November 7, 2005
This morning, Wednesday, November 9, 2005 on the BBC News website, under the title US 'uses incendiary arms' in Iraq I could still read: Italian
state TV, Rai, has broadcast a documentary accusing the US military of
using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in the Iraqi city of
Falluja.
Rai says this amounts to the illegal use of chemical arms, though the bombs are considered incendiary devices.
Eyewitnesses and ex-US soldiers say the weapon was used in built-up areas in the insurgent-held city.
The US military denies this, but admits using white phosphorus bombs in Iraq to illuminate battlefields.
Yesterday I wrote on why the BBC NEWS is wrong
when (in its article: "though the bombs are considered incendiary
devices" and with an email to me: "White Phosphorous is not a chemical
weapon") it denies that the white phosphorus is a chemical weapon.
According
to international law, any chemical used to harm or kill people or
animals is considered a chemical weapon. In the words of Peter Kaiser
(Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons):"Any
chemical that is used against humans or against animals that causes
harm or death through the toxic properties of the chemical, ARE
considered chemical weapons and as long as the purpose is to cause harm
- that is prohibited behaviour." (You can listen to his words directly by following this link and click the "Play" under the photo on the right at the bottom of the page) The BBC NEWS article goes on"The US military denies this, but admits using white phosphorus bombs in Iraq to illuminate battlefields." The US Government had already denied the claims in the past. In Did the U.S. Use "Illegal" Weapons in Fallujah? Media allegations claim the U.S. used outlawed weapons during combat in Iraq the US Department of State writes:"Finally,
some news accounts have claimed that U.S. forces have used "outlawed"
phosphorus shells in Fallujah. Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. U.S.
forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination
purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at
night, not at enemy fighters.
There is a great deal of
misinformation feeding on itself about U.S. forces allegedly using
"outlawed" weapons in Fallujah. The facts are that U.S. forces are not
using any illegal weapons in Fallujah or anywhere else in Iraq." (Created: 09 Dec 2004 Updated: 27 Jan 2005)
Obviously
nobody would expect the truth about war crimes and mass murders coming
from those accused of committing such crimes against humanity. Nobody
but the BBC and most of the media. Obviously everybody would expect
independent and honest information to be sceptical towards military and
governmental sources and to investigate, investigate, investigate.
Everybody but the BBC and most of the media.
They do not
believe independent journalism. They do not trust independent sources.
They do not see their job as discovering the truth, investigate,
questioning the official version. They have sold their souls for a
brilliant career and – as Noam Chomsky has recently said - "to make
sure they are respectable enough to be invited to the right dinner
parties."
OK, here it’s the challenge! If the BBC (and most of
the media) trust only military sources, then a military source they’ll
have. From US Army's "Field Artillery Magazine":9.
Munitions. The munitions we brought to this fight were 155-mm
highexplosive (HE) M107 (short-range) and M795 (long-range) rounds,
illumination and white phosphorous (WP, M110 and M825), with
point-detonating (PD), delay, time and variable-time (VT) fuzes. (…)
White Phosphorous. WP 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. (…) We used improved WP for
screening missions when HC smoke would have been more effective and
saved our WP for lethal missions. (…) SOURCE: THE
FIGHT FOR FALLUJAH - TF 2-2 IN FSE AAR: Indirect Fires in the Battle of
Fallujah By Captain James T. Cobb, First Lieutenant Christopher A.
LaCour and Sergeant First Class William H. Hight" More about the SOURCE: Captain
James T. (Tom) Cobb has been assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Field
Artillery (1-6 FA), 1st Infantry Division, and served as the Fire
Support Officer (FSO) for Task Force 2d Battalion, 2d Infantry, (TF 2-2
IN) in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) II, including during the Battle of
Fallujah. He also deployed with Kosovo Force (KFOR) 4B.
First
Lieutenant Christopher A. LaCour, assigned to 1-6 FA, has been the
Targeting Officer for TF 2-2 IN in OIF II, including during the Battle
of Fallujah. Also in OIF II, he was a Platoon Leader for 2/C/1-6 FA
and, previously, a Fire Direction Officer in the same battery.
Sergeant
First Class William H. Hight, also assigned to 1-6 FA, has been TF 2-2
IN’s Fire Support NCO since September 2003, deploying in OIF II and
fighting in the Battle of Fallujah. He also deployed to Bosnia as part
of the Implementation Force (IFOR) and to Kosovo as part of KFOR 4B.
Here it’s what Darrin Mortenson of the North County Times wrote in the april 2004 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. (from VIOLENCE SUBSIDES FOR MARINES IN
FALLUJAH by DARRIN MORTENSON, North County Times, Saturday, April 10,
2004)
The silence and the lies of the mainstream media
have resulted in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Iraq war
has started with lies and with lies it’s been continuing since. We
shall never forget the words used at the Nazi criminals’ trials:"To
initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international
crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other
war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of
the whole." - Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the
Trial of German Major War Criminals - Nuremberg, Germany 1946 Now, it’s up to us…
Gabriele Zamparini
Thanks to Mark Kraft for sending me important information used for this article.
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