Lebanon president says Israel uses phosphorous arms

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24911888.htm

Lebanon president says Israel uses phosphorous arms

PARIS, July 24 (Reuters) - Lebanon's president accused Israel on Monday of using phosphorous bombs in its 13-day offensive and urged the United Nations to demand an immediate ceasefire.

"According to the Geneva Convention, when they use phosphorous bombs and laser bombs, is that allowed against civilians and children?" President Emile Lahoud asked on France's RFI radio.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said arms used in Lebanon did not contravene international norms.

"Everything the Israeli Defence Forces are using is legitimate," the spokeswoman said.

[Tom Joad]

1. Don't forget, every US Senator has endorsed Israeli actions.

For the U.S. Senate, obviously the children of Lebanon are of a lessor god.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Indeed, the hypocrisy is beyond nauseating: It corrodes what America...

...stands for.

PB

[IndianaGreen]

29. They already have bloody hands from Iraq War Resolution

and repenting of IWR is a hollow gesture when they vote to endorse Israel's war crimes in Lebanon.

[KoKo]

31. Using depleted uranium, phosporus bombs, laser melts and whatever

else Rummy's "Q" in the Pentagon is trying out for new weapons and selling what we haven't used in Iraq/Afghanistan goes to Israel.

It's all legal..Bush would say...because some of those weapons probably leave nothing much behind and no one is left to test the remains that are left. Just photo's...from a cell phone or two to leave the trail of evidence of what is being done with our tax money. :-(

[lumpy]

34. It's been done in Iraq

http://electroniciraq.net/news/1928.shtml

I recall seeing photos of badly burned and blackened bodies in at least one Iraqi city (Fallujah?). Also same in recent Lebanon photos.

[PATRICK]

39. It is the trap they believe

so strongly in they do not see it as a trap. Bush has led them to the evil absurdity of backing Israel into this moral wasteland. It all seems so legitimate but nothing, nothing Bush touches can have any justification. The "leaders" are also sheep being led to the slaughter- only they don't get the bombs and bullets, just the shredding of the soul and the loss of integrity and intelligence.

[Clarkie1]

36. Don't forget, Hezbollah deliberately places themselves among civilians.

They are proud that so many civilians have died.

"Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children. I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."

- Jan Egeland
U.N. humanitarian chief

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/24072006/140/aid-chief-blasts-cowardly-hizbollah.html

[God Almighty]

41. This is a crime against humanity

I think we need a whole new Congress except for those who refused to vote against the resolution in support of Israel last Thursday.

[stop the bleeding]

2. rug roh raggy

will this actually mean something to world community/leaders?

[Delphinus]

11. It will mean something to

other

world leaders, not to the boy king. Damn shame that we can't stop this, but weren't we accused of doing something similar just a while ago - in Iraq?

[anotherdrew]

27. more than accused, caught red handed

I've seen the footage of helicopters raining fire down from not much higher than the rooftops

the people who ordered the use of these weapons must be brought to justice.

[On the Road]

4. "Everything the (IDF Is) using is legitimate"

Phosphorus is perfectly legitimate if it's used only for illumination in night combat. But if it's used directly on human beings, it's considered an illegal chemical weapon.

Classic nondenial denial.

[Spazito]

5. Exactly, Lebanon's President is telling the truth...

and Israel is using the same doublespeak as the US does when confronted with their use of phosphorus in Iraq.

[Marie26]

16. Right.

This statement sounds really familiar....

"The top American general defended the use of white phosphorus in Iraq and said Tuesday the U.S. military goes to greater lengths than any other force to protect civilians from being harmed by its weapons... “White phosphorus is a legitimate tool of the military,” Pace said at a news conference in the military’s Pentagon headquarters."

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1383205.php

[kurth]

6. Israelis' capacity for wanton bloodthirst is well proven

They're just as murderous as any two-bit terrorist. But they have A LOT more weapons.

[mom cat]

9. I am quite pro Lebanese, but I think that the over generalization

in your statement could give rise to charges of Anti-Semitism. Could this perhaps be re-worded: Such as:
"The policies of Israel that lead to such wanton destruction and bloodshed are reprehensible. The actions against Lebanon are as terrorist in their indiscriminate bombing of civilians as are car bombs. The only difference, is that one side has more weapons at it's disposal ... the side that has the fourth largest military in the world and who gets free weapons from the US.
Just a suggestion in order to avoid diversion from your main point.

[soothsayer]

7. They used poison gas in Janin, so why not other bad stuff? We

use depleted uranium, even tho the whole civilized world bans it.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mom cat]

10. Whatever weapons caused those human incinerations are horrific and

should be banned if they are not banned already. This is terrorism.

[Recursion]

13. As someone whose job it was to scrape up bodies...

that's all-too-familiar a sight for me. It's true that normal bombs don't cause those burns by themselves, but it's also true that bombs start fires if they damage gasoline or natural gas pipes or tanks, and those fires often cause burns like that. I've seen WP wounds (from an accidental discharge) and it doesn't just blacken flesh, it melts it off the bone. Those burns could conceivably be napalm but that tends to have more of a melting effect also.

I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that it must take some new insidious weapon to rip bodies apart in an explosion; unfortunately there are plenty of old insidious weapons that do that. Remember, the concussion from a single artillery shell will flatten a row house and break every window on the block, and a single barrage is usually 15-20 such shells. That can and does rip limbs off bodies, or the compression can kill without even leaving a mark (I've seen both). Bombardments are horrible, horrible things that can kill people in any number of unspeakable ways, and there's no need to look for some new technology that can do all this: old-fashioned high explosives do it right now, which is why they should never ever have been used on Beiruit.

[Solo_in_MD]

14. There is not enough data on the table to know what is being used

The pictures linked to in a later in this thread do not appear to be Willie Pete wounds (and I have seen the real thing up close).

There are also reports of secondary explosions, and that to contaminants, without serious scientific facilities, its not possible to know if the IDF is using non-standard weapons. However, there are a number of reports of unusual injuries that should be followed up at the international level.

As for "laser bombs" (I assume he meant Laser Guided Bombs), they are not illegal and greatly minimize collateral damage. I presume the President misspoke or was not correctly quoted.

Despite all of that, it is still horrific and needs to stop.

[Recursion]

15. I noticed that too, about the "laser bombs"

Laser-guided munitions have saved countless lives, I don't see why he'd complain about that aspect of the bombing...

[BrotherBuzz]

22. He said laser bombs but it's possible...

he misspoke and was eluding to the fabled microwave bomb (a lot of us Luddites mix all this stuff up).

The US has developed one and rumor has it that Israel has done the same. Intended for riot control, the non-lethal weapons, which use high-powered electromagnetic energy similar to that found in a conventional microwave oven, emits a directed beam that rapidly heats water molecules in the skin to cause intolerable pain and a burning sensation. The invisible beam penetrates the skin to a depth of less than a millimeter. As soon as the target moves out of the beam's path, the pain disappears.

There is great fear that this weapon could be misused by juicing it up to become a formidable killing machine. Set phasers to stun, or...?

[Dead_Parrot]

38. Depends...

If it's being laser-guided onto an ambulance, it's not such a hot deal. :(

[anotherdrew]

26. air burst shells are being used as well

I think there may be something new, it's not WP exactly, but a modified version. Can't find a quick source on the name of the munition. These new shells palestinian doctors and lebanese presidents are complaining of, it sounds like WP is being painted onto the shrapnel inside otherwise normal and air-burst rounds.

[lumpy]

35. Thank, that's where I saw strong evidence

of illegal use.

[ticapnews]

12. You can't hug with phosphorous arms.

[Vidar]

17. Wonder where they get those?

[Solo_in_MD]

18. Israel makes much of their own ordinance

Its an artifact of being constrained in the past by their suppliers, including France and the US. http://www.israeli-weapons.com/

[Vidar]

28. Good point though I don't think we'd hesitate to supply them.

[Solo_in_MD]

30. We have used our position to influence them in the past and France

has been particularly capricious as well. It tends to lead to a domestic focused mentality. We do the same thing here in the US as well.

[k-robjoe]

19. And in Gaza...

"An Egyptian legal committee has warned of the serious consequences of the Israeli use of chemical weapons against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip for more than a week now, and have called for an international investigation of the claim.

The committee for citizens' rights in northern Sinai, adjacent to the Gaza Strip, charged that the Israeli warplanes have been releasing chemical materials against the Palestinian populace in the Strip for the past week.

It said that the chemical agents cause extraordinary burns that could turn into cancer and added that they could also cause miscarriages and death of patients especially those suffering chest diseases.

The committee said its members saw the warplanes releasing those chemicals from the Egyptian-Palestinian borders.

Doctors treating Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have called for an international investigation of the types of weapons being used by Israel, as many of the patients have burns that are indicative of possible chemical weapon use by Israel. The organs, particularly the kidney and spleen, of the victims continue to burn even after the person has been declared clinically dead, according to doctors in hospitals throughout the Gaza Strip."


http://www.imemc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20254&Itemid=1

[Laughing Mirror]

37. Yep, Gaza too, according to Médecins du Monde

http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/monde/195046.FR.php

Looks like cluster bombs shot from drones.

[burythehatchet]

20. As long as we don't find 500 tons of sarin gas on a turkey farm

it's all good.

[Sahra]

21. Black Phosphorous

Just now on CNN a Lebonese doctor treated a young boy and his sister.The
doctor confirmed it was Phosphorous,he said it was black and smelled like
Phosphorous.The boy was in extreme pain.Looks like their using our bombs already.The mother lost her husband,she's at the hospital with kids.This war needs to STOP!!!

[me b zola]

23. It sounds like...

The US and Israel are teaching each other all kinds of nasty behavior. :grr:

[allemand]

24. Human Rights Watch: Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon - July 24 - Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said today. Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border.

“Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “They should never be used in populated areas.”

According to eyewitnesses and survivors of the attack interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Israel fired several artillery-fired cluster munitions at Blida around 3 p.m. on July 19. The witnesses described how the artillery shells dropped hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village. They clearly described the submunitions as smaller projectiles that emerged from their larger shells.

The cluster attack killed 60-year-old Maryam Ibrahim inside her home. At least two submunitions from the attack entered the basement that the Ali family was using as a shelter, wounding 12 persons, including seven children. Ahmed Ali, a 45-year-old taxi driver and head of the family, lost both legs from injuries caused by the cluster munitions. Five of his children were wounded: Mira, 16; Fatima, 12; ‘Ali, 10; Aya, 3; and `Ola, 1. His wife Akram Ibrahim, 35, and his mother-in-law `Ola Musa, 80, were also wounded. Four relatives, all German-Lebanese dual nationals sheltering with the family, were wounded as well: Mohammed Ibrahim, 45; his wife Fatima, 40; and their children ‘Ali, 16, and Rula, 13.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0724-17.htm

[Poll_Blind]

25. Using area-denial munitions in a populated civilian area is a war crime...

...and a particularly-heinous one, at that.

PB

[KoKo]

32. The trail of war crimes opens the world up for more. Pandora's box of

nightmare WMD.

And...just what did Saddam have.... They always project their own violence, rape and WMD onto someone else to cover up what they are doing. Bush/Cheney/Rummy.....War Crimes! Crimes against Humanity!!

[Just Me]

33. If causing death & destruction isn't one of their aims, wtf is?

"Collective punishment" works (temporarily). KILL THEM, KILL THEM AND ALL AROUND THEM!!!

C-O-N-T-R-0-L through brutal destruction of life and property. That'll get them in line and bow to our demands.

I don't know their "God",...but, I certainly can not believe their actions, righteous.

:cry: Worse than animals,...a thousand times worse than nature.

[anotherdrew]

40. here's video from CNN showing these new weapons results...

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/VIDEO__Lebanese_Doctor_Says_Phosphorus_0724.html