMINATE MORE WIDELY, otherwise Blair is in very great danger of falling.
This is where reporting of the DVD story comes from. If we, in any way, attempt to take the message to those that normally rely on the Mass Media for ALL their information, the full weight of the state is activated in an EXTERMINATION move.
It is frequently asked why Hitler was able to get away with his atrocities unreported for so long. However, there is a simple answer. In the countries that supposedly opposed Nazi Germany, the Mass Media ruthlessly suppressed any attempt by jews or their supporters to expose the crimes of the Nazis. A jew that attempted to bypass the Mass Media, and inform others of evidence of Hitler's atrocities, literally became a TERRORIST in the eyes of the state.
1)people are horrified at the extent of the WAR CRIMES carried out against muslims
2)the Mass Media is observed minimising and dismissing these crimes as best it can
3)an idea is formulated to bypass the Mass Media, by producing documentary products on tape and DVD, and freely distributing such materials to people that otherwise have no other information access beyond the Mass Media
4)Blair's goons are made aware of this program
5)Blair instructs his high-ranking NEW REICH monsters in the police force to describe the DVD's as terrorist, imply the authors are terrorist, and imply that possession, manufacture and distribution are terrorist acts.
6)Blair's NEW REICH goons in the BBC, fresh from doctoring the article on the WarCrimes in Fallujah, are told to report the attempt to bypass their MONOPOLY CONTROL (for most people) of the "news" as a terrorist act by muslim extremists.
7)Blair instructs ranking "muslim" members of the NEW REICH to give interviews deploring the idea that normal muslims are exposed to the truth about the CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY carried out against muslims in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc, etc
8)The people behind the DVD's are raided and arrested in a blaze of publicity, to disappear for months into Blair's torture facilities.
9)Given that the DVD's are TOTALLY LEGAL, the police smash apart the lives of the authors and their families to find ANY OTHER GROUNDS to destroy them.
10)Any of the authors that are squeaky clean will probably be eventually released for now. They will need to be extraordinary people to survive such an ordeal, and still wish to fight on.
Personally, I think my speculation is too pessimistic for this stage of UK history. The state will settle for the blackening of their operation via the psy-ops of the BBC reporting (remember what the Mass Media did to the witness of the SAS shootings in Gibralter). The police goons are giving interviews carefully designed to terrify and discourage those in the muslim community that would seek to fight Blair with the truth.
REMEMBER- Indymedia safely exists (like similar sites) because those that come here are self-selecting. The Mass Media differs because it "broadcasts". Any attempt by genuine independent media to "broadcast" to people who would not normally hear their message will bring down the full force of the state on their heads. There was no freedom ANYWHERE to tell ordinary people of Hitler's death camps during WW2, and there is no freedom ANYWHERE to tell ordinary people of the horrific crimes that Blair has been directly responsible for.
Many of you deny this, thinking that because you are informed somehow, everyone else is also informed, but just happen not to care about the issues. This is naive in the extreme. The Mass Media exists because, for the vast majority of people, it is not just the dominating voice, but the ONLY voice. Those patting themselves on the back because they can now shoot down the 'holocaust deniers' over the 'white phosphorus' issue are really missing the point. No change has really occured. The same tiny proportion of people keep the same opinions for the same reasons. Intellectual satisfaction will NOT buy us a safer world.
It is the masses that empower Blair, and it is the masses that have to be significantly AND lastingly changed by our arguments. The places where this story is covered in "The Guardian" and "The Independent" don't even touch the masses, because of the self-selecting principle once again.
I'm afraid that for most people, unless a character in "Eastenders" is heard to say "that bastard Blair and his forces broke international law, and used chemical weapons in Iraq", they will be influenced exactly zero by the facts of the above article.
twilight
Just like DU
10.11.2005 15:18
But maybe they can get away with DU since it is radiological and not chemical?
anon
The bastard son of america does too
10.11.2005 19:27
IDF using phosphorus shells in populated areas
By Gideon Levy
The Israel Defense Forces has been using phosphorus shells in training exercises, a practice forbidden in inhabited areas under international law. Several weeks ago, four Bedouin goatherders were badly hurt by the detonation of an unexploded phosphorus shell they found near their home in the South Hebron Hills. Fadal Abu Aram, 17, died of his injuries several weeks later; Hani, 12, is still in serious condition at his family's shack in the village of Carmel; Mahmoud, 14, and Yusef, 24, were also injured by the explosion.
Amzi Bishara's conscience
Info
10.11.2005 19:52
anon
Admits
10.11.2005 20:58
Have you read the article? They're admitting to indiscriminate shelling with WP. That's not the same thing as aiming at enemy combatants with guns.
If the British Army admitted to deliberately shooting civilians with guns, that would likewise be a matter for enquiry and possible prosecution.
"WP is used by just about every army in the world. Yes it's awful stuff but so is a .45"
WP is used for illumination of nighttime battlefields by just about every army in the world. Using it for shelling a city without bothering about civilian casualties indiscriminately is quite unusual. It's the sort of thing our leaders now claim we invaded Iraq to put a stop to.
It's funny how rapidly the war apologists' indignation can shift gear. First we were called naive for being against our leaders' support of Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war. Then we were called naive for being against Our Ally Saddam's used of gas at Halabja. Then we were "pro-Saddam" for pointing out that it's just as bad when it's our side is performing the indiscriminate slaughter
Now that Saddam's in jail, we're just not "Grown Up" enough to see that melting the faces off of children is all just a routine part of national defense.
Do please make up your mind.
Russ
A Modest Proposal for "Grown Up"
10.11.2005 21:10
GrownUp should try holding a .45 in one hand and some White Phosphorus in the other. He'll soon find out the difference for himself empirically.
Kebz
What a load of bollocks
11.11.2005 09:06
No you don't. Hardly any of the regulars on Indymedia have a "thirsting mind" or any interest in what anyone other than themselves has got to say. Anyone who dissents is accused of being ignorant, a racist, a police officer, an MI5 agent (like they don't have anything better to do with their time)... And if more than one person happens to disagree with something, then it's obviously the work of one person with multiple identities.
Bullying is rife and calls for censorship abound. You're no different to everything you claim to despise.
FTB
Oh bless.
11.11.2005 10:50
Yes, if only more of us were more open-minded, we could see the wisdom in all your helpful comments:
"Bullying is rife..."
Bullying? You feel threatened by someone in Indymedia, while you're trolling anonymously?
Hahahahahahaha!
"...an MI5 agent (like they don't have anything better to do with their time)..."
Well we can all rest easy that YOU'RE not an MI5 agent then, since you obviously have nothing better to do with yours. :)
Hazel
...
11.11.2005 12:35
I'm not saying I'm right all time, just that there's very little point in trying to debate here because everyone's already made up their minds, despite claiming to be the only people smart enough to see through spin and self-interest.
For example, let's look at this post:
"Bullying? You feel threatened by someone in Indymedia, while you're trolling anonymously?
Hahahahahahaha!"
...especially the use of the word "trolling", which is wheeled out every time someone posts anything that veers away from the Indymedia creed. If you disagree, you're simply a hapless troll who's trying to stir up trouble.
As for the bullying, no, I don't feel threatened. But many people have stopped posting here because they get nothing but abuse for their troubles, often in co-ordinated attacks. I've lost count of the number of times I've been called a racist, a shit, a nazi, a fucking this that and whatever. I rarely stay longer than a day or two each month before I get tired of it all and bugger off for a bit.
"Well we can all rest easy that YOU'RE not an MI5 agent then, since you obviously have nothing better to do with yours. :)"
Well, actually I do. But if I don't do my job properly, there's no risk of people getting blown up, shot, deported, arrested etc etc.
FTB
Comment vs Debate
11.11.2005 13:35
Exactly. Indymedia isn't meant to be a discussion forum. There are lots of those around: urban75, etc.
It's meant to be a news reporting resource. The comments section is meant for corrections, clarifications, adding missing information, etc. There's no name registration here, no discussion threads, no user moderation, etc., because those are all good things to have on a discussion site, but that's not what Indymedia's meant for. That's also why good but non-news article postings which would have been interesting points for discussion get hidden.
I personally would like to see the comments moved one click away from the article ("click here to view comments") to end having pointless flamewars cluttering the article, but that hasn't happened here yet.
an IMCista
True, True
12.11.2005 23:30
Observer