Chemical weapons used in Iraq

November 10, 2005

Rama Schneider
Among the many lies told us by the Bush administration in the run up to invading Iraq was one regarding that nation providing a home for militant religious fundamentalist such as Abu Musab Zarqawi. While that was false at the time the Bush administration's pitiful performance has made it a self fulfilling prophecy, and today we see Zarqawi and his followers slaughtering Iraqi civilians on a daily basis. The most extensive lies, however, were those dealing with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq ... nuclear, chemical and biological. The Bush administration has also achieved self fulfillment on at least two of those three: nuclear in the form of depleted uranium tipped munitions liberally used by our military, and now verified use of chemical munitions.

There can be no refuting the fact that white phosphorous shells were used as antipersonnel weapons last year by the US military in Fallujah. The magazine Field Artillery "is a bimonthly magazine published by the US Army Field Artillery, Fort Sill, Oklahoma". In The Fight for Fallujah (FA, Mar-Apr, '05) we read '[White Phosphorous] 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.' There is no doubt of any type.

What is white phosphorous? According to the US Center for Disease Control "White phosphorus is a waxy solid which burns easily and is used in chemical manufacturing and smoke munitions. Exposure to white phosphorus may cause burns and irritation, liver, kidney, heart, lung, or bone damage, and death. White phosphorus has been found in at least 77 of the 1,416 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)." In short it kills by exposure, and it kills by chemical (as opposed to heat or blast) means. When used as an antipersonnel weapon it is most definitely a lethal chemical weapon.

Recently an Italian public television station broadcast short documentary on this subject, and they've made an english version freely available on the internet ... click here. (I suggest a fast connection ... it's about 40mb.) I warn you ... some of the video is graphic in a very disturbing way, and the victims include infants and other civilians ... and the evidence of chemical caused death is plain.

Just how dehumanized are we willing to make ourselves?

(Credit for locating the Field Artillery information goes to the Daily Kos blog and all the folks who helped them.)