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US Admits Phosphorous Used in Fallujah
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A
file photo of US soldiers in a raid on war-battered Fallujah.
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WASHINGTON,
November 16, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – After
consistent denial of the use of internationally banned weapons in
Iraq, the US Defense Department conceded to media reports of
bombarding the Iraqi resistance hotbed city of Fallujah with white
phosphorous.
"White
phosphorus is a conventional munition. It is not a chemical weapon.
They are not outlawed or illegal," Lieutenant-Colonel Barry
Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, was quoted by Agence France Presse
(AFP) as saying on Wednesday, November 16.
Italy's
state television RAI charged last Monday highly flammable munitions
were used against Iraqi resistance elements in Fallujah in November
2004.
The
RAI documentary, "Fallujah -- The Hidden Massacre", said the
US military used a kind of napalm and white phosphorus in the battle.
"We
use them primarily as obscurants, for smokescreens or target marking
in some cases. However, it is an incendiary weapon and may be used
against enemy combatants," the Pentagon official noted.
Mohamed
Tareq, a biologist in Fallujah, had told Britain's The Independent
newspaper that they found people dead with strange wounds and the
bodies burnt.
Demonstrators
in Italy protested outside the US embassy in downtown Rome Monday,
November 14, requesting international investigation into the shelling.
Not
Signatory
Almost
a year back, IslamOnline.net disclosed the use of chemical weapons
against Fallujah, which was categorically denied by the US in a
statement.
After
the airing of RAI channel documentary, the Americans sought another
means of defense; namely, Washington is not among the signatories of
international agreements banning white phosphorous.
White
phosphorous, a spontaneously flammable chemical used for battlefield
illumination, causes burning of skin and flesh in case contacting
human body until deprived of oxygen, according to the BBC.
The
use of incendiary weapons is prohibited for attacking civilians
according to Protocol III of Convention on Certain Conventional
Weapons. Protocol III is not signed by the US.
A
spokesman at the UK Ministry of Defense said the use of white
phosphorus was permitted in battle in cases where there were no
civilians near the target area!
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