ITALIAN TV ALLEGES U.S. USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN FALLUJAH

by **seemslikeadream** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:30 pm

<a href="http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.226404219&par=" target="top">www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.226404219&par=</a> IRAQ: ITALIAN TV ALLEGES U.S. USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN FALLUJAH Rome, 7 Nov. (AKI) - A documentary to be aired on Tuesday by Italian state satellite TV channel RAI News 24 alleges that US troops used chemical weapons during their assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah in November last year. The documentary - 'Fallujah - the hidden massacre' - uses witness accounts from former US soldiers, Fallujah residents, video footage and photographs, to support its claim that contrary to US State Department denials, white phosphorous was used indiscriminately on the city, causing terrible injuries to civilians, including women and children. "I heard the order being issued to be careful because white phosphorous was being used on Fallujah. In military slang this is known as Willy Pete. Phosphorous burns bodies, melting the flesh right down to the bone," says one former US solider, interviewed by the documentary's director, Sigfrido Ranucci. "I saw the burned bodies of women and children. The phosophorous explodes and forms a plume. Who ever is within a 150 metre radius has no hope," the former soldier adds. "A rain of fire came down on the city, and people targeted by the different coloured substances began to burn. We found people dead, with strange injuries, with their clothes intact," a biologist from Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq al-Deraji tells Ranucci. The evidence in 'Fallujah - the hidden massacre' claims to show the US forces did not use phosphorous in the legitimate way - to highlight enemy positions - but dropped the substance indiscriminately on the city, and on a massive scale. The documentary also shows the terrible damage wrought by the US bombardment of Fallujah, and the carnage to civilians, some of whom lay sleeping. more

by **anonymous** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:42 am

From Francesca at Picablog: "US used chemical weapons in Fallujah" "First of all, thanks to those of you who emailed me articles and links about this story. I've had a busy couple of days, so I'm just getting caught up, reading mostly Italian sites since it was the Italians who broke the story in the first place. "This is an extremely important story, yet it's no fucking surprise to me that it's nowhere near the front page on Google News. This is precisely the story that Guiliana Sgrena was working on when she was kidnapped and held captive earlier this year. Remember? She was the Italian journalist who was shot the evening she was rescued from her captors. The agent who freed her, Nicola Calipari, was killed by American bullets. I now think that it is only a tremendously bizarre coincidence that it was their car that was fired on by US soldiers, but certainly a coincidence that gave me pause back in March when the shooting occurred. "Sgrena had a story today in her paper, Il Manifesto, about the alleged use of chemical weapons. Unfortunately, it would cost me 40 euros to get an account to read the article, so I'm just looking at the headline and other articles in the Italian media. Judging from Sgrena's first couple of sentences, she's stating that both napalm and white phosphorus were used in the siege of Fallujah by American forces. The phosphorus tip is what has been picked up by many other media outlets. Sgrena's also being quoted in a La Repubblica article, stating that she had a lot of first-hand accounts from Fallujah residents last February. She's a primary voice in an Italian documentary, recently released, which asserts that chemical weapons were used by American forces". More from Francesca at <a href="http://pica.typepad.com/">pica.typepad.com/</a>

by **seemslikeadream** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:57 am

<a href="http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Whitney0627.htm">www.dissidentvoice.org/Ju...ey0627.htm</a> Incinerating Iraqis: The Napalm Cover-Up by Mike Whitney www.dissidentvoice.org June 27, 2005 ... Two weeks ago the UK Independent ran an article which confirmed that the US had “lied to Britain over the use of napalm in Iraq.” (6/17/05) Since then, not one American newspaper or TV station has picked up the story even though the Pentagon has verified the claims. This is the extent to which the American “free press” is yoked to the center of power in Washington. As we’ve seen with the treatment of the Downing Street Memo, (which was reluctantly reported five weeks after it appeared in the British press) the air-tight American media ignores any story that doesn’t embrace their collective support for the war. The prospect that the US military is using “universally reviled” weapons runs counter to the media-generated narrative that the war was motivated by humanitarian concerns (to topple a brutal dictator) as well as to eliminate the elusive WMDs. We can now say with certainty that the only WMDs in Iraq were those that were introduced by foreign invaders from the US who have used them to subjugate the indigenous people. “Despite persistent rumors of injuries among Iraqis consistent with the use of incendiary weapons such as napalm” the Pentagon insisted that “US forces had not used a new generation of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq.” (UK Independent) The Pentagon lied. Defense Minister, Adam Ingram, admitted that the US had misled the British high command about the use of napalm, but he would not comment on the extent of the cover up. The use of firebombs puts the US in breach of the 1980 Convention on Certain Chemical Weapons (CCW) and is a violation the Geneva Protocol against the use of white phosphorous, “since its use causes indiscriminate and extreme injuries especially when deployed in an urban area.” Regrettably, “indiscriminate and extreme injuries” are a vital part of the American terror-campaign in Iraq; a well-coordinated strategy designed to spawn panic through random acts of violence. It’s clear that the military never needed to use napalm in Iraq. Their conventional weaponry and laser-guided technology were already enough to run roughshod over the Iraqi army and seize Baghdad almost unobstructed. Napalm was introduced simply to terrorize the Iraqi people, to pacify through intimidation. Cheney, Rumsfeld and Negroponte are old hands at terrorism, dating back to their counterinsurgency projects in Nicaragua and El Salvador under the Reagan Administration. They know that the threat of immolation serves as a powerful deterrent and fits seamlessly into their overarching scheme of rule through fear. Terror and deception are the rotating parts of the same axis, the two imperatives of the Bush-Cheney foreign policy strategy. Napalm in Falluja The US also used napalm in the siege of Falluja as was reported in the UK Mirror. (“Falluja Napalmed,” 11/28/04) The Mirror said, “President George Bush has sanctioned the use of napalm, a deadly cocktail of polystyrene and jet-fuel banned by the United Nations in 1980, will stun the world…. Reports claim that innocent civilians have died in napalm attacks, which turn victims into human fireballs as the gel bonds flames to flesh…Since the American assault on Falluja there have been reports of ‘melted’ corpse, which appeared to have napalm injuries.” “Human fireballs” and “melted corpses,” these are the real expressions of Operation Iraqi Freedom not the bland platitudes issuing from the presidential podium. Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli, who was the head of the Iraqi Ministry of Health in Falluja, reported to Al Jazeera (and to the Washington Post, although it was never reported) that “research, prepared by his medical team, prove that the US forces used internationally prohibited substances, including mustard gas, nerve gas, and other burning chemicals in their attacks on the war-torn city.” Dr Shaykhli’s claims have been corroborated by numerous eyewitness accounts as well as reports that “all forms of nature were wiped out in Falluja”…as well as “hundreds, of stray dogs, cats, and birds that had perished as a result of those gasses.” An unidentified chemical was used in the bombing raids that killed every living creature in certain areas of the city. As journalist Dahr Jamail reported later in his article “What is the US trying to Hide?”: “At least two kilometers of soil were removed……exactly as they did at Baghdad Airport after the heavy battles there during the invasion and the Americans used their special weapons.” A Cover-Up? So far, none of this has appeared in any American media, nor has the media reported that the United Nations has been rebuffed twice by the Defense Dept. in calling for an independent investigation into what really took place in Falluja. The US simply waves away the international body as a minor nuisance while the media scrupulously omits any mention of the allegations from their coverage. video <a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/11/07.html#a5753">www.crooksandliars.com/20...html#a5753</a> <a href="http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/italian-media-alleges-us-using.html">americablog.blogspot.com/...using.html</a> <a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030805-9999_1n5bomb.html">www.signonsandiego.com/ne...5bomb.html</a> Results are 'remarkably similar' to using napalm By James W. Crawley UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 5, 2003 American jets killed Iraqi troops with firebombs – similar to the controversial napalm used in the Vietnam War – in March and April as Marines battled toward Baghdad. Marine Corps fighter pilots and commanders who have returned from the war zone have confirmed dropping dozens of incendiary bombs near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River. The explosions created massive fireballs. Mark 77 Firebomb "We napalmed both those (bridge) approaches," said Col. Randolph Alles in a recent interview. He commanded Marine Air Group 11, based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, during the war. "Unfortunately, there were people there because you could see them in the (cockpit) video. "They were Iraqi soldiers there. It's no great way to die," he added. How many Iraqis died, the military couldn't say. No accurate count has been made of Iraqi war casualties. <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10907.htm">www.informationclearingho...e10907.htm</a> Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre Veteran admits: Bodies melted away before us. <a href="http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=4037#8">www.progressiveindependen..._id=4037#8</a> Flashback: Weapons of Mass Destruction Employed by US to Imolate Falluja - Graph..." <a href="http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=4037#15">www.progressiveindependen...id=4037#15</a> Reuters/Yahoo!News: US used white phosphorus on Iraqi civilians

by **anotherdrew** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:02 am

MK77 raining balls of fire all over the city. It's awful, read about it, it's horrible beyond words what was done. and for nothing... they waited to attack 'til they were sure bush won re-election too. It's so terrible... don't watch this if you really don't have to. There will be plenty enoguh written about it. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=anotherdrew>anotherdrew</A> at: 11/9/05 12:19 am

by **professorpan** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:04 am

I watched most of the doc online -- it's brutal. If you aren't the type who can handle it, don't watch it. At least this story is starting to get momentum -- a good sign. One more crumbling brick in the house of Bush.

by **seemslikeadream** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:11 am

<img src="http://www.allhatnocattle.net/usa_WAR.jpg" style="border:0;"/> http://hannah.smith-family.com/archive/000929.html November 06, 2005 Fallujah Truth IRAQ: Fallujah: the truth at last Dr Salam Ismael took aid to Fallujah in January. It was the smell that first hit me, a smell that is difficult to describe, and one that will never leave me. It was the smell of death. Hundreds of corpses were decomposing in the houses, gardens and streets of Fallujah. Bodies were rotting where they had fallen ? bodies of men, women and children, many half-eaten by wild dogs. A wave of hate had wiped out two-thirds of the town, destroying houses and mosques, schools and clinics. This was the terrible and frightening power of the US military assault. The accounts I heard over the next few days will live with me forever. You may think you know what happened in Fallujah. But the truth is worse than you could possibly have imagined. In Saqlawiya, one of the makeshift refugee camps that surround Fallujah, we found a 17-year-old woman. ?I am Hudda Fawzi Salam Issawi from the Jolan district of Fallujah?, she told me. ?On November 9, American marines came to our house. My father and the neighbour went to the door to meet them. We were not fighters. We thought we had nothing to fear. I ran into the kitchen to put on my veil, since men were going to enter our house and it would be wrong for them to see me with my hair uncovered. ?This saved my life. As my father and neighbour approached the door, the Americans opened fire on them. They died instantly. ?Me and my 13-year-old brother hid in the kitchen behind the fridge. The soldiers came into the house and caught my older sister. They beat her. Then they shot her. But they did not see me. Soon they left, but not before they had destroyed our furniture and stolen the money from my father?s pocket.? Hudda told me how she comforted her dying sister by reading verses from the Koran. After four hours her sister died. For three days, Hudda and her brother stayed with their murdered relatives. But they were thirsty and had only a few dates to eat. They feared the troops would return and decided to try to flee the city. But they were spotted by a US sniper. Hudda was shot in the leg, her brother ran but was shot in the back and died instantly. ?I prepared myself to die?, she told me. ?But I was found by an American woman soldier, and she took me to hospital.? She was eventually reunited with the surviving members of her family. I also found survivors of another family from the Jolan district. They told me that at the end of the second week of the siege the US troops swept through the Jolan. The Iraqi National Guard used loudspeakers to call on people to get out of the houses carrying white flags, bringing all their belongings with them. They were ordered to gather outside near the Jamah al Furkan mosque in the centre of town. On November 12, Eyad Naji Latif and eight members of his family ? one of them a six-month-old child ? gathered their belongings and walked in single file, as instructed, to the mosque. When they reached the main road outside the mosque they heard a shout, but they could not understand what was being shouted. Eyad told me it could have been ?now? in English. Then the firing began. US soldiers appeared on the roofs of surrounding houses and opened fire. Eyad?s father was shot in the heart and his mother in the chest. They died instantly. Two of Eyad?s brothers were also hit, one in the chest and one in the neck. Two of the women were hit, one in the hand and one in the leg. Then the snipers killed the wife of one of Eyad?s brothers. When she fell her five year old son ran to her and stood over her body. They shot him dead too. Survivors made desperate appeals to the troops to stop firing. But Eyad told me that whenever one of them tried to raise a white flag they were shot. After several hours he tried to raise his arm with the flag. But they shot him in the arm. Finally he tried to raise his hand. So they shot him in the hand. The five survivors, including the six-month-old child, lay in the street for seven hours. Then four of them crawled to the nearest home to find shelter. The next morning, the brother who was shot in the neck also managed to crawl to safety. They all stayed in the house for eight days, surviving on roots and one cup of water, which they saved for the baby. On the eighth day they were discovered by some members of the Iraqi National Guard and taken to hospital in Fallujah. They heard the US soldiers were arresting any young men, so the family fled the hospital and finally obtained treatment in a nearby town. They do not know in detail what happened to the other families who had gone to the mosque as instructed. But they told me the street was awash with blood. I had come to Fallujah in January as part of a humanitarian aid convoy funded by donations from Britain. Our small convoy of trucks and vans brought 15 tonnes of flour, eight tonnes of rice, medical aid and 900 pieces of clothing for the orphans. We knew that thousands of refugees were camped in terrible conditions in four camps on the outskirts of town. There we heard the accounts of families killed in their houses, of wounded people dragged into the streets and run over by tanks, of a container with the bodies of 481 civilians inside, of premeditated murder, looting and acts of savagery and cruelty that beggar belief. Through the ruins That is why we decided to go into Fallujah and investigate. When we entered the town I almost did not recognise the place where I had worked as a doctor in April 2004, during the first siege. We found people wandering like ghosts through the ruins. Some were looking for the bodies of relatives. Others were trying to recover some of their possessions from destroyed homes. Here and there, small knots of people were queuing for fuel or food. In one queue some of the survivors were fighting over a blanket. I remember being approached by an elderly woman, her eyes raw with tears. She grabbed my arm and told me how her house had been hit by a US bomb during an air raid. The ceiling collapsed on her 19-year-old son, cutting off both his legs. She could not get help. She could not go into the streets because the Us military had posted snipers on the roofs and were killing anyone who ventured out, even at night. She tried her best to stop the bleeding, but it was to no avail. She stayed with him, her only son, until he died. He took four hours to die. Fallujah?s main hospital was seized by the US troops in the first days of the siege. The only other clinic, the Hey Nazzal, was hit twice by US missiles. Its medicines and medical equipment were all destroyed. There were no ambulances ? the two ambulances that came to help the wounded were shot up and destroyed by US troops. We visited houses in the Jolan district, a poor working-class area in the north-western part of the city that had been the centre of resistance during the April siege. This quarter seemed to have been singled out for punishment during the second siege. We moved from house to house, discovering families dead in their beds, or cut down in living rooms or in the kitchen. House after house had furniture smashed and possessions scattered. In some places we found bodies of fighters, dressed in black and with ammunition belts. But in most of the houses, the bodies were of civilians. Many were dressed in housecoats, many of the women were not veiled ? meaning there were no men other than family members in the house. There were no weapons, no spent cartridges. It became clear to us that we were witnessing the aftermath of a massacre, the cold-blooded butchery of helpless and defenceless civilians. Nobody knows how many died. The occupation forces are now bulldozing the neighbourhoods to cover up their crime. What happened in Fallujah was an act of barbarity. The whole world must be told the truth. http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=6159#top

by **jingofever** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:20 am

<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1108/dailyUpdate.html">www.csmonitor.com/2005/11...pdate.html</a> And with links to The Independent and BBC stories.