11/29/2005

PHOSPHORUS TRUTH "HAS PREVAILED"

TV channel hails documentary on use of chemical arms in Iraq (ANSA)

- Rome, November 29 - An Italian TV channel which made headlines around the world with its exposure of America's use of white phosphorus in Iraq said on Tuesday that the truth of its claims had "prevailed" .

Roberto Morrione, chief editor of state broadcaster RAI's satellite news channel Rai News 24, said an editorial which appeared in the New York Times calling on America to stop using white phosphorus had "definitively sealed the validity of our documentary on what happened during the battle in Falluja." "After 20 days of denials and subsequent partial admissions by the Pentagon and after the doubts and criticism expressed by American experts on the use of white phosphorus against civilians, the truth revealed by Rai News 24 has prevailed," Morrione said .

On November 8, Rai News 24 aired the documentary Falluja, The Hidden Massacre which accused the US of using white phosphorus against insurgents and also civilians, including women and children, during its November 2004 battle for control of the Iraqi city .

It used witness accounts from residents and former American troops, as well as graphic footage and photographs to back its claims .

The 20-minute documentary was picked up by the global media and eventually forced the Pentagon into an admission that it had used white phosphorus in the city, which lies just to the west of Baghdad .

Washington had earlier denied the use of white phosphorus at all in Falluja .

The US rejected, however, the documentary's central claim that the indiscriminate use of the spontaneously flammable chemical - which is capable of burning and melting human skin - had led to numerous civilian deaths .

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said earlier this month that white phosphorus was used as an incendiary weapon against insurgent strongholds in Falluja .

"It was not used against civilians," he said .

Venable also stressed that white phosphorus was a "conventional munition" and that its use against military targets was not illegal .

"It is not a chemical weapon. It is not outlawed or illegal," he said .

A 1983 international treaty restricts the use of white phosphorus devices, banning their use against civilians or civilian objects. The US has signed the convention but the American Senate has yet to ratify the part covering incendiary devices .

NYT CALLS ON U.S. TO STOP USING WHITE PHOSPHORUS In its Tuesday editorial entitled Shake and Bake, the New York Times said that "white phosphorus has made an ugly comeback." "Italian television reported that American forces used it in Falluja last year against insurgents... a practice well known enough to have one of those unsettling military nicknames: 'shake and bake'." It said the accusations had "raised questions about how careful the military has been in avoiding civilian casualties" and "further tarnished America's credibility on international treaties and the rules of warfare" .

"The Pentagon says white phosphorus was never aimed at civilians, but there are lingering reports of civilian victims. The military can't say whether the reports are true and does not intend to investigate them, a decision we find difficult to comprehend. "Pentagon spokemen say the Army took 'extraordinary measures' to reduce civilian casualties but they cannot say what those measures were," it said .

The American daily observed that the US military's use of white phosphorus in urban settings like Falluja was "highly inappropriate at best" .

"Iraq, where winning over wary civilians is as critical as defeating armed insurgents, is no place to be using a weapon like this. "More broadly, American demands for counterproliferation efforts and international arms control ring a bit hollow when the United States refuses to give up white phosphorus, not to mention cluster bombs and land mines." The editorial also highlighted the fact that one of the crimes attributed to former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was the use of white phosphorus against Kurdish rebels and civilians in 1991 .

An Iraqi human rights activist who was interviewed in the Italian documentary said at a press conference in Rome last week that he wanted the United Nations to investigate the allegations .

Mohamad Tareq Al Deraji, the head of the human rights study centre in Falluja, said that he had put together a dossier on "American crimes in Falluja between November 7 and December 25, 2004" including the use of white phosphorus against civilians .

He said he would forward the dossier to the UN and other international organisations in the hope that they would launch an inquiry into the case .

American officials have claimed the Italian documentary is full of errors and exaggerations. They say that white phosphorus would have burned victims' clothing as well, arguing that the bodies shown in the film are still clothed and appear to be decomposed after lying in the sun for days .

Falluja suffered widespread destruction during the November 2004 offensive .

Up to 300,000 people were driven from the city during the US bombardment, which left some 50 American troops and an estimated 1,200 insurgents dead. The civilian death toll is not known .

Allegations that the US used "unusual" weapons in Falluja have been circulating ever since the time of the siege .

Three US soldiers who took part in the bombardment told an American military magazine earlier this year that white phosphorus was used to flush insurgents out .

"WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition," they told the March-April edition of Field Artillery .

An American embedded reporter, Darrin Mortenson, also said that he saw a US officer direct his men to "fire round after round of high explosives and white phosphorus charges into the city... never knowing what the targets were or what damage the resulting explosions caused." WHITE PHOSPHORUS ALSO USED AT NASSIRIYA Meanwhile, the Italian opposition has demanded to know whether Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government had known of the use of white phosphorus in the nearby city of Nassiriya, where Italian troops are currently based .
BBC reporter Adam Mynot said in an interview with Rai News 24 last week that US troops used the chemical in Nassiriya in April 2003 in their advance through Iraq .

The opposition has already urged the government - which is staunchly pro-US - to condemn the US administration for the use of white phosphorus .

Anti-war protesters and members of the opposition have also staged demonstrations in front of the US Embassy in Rome .

Italy has almost 3,000 troops serving in Iraq, mainly in and around Nassiriya .