Senior Airman Sarah Esparza, 51st Maintenance Squadron, inspects 2.75 White Phosphorous Rockets - Image courtesy of Flickr User US Army Korea IMCOM

A rose by any other name…

Make no mistake about it; The Inquisition is in no way defending Saddam Hussein. As has been repeated ad nauseum in almost every outlet of published opinion, the logic used to trick western societies into acquiescing to the Iraq invasion was deeply flawed. One of the lynchpin charges levelled was that Saddam used chemical weapons aggressively against the Kurds and Iranians. Unspoken was the west’s history of the same – Churchill, mustard gas, hiroshima, militarised use of DDT and Napalm (in the gruesome video below), desert storm. Not to mention their intention to do so again in prosecuting the new war.

Chemical warfare has always been a ‘them-not-us’ problem. The truth is that it was employed throughout the twentieth century to varying degrees by many different countries. It has been designated differently at different stages, hence the partial Shakespearean quote at the top. This use continues today.

In essence, just remember ‘they’ use WMDs which makes them bad, but ‘we’ use depleted uranium and white phosphorous which makes us good.

DU

Letter to UNGA – United Nations General Assembly
On October 19 2009 a letter was publicly sent by a group of doctors to Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, the elected head of the United Nations General Assembly. In it a disturbing, and profoundly saddening trend was detailed.

To quote this letter; “In September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital had 170 new born babies, 24% of whom were dead within the first seven days, a staggering 75% of the dead babies were classified as deformed.”

Sky News had already covered this story and showed extremely distressing images of these children. Even this was too little, too late. This has been an ongoing and increasing concern since the city was laid siege to in 2003. The major concern is the use of depleted uranium.

The depleted uranium in question is a harmful by-product of the nuclear industry. This super-hardened metal is used to tip armour-piercing artillery rounds. When these rounds hit they release dust. According to the unimpeachable(?) Wikipedia ‘Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and numerous other systems can be affected by uranium exposure, because in addition to being weakly radioactive, uranium is a toxic metal.’

You get the picture – it’s not nice stuff. The letter to UNGA sees a direct link between these rounds and the genetic well-being of the inhabitants of the city.They aren’t the only ones concerned.

WP

In a similarly horrific vein, but with less destructive spread is white phosphorous. This has been in relatively constant munitions use since World War 1. Current WP cheerleaders include the US, the UK, Russia and Sri Lanka. Leading the charge, however, is Israel.

White phosphorous munitions impact as normal and then react with searing heat, burning through anything from cloth to fuel. It is particularly effective at burning sub-cutaneous fatty deposits. In other words it impacts into your body and burns its way out. Bloody lovely.

If you want to see a lower level injury from White phosphorous click here. But be warned it’s not nice.

The Geneva Conventions outlaw using incendiary devices against civilians. Its just that, as with american napalm in Vietnam, no-one told the Israelis. Of course, if you can say that mothers and young children are enemy combatants, then you shoot the beejaysus out them.

Bibliography
The leagacy of the Siege in Fallujah – Alternet
The Letter to UNGA – Information Liberation
Weaponised WP – Wikipedia
WP Used in Gaza – The London Times
WP Used in Gaza – Robert Fisk in The Independent
WP Q&amp:A – BBC News
US used WP in Iraq – BBC News
US used WP in Iraq – Wikipedia
Wired Magazine were one of the first to cover the story

Original content created by: The Inquisition