One year after the horrendous Phantom Fury offensive against the innocent civilians of Fallujah, Washington admits its troops used white phosphorous in violation of international law banning the use of chemical weapons, writes Sharif Abdul-Kuddous This month marks the one-year anniversary of the United States assault on Fallujah, the Sunni city north of Baghdad that came to symbolise armed resistance to the American occupation of Iraq. In the offensive, code-named Phantom Fury, American and Iraqi military forced out the town's residents, bombed hospitals and buildings, attacked whole neighbourhoods and denied entry to relief workers. When the dust had settled, 10,000 buildings were destroyed with thousands more seriously damaged. At least 100,000 residents were permanently displaced and over 70 US soldiers were killed. The Iraqi death toll remains unknown. Now, one year later, the US government has admitted its troops used white phosphorous against Iraqis in the bloody assault. Experts say such attacks are in violation of international law banning the use of chemical weapons. White Phosphorous -- 'Willy Pete' in military jargon -- is a translucent wax-like substance that is often compared to napalm because it combusts spontaneously when exposed to oxygen and can burn right through skin to the bone. Up until now, the Pentagon's official position had been that white phosphorous was used only to illuminate the battlefield, provide smoke for camouflage or to destroy enemy equipment. While reporters have noted the use of white phosphorous since the beginning of the war, it recently became a major story when Italian state broadcaster RAI TV broadcast the documentary "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre" that features eyewitnesses and ex-US soldiers saying white phosphorus was used as a weapon against Iraqis in the assault. The Defense Department immediately denied the allegations. "I know of no cases where people were deliberately targeted by the use of white phosphorus," said Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan after the documentary aired on 8 November. But the Pentagon was caught in a lie after it was revealed that an official U.S. Army publication had disclosed that American troops had in fact used white phosphorous as weapon. In the March-April 2005 issue of Field Artillery magazine, officers from the 2nd Infantry's fire support element wrote: " [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 [high explosive]. We fired 'shake and bake' missions at the insurgents, using WP [white phosphorous] to flush them out and HE to take them out." Once the proof had been unearthed, another Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Barry Venable, admitted on BBC News that white phosphorous was used as an offensive weapon to target Iraqi insurgents. The Pentagon has defended its use of white phosphorous by claiming it is an incendiary weapon and that it was only used against Iraqi insurgents, not civilians. However even this would have been illegal according to the Army's own rules of combat. In 1999, the Army published a handbook that read, "It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets." Part of the controversy centres on whether white phosphorous is really a chemical weapon, which are outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which the United States is a party. While white phosphorus is not listed in the schedules of the Convention, experts argue that it becomes a chemical weapon as soon as it is used directly against people. "Chemicals used against humans or animals that cause harm or death through the toxic properties of the chemical are considered chemical weapons," said Peter Kaiser, spokesman for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that monitors the Chemical Weapons Convention. The effects of white phosphorous lend weight to Kaiser's contention. According to the military studies group, GlobalSecurity.org: "Phosphorus burns on the skin are deep and painful...particles continue to burn unless deprived of atmospheric oxygen...injuries result in delayed wound healing...These weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears. If service members are hit by pieces of white phosphorus, it could burn right down to the bone." As the Fallujah assault was underway, unembedded journalist Dahr Jamail collected the testimony of refugees fleeing the city and encountered numerous reports of civilians suffering unusual burns. One resident told Jamail U.S. forces used "weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud. Then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them." He said pieces of these bombs exploded into large fires that burnt the skin even when water was thrown on the burns. Whether or not the global community will rule the United States in violation of international law for using white phosphorous as a weapon in Iraq remains to be seen. What is clear is that an untold number of Iraqis died an exceptionally gruesome death at the hands of their foreign occupier that continues to claim it has freed them from the brutal rule of tyranny.
