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Pentagon Reverses Position and Admits U.S. Troops Used White
Phosphorous Against Iraqis in Fallujah
Senate Reaches "Compromise" on Habeas Corpus that
Could Still Strip Guantanamo Detainees of any Trial
Pentagon Reverses Position and Admits U.S. Troops
Used White Phosphorous Against Iraqis in Fallujah
The U.S. government has now admitted its troops used white
phosphorous as an incendiary weapon against Iraqis during
the assault on Fallujah a year ago. Chemical weapons experts
say such attacks are in violation of international law banning
the use of chemical weapons. We speak with columnist George
Monbiot and the news director of RAI TV, the Italian TV network
that produced the film "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre."
[includes rush
transcript]
The U.S. government has now admitted its troops used white
phosphorous as an incendiary weapon against Iraqis during
the assault on Fallujah a year ago.
Chemical weapons experts say such attacks are in violation
of international law banning the use of chemical weapons.
Peter Kaiser, of the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons, said, "Chemicals used against humans
or animals that cause harm or death through the toxic properties
of the chemical are considered chemical weapons."
White phosphorous is often compared to napalm because it
combusts spontaneously when exposed to oxygen and can burn
right through skin to the bone.
The Pentagon"s admission comes after a week of denials
that it used white phosphorous as a weapon in Fallujah. While
reporters have noted the use of white phosphorous since the
war began, it only became a major story last Tuesday when
Italian state broadcaster RAI TV aired the documentary "Fallujuah:
The Hidden Massacre."
On that same day Democracy Now aired an excerpt of the documentary
and interviewed Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, the director of the
Pentagon's Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad. During
our show Boylan denied the claims made in the documentary
that white phosphorous was used as a weapon to target Iraqis.
But the Pentagon was caught in a lie after it was revealed
that an official Army publication called Field Artillery magazine
had disclosed that the Army had in fact used white phosphorous
as a weapon.
The magazine, in its March-April
issue, reported "[White Phosphorous] proved to be
an effective and versatile munition... [and] as a potent psychological
weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes."
The magazine went on to report "We fired "shake
and bake" missions at the insurgents, using WP [White
Phosphorous] to flush them out and HE [high explosives] to
take them out."
On Tuesday, Lt. Col. Barry Venable, another Pentagon spokesperson,
admitted on the BBC that white phosphorous was used as an
offensive weapon to target insurgents.
The Pentagon has defended its use of white phosphorous by
claiming it is a not chemical weapon and that it was only
used against Iraqi insurgents, not civilians. However even
this would have been illegall according to the Army's own
rules of combat. In 1999 the Army published a handbook that
read, "It is against the law of land warfare to employ
WP against personnel targets."
An Iraqi human rights team has reportedly gone into Fallujah
to investigate the use of white phosphorus as a weapon by
U.S. forces.
- Maurizio Torrealta, News Editor for the Italian state
broadcaster RAI and co-producer of the documentary "Fallujah:
The Hidden Massacre."
Note: We contacted Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col Barry Venable
yesterday but he refused to come on the program.
Senate Reaches "Compromise" on Habeas Corpus
that Could Still Strip Guantanamo Detainees of any Trial
The Senate this week approved what lawmakers hailed as a
bipartisan "compromise" on legal rights for Guantanamo
Bay detainees that can still strip them of a federal trial.
We speak with attorneys Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional
Rights and David Rivkin who served in the administrations
of President Reagan and George HW Bush.
Facing intense criticism from human rights, legal and civil
liberties groups, the Senate voted on Tuesday to restore some
of the rights of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Under the
deal - worked out by Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat
Carl Levin - detainees convicted by military tribunals can
have their cases reviewed by federal courts.
Graham sponsored the original amendment hastily passed by
the Senate last Thursday that stripped detainees of their
right to Habeas Corpus which is their right to challenge their
detention in federal courts. This amendment overturned a June
2004 Supreme Court ruling that had affirmed detainees right
to Habeus Corpus.
The compromise, reached with Levin, still reverses the Supreme
Court ruling but allows any detainee sentenced to death or
at least 10 years in prison by a military tribunal, to automatically
appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit.
In addition, the deal restores federal court jurisdiction
over pending cases and provides for a court review of whether
standards and procedures of the tribunals are consistent with
the Constitution.
Graham also linked the legislation with another measure by
Arizona Senator John McCain that forbids U.S. troops from
torturing or abusing detainees. That measure was overwhelmingly
passed by the Senate last month.
We will be discussing this issue with two attorneys who have
followed this closely. But first I want to play a clip from
an interview that I conducted with Professor Peter Linebaugh
when I was in Ann Arbor Micghigan last March. Professor Linebaugh
teaches history at the University of Toledo and is author
of the article, "The Secret History of the Magna Carta."
The Magna Carta is the English charter signed in 1215 that
articulates the right of Habeus Corpus and is the basis of
much of American constitutional law.
- Peter Linebaugh, University of Toledo professor and author
of the article, "The Secret History of the Magna Carta."
To talk about the Senate legislation on Habeas Corpus and
detainees at Guantanamo Bay we are joined by two attorneys:
- David Rivkin, a partner in the Washington law firm Baker
& Hostetler. He served in the Justice Department
under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He
is a member of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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