At first the USA denied it in Fullujah now they admit it.

Your Nation is sick.

And Afghan resistance fighters would get white phosphorus from where? US sheeple might believe that story but anyone with any kind of sense would see this has nonsense. And when exactly could we ever believe any US military spokesman?

It should not matter if it was white phosphorus or not. The slaughter of innocent civilians is a war crime - a crime against humanity.
USA BABY KILLERS !!!

rosemarie jackowski,

While I agree with you, I also disagree and this is because the [fact] that this was and remains WP, white phosphorous, [again] proves that the U.S. military, and we [know] that "the buck stops at the U.S. president(cy)" as the U.S. Pres. is C-in-C of the U.S. military; well, it again proves that the U.S. leadership, political and military, is LYING. AGAIN! Repeatedly slaughtering and lying about it! Without end!

They, however, are not lying about this being WP, for they've admitted this, the U.S. and NATO command have admitted this. BUT they are lying in claiming what they know to be false and which is their claim that "the Taliban did it". They know damn well that the Taliban did not do it; knowing damn well that it was the U.S. that did it!

We know they've done virtually nothing other than lie since these GWoT wars were launched, so knowing or learning that they're again lying about their crimes is nothing really new. Nevertheless, it adds to their "Mount Everest" of lies and crimes, so they're making themselves more condemnable every time they commit more crimes and lies to try to cover up their crimes.

They clearly do not care about spending eternity burning in hell's perdition. But they need to be stopped.

There should be massive "million man marches" across the USA and maintained until a major overhaul and correction of the damn federal government is achieved! Why could such a march be formed with one man leading it only once; why can't it be happening again?! This time, however, there should be such marches happening in parallel time across the USA, not only one instance of such a march.

But the population evidently is tired enough, yet, of the government and their military troops or forces committing all of these supreme crimes against humanity.

EDIT: A correction is due.

But the population evidently is [not] tired enough, yet, of the government and their military troops or forces committing all of these supreme crimes against humanity.

glenn ford,

I take it you're not of the USA? If, on the contrary, you are, then you got "Your Nation is sick" a little mistaken, for it should then be "Our Nation is sick".

=========================

"cedross May 10th, 2009 1:24 pm

And Afghan resistance fighters would get white phosphorus from where? ..."

I posted links to a couple of articles on this story yesterday at CD and it's clear that it's WP that was used and that it's the U.S., not the Taliban, that did this. Actually, maybe these aren't the articles I posted links for at CD yesterday.

"Afghanistan: NATO Should ‘Come Clean’ on White Phosphorus
Release Report on Attack in Which Child Burned",

by Human Rights Watch, HRW.org, May 8, 2009

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54085

QUOTE:

(New York) - NATO forces in Afghanistan should immediately release the results of their investigation into a March 14, 2009, incident in which an 8-year-old girl in Kapisa province was burned by white phosphorus munitions, Human Rights Watch said today. A NATO spokesperson has denied allegations from the girl's father that NATO forces had fired the rounds that caused her injuries.

"White phosphorus causes horrendous burns and should not be used in civilian areas," said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. "NATO should immediately make public the results of its investigation into this incident."

The girl's family brought her to the US military base in Bagram on March 14 for medical treatment for severe burns. US military doctors say they found white phosphorus on her face and neck. The incident took place in Alahsay district in eastern Kapisa Province, where there had been a series of fierce firefights in March involving NATO forces and insurgent groups.

NATO officials have said that according to their records, no rounds were found to have landed near the house, though have not denied using white phosphorus during this engagement. They have suggested that the Taliban may have fired the rounds, but have not provided any evidence for their claim. Today the International Security Assistance Force released information on four isolated incidents dated between December 2007 and May 2009 where they say insurgents used white phosphorus munitions.

Under international humanitarian law, chemicals such as white phosphorus can legitimately be used as "obscurants" to hide military operations and, in certain circumstances, as a weapon. However, white phosphorus munitions have a significant incendiary effect that can severely burn people and set alight fields, buildings, and other civilian objects in the vicinity. Human Rights Watch believes that the use of white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas violates the requirement under international humanitarian law to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life.

The spokesman for the commander of NATO and US troops in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, confirmed that white phosphorus munitions are used in Afghanistan. He told Human Rights Watch: "We do not target personnel with white phosphorus, which is a conventional weapon in the arsenals of many nations, generally used for screening, marking, and illumination."

"NATO has not denied using white phosphorus during the Kapisa incident, nor have they provided evidence that the insurgents fired these rounds," said Garlasco. "NATO and US forces need to reassure the people of Afghanistan, already alarmed by high civilian casualties, that these munitions are not being used unlawfully."

END QUOTE

I'll post the link for the other article in a post following this one.

"Afghan girl's burns show horror of chemical strike",
by Emma Graham-Harrison, Reuters, May 8, 2009

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54084

QUOTE:

Life as 8-year-old Razia knew it ended one March morning when a shell her father says was fired by Western troops exploded into their house, enveloping her head and neck in a blazing chemical. Skip related content

Now she spends her days in a U.S. hospital bed at the Bagram airbase, ... (snipped).

"The kids called out to me that I was burning but the explosion was so strong that for a moment I was deaf and couldn't hear anything," her father, Aziz Rahman, told Reuters.

"And then my wife screamed 'the kids are burning' and she was also burning," he added, his face clouding over at the memory.

The flames that consumed his family were fed by a chemical called white phosphorous, which U.S. medical staff at Bagram said they found on Razia's face and neck.

... (snipped or omitted)

Colonel Gregory Julian, a spokesman for the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, confirmed that Western forces in the country use the chemical.

"In the case of white phosphorus it is used on the battlefield in certain applications ... It is used as an incendiary to destroy bunkers and enemy equipment; it's used for illumination."

But U.S. military training manuals say firing it at people is illegal. ... (snipped)

Razia and her family are the first known civilian casualties of its use in Afghanistan.

WHO FIRED?

Rahman said the shell that burnt his daughter landed after a firefight near their house in the eastern province of Kapisa. The NATO-led international force there is made up mainly of French troops, with U.S. support.

"(Western) troops were on the road, the Taliban were on the mountain and we were at the house, sandwiched between them. When the Taliban began retreating, they fired artillery at them, 12 rounds. One hit my house," Rahman said.

A spokeswoman for the NATO-led force rejected Rahman's account, saying an internal investigation into the incident concluded that it was "very unlikely" the weapon that hit Razia's house was theirs, because of the timing and location.

U.S. Major Jennifer Willis suggested instead that the Taliban had fired the shot: "An enemy mortar team, known to have been operating in that area, may have been responsible."

The Afghan government, military specialists and experts on the Taliban told Reuters, however, that insurgents have never been observed using white phosphorus. The only forces on the battlefield known to use it are the United States and NATO.

"I am not aware that the Taliban have used this in any of their attacks," said Zaher Murad, a Defence Ministry spokesman.

Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan-based author of a widely acclaimed book on the hardline Islamists, said that he was also not aware of such reports.

The use of the chemical for illumination and concealment of troop movements suit the tactics of foreign forces in a hostile environment, but it would be of little use to insurgents who know the terrain and can blend into the civilian population.

"To think they (the Taliban) are employing white phosphorus as a weapon in their arsenal is very far-fetched," said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch and a former senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon.

"The U.S. has optics that will allow them to see through the smoke, so it is useless for (the Taliban). They don't need to illuminate because that is telegraphing to the United States where they are going to go and fight. Plus they know the area."

"They want high explosive to shock and kill; flames raining down from the sky aren't going to frighten the U.S. forces."

NATO spokeswoman Willis said insurgents had been observed using white phosphorus weapons in the past. Asked to provide examples of the Taliban using the chemical, she wrote back to say that she was unable to do so.

The Taliban also denied that they used it. "This is not true, it is just a mere allegation," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

NEVER NORMAL

... (snipped)

Colleen Fitzpatrick, a U.S. military paediatric surgeon who has been treating Razia, confirmed Razia was hit by white phosphorous and had burns to 40 percent of her body.

"The way we treat that is with skin grafts ... (but) because her burns were so extensive we had to allow some of those donor sites to heal first, so we would go back to take skin from the same place more than once," Fitzpatrick said.

... (snipped)

... (snipped) Although doctors say it may be possible to reduce her disfigurement, U.S. help may one day be cut off.

"It's never going to be normal, but there is still certainly room to improve on what she has," Fitzpatrick said.

"We would like to be able to offer her things down the line, but a lot of that just depends on the tempo of the war ... Obviously our primary mission is to support our troops."

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Peter Graff and John Chalmers)

END QUOTE

Wow! Only a hundred days have gone by and already President Obama is burning children alive. The 'grass' sure dosen't grow under this AIPAC lackie's feet! He's going to waste more borrowed money on Afghanistan setting a new world's record for opium production than he is in robbing Iraq of it's oil.
What a country - we are hungry, broke, jobless and homeless and our elected officials are having a baby roast half way around the world. This must raise the term War Crimes to an entirely new level.

"White phosphorus can be employed legitimately in battle"

The premise of this statement by the Associated Press is fatally flawed. There is nothing legitimate in battle. Battle is always a choice, and always the wrong choice, by basic ethics. The US media is playing a dangerous game, applying psychology against its readers to keep their noses to the imperial grindstone. It will dutifully report snippets of bad news to make the report seem "fair and balanced", which prepares the reader's brain to swallow the propaganda such as in the quote above.

The people have to shift away from passive acceptance of elite production, policy and propaganda, and toward self-determined demanding for the output of trusted locals. Locals may be trusted because they have to maintain standing in the community. A much smaller number may be trusted from afar because those visualize a better society based on widespread trust. We're busy expanding their numbers.

The USA is in serious trouble today mainly due to the breakdown of trust and trustworthiness among people, as the elites have corrupted large numbers in the urban areas and beyond. It is crucial that the people learn to recognize who stands on the far left, the trustworthy, and who trangulates in the middle and/or lurches to the extreme right gutter of elites. The people must do their exchange/association only with the far left, the trustworthy. This will help sever all the empire tentacles.

"The U.S. on Saturday blamed Taliban militants for causing the deaths by using villagers as human shields in the hopes they would be killed."

This is a very old propaganda ploy that was so-overused that the last regime in the oval orifice had to cancel it early in the bonanza/rampage. We notice Cardinal O'Bamba's regime trying to recycle the ploy anew, probably after the regime psychologists deemed the public memory sufficiently wiped out by the new slime from the video.

Here it is in the mainstream. It comes from AP - Comcast is just my internet server.

"Unusual" burns?

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090507/AS.Afghanistan/

"cedross May 10th, 2009 1:24 pm

And Afghan resistance fighters would get white phosphorus from where? "

I already posted an answer to that question, the answer being that the Taliban didn't commit the act.

Another way to answer the question is that if the Taliban did get their hands on WP for use as a weapon, then it might be through the U.S. military and/or CIA supplying it and possibly or rather probably with the "assistance" of some members of the Pakistani ISI; and/or possibly "assistance" of Israeli Mossad, while that'd again require involvement of some of the Pak. ISI. Note that this is only a hypothetical possibility; not something I'm saying has been happening in the present war on the Taliban [and] Afghanistan; oh, and northern Pakistan, if not actually all of the country (not in overt military terms, but a war nonetheless, politically, geopolitically, along with military politics of governments, like the U.S. govt).

"Standard (covert) operating procedure" or protocol, ... ya know. The U.S. does this "stuff", has done it before, but there's a distinction this time.

The Taliban did [not] commit this attack or any other attacks in Afghanistan, or anywhere else, using WP! And it's unlikely the Taliban would fight in ways that'd bear a high risk of harming Afghan civilians who aren't known to be literally, explicitly, or openly against the Taliban. The Taliban go into civilian areas, apparently so anyway, but this is well explained by analysts, who say that it's normal with guerrilla fighting against aggressors; normal to sometimes, if not often, hide among civilian populations. It's not the fault of the guerrilla resistance; it's the fault of the criminal aggressing forces or powers.

blessthebeasts ,

Perhaps precisely; the Bush III (Obama) administration wouldn't want to prosecute its predecessor Bush II administration. "Buddies" in crime "stick together". Sort of like the Bush II administration didn't try to have the Clinton administration prosecuted for its crimes of war, etcetera. Also sort of like Pepe Escobar explains in his video analysis provided by or via TheRealNews (.com) and which is easy to find at Youtube, the video entitled, "Full Spectrum Dominance"; the Dem. and Repub. Parties are rather quite [merged].

And the sheeple callout: Obbaaaaammmah, Obbammmmmmahhh.

The bozos of the USA public will re-elect this war criminal with the big smile in four years; no matter what he does.

It doesn't have to be this way. It's just so sad and tragic. I didn't trust Obama right from the beginning, and now I know why. He could end this insanity but he won't. So onward marches a cruel and vicious empire. Obama, you know what you can do with your "hope", don't you. Take a look at the picture and ask yourself how much hope she has.

This is what Obama calls "the good war." To any rational person, it's oxymoronic. Wars are horrific and to be avoided at all costs; they may occasionally (but not in this case) be necessary, but they are never good.

Obama is more skilled in propoganda, articulate and suave than his predecessor, but no less brutal. Ethics, which carries little weight in Washington, aside, our massive expenditure of money, lives and emotions is counterproductive. This photograph alone will recruit more terrorists than Obama's surge troops can possibly kill.

Progressives need to get over their cult mentality, see the reality, and make their voices heard. Obama, like nearly all politicians, is a narcissist and seeks money, power and prestige. Only if we endanger his unholy trinity will he change his warmongering ways.

In yesterday's story about little 8 year old Razia, so horribly burned, the u.s. army doctor said she knew it was white phosphorus- so ther really is no question they are using it. also, in the same story the u.s. colonel said he uses white phosphorus for certain things,among them he said "illumination". what a word. the colonel's head should get illuminated with white phosphorus. need to see what this monster looks like.

using this stuff is a war crime. The attack on Afghanistan was and is and always will be a war crime no matter how many times obmber and holbrooke (still!) try to claim these people "attacked our country on 9/11". The people who did that were mostly Saudis, who trained in the u.s. and those guys died in the crashes. no one has yet proved anyone else did it. the u.s. has lost its mind.

it's certain that this stuff was used in Fallujah. That was aa double massacre (one in spring one in the fall). the ap, and all other media need to stop referring to that as a "battle". like the Battle of Wounded Knee.

I wonder if President Obama will share his recepe for Barbecued Chillens with the American public.

Jeevee

Again, this "Christian" nation must be asked, "WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?"

Someone wrote here or on another article, that marches should simutaneously occur across the country in protest to the sickening wars and the U.S. terrorizing other countries -IN THE NAME OF AMERICAN INTERESTS...

THis is and excellent idea. How can we pull it off? I know. . The marches do not have to all happen on the same day. We can CONTINUOUSLY MARCH EVERY WEEK ALL ACROSS THE NATION... CONSTANT MAJOR MARCHES. IF INDIVIDUALS IN MANY CITIES AND TOWNS JUST DECIDE TO MAKE IT THE SUMMER OF MARCHES, WE COULD CREATE A CONSTANT STORM OF PROTEST MARCHES THAT NEVER LET UP... THESE COULD TARGET ALL KINDS OF MILITARY ACTION AND ISSUES FROM THE AFGAN -PAKISTAN SITUATION TO THE ISRAELI-GAZA CONFLICT ... AND AT THE SAME TIME WE COULD ADDRESS MOUNTAIN TOP COAL MINING, NUCLEAR POWER, THE REDUCTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND HEALTH CARE.... BOMBARD WITH CONSTANT STREAM OF MARCHING PEOPLE....

This is bad. How can anybody live with themselves after having done such a thing?

I don't agree that killing is killing. If that kid lives at all she could spend a lifetime in pain.

This government--maybe all governments--are mean and ugly.

Our economic system is ugly. Our food is ugly. I was trying to eat lunch recently when a truck load of chickens went by.

I can't believe I'm still here. If there was a God My participation in such a system would long ago have cost me my life. Most people don't know any better, but I do, and so do most people on CD.

"it is not banned by any treaty to which the United States is a signatory."

it is if its used as a weapon per the chemical weapons convention, which the us is a signatory of.

notice that the military spokesperson denied using it as a weapon. thats why. of course we admitted to using it as a weapon in fallujah which was illegal, and just like bush didnt get tried for war crimes so to has there NOT been charges for using chemical weapons.

i wont be surprised that we will learn that in fact this was used a weapon.

This picture should be on Obama's desk - right next to the one of Malia and Sasha.

Obama is commander-in-chief, as Bush was.

Obama is a war criminal, as Bush is.

String 'em up.

You see at Harvard, where bush and Obomber went to college, they desensitize you to the plight of victims that you created.

Masters of the Universe do not concern themselves with the fate of common people. Common people are merely discarded pawns on the chessboard of empire.

This way of thinking and this system of training leaders and CEO's is the real root of the torture problem. We should be marching on Harvard and Yale, not Washington. We should demand that these vile schools close and that the values of the majority be taught as they rightly should in a democracy.

TJ

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
south_asia/8045012.stm

And of course the US military has progressed to open blame directed at the Taliban for this crime. Taliban are guilty of enough horrors without attributing this to them.