Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq

US admits it used napalm bombs in Iraq
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=432201
INDEPENDENT (London) 10 August 2003 By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
American pilots dropped the controversial incendiary agent napalm on
Iraqi troops during the advance on Baghdad. The attacks caused massive
fireballs that obliterated several Iraqi positions.
The Pentagon denied using napalm at the time, but Marine pilots and
their commanders have confirmed that they used an upgraded version of
the weapon against dug-in positions. They said napalm, which has a
distinctive smell, was used because of its psychological effect on an
enemy.
A 1980 UN convention banned the use against civilian targets of napalm,
a terrifying mixture of jet fuel and polystyrene that sticks to skin as
it burns. The US, which did not sign the treaty, is one of the few
countries that makes use of the weapon. It was employed notoriously
against both civilian and military targets in the Vietnam war.
The upgraded weapon, which uses kerosene rather than petrol, was used
in March and April, when dozens of napalm bombs were dropped near
bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris river, south of Baghdad.
"We napalmed both those [bridge] approaches," said Colonel James Alles,
commander of Marine Air Group 11. "Unfortunately there were people
there ... you could see them in the [cockpit] video. They were Iraqi
soldiers. It's no great way to die. The generals love napalm. It has a
big psychological effect."
A reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald who witnessed another napalm
attack on 21 March on an Iraqi observation post at Safwan Hill, close
to the Kuwaiti border, wrote the following day: "Safwan Hill went up in
a huge fireball and the observation post was obliterated. 'I pity
anyone who is in there,' a Marine sergeant said. 'We told them to
surrender.'"
At the time, the Pentagon insisted the report was untrue. "We completed
destruction of our last batch of napalm on 4 April, 2001," it said.
The revelation that napalm was used in the war against Iraq, while the
Pentagon denied it, has outraged opponents of the war.
"Most of the world understands that napalm and incendiaries are a
horrible, horrible weapon," said Robert Musil, director of the
organisation Physicians for Social Responsibility. "It takes up an
awful lot of medical resources. It creates horrible wounds." Mr Musil
said denial of its use "fits a pattern of deception [by the US
administration]".
The Pentagon said it had not tried to deceive. It drew a distinction
between traditional napalm, first invented in 1942, and the weapons
dropped in Iraq, which it calls Mark 77 firebombs. They weigh 510lbs,
and consist of 44lbs of polystyrene-like gel and 63 gallons of jet
fuel.
Officials said that if journalists had asked about the firebombs their
use would have been confirmed. A spokesman admitted they were
"remarkably similar" to napalm but said they caused less environmental
damage.
But John Pike, director of the military studies group
GlobalSecurity.Org, said: "You can call it something other than napalm
but it is still napalm. It has been reformulated in the sense that they
now use a different petroleum distillate, but that is it. The US is the
only country that has used napalm for a long time. I am not aware of
any other country that uses it." Marines returning from Iraq chose to
call the firebombs "napalm".
Mr Musil said the Pentagon's effort to draw a distinction between the
weapons was outrageous. He said: "It's Orwellian. They do not want the
public to know. It's a lie."
In an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Marine Corps Maj-Gen
Jim Amos confirmed that napalm was used on several occasions in the
war.
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030805-9999_1n5bomb.html
Results are 'remarkably similar' to using napalm
San Diego Union Trib. August 5, 2003 By James W. Crawley
American jets killed Iraqi troops with firebombs P similar to the
controversial napalm used in the Vietnam War P in March and April as
Marines battled toward Baghdad.
Marine Corps fighter pilots and commanders who have returned from the
war zone have confirmed dropping dozens of incendiary bombs near
bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River. The explosions
created massive fireballs.
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.
The bombing campaign helped clear the path for the Marines' race to
Baghdad.
During the war, Pentagon spokesmen disputed reports that napalm was
being used, saying the Pentagon's stockpile had been destroyed two
years ago.
Apparently the spokesmen were drawing a distinction between the terms
"firebomb" and "napalm." If reporters had asked about firebombs,
officials said yesterday they would have confirmed their use.
What the Marines dropped, the spokesmen said yesterday, were "Mark 77
firebombs." They acknowledged those are incendiary devices with a
function "remarkably similar" to napalm weapons.
Rather than using gasoline and benzene as the fuel, the firebombs use
kerosene-based jet fuel, which has a smaller concentration of benzene.
Hundreds of partially loaded Mark 77 firebombs were stored on
pre-positioned ammunition ships overseas, Marine Corps officials said.
Those ships were unloaded in Kuwait during the weeks preceding the war.
"You can call it something other than napalm, but it's napalm," said
John Pike, defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a nonpartisan
research group in Alexandria, Va.
Although many human rights groups consider incendiary bombs to be
inhumane, international law does not prohibit their use against
military forces. The United States has not agreed to a ban against
possible civilian targets.
"Incendiaries create burns that are difficult to treat," said Robert
Musil, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, a
Washington group that opposes the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Musil described the Pentagon's distinction between napalm and Mark 77
firebombs as "pretty outrageous."
"That's clearly Orwellian," he added.
Developed during World War II and dropped on troops and Japanese
cities, incendiary bombs have been used by American forces in nearly
every conflict since. Their use became controversial during the Vietnam
War when U.S. and South Vietnamese aircraft dropped millions of pounds
of napalm. Its effects were shown in a Pulitzer Prize-winning
photograph of Vietnamese children running from their burned village.
Before March, the last time U.S. forces had used napalm in combat was
the Persian Gulf War, again by Marines.
During a recent interview about the bombing campaign in Iraq, Marine
Corps Maj. Gen. Jim Amos confirmed aircraft dropped what he and other
Marines continue to call napalm on Iraqi troops on several occasions.
He commanded Marine jet and helicopter units involved in the Iraq war
and leads the Miramar-based 3rd Marine Air Wing.
Miramar pilots familiar with the bombing missions pointed to at least
two locations where firebombs were dropped.
Before the Marines crossed the Saddam Canal in central Iraq, jets
dropped several firebombs on enemy positions near a bridge that would
become the Marines' main crossing point on the road toward Numaniyah, a
key town 40 miles from Baghdad.
Next, the bombs were used against Iraqis near a key Tigris River
bridge, north of Numaniyah, in early April.
There were reports of another attack on the first day of the war.
Two embedded journalists reported what they described as napalm being
dropped on an Iraqi observation post at Safwan Hill overlooking the
Kuwait border.
Reporters for CNN and the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald were told
by unnamed Marine officers that aircraft dropped napalm on the Iraqi
position, which was adjacent to one of the Marines' main invasion
routes.
Their reports were disputed by several Pentagon spokesmen who said no
such bombs were used nor did the United States have any napalm weapons.
The Pentagon destroyed its stockpile of napalm canisters, which had
been stored near Camp Pendleton at the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station,
in April 2001.
Yesterday military spokesmen described what they see as the distinction
between the two types of incendiary bombs. They said mixture used in
modern firebombs is a less harmful mixture than Vietnam War-era napalm.
"Many folks (out of habit) refer to the Mark 77 as 'napalm' because its
effect upon the target is remarkably similar."
Col. Michael Daily
"This additive has significantly less of an impact on the environment,"
wrote Marine spokesman Col. Michael Daily, in an e-mailed information
sheet provided by the Pentagon.
He added, "many folks (out of habit) refer to the Mark 77 as 'napalm'
because its effect upon the target is remarkably similar."
In the e-mail, Daily also acknowledged that firebombs were dropped near
Safwan Hill.
Alles, who oversaw the Safwan bombing raid, said 18 one-ton
satellite-guided bombs, but no incendiary bombs, were dropped on the
site.
Military experts say incendiary bombs can be an effective weapon in
certain situations.
Firebombs are useful against dug-in troops and light vehicles, said
GlobalSecurity's Pike.
"I used it routinely in Vietnam," said retired Marine Lt. Gen. Bernard
Trainor, now a prominent defense analyst. "I have no moral compunction
against using it. It's just another weapon."
And, the distinctive fireball and smell have a psychological impact on
troops, experts said.
"The generals love napalm," said Alles, who has transferred to
Washington. "It has a big psychological effect."

controversial napalm used in the Vietnam War
"Similar". Non e' la stessa cosa.
-Stefano