Having previously denied reports that they had used white phosphorus, a substance which causes painful burns to human skin and can damage human tissue, in military operations, the Pentagon is now issuing statements to the contrary. Wikinews reports that "American military officials have now admitted to using it [white phosphorus] as a weapon in Fallujah... as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants, [but claim that]... 'It was
not used against civilians.'"
But this too is inaccurate. On November 14, 2004, UPI
reported on Red Cross estimates of "at least 800 civilians"
killed in Fallujah "so far." Then, "the Red Cross official said
they had received several reports from refugees that the military had
dropped cluster bombs in Fallujah, and used a
phosphorous weapon that caused severe burns."
If it did, they army would have violated the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons (Protocol III), which disallows the use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations, and media reports convict the military of as much. Combined with the trend of detainee torture and abuse, the aforementioned transgression is just another drop in the bucket.
SOME CORRECTIONS:LM
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Article comments
1 - Fran Friel
Sad state of affairs. How are we to oppose such things being used by other nations if we're so insane to use them ourselves. Yet another blow to America's international credibility. We've taken out Sadam for gasing the Kurds, but we're there dropping burn to the bone phosphous weapons. Just doesn't make sense - did they think no one would notice?
Fran
Yada Feast