Saturday, March 19, 2005
WMD's in Fallujah, Sgrena, Etc.
Lenin of Lenin's Tomb asks whether the US used WMD's in Fallujah, and I wanted to weigh in with a recap of what's known about this issue...
The use of white phosphorous rounds in Fallujah is not controversial -- there were mainstream accounts at the time of "white phosphorous shells [lighting] up the sky." The use of napalm in Iraq in general is not contested -- the story was broken by Andy Buncombe of the UK Independent, but the use of napalm in Fallujah is little more than a rumor. The use of gas weapons, such as nerve gas or mustard gas, is established to a similar degree as the use of napalm in Fallujah, or perhaps slightly better in that Iraqi doctors are on the record about treating victims of what seemed to be some sort of poisoning. Anyway, here's my old post covering this stuff in which I go into more detail.
Now Guiliana Sgrena has produced photographic evidence that cluster bombs were used in Fallujah, and as Lenin points out cluster bombs in such a context violate international law.
Was Guiliana Sgrena targeted for this reason? Such an action on the part of the US makes little sense to me mainly because of the above -- because it was widely reported that white phosporous was used in Fallujah and was unwidely reported that napalm was used, or is being used, in Iraq, and no one seems to care much. Murdering Sgrena would, if anything, have shown more light on the reports she was filing.
The use of white phosphorous rounds in Fallujah is not controversial -- there were mainstream accounts at the time of "white phosphorous shells [lighting] up the sky." The use of napalm in Iraq in general is not contested -- the story was broken by Andy Buncombe of the UK Independent, but the use of napalm in Fallujah is little more than a rumor. The use of gas weapons, such as nerve gas or mustard gas, is established to a similar degree as the use of napalm in Fallujah, or perhaps slightly better in that Iraqi doctors are on the record about treating victims of what seemed to be some sort of poisoning. Anyway, here's my old post covering this stuff in which I go into more detail.
Now Guiliana Sgrena has produced photographic evidence that cluster bombs were used in Fallujah, and as Lenin points out cluster bombs in such a context violate international law.
Was Guiliana Sgrena targeted for this reason? Such an action on the part of the US makes little sense to me mainly because of the above -- because it was widely reported that white phosporous was used in Fallujah and was unwidely reported that napalm was used, or is being used, in Iraq, and no one seems to care much. Murdering Sgrena would, if anything, have shown more light on the reports she was filing.
