Shocking Tally of Iraq Civilian Causalities

[eppie]

eppie

FWIW, the Washington Post picked up on the story and got a comment from the DoD.

Washington Post November 16, 2005  Pg. 16
U.S. Used Phosphorous Munitions In Fallujah

The U.S. military confirmed yesterday that it used artillery rounds containing white phosphorus against insurgents during the assault on Fallujah last November, but said it did not use the highly flammable agent against civilians as claimed in an Italian television report.

Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces in Fallujah "employed white phosphorus . . . as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants," but said that "suggestions that U.S. forces targeted civilians with these weapons are simply wrong."

Defense officials acknowledged that they could not rule out the possibility that the phosphorous munitions accidentally hit civilians during the Fallujah offensive, which involved the heaviest U.S. combat since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

U.S. troops who took part in the Fallujah battle recounted in detail their use of white phosphorus -- most commonly employed to obscure troops during an assault or to mark targets -- as an effective weapon for routing out insurgents from "trench lines and spider holes," according to an article written by three of the soldiers and published in the March-April 2005 issue of Field Artillery magazine.

Venable said munitions containing white phosphorus are not illegal and are considered conventional, not chemical, weapons.

-- Ann Scott Tyson

I am pretty sure that the officer is correctly citing the international protocols on weapons that the US is a party to.  I think I'll quote General Patton and remark that most "gentlemen of the press" know less about war than they know about fornication.  The intent to sensationalize a "fact" is not a new phenomenon. 

"Remember the Maine."  ;)  1898

"German Soldiers Bayonetting Nuns and babies in strollers in Belgium!"  :o  1914

Occhi
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With did not sign the treaty, I meant the part that the US did not sign the part that bans the use of white phosphorus in combat. (that is what I heard on the news here) So in that sense WP is not illegal no...although a lot of other countries wanted it to be.

I don't think the RAI claimed that WP was used especially on civilians but just that it was used as a weapon, not just as a method to light up the battle field.

But anyway, your statement "I know for a fact that Willy Pete is not a bomb munition. Once again, the media get it wrong." was a bit premature. And the one" "The risk to civilians of unguided bombs is too great. " was indeed right but nobody cared about it at that time.
Don't get me wrong I fully understand that in heavy combat one might be willing to use some "not very conventional" weapons, also to protect yourself, but i guess this was also the reason that a lot of countries wanted to have WP as weapon banned.