The 1925 Protocol
is part of the Geneva Conventions. The War Crimes Act of 1996, in turn, specifically makes it a crime to commit a "grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party." See
Section (c)(1) of the War Crimes Act of 1996.
The U.S. National Safety Council states that "White phosphorus is a poison . . . If its combustion occurs in a confined space, white phosphorus will remove the oxygen from the air and render the air unfit to support life . . . It is considered a dangerous disaster hazard because it emits highly toxic fumes. The EPA has listed white phosphorus as a Hazardous Air Pollutant.
Since the cloud is "asphyxiating or poisonous", then whoever ordered the white phosphorous attacks in Iraq, whether Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, 5-star generals, or lower down the chain of command, could conceivably be tried under the War Crimes Act of 1996. (Indeed, while probably not relevant to this analysis, it is interesting to note that the U.S. previously called white phosphorous a chemical weapon when Saddam used it against the Kurds).
The use of White phosphorus ("WP") may also be a war crime under other international treaties and domestic U.S. laws. For example, the Battle Book, published by the U.S. Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, contains the following sentence: "It is against the law of land warfare to employ WP against personnel targets." Indeed, it is interesting to note that the U.S. previously called white phosphorous a chemical weapon when Saddam used it against the Kurds.
Depleted Uranium
The U.S. military's bombardment of Iraq in the current war and in the first Gulf War is also likely a war crime which violates the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996.
Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's depleted uranium project -- a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel who was tasked by the US department of defense with the post-first Gulf war depleted uranium desert clean-up -- said use of Depleted Uranium ("DU") was a war crime.
According to a August 2002 report by the UN subcommission, laws which are breached by the use of DU shells include the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.
Since the use of DU violates the Geneva Conventions of 1949, it also likely violates the War Crimes Act of 1996.
The use of white phosphorous as a weapon against civilians and the use of thousands of metric tons of DU could thus be prosecuted as war crimes under the 1996 Act. Such actions -- especially when taken together with the numerous war crimes discussed previously -- could provide the basis for imposing life sentences or even the death penalty against the high-level U.S. officials who ordered, condoned or covered up such crimes, including those who provided the philosophical framework which allowed such crimes to occur.
Source: http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/...
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