http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4417024.stm

 Tuesday, 8 November 2005, 14:21 GMT


US 'uses incendiary arms' in Iraq

Italian state TV, Rai, has broadcast a documentary accusing the US military 
of using white phosphorus bombs against civilians in the Iraqi city of 
Falluja.
Rai says this amounts to the illegal use of chemical arms, though the bombs 
are considered incendiary devices.

Eyewitnesses and ex-US soldiers say the weapon was used in built-up areas in 
the insurgent-held city.

The US military denies this, but admits using white phosphorus bombs in Iraq 
to illuminate battlefields.

Washington is not a signatory of an international treaty restricting the use 
of white phosphorus devices.



Transmission of the documentary comes a day after the arrival of Iraqi 
President Jalal Talabani on a five-day official visit to Italy.

It also coincides with the first anniversary of the US-led assault on 
Falluja, which displaced most of the city's 300,000 population and left many 
of its buildings destroyed.

The documentary was shown on Rai's rolling news channel, with a warning that 
the some of the footage was disturbing.

The future of the 3,000-strong Italian peacekeeping contingent in Iraq is 
the subject of a political tug-of-war, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

'Destroyed evidence'

The documentary begins with formerly classified footage of the Americans 
using napalm bombs during the Vietnam war.

It then shows a series of photographs from Falluja of corpses with the flesh 
burnt off but clothes still intact - which it says is consistent with the 
effects of white phosphorus on humans.

Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Falluja, 
tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over 
military radio - and saw the results.


"Burned bodies, burned women, burned children; white phosphorus kills 
indiscriminately... When it makes contact with skin, then it's absolutely 
irreversible damage, burning flesh to the bone," he says.
Last December, the US state department issued a denial of what it called 
"widespread myths" about the use of illegal weapons in Falluja.

"Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly 
in Falluja, for illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to 
illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters," the US 
statement said.

However, the Rai film also alleges that Washington has systematically 
attempted to destroy filmed evidence of the alleged use of white phosphorus 
on civilians in Falluja.

Italian public opinion has been consistently against the war and the Rai 
documentary can only reinforce calls for a pullout of Italian soldiers as 
soon as possible, our correspondent says.

Both the Italian government and opposition leaders are talking about a 
phased withdrawal in 2006.

President Talabani and the US say the continued presence of multi-national 
forces in Iraq is essential.

______



WHITE PHOSPHORUS
Spontaneously flammable chemical used for battlefield illumination
Contact with particles causes burning of skin and flesh
Use of incendiary weapons prohibited for attacking civilians (Protocol III 
of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons)
Protocol III not signed by US



		
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