US Troops used White Phosphorus and a New Formulaton of Napalm on Iraqi Civilians

RAI News 24, a news program on Italian satellite TV, will air Fallujah, The Concealed Massacre on November 8th, channel RAI-3. The program has video documentation to substantiate their claims of chemical weapons use by the US, and will include eye witness testimony from US soldiers and local residents regarding the use of said materials.

The story was originally reported in today's Repubblica.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Graphic Warning

Original Post: 11/7/05 2:00PM

UPDATE: US Admits to the Use of White Phosphorus

In the March edition of Field Artillery Magazine the military acknowledges of the use of WP against people, not as an illumination device as the Pentagon has claimed. This goes right to the heart of the problem this country is facing - lying government officals. What the US did in Fallujah is despicable, and the fact that the military has vigorously denied the use of WP in any other application than illumination and attempted to prevent this story from being aired just proves that they know what was done is illegal and immoral.

The Pentagon, and all the talking-heads who support this war, claim that WP is not a chemical weapon. Technically, it is not, but when phosphorus burns in air, it first forms phosphorus pentoxide:

P4 + 5 O2 → 2 P2O5 (this is defined as a chemical by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons)

However phosphorus pentoxide is extremely hygroscopic (actually, deliquescent) and quickly absorbs even minute traces of moisture to form liquid droplets of phosphoric acid:

P2O5 + 3 H2O → 2 H3PO4

Go ahead, tell me these aren't highly toxic chemicals...

UPDATE: US State Department Openly Admits to the Use of White Phosphorus 11/16/05