US Army Admits Use of White Phosphorus as Weapon

Kulapavana · November 10, 2005

Source: Daily Kos

Published: November 9, 2005 Author: Steven D

That's right. Not from Al Jazheera, or Al Arabiya, but the US Army, in their very own publication, from the March edition of Field Artillery Magazine in an article entitled "The Fight for Fallujah":

"WP [i.e., white phosphorus rounds] 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."

Steven D's diary :: ::

In other words the claim by the US Government that White Phosphorus was used only for illumination at Fallujah had been pre-emptively debunked by the Army. Indeed, the article goes on to make clear that soldiers would have liked to have saved more WP rounds to use for "lethal missions."

However, as Mark Kraft, an emailer to Eric Alterman's blog, Altercation, points out today, the Field Artillery Magazine article fails to inform its audience that

. . . there is no way you can use white phosphorus like that without forming a deadly chemical cloud that kills everything within a tenth of a mile in all directions from where it hits. Obviously, the effect of such deadly clouds weren't just psychological in nature.

Furthermore, (from a link provided by Mr. Kraft, thank you very much) testimony about the use of these "shake and bake" techniques of WP usage are detailed in an account by an embedded Journalist regarding the April 2004 attacks on Fallujah by the Marines:

Fighting from a distance

After pounding parts of the city for days, many Marines say the recent combat escalated into more than they had planned for, but not more than they could handle.

"It's a war," said Cpl. Nicholas Bogert, 22, of Morris, N.Y.

Bogert is a mortar team leader who directed his men to fire round after round of high explosives and white phosphorus charges into the city Friday and Saturday, never knowing what the targets were or what damage the resulting explosions caused.

"We had all this SASO (security and stabilization operations) training back home," he said. "And then this turns into a real goddamned war."

Just as his team started to eat a breakfast of packaged rations Saturday, Bogert got a fire mission over the radio.

"Stand by!" he yelled, sending Lance Cpls. Jonathan Alexander and Jonathan Millikin scrambling to their feet.

Shake 'n' bake

Joking and rousting each other like boys just seconds before, the men were instantly all business. With fellow Marines between them and their targets, a lot was at stake.

Bogert received coordinates of the target, plotted them on a map and called out the settings for the gun they call "Sarah Lee."

Millikin, 21, from Reno, Nev., and Alexander, 23, from Wetumpka, Ala., quickly made the adjustments. They are good at what they do.

"Gun up!" Millikin yelled when they finished a few seconds later, grabbing a white phosphorus round from a nearby ammo can and holding it over the tube.

"Fire!" Bogert yelled, as Millikin dropped it.

The boom kicked dust around the pit as they ran through the drill again and again, sending a mixture of burning white phosphorus and high explosives they call "shake 'n' bake" into a cluster of buildings where insurgents have been spotted all week.

They say they have never seen what they've hit, nor did they talk about it as they dusted off their breakfast and continued their hilarious routine of personal insults and name-calling.

So who you gonna believe? The US Department of Defense or the US Army and the US Marine Corps? Decisions, decisions . . .

Kulapavana · November 11, 2005

Source: www.ipc.gov.ps

Published: November 10, 2005 Author: INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTER

HEBRON, Palestine, November 10, 2005 (IPC + WAFA) - - Israeli media sources declared that a Palestinian child from Kherbet Janba, south of Hebron province, was pronounced dead today after an internationally-prohibited Israeli phosphorous tank shell exploded near him in the area.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Fadhel Abu Arram, 17, died of serious wounds today after an Israeli shell containing phosphorous exploded near his family house in August 17, while his brothers Hani, Mohammed, 14, and Yousef, 24, were wounded.

The newspaper pointed out that this tragic incident occurred due to the use of these international prohibited shells by the Israeli army in its training drills. It also added that these shells were not meant to be used near populated communities according to international law.

Haaretz quoted Abu Arram's injured brothers as saying that the explosion occurred 100 meters away from the family house, when they were returning from the meadows, referring that the one-meter-long empty shell is still inside their house, and that it's supposedly a 155mm heavy tank shell.

According to the report, the area was a target field for the Israeli forces, and after the Israeli supreme court allowed the Abu Arram family to return to it, the Israeli army didn't remove all the shells there, leaving them to explode.

The residents of the area told the newspaper that there are a lot of ammunition remaining in the area, and when Abu Arram found the huge shell he called his brothers and then an explosion occurred.

The medical records of Soroka Hospital, in Ber Sheva, where Fadhel was taken, indicated that he suffered a phosphorous explosion that severed both his hands, but he was released from the hospital in a generally stable condition, but after two days he started feeling severe shortness of breath, prompting his return to Al Ahli Hospital in Hebron, where he was pronounced dead three weeks later as a result of phosphorous burns in his lungs..

Haaretz newspaper reported that the use of these phosphorous shells is prohibited under the 1980 Geneva Treaty, pointing out that the Israeli military spokesman didn't care for the approach of the newspaper regarding the use or presence of these dangerous shells as remnants near civilian population centers.

Still in Hebron, four civilians were wounded during confrontations following massive demonstrations to commemorate the first anniversary of the passing of late President Yasser Arafat.

WAFA news agency reported that confrontations between students, civilians and Israeli soldiers broke out in the towns of Bani Naim, Saeer and Beit Ummar east and north of Hebron province.

Sources at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said at least two civilians in Bani Naim Town were injured with rubber-coated bullets fired by Israeli soldiers to quell the demonstrations.

Elsewhere, Israeli forces started bulldozing arable lands near the entrance of Kufor Hares Town, north of Salfeet City, under the pretext of establishing a security post and a guard tower along with a section of the Apartheid Wall.

Ahmad Bouzeya, the mayor of Kufor Hares, said that four Israeli jeeps and two armored bulldozers started razing lands near road 550 which crosses in the middle of the town.

He also added that Israeli forces intended to build a metal fence and a wall along the aforementioned road under false security pretenses, pointing out that the town's council has informed a lawyer of the matter and is preparing the necessary documents to object to this arbitrary measure.

In the meantime, Israeli forces closed the main entrance of the town of Deir Ballout, west of Salfeet province, today, as the town's mayor Abdul Rahman Ismail said that Israeli forces closed the main road at the town's entrance, forcing the residents to take alternative bypass roads to reach their homes.

He stated that Israeli soldiers set up a second checkpoint at the entrance of Deir Ballout, which is part of the continuous arbitrary measures against the town since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada.

Ismail also complained of the suffering caused by Israeli soldiers manning the second checkpoint to the residents of Deir Ballout and its visitors.