The Pentagon on Monday denied using white phosphorus in Iraq. The next day, they admitted that it had been used against insurgents in Fallujah.
Today's UK Independent has full coverage of this and other recent cover-ups in U.S. military operations.
The most sickening aspect of this is that by at first denying the charges, the government appears to be concealing the worst. Is American media afraid because perhaps it REALLY IS in the best interests of the U.S. image abroad to NOT publish such article with the assumption that the Pentagon is already familiar with the top news of the day in Europe and elsewhere?
Despite whatever implications the U.S. government and military may face regarding the use of white phosophorus as an incendiary device, considerable damage has already been done to the country's program in Iraq, especially the accountability of the Pentagon.
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The Pentagon needs a Public Relations professional. In today's world of blogger's and transparency of any public documents, getting caught in a lie can be fatal. The use of WP in Fallujah had already been written about in the military rag Field Artillery (.pdf) as was pointed out in a post over a week ago by Paper Tiger.
This was the rapid follow up of astute bloggers to the controversy that broke earlier last week in Europe after the broadcast by RAI in Italy and then Sky (doesn't Murdoch own sky)?
WP is not a chemical weapon, but as the Independent explains, it is against Article 35 of the Geneva Conventions to use weapons that cause "superfluous or unneccesary suffering." The Conventional Weapons Convention bans the use of WP:
against military targets "inside a concentration of civilians except when such military objective is clearly separated from the concentration of civilians".
The Pentagon's denial, then admittance of the use of WP forced even coalition allies to retract statements that they had made
It comes as Sunni's describe the torture endured at prison camps that were until this week unknown to U.S. troops. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh published an editorial in Wall Street Journal today http://www.opinionjournal.com/... slamming the government for avoiding a probe] into Able Danger. And Robert Scheer in his debut column at his new home, the SF Chronicle, repeated his shout for and end to flat-out white lies.
Perhaps once again the media is frightened of WHAT ELSE we may find out if we press the issue of the recently released DITSUM No. 044-02 Defense Intelligence Agency Report, which claims:
The Bush administration's key evidence for the apocryphal Osama bin Laden-Saddam Hussein alliance -- said by Bush to involve training in the use of weapons of mass destruction -- was built upon the testimony of a prisoner who, according to the DIA, was probably "intentionally misleading the debriefers."
The Public is ahead - and just imagine where the Government must stand now in the eyes of the world. Curtain call to Hawkish Dem. John P. Murtha for producing today's Seismic Shift in Congress
The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We can not continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region
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I will try not to vomit while I read for you the reaction from our Speaker of the House Dennis J. Hastert's (R - IL) blog:
{Murtha and the Democrats} would prefer that the United States surrender to the terrorists who would harm innocent Americans. To add insult to injury, this is done while the President is on foreign soil.
Gimme a break - we're in this together. Now, let's work on cleaning up this mess!