Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: US intelligence classified white phosphorus as 'chemical weapon'  (The Independent)

E'  materiale di cui stiamo gia' discutendo. Ho evidenziato con gli 
asterischi la parte che io stesso ho sostenuto in questi giorni. Mi 
sembra anche una buona sintesi dell'imbarazzo del Pentagono, per una 
posizione che non riesce a stare in piedi.
Am.
 US intelligence classified white phosphorus as 'chemical weapon'
 By Peter Popham and Anne Penketh
 Published: 23 November 2005
 The Italian journalist who launched the controversy over the American 
use of white phosphorus (WP) as a weapon of war in the Fallujah siege 
has accused the Americans of hypocrisy.
 Sigfrido Ranucci, who made the documentary for the RAI television 
channel aired two weeks ago, said that a US intelligence assessment had 
characterised WP after the first Gulf War as a "chemical weapon".
The assessment was published in a declassified report on the American 
Department of Defence website. The file was headed: "Possible use of 
phosphorous chemical weapons by Iraq in Kurdish areas along the 
Iraqi-Turkish-Iranian borders."
In late February 1991, an intelligence source reported, during the 
Iraqi crackdown on the Kurdish uprising that followed the coalition 
victory against Iraq, "Iraqi forces loyal to President Saddam may have 
possibly used white phosphorous chemical weapons against Kurdish rebels 
and the populace in Erbil and Dohuk. The WP chemical was delivered by 
artillery rounds and helicopter gunships."
According to the intelligence report, the "reports of possible WP 
chemical weapon attacks spread quickly among the populace in Erbil and 
Dohuk. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled from these two 
areas" across the border into Turkey.
"When Saddam used WP it was a chemical weapon," said Mr Ranucci, "but 
when the Americans use it, it's a conventional weapon. The injuries it 
inflicts, however, are just as terrible however you describe it."
In the television documentary, eyewitnesses inside Fallujah during the 
bombardment in November last year described the terror and agony 
suffered by victims of the shells . Two former American soldiers who 
fought at Fallujah told how they had been ordered to prepare for the 
use of the weapons. The film and still photographs posted on the 
website of the channel that made the film - 
rainews24.it
 - show the 
strange corpses found after the city's destruction, many with their 
skin apparently melted or caramelised so their features were 
indistinguishable. Mr Ranucci said he had seen photographs of "more 
than 100" of what he described as "anomalous corpses" in the city.
The US State Department and the Pentagon have shifted their position 
repeatedly in the aftermath of the film's showing. After initially 
saying that US forces do not use white phosphorus as a weapon, the 
Pentagon now says that WP had been used against insurgents in Fallujah. 
The use of WP against civilians as a weapon is prohibited.
*****Military analysts said that there remain questions about the 
official US position regarding its observance of the 1980 conventional 
weapons treaty which governs the use of WP as an incendiary weapon and 
sets out clear guidelines about the protection of civilians.
Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association in Washington, 
called for an independent investigation of the use of WP during the 
Fallujah siege. "If it was used as an incendiary weapon, clear 
restrictions apply," he said.******
"Given that the US and UK went into Iraq on the ground that Saddam 
Hussein had used chemical weapons against his own people, we need to 
make sure that we are not violating the laws that we have subscribed 
to," he added.
Yesterday Adam Mynott, a BBC correspondent in Nassiriya in April 2003, 
told Rai News 24 that he had seen WP apparently used as a weapon 
against insurgents in that city.
 

restrictions apply," he said.******
Ma ancora latitano a dimostrare che sia stata usata come arma
incendiaria e che tali restrizione non siano state rispettate :)
-Stefano

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Sbagliato. Che sia stata usata come arma incendiaria lo ha ammesso il 
Pentagono e ne hai fornito te stesso le prove, con lo 'Shake and Bake'.
Visto che sparavano a casaccio fosforo in una citta' a cui era impedito 
ai maschi di uscire, quindi ancora molto popolata, agivano in aperto 
contrasto con il Protocollo III.
Meglio che lasci perdere, Nosferatu all'Amatriciana.
Am.