I seem to remember a few reports at the start of Iraq invasion and then again during assault on Fallujah mentioning the use of napalm-like substances. There were witnesses -- Iraqi, of course, -- who claimed to have suffered the effects. These reports, just like so many before and since, were, according to the administration, "completely discredited by anyone who looked ionto them". Now the British are pissed. The Independent today published an article
US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war, leaving little doubt that our government once again
LIED.
More ...
Despite persistent rumours of injuries among Iraqis consistent with the use of incendiary weapons such as napalm, Adam Ingram, the Defence minister, assured Labour MPs in January that US forces had not used a new generation of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq.
But Mr Ingram admitted to the Labour MP Harry Cohen in a private letter obtained by The Independent that he had inadvertently misled Parliament because he had been misinformed by the US. "The US confirmed to my officials that they had not used MK77s in Iraq at any time and this was the basis of my response to you," he told Mr Cohen. "I regret to say that I have since discovered that this is not the case and must now correct the position."
Apparently a number of these munitions were indeed used in the invasion
Mr Ingram said 30 MK77 firebombs were used by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in the invasion of Iraq between 31 March and 2 April 2003. They were used against military targets "away from civilian targets", he said. This avoids breaching the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which permits their use only against military targets.
Britain, which has no stockpiles of the weapons, ratified the convention, but the US did not.
The question remains whether more is to be revealed about the use of napalm in Fallujah.
The confirmation that US officials misled British ministers led to new questions last night about the value of the latest assurances by the US. Mr Cohen said there were rumours that the firebombs were used in the US assault on the insurgent stronghold in Fallujah last year, claims denied by the US. He is tabling more questions seeking assurances that the weapons were not used against civilians.
If US used napalm in areas where civilians were likely to be present (say, in urban Fallujah), it puts British government into a bind. They would have to either confront the US with this, or be found in violation of the CCW treaty.