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Al Jazeera (English)
    Baghdad Burning Blog (by Riverbend, an Iraqi civilian girl)
            Dahr Jamail's Blog from Baghdad
                Imad Khadduri's blog "Free Iraq" (scroll down for English version)

Iraqi Civilian Deaths ... caused by Bush's unprovoked war

 

White Phosphorous: Chemical Weapon Used by U.S.
(Guardian Unlimited, November 17, 2005)
White phosphorus is a manufactured toxic and incendiary substance that catches fire when it reacts with oxygen. . . . Its military uses take advantage of its incendiary properties to provide smoke cover for troops, to identify targets (as a tracer) or to use it directly as an incendiary. . . . An account from US soldiers in the March 2005 issue of Field Artillery documents its use in "shake and bake" missions against insurgent positions in Falluja in November 2004, explaining how the white phosphorus would "flush out" enemy fighters who were then killed with high explosives. . . . The authors describe it as a "potent psychological weapon" against insurgents dug into trenches. Napalm-like white phosphorus, as military thinktank Global Security explains, can produce second or third degree burns on contact with skin that are "multiple, deep, and variable in size". It is said to burn to the bone.

Also see: Fallujah - the hidden massacre Photo gallery

The Pentagon has admitted white phosphorus was used at Falluja against insurgents. Protocol three of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCCW) prohibits its use against civilians and military targets located within a concentration of civilians, but the US has only ratified protocols one and two. . . . Pentagon officials maintain that white phosphorus is not banned by any treaty that the US has signed, and cites its use to "flush out" enemy fighters as consistent with the principle of proportionality governing the use of all weapons. . . . The charge that it was used in an area with a high civilian concentration (the city of Falluja) remains the central controversy, regardless of the legal issues. . . . Claims that civilians were found burned to the bone had swirled around Falluja since the fighting, but were this month taken up by a documentary on the Italian television channel RAI. One former US solider, interviewed by director Sigfrido Ranucci said he saw "the burned bodies of women and children".

[NOTE: Those "claims" are backed up with photos, some of which may be viewed via the "See also" link above. But be warned, these are very graphic pictures.]

posted by LoZo 7:21 PM