Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre

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Ex US soldier Jeff Englehart talking about the use of white phosphorus against Iraqi civilians in Fallujah.

Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre is a documentary film by Sigfrido Ranucci and Maurizio Torrealta which first aired on Italy's RAI state television network on November 8th, 2005. The film documents the use of weapons that the documentary asserts are chemical weapons, particularly the use of incendiary bombs, and alleges indiscriminate use of violence against civilians and children by military forces of the United States of America in the city of Fallujah in Iraq during the Fallujah Offensive of November 2004.

The film's primary themes are:

Establishing a case for war crimes against civilians committed by the United States.
Documenting evidence for the use of chemical devices by the US military.
Documenting other human rights abuses by American forces and their Iraqi counterparts.

This article offers a synopsis of the material presented in the documentary.

1 War crimes
2 Incendiary weapons used against personnel and civilians
3 Indiscriminate violence
4 Criticism
5 External links

[edit] War crimes

The primary theme of the film is its establishment of a case for war crimes committed by the United States in its military offensive against Fallujah. The film documents the use of weapons based on white phosphorus and other substances similar to napalm, such as Mark-77, by American forces.

Interviews with ex American military personnel who were involved in the Fallujah offensive back up the case for the use of weapons by the United States, while reporters who were stationed in Iraq discuss the American government's attempts to suppress the news by covert means, although it has been discovered that more than one of the servicemen interviewed for the documentary was not actually part of the November 2004 assault on Fallujah^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Incendiary weapons used against personnel and civilians

Hand of Iraqi woman said to have been incinerated by American weapons while praying with misbah (Islamic prayer beads).

The film states that the use of napalm and similar agents was banned by the United Nations in 1980 for use against civilians and also for use against military targets in proximity to civilians. Convention on Conventional Weapons#Protocol III: Incendiary Weapons

White phosphorus when used as for screening or as a marker is not banned by Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, but if used as a weapon it would be prohibited. The protocol specifically excludes weapons whose incendiary effect is secondary, such as smoke grenades. This has been often read as excluding white phosphorus munitions from this protocol, as well. The United States is among the nations that are parties to the convention but have not signed Protocol III.[1]

Graphic visual footage of the weapons being fired from helicopters into urban areas is displayed, as well as detailed footage of the remains of those apparently killed by these weapons, including children and women. The filmmakers interview ex US military solider Jeff Englehart of Colorado who discusses the American use of white phosphorus, nicknamed "Whiskey Pete", in built-up areas, and describes the Fallujah offensive as "just a massive killing of Arabs." However Englhart was deployed in a Rear Area during the Fallujah assault and was trained and deployed as a technician in a combat related Military Occupational Specialty but never took part in the actual battle. Englhart was far from the combat in Fallujah at this time and was reported to have been stationed in Ramadi (which is miles from Fallujah) at the time of the November 2004 Operation^{[citation needed]}. Due to the to the fact that he was the basis of the majority of information to back-up the more gruesome claims of the use and effects of white phosphorus [2], and the fact that Englehart later stated that the filmmakers distorted his comments and took them completely out of context. [3]

White phosphorus is typically referred to as "willie pete" by U.S. servicemembers.

Following pressure from former Labour MP Alice Mahon, the British Ministry of Defence confirmed the use of MK77 by US forces in the attack on Fallujah [4].

[edit] Indiscriminate violence

The film alleges that the US military deliberately targeted Iraqi civilians and children during the Fallujah offensive as part of its campaign to exterminate opposition to its occupation. The filmmakers interview former US Army scout Garret Reppenhagen, also from Colorado, claimed that civilan deaths were common and intentional. However this claim, and the vast majority of the claims made in this documentary are unsubstantiated due to the fact that those being interviewed had no part in the fighting in November 2004 in Fallujah. However, the March-April 2005 online Field Artillery magazine has confirmed the use of WP (white phosphorous) in so-called "shake 'n bake" attacks, so the use of white phosphorous is substantiated by US Army sources: "WP proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE. We fired “shake and bake” missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out." [P.26]

The US military responded by stating that they gave civilians several days of advanced warning of the assault and urged them to evacuate the city.

[edit] Criticism

Critics of the film point out that white phosphorus may not be considered a "chemical weapon" under the Chemical Weapons Convention but just an incendiary weapon banned under Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, making the distinction that WP does not poison but burns its subject. WP is also commonly used and accepted by many military powers around the world [5]; however, the article cited does classify direct skin contact by WP as either a thermal or chemical burn, and that the chemical burn can "result from several different compounds produced through WP reactions. These include phosphorus pentoxide which can react with the water in skin and produce corrosive phosphoric acids."

A subsequent documentary, Star Wars in Iraq by Sigfrido Ranucci and Maurizio Torrealta, accounts for human heads being burned, without their bodies, clothes and nearby equipment suffering damage by alleging the use of US experimental weapons. [6]