What US Gov says about using napalm and WP on it's "misinformation" site:

[cyberpj]

Sorry Admins - I posted it all because these things tend to disappear. This is the Jan '05 version --watch for changes soon.

=======================================================
Did the U.S. Use "Illegal" Weapons in Fallujah?
Media allegations claim the U.S. used outlawed weapons during combat in Iraq

The fighting in Fallujah, Iraq has led to a number of widespread myths including false charges that the United States is using chemical weapons such napalm and poison gas. None of these allegations are true.

Qatar-based Internet site Islam Online was one of the first to spread the false chemical weapons claim. On November 10, 2004, it reported that U.S. troops were allegedly using "chemical weapons and poisonous gas" in Fallujah. ("US Troops Reportedly Gassing Fallujah") It sourced this claim to Al-Quds Press, which cited only anonymous sources for its allegation.

The inaccurate Islam Online story has been posted on hundreds of Web sites.

On November 12, 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a denial of the chemical weapons charge, stating:

"The United States categorically denies the use of chemical weapons at anytime in Iraq, which includes the ongoing Fallujah operation. Furthermore, the United States does not under any circumstance support or condone the development, production, acquisition, transfer or use of chemical weapons by any country. All chemical weapons currently possessed by the United States have been declared to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and are being destroyed in the United States in accordance with our obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention."

To its credit, Islam Online ran a Nov. 25, 2004, story carrying the U.S. denial.

In both stories, Islam Online noted that U.S. forces had used napalm-like incendiary weapons during the march to Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Although all napalm in the U.S. arsenal had been destroyed by 2001, Mark-77 firebombs, which have a similar effect to napalm, were used against enemy positions in 2003.

The repetition of this story on Islam Online’s led to further misinformation. Some readers did not distinguish between what had happened in the spring of 2003, during the march to Baghdad, and in Fallujah in November 2004. They mistakenly thought napalm-like weapons had been used in Fallujah, which is not true. No Mark-77 firebombs have been used in operations in Fallujah.

On Nov. 11, 2004, the Nov. 10 Islam Online story was reposted by the New York Transfer News Web site, with the inaccurate headline "Resistance Says US Using Napalm, Gas in Fallujah."

The headline was wrong in two ways. First, as explained above, Islam Online was incorrect in claiming that U.S. forces were using poison gas in Fallujah. Second, the New York Transfer News misread the Islam Online story to mean that U.S. forces were currently using napalm-like weapons in Fallujah. But Islam Online had never claimed this; it had only talked about napalm use in 2003.

The false napalm allegation then took on a life of its own. Further postings on the Internet repeated or recreated the error that the New York Transfer News had made, which eventually appeared in print media. For example, on Nov. 28, 2004, the UK’s Sunday Mirror inaccurately claimed U.S. forces were "secretly using outlawed napalm gas" in Fallujah.

The Sunday Mirror story was wrong in two ways.

First, napalm or napalm-like incendiary weapons are not outlawed. International law permits their use against military forces, which is how they were used in 2003.

Second, as noted above, no Mark-77 firebombs were used in Fallujah.

The Sunday Mirror’s phrasing "napalm gas" is also revealing. Napalm is a gel, not a gas. Why did the Sunday Mirror describe it as a gas?

It may be that, somewhere along the line, a sloppy reader read the inaccurate New York Transfer News headline, "Resistance Says US Using Napalm, Gas in Fallujah," and omitted the comma between napalm and gas, yielding the nonsensical "napalm gas."

Next, the Sunday Mirror’s misinformation about “napalm gas” was reported in identical articles on Nov. 28 by aljazeera.com and islamonline.com. These two Web sites, which are owned by the same company – Al Jazeera Publishing – are deceptive look-alike Web sites that masquerade as the English-language sites of the popular Qatar-based Arabic-language satellite television station al Jazeera and the popular Islam Online Web site, which is islamonline.net.

Finally, some news accounts have claimed that U.S. forces have used "outlawed" phosphorus shells in Fallujah. Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. U.S. forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters.

There is a great deal of misinformation feeding on itself about U.S. forces allegedly using "outlawed" weapons in Fallujah. The facts are that U.S. forces are not using any illegal weapons in Fallujah or anywhere else in Iraq.


Created: 09 Dec 2004 Updated: 27 Jan 2005

http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive_Index/Illegal_Weapons_in_Fallujah.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Damn we are

a bunch of vicious bullies, aren't we?

[cyberpj]

7. At the very least... conniving liars who think we always know best

so therefore the end justifies the means.

[cyberpj]

2. What today's UK papers say: US forces used chemical weapons

US forces 'used chemical weapons' during assault on city of Fallujah
By Peter Popham
Published: 08 November 2005

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.

Ever since the assault, which went unreported by any Western journalists, rumours have swirled that the Americans used chemical weapons on the city.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article325560.ece

[jsamuel]

3. Direct contridiction to their own admissions...

"No Mark-77 firebombs have been used in operations in Fallujah" - They admitted they used that.

[cyberpj]

4. What DOD briefing says:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5319697

[callady]

5. And then there is the truth

Mark 77 Firebomb

"We napalmed both those (bridge) approaches," said Col. Randolph Alles in a recent interview. He commanded Marine Air Group 11, based at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, during the war. "Unfortunately, there were people there because you could see them in the (cockpit) video.

"They were Iraqi soldiers there. It's no great way to die," he added. How many Iraqis died, the military couldn't say. No accurate count has been made of Iraqi war casualties.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/200308......

Incinerating Iraqis: The Napalm Cover-Up
by Mike Whitney
www.dissidentvoice.org
June 27, 2005

...

Two weeks ago the UK Independent ran an article which confirmed that the US had “lied to Britain over the use of napalm in Iraq.” (6/17/05) Since then, not one American newspaper or TV station has picked up the story even though the Pentagon has verified the claims. This is the extent to which the American “free press” is yoked to the center of power in Washington. As we’ve seen with the treatment of the Downing Street Memo, (which was reluctantly reported five weeks after it appeared in the British press) the air-tight American media ignores any story that doesn’t embrace their collective support for the war. The prospect that the US military is using “universally reviled” weapons runs counter to the media-generated narrative that the war was motivated by humanitarian concerns (to topple a brutal dictator) as well as to eliminate the elusive WMDs. We can now say with certainty that the only WMDs in Iraq were those that were introduced by foreign invaders from the US who have used them to subjugate the indigenous people.

“Despite persistent rumors of injuries among Iraqis consistent with the use of incendiary weapons such as napalm” the Pentagon insisted that “US forces had not used a new generation of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq.” (UK Independent)


Defense Minister, Adam Ingram, admitted that the US had misled the British high command about the use of napalm, but he would not comment on the extent of the cover up. The use of firebombs puts the US in breach of the 1980 Convention on Certain Chemical Weapons (CCW) and is a violation the Geneva Protocol against the use of white phosphorous, “since its use causes indiscriminate and extreme injuries especially when deployed in an urban area.”


Regrettably, “indiscriminate and extreme injuries” are a vital part of the American terror-campaign in Iraq; a well-coordinated strategy designed to spawn panic through random acts of violence.


? The testimony of a 16 year old girl who "watched the soldiers enter and shoot her mother and father directly, without saying anything. They beat her two sisters, then shot them in the head. After this her brother was enraged and ran at the soldiers while shouting at them, so they shot him dead." This is reported by respected American journalist Dahr Jamail of the Inter Press Service.
?
Another account comes from Dr. Salem Ismael who describes Marines coming into a home of non-combatants, a witness describes: "my father and neighbour approached the door, the Americans opened fire on them. They died instantly. Me and my 13-year old brother hid in the kitchen behind the fridge. The soldiers came into the house and caught my older sister. They beat her. Then they shot her. But they did not see me. Soon they left, but not before they had destroyed our furniture and stolen the money from my father's pocket."
?
Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli, an official at Iraq's health ministry, told a press conference held at the Baghdad health ministry building that the U.S. military used internationally banned weapons during its deadly attack in November 2004. He said that research, prepared by his medical team, "prove that U.S. occupation forces used internationally prohibited substances, including mustard gas, nerve gas, and other burning chemicals in their attacks in the war-torn city. . . all forms of nature were wiped out in that city. I can even say that we found dozens, if not hundreds, of stray dogs, cats, and birds that had perished as a result of those gasses."
?
There have also been reports of the United States military using napalm-like weapons in Fallujah describing "bombs exploded into large fires that burned peoples' skin even when water was dumped on their bodies." Aljazera states: "The reports of the use of napalm in civilian areas are widespread." The Sunday Mirror reported on November 28, 2004 "Since the American assault on Fallujah there have been reports of ‘melted' corpses, which appeared to have napalm injuries. Last August the US was forced to admit using the gas in Iraq." Napalm was banned by the United Nations in 1980 for use against civilians. While the State Department has denied the use of napalm, the widespread reports by people on the ground require a more thorough response. The Independent on Sunday quoted an American commander, Colonel James Alles of Marine Air Group 11, admitting the use of napalm in Iraq. Some reports have described the substance as "reformulated" napalm.

http://democracyrising.us/content/view/203/151/


Falluja women, children in mass grave



Sunday 21 November 2004, 18:42 Makka Time, 15:42 GMT  

Many corpses remain unburied, Falluja residents say


Residents of a village neighbouring Falluja have told Aljazeera that they helped bury the bodies of 73 women and children who were burnt to death by a US bombing attack.

"We buried them here, but we could not identify them because they were charred by the use of napalm bombs used by the Americans," said one resident of Saqlawiya in footage aired on Aljazeera on Sunday.

There have been no reports of the US military using napalm in Falluja and no independent verification of the claims.

The resident told Aljazeera all the bodies were buried in a single grave.

Late last week, US troops in Falluja called on some residents who had fled the fighting to return and help bury the dead.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/24EBE5BB-CA...

The United States is using napalm in Falluja. So far, the military has denied the allegations, but the proof is mounting. On Nov. 28 The Daily Mirror’s political editor, Paul Gilfeather filed a report stating: “US troops are secretly using outlawed napalm gas to wipe out remaining insurgents in and around Fallujah. News that President George W. Bush has sanctioned the use of napalm, a deadly cocktail of polystyrene and jet fuel banned by the United Nations in 1980, will stun governments around the world.”

For over a week rumors have circulated in the Arab press that both napalm and other chemical weapons were used mainly in the Jolan district of Falluja, a major area of the fighting. Now, despite a US media blackout, more evidence is leaking out and causing a furor in the British Parliament. As Gilfeather reports: “Last night Tony Blair was dragged into the row as furious Labour MPs demanded he face the Commons over it. Reports claim that innocent civilians have died in napalm attacks, which turn victims into human fireballs as the gel bonds flames to flesh.”

Blair is being pressed by furious MP’s to clarify whether or not he knew that the “banned weapon” was being used. He is also being asked to withdraw British troops if the US continues its use of napalm. As of this writing, Blair’s response remains unknown.

The US has already admitted that it used napalm during the siege of Baghdad. The truth was reluctantly confirmed by the Pentagon after news reports corroborated the evidence. The military has tried to conceal the truth by saying that there is a distinction between its new weapon and “traditional napalm”. The “improved” product carries the Pentagon moniker “Mark 77 firebombs” and uses jet fuel to “decrease environmental damage”. The fact that military planner’s even considered “environmental damage” while developing the tools for incinerating human beings, gives us some insight into the deep vein of cynicism that permeates their ranks.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?Sectio...


US uses napalm in Falluja
Submitted by eisengrimm on November 28, 2004 - 9:48am. Breaking News (Latest Stories) | Falluja
U.S. uses napalm gas in Fallujah – Witnesses
11/28/2004 1:45:00 PM GMT
Al Jazeera

The U.S. military is secretly using banned napalm gas and other outlawed weapons against civilians in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, eyewitnesses reported.

Residents in Fallujah reported that innocent civilians have been killed by napalm attacks, a poisonous cocktail of polystyrene and jet fuel which makes the human body melt.

Since the U.S. offensive started in Fallujah earlier this month, there have been reports of “melted” bodies which proves that the napalm gas had been used.

"Poisonous gases have been used in Fallujah," 35-year-old Fallujah resident, Abu Hammad said. "They used everything -- tanks, artillery, infantry, and poisonous gas. Fallujah has been bombed to the ground." Hammad was living in the Julan district of Fallujah which witnessed some of the heaviest attacks.

Other residents of that area also said that banned weapons were used. Abu Sabah, said; “They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud… then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them."

http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/1022

Mark 77 bomb

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


The Mark 77 is a US 750-lb (340-kg) air-dropped incendiary bomb that carries 110 gallons (415 litres) of a fuel gel mix that is the direct successor to napalm.

Mk-77s were used by the US Marine Corps during the First Gulf War. Approximately 500 were dropped, reportedly mostly on Iraqi-constructed oil filled trenches. Thirty Mk-77s were also used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Use of incendiary bombs against civilian populations was banned in the 1980 United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. The US has not signed this agreement although they did retire use of napalm. The Mk-77 is the only incendiary bomb currently in use by the United States military. Another incendiary weapon - white phosphorus - is allegedly being used as an incendiary weapon in the current Iraq War. White phosphorus or 'Willie Peet' is used primarly as a smoke-screening agent. Only the US and Russia continue to invent and use gelled fuel bombs.

The chemical used differs from napalm of the Vietnam War era in that it is based on kerosene and a polystyrene-like gel and reportedly contains an oxidizing agent. This will make it even more difficult to put out once ignited. The official designation of Vietnam-era napalm bombs is the Mark 47. Mk-77s are commonly referred to as napalm in US Military slang.

The US military has issued denials against articles claiming the use of napalm in cases where it seems that Mk-77s had actually been deployed (see referenced articles). The Pentagon has claimed that the Mk-77 has less impact on the environment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_77_bomb


Use of napalm has been condemned across the world
If it is proven that US forces deployed napalm on the citizens of Fallujah it will send shockwaves through the international community.

Claims of napalm have been heightened by eyewitness accounts of the Fallujah attack. Abu Sabah told the news agency IPS: "They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud. Then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them."

<snip>

Reports of 'melted' dead bodies are emerging from Fallujah, prompting Labour MP Alice Mahon to demand a Commons statement from Tony Blair clarifying the position regarding napalm and unconventional weapons.

Fallujah's dead are lined up
Fallujah resident Abu Hammad is quoted as saying: "Poisonous gases have been used." He described how the bombs exploded into fires that burnt the skin, similar to that caused by napalm.

http://www.blink.org.uk/pdescription.asp?key=5066&...





This image from video made available by the website of RaiNews24, the all-news channel of Italian RAI state television, as part of a documentary aired in Italy Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, which allegedly shows white phosphorous being used by U.S. forces in Iraq in November 2004. The documentary alleges the United States used white phosphorous shells 'in a massive and indiscriminate way' against civilians during the November 2004 offensive in Fallujah. The report said the shells were not used to illuminate enemy fighters at night, as the U.S. government has said, but against civilians.(AP Photo/RaiNews24,ho)

Falluja: The Truth
http://hannah.smith-family.com/archive/000929.html

[lonestarnot]

6. Red Rummy, "Crispy Critters is a breakfast cereal. What's wrong with you

people? The one and only cereal that comes in the shape of animals."