Map of Fallujah A documentary aired on November 8 on an Italian state-run satellite channel RAI claims that the United States military used chemical weapons and napalm-like bombs during a bombardment of Fallujah in November 2004. The documentary, entitled Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre, asserts that the US military used white phosphorus on the civilian population during the bombardment, and backs these allegations with interviews with former US soldiers as well as residents of Fallujah. White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable chemical used in battlefield illumination or to generate smoke screens. Contact with the substance results in burning and melting of skin and flesh. According to an account of a former US soldier, the phosphorus explodes and forms a plume, killing everyone within a 150 metre radius. The smoke produced by burning phosphorous converts to hot, concentrated phosphoric acid on contact with human skin, eyes, lungs and mucous membranes producing characteristic chemical burns internally and externally. White phosphorus is is also a highly toxic substance with an average lethal dose (LD50) of 50 milligrams; lethal intoxication causes a slow death after 5 to 10 days. A statement issued by the United States in December 2004 pointed out that phosphorus shells are not outlawed, and that "US forces have used them very sparingly in Falluja , for illumination purposes." RAI's film, however, alleges that the US has attempted to destroy footage of use of white phosphorus on civilians in Fallujah.
Map of FallujahA documentary aired on November 8 on an Italian state-run satellite channel RAI claims that the United States military used chemical weapons and napalm-like bombs during a bombardment of Fallujah in November 2004. The documentary, entitled Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre, asserts that the US military used white phosphorus on the civilian population during the bombardment, and backs these allegations with interviews with former US soldiers as well as residents of Fallujah. White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable chemical used in battlefield illumination or to generate smoke screens. Contact with the substance results in burning and melting of skin and flesh. According to an account of a former US soldier, the phosphorus explodes and forms a plume, killing everyone within a 150 metre radius. The smoke produced by burning phosphorous converts to hot, concentrated phosphoric acid on contact with human skin, eyes, lungs and mucous membranes producing characteristic chemical burns internally and externally. White phosphorus is also a highly toxic substance with an average lethal dose (LD50) of 50 milligrams; lethal intoxication causes a slow death after 5 to 10 days. A statement issued by the United States in December 2004 pointed out that phosphorus shells are not outlawed, and that "US forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah , for illumination purposes." RAI's film, however, alleges that the US has attempted to destroy footage of use of white phosphorus on civilians in Fallujah.
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