US Used Chemical WMD in Fallujah-- video; US GI witness being swiftboated.
Italian state TV reported this morning that the US used chemical weapons-- white phosphorus, which melts human flesh to the bones "I saw the burned bodies of women and children. The phosphorous explodes and forms a plume. Whoever is within a 150 metre radius has no hope," one former US GI, Jimmy Massey reports.
Actual video clips (click image to fill screen) from the Italian Documentary, 'Fallujah - the hidden massacre' show charred remains of female victims and an interview with a former US GI.
The Italian Documentary reported, on Tuesday, November 8th, that white phosphorous is supposed to be used "to illuminate enemy emplacements" purposes, to light up the sky. This documentary claims the shells were fired indiscriminately and the documentary claims to show images of Americans strafing the city with phosphorus.
Mohamad Tareq, a biologist who was in Fallujah, reported in the film, "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multicolored substance started to burn. We found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
The documentary reports that Manifesto reporter Giulana Sgrena said, "I gathered accounts of the use of phosphorus and napalm from a few Fallujah refugees whom I met before being kidnapped," who was kidnapped in Fallujah last February, in a recorded interview. I wanted to get the story out, but my kidnappers would not permit it.
The suppression of this story gets darker when one considers that Sgrena was wounded by American troops at the same time that Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari was killed by the US troops. The Italian people and government have opposed the war in Iraq.
The film also reveals the use of a new kind of Napalm, called MK77, reporting that "The use of these incendiary substances on civilians is prohibited from the conventions of the UN since 1980."
In the US, Massey, author of a book published in France, Kill, Kill, Kill is being Swift-boated by "fellow GIs and the mainstream media are reporting that he has never actually witnessed what he's reported.
The US military has denied the accusations as "disinformation.
posted
US forces 'used chemical weapons' during assault on city of Fallujah
By Peter Popham Published: 08 November 2005
Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.
Ever since the assault, which went unreported by any Western journalists, rumours have swirled that the Americans used chemical weapons on the city.
On 10 November last year, the Islam Online website wrote: "US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988."
The website quoted insurgent sources as saying: "The US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting them with internationally banned chemical weapons."
In December the US government formally denied the reports, describing them as "widespread myths". "Some news accounts have claimed that US forces have used 'outlawed' phosphorus shells in Fallujah," the USinfo website said. "Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination purposes.
"They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters."
But now new information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.
In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete.
"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for."
Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells.
A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewed for the film, says: "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, also provides what it claims is clinching evidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, a new, improved form of napalm, was used in the attack on Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows its use against military targets.
Meanwhile, five US soldiers from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment have been charged with kicking and punching detainees in Iraq.
The news came as a suicide car bomber killed four American soldiers at a checkpoint south of Baghdad yesterday.
Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.
Ever since the assault, which went unreported by any Western journalists, rumours have swirled that the Americans used chemical weapons on the city.
On 10 November last year, the Islam Online website wrote: "US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988."
The website quoted insurgent sources as saying: "The US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting them with internationally banned chemical weapons."
In December the US government formally denied the reports, describing them as "widespread myths". "Some news accounts have claimed that US forces have used 'outlawed' phosphorus shells in Fallujah," the USinfo website said. "Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination purposes.
"They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters."
But now new information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.
In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete.
"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for."
Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells.
A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewed for the film, says: "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."
The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, also provides what it claims is clinching evidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, a new, improved form of napalm, was used in the attack on Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows its use against military targets.
Meanwhile, five US soldiers from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment have been charged with kicking and punching detainees in Iraq.
The news came as a suicide car bomber killed four American soldiers at a checkpoint south of Baghdad yesterday.
06/27/05 "ICH" - - "You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Robert Duvall, "Apocalypse Now" (1979)
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". (06-17-05) 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 Downing Street memo, (which was reluctantly reported 5 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.
We can assume that the order to use napalm (as well as the other, unidentified substances) came straight from the office of Donald Rumsfeld. No one else could have issued that order, nor would they have risked their career by unilaterally using banned weapons when their use was entirely gratuitous. Rumsfeld's directive is consistent with other decisions attributed to the Defense Secretary; like the authorizing of torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the targeting of members of the press, and the rehiring of members of Saddam's Secret Police ( the Mukhabarat) to carry out their brutal activities under new leadership. Rumsfeld's office has been the headwaters for most of the administration's treachery. Napalm simply adds depth to an already prodigious list of war crimes on Rumsfeld's resume'.
Co-opting the Media
On June 10, 2005 numerous sources reported that the "U.S. Special Operations Command hired three firms to produce newspaper stories, television broadcasts and Internet web sites to spread American propaganda overseas. The Tampa-based military headquarters, which oversees commandos and psychological warfare, may spend up to $100 million for the media campaign over the next five years." (James Crawley, Media General News Service) It's clear that there's no need for the Defense Dept. to shore up its "strategic information" (propaganda) operations in the US where reliable apparatchiks can be counted on to obfuscate, omit or exaggerate the coverage of the war according to the requirements of the Pentagon. The American press has been as skillful at embellishing the imaginary heroics of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman as they have been in concealing the damning details of the Downing Street Memo or the lack of evidence concerning the alleged WMDs. Should we be surprised that the media has remained silent about the immolation of Iraqis by American firebombs?
The US "free press" is a completely integrated part of the state-information system. Its meticulously managed message has been the most successful part of the entire Iraqi debacle. By providing the requisite cheerleading, diversions and omissions, the media has shown itself to be an invaluable asset to the men in power; perpetuating the deceptions that keep the public acquiescent during a savage colonial war. Given the scope of the media's culpability for the violence in Iraq, it's unlikely that the use of napalm will cause any great crisis of conscience. Their deft coverage has already facilitated the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people; a few more charred Iraqis shouldn't matter.
posted
I can't believe you are starting this all over again. Maybe Jane can pose in Iraq with the terrorists, maybe this time she can flip off the american soldier.
Posts: 3875 | From: ca. | Registered: Jul 2005
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You need to get off the bandwagon of prejudice and hate for all that aren't exact clones of yourself. Just because you were once in service doesn't give you the right to demand someone's freedom of speach be curtailed. You ARE NOT A BETTER AMERICAN for having served in the military and your incessant declarations that were in the military and thus you have more right to an opinion than others is insulting to the reality of being American.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
There are many VETS who despise this war and its largely chickenhawk supporters.
Posts: 3243 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Watch some, not going to waste my time. You have friendly fire casualties, you have soldiers that dissagree, you have all kinds of scenarios. But bottom line what is the best way to protect the minority of the soldiers while we are there? I know you say pull out, thats great, but thats not a realistic answer for now. Maybe slingshots for the americans. I'll tell you this, if you are in deep sh____ in combat you sure want anything that will get you out with the least amount of casualties including napalm. What kind of warfare should we use in Iraq -4 ART.
Posts: 3875 | From: ca. | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I do not like the war, never have I have stated this many times. We send our soldiers in harms way with their hands tied. I don't feel the Iraq's want there freedom enough to fight for it so we mount up the casualties. But we are there and the soldiers need are respect and every way possible to protect their lives.
Posts: 3875 | From: ca. | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I don't know the answer to that, IWISHIHAD, but we need to pull out while there is still an inkling of support. The sooner the better.
It's going to be like Vietnam, I fear; the results were worse the longer we stayed.
Posts: 3243 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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I think 4art would agree, I think his intentions are not to defame the individual troops.
We need to know what's happening. I don't think he is defaming them directly, but demonstrating, giving evidence that this administration has made all of this possible, encouraged and forced certain actions by the soldiers that are there.
The actual troops are in a horrible situation thanks to rich, old warmongering people who've never been shot at. They grew up in isolated lifestyles and have no idea what a real american is or what a real soldier has to endure.
Because certain actions are brought to light doesn't mean one supports terrorists. I don't think 4art condones terrorists.
The problem again is with this administration that has created a certain perception of what a terrorist IS.
In a nutshell the perception they want to create and have been successful is to HATE all muslims... (rememeber hitler generating hatred toward the reds and jews?)
So now you have detainees, many of which are probably regular Iraqie citizens that are in treated as terrorists.
They order things like the use of napalm or simply to kill everything in site and then expect other nations to approve and us to accept this as exceptable war behavior. It's not.
Posts: 562 | From: NY | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
These situations like this, I cannot answer, you have to be there to know everything. I don't know how long these soldier have been in Iraq, who they are in any way ,to many varibles to answer. It's like the fraging news, it seem's so simple,one soldier killing another, but sometimes it is not. I have no idea when we will get out, I thought it would take a new president to get us out, but now there is a lot more support to get us out, people are getting fed up with this war. I hope in the next year at least, I wish it would be today.
Posts: 3875 | From: ca. | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
MasterQuinn I am not angry at 4art. These events you read are not just black and white, the news media wants you to belive this. How to you know who the good Iraq's are? They must be the ones dressed in white. This is not germany and has nothing to do with your thoughts.
Posts: 3875 | From: ca. | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:I can't believe you are starting this all over again. Maybe Jane can pose in Iraq with the terrorists, maybe this time she can flip off the american soldier.
Reads like anger.
I know the events are not black and white, never said they were, neither did 4art.
quote:How to you know who the good Iraq's are? They must be the ones dressed in white
That's my POINT. The soldiers don't and are just doing their job! (did you read my post?)
quote:This is not germany and has nothing to do with your thoughts.
It's frightening similar to the rise of Nazi Germany... Do I need to break out the history book?
Nothing to do with my thoughts? All your comments are thoughts, I'm not entitled?
Posts: 562 | From: NY | Registered: Jul 2005
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It's a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions to use white phosphorous bombs on civilian populations.
Posts: 3243 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
It is clear that a single viewpoint does not encompass the broad reality of events, either those that happened in Iraq or those that occured in Viet Nam (or some that may be from some other event in some other war or even no in a war at all). No doubt the view point of the soldier trapped within the battle is heartfelt and vivid and no doubt, too, the fear and dread that he can never get beyond colors and shades from him the view of the events as they appear to one not present.
Indeed, probably the last person to make rational judgements of such events are the persons that were there, who probably relied on instinct and gut reaction in order to survive, and, thus, can not see the picture otherwise. But threats to those that have other views and nasty evaluations and assessments of their purpose and character are NOT points of reason and the fact of having been there does not make them reason..
The Viet Nam War was wrong! I do not blame the poor guy there in the battles for being there and never have, but when one demands that he has a right to shut me or someone else up about it, I know I am dealing with a person with only selfish motive.....a person unwilling to grant the right to opine and speak to others.
If you can't listen to views different from your own, then don't listen (here, don't click on the link of course). BUT DON'T OFFER THREATS AND DAMAGE TO THOSE WITH A DIFFERENT OPINIONs AND GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD THAT THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO AN OPINION AND A RIGHT TO VOICE IT, EVEN IF IT OPPOSES YOUR OWN. Moreover, military service is not a requirement for having those rights. You have no right to bully them quiet.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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The attack on Fallujah was carried out with advance warning given to the civilians in the town. It was surrounded and they were given the option to leave. Article neglected to mention this
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The Times November 02, 2004
American firepower in place as battle for Fallujah looms From James Hider, near Fallujah
ONLY a few miles separate the rebel city of Fallujah from the sprawling complex of US Marine bases. While the Iraqi city is steadily emptying of people, the American camps are rapidly filling up with extra men and armour, ready for what is expected to be a fight for the very soul of Iraq. Almost as soon as the United States elections are over, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, reinforced by army units specially drafted in from across Iraq, is expected to mount a massive attack on Fallujah.
Skirmishes have begun already. Every day F18 fighter-bombers screech up from carriers in the Persian Gulf to bomb suspected guerrilla safehouses or mortar positions. Eight Marines were killed when a suicide car bomber rammed their convoy at the weekend. And from the military camps, the boom of outgoing mortar shells or the occasional thump of an incoming round regularly breaks the silence of the autumnal desert. In chow halls, Iraqi National Guards soldiers share hi-carb meals with Marines in training for the showdown.
Few doubt that an attack is imminent after Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, gave warning on Sunday that his patience was wearing thin and that the stop-start talks to defuse the crisis were in their “final phase”. Guerrilla sources told The Times that Mr Allawi had given up on talks weeks ago, storming into negotiations and telling the rebels’ representatives: “It is too late, the train of war is already in Fallujah.”
Publicly Mr Allawi has called on the people of Fallujah to hand over Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, the terrorist mastermind who has kidnapped and bombed his way to a $25 million (Ł14 million) bounty, matched only by the price on the head of Osama bin Laden. The city elders have replied that even the Americans have been unable to stop al-Zarqawi and his powerful network. They cannot be expected to step in where the superpower has failed.
In anticipation of the battle, and with memories of April’s bloody and abortive invasion still fresh, as many as two thirds of Fallujah’s 280,000 residents have fled, leaving a ghost town where American commanders expect to confront up to 5,000 rebels and foreign fighters. Regular airstrikes have left many of the buildings, including Fallujah’s renowned kebab shop, as nothing more than piles of dust.
“Whoever looks around Fallujah now can only feel sadness. The damage is so heavy the suburbs look like they were hit by an earthquake,” Mohammed al-Alwani, a bank employee, said.
The Iraqi fighters are a mixture of Islamic extremists, Saddam Hussein loyalists, fiercely territorial tribesmen and criminal gangs, according to Marine intelligence officers. Their allegiances, goals and tactics are constantly shifting: the increase in brutal attacks on Iraqis by the foreign Islamists are showing signs of straining relations between those cells and the Iraqi resistance.
Both sides have had months to prepare for battle. The Marines invaded in April after four American security contractors were burnt, mutilated and hung from a bridge. In the face of the toughest combat since the Vietnam War, with casualties rising on both sides, US commander ordered a halt to its three-week offensive and the creation of a local militia to enforce law and order.
But the Fallujah Brigades were an abject failure, siding with the guerrillas and, in many cases, handing over their weapons to them. Fallujah became a staging point for guerrillas heading across the western and northern areas of the country, pushing a wedge of insurgency through western Baghdad and to the heart of the capital.
With Iraqi elections looming in January, the interim Government has decided that it has to regain control of the rebellious Sunni Triangle or risk seeing the entire US-backed democratic project in Iraq crumble.
“We are gearing up to do an operation and when we’re told to go, we’ll go, and we’ll whack them,” Brigadier-General Dennis Hajlik, the Marines’ deputy commander, said. “As for the number of troops, it’ll be enough to get the job done in a decisive fashion.”
Iraqi forces will be involved in the operation to give it an “Iraqi face”, he said. The Iraqi troops have been in intensive training since the April uprising, when up to 80 per cent of those fighting in Fallujah melted away.
However, the guerrillas have also had months to prepare for the onslaught. Resistance groups say that they have been moving more weapons along the rat-runs through the southwestern desert from Saudi Arabia and along the River Euphrates from Syria. The Black Watch have been deployed to the south of Fallujah to stop more weapons and men heading in or out once the battle starts.
Among the US Marines morale is high, but many admit to understandable pre-battle jitters. “It is a scary thought,” said Cameron Begbie, a 23-year-old Marines medic from Fresno, California, who arrived here a month ago and has never seen combat.
But he knows what he is fighting for and is determined to see the job through. “It’s a city that needs to be liberated to ensure elections go down in the rest of the country. You can’t have a free country when you have pockets of resistance,” he said, adding that few of his comrades believed that the fight would be a quick one.
One of the key tests will be what happens to Fallujah after the battle. Upriver along the Euphrates, US forces have never left Ramadi, but the provincial capital is a virtual battlefield, where gunfights erupt almost daily. The Marines will have to install an effective Iraqi force in the volatile tribal cities to quell violence and allow reconstruction to start and the economy to revive.
Until then the Marines are writing letters home and trying to concentrate on the fight ahead. “I spend as much time as I can with my guys, let them know: ‘I’m with you, you’re with me’,” Corpsman Begbie said. “We’re all nervous, we all want to get back to our families safe and sound.”
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White Phosphorus is not a chemical weapon, nor is its use prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.
chemical weapons
Prohibited under the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.
Incendiary agents such as napalm and phosphorus are not considered to be CW agents since they achieve their effect mainly through thermal energy. Certain types of smoke ammunition are not classed as a chemical weapon since the poisonous effect is not the reason for their use.
Art. 50. Definition of civilians and civilian population
1. A civilian is any person who does not belong to one of the categories of persons referred to in Article 4 (A) (1), (2), (3) and (6) of the Third Convention and in Article 43 of this Protocol. In case of doubt whether a person is a civilian, that person shall be considered to be a civilian.
2. The civilian population comprises all persons who are civilians.
3. The presence within the civilian population of individuals who do not come within the definition of civilians does not deprive the population of its civilian character.
Art. 51. - Protection of the civilian population
1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.
2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.
3. Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.
4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are: (a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective; (b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or (c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol;
and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.
5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate: (a) an attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects;
and
(b) an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.
7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.
8. Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57.
Posts: 559 | Registered: Oct 2005
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The key is, it is NOT a direct letter violation of the Geneva Conventions.
That it is a violation of its spirit is a matter of interpretation which has no effect on the actual LAW.
War is very unpleasant and unpleasant things occur. Our nation goes out of its way to observe the Geneva conventions and minimize civilian casualties causeing more harm to our own troops in the process. We are dealing with an enemy which does not adhere to the Geneva conventions, which hides itself behind and among civilians with the express purpose of thwarting our attacks knowing we will not target them. They hide in mosques, in cemeterys, in schools, all prohibited under Geneva.
The attack on Falujah as posted well in advance. The civilians were warned to get out, most did. Those that did not in some instances were unfortunately killed. That is war.
The Geneva conventions were met, there was no violation in law or spirit of the law.
Posts: 559 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
[QUOTE]Originally posted by 4Art: [QB] No Aragorn243,
I'm actually making the argument that the US military hit civilians with white phosphorus and/or MK-77 bombs.
And the problem with that is the same civillians are shooting at us night. During the day they are all smiles and waves, at night the shoot at us. My new PL dealt with that a lot. He had pictures of him and his guys in Sadr City hanging out during the day with the same dudes that were shooting at them at night. Saw a series of pics showing one Iraqi drinking a beer and joking with us then the next piture is of the same guy taken through a snipers scope while he was shooting at Americans. The next picture showed his head with about 50% of it missing. That's how it works over there. So pick me out the innocent civillian.
-------------------- If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Posts: 1529 | From: Tacoma WA | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I'm not. I just know that people will make up their own minds once they see some the real results of the "compassionate conservatives" unjust war.
Posts: 3243 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
That it is a violation of its spirit is a matter of interpretation which has no effect on the actual LAW.
War is very unpleasant and unpleasant things occur.
since you are so into technicalities? maybe you should show US how this is technically a WAR...
the US has not declared war since???? when??? been awhile ehh?
hilander is point on: we are fighting a huge number of people and that uncovers another set of lies...... it was only a few months ago that Cheney was saying the "insurgency" was in it's last throes...
hmmm....
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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"Real results" of war are everywhere. The images aren't hard to find and are some of the most downloaded on the net. I think the people have made up their minds, they enjoy the carnage, it's just another movie to them, entertainment.
Posts: 559 | Registered: Oct 2005
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