Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Assault on Fallujah: State Department Lies Critique NY Transfer News

Doing an idle Google search, look what we found, all the way from the
US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia:

Is the U.S. Using "Illegal" Weapons in Fallujah? - Dec 9, 2004
http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/illegal_weapons.html

There's a whole little section on the Embassy's website called
"Misinformation." The intro to the section asks "How can you tell
if a news item is true or false?" They have several tips.
One is: Consider the source. Another is: "Ask us!" We kid you not.

The specific item below has to do with the big push in 2004 (before
there was a "surge") to regain Fallujah from the Iraqi Resistance. It
deals with November 2004 news reports, but the point of this
dipsy-doodle of an article is to deny the US used outlawed weapons like
napalm or white phosphorous in its assault on Fallujah -- well, rather,
they claim they didn't use napalm, or any Weapons of Mass Destruction,
except in their invasion north into Iraq in 2003, and then it was only
on enemy troops. And it wasn't napalm, either. They call it something
else these days: Mark-77 firebombs.

(DOW doesn't make "Agent Orange" anymore, either... the defoliants
they're using in their "war on drugs" in Colombia have been rebranded.)

And oh, they admit to using phosphorous shells in Fallujah in 2004
but only for "illumination." Well, yes, people who are burned with
white phosphorous will light up, that's for sure. And Fallujah was a
city full of Iraqis, civilians as well as "enemy troops."

And the US still doesn't torture anyone.

What's most amusing is that they're complaining of stories "coming full
circle" and "feeding on themselves" and worst of all, getting from the
internet to the print media. They ought to know. The CIA wrote the
book on how that happens. Actually, they just used the technique. The
books on how they do it were written by Philip Agee, William Blum, and
others.

Whoever wrote this is just observing the CIA's Tradecraft 101 turning
into blowback. The war comes home. Back at ya, baby.

Some CIA flunky fresh out of training earned his or her pay writing
propaganda for the State Department with this one -- complete with
weblinks. The Cambodian Embassy copy is not dated.

But it all comes out of Washington and is apparently shipped off to
each embassy to use at their discretion.

At the Mother Ship in Washington, DC, the "Misinformation" section is
much more extensive, and there the articles are dated. This particular
"We didn't do it, and besides they deserved it" article was posted
on December 9, 2004 [6]

In Cambodia, they have these articles:

* Did the U.S. "Create" Osama bin Laden?
* False Allegations Regarding South Asian Tsunami
* AIDS as a Biological Weapon
* The "Baby Parts" Myth
* Is the U.S. Harvesting Organs from Iraqis?
* Is the U.S. Using "Illegal" Weapons in Fallujah? [reproduced below]
* Concerns About Anti-AIDS Drug Nevirapine
* Definitions

They might even have a linguist who speaks decent Arabic who's
translated the article below for the Mother of All Embassies
that may be opened, someday, in Baghdad's Emerald City.

Your tax money at work. Fucking hilarious. Thoroughly infuriating.

-NY Transfer]

----------------------------------------------------------

US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Dec 9, 2004
http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/illegal_weapons.html

Misinformation

Is the U.S. Using "Illegal" Weapons in Fallujah?

Media allegations claim that U.S. is using outlawed weapons during
combat in Iraq

The fighting in Fallujah, Iraq has led to a number of widespread myths
including false charges that the United States is using chemical
weapons such as napalm and poison gas. None of these allegations are
true.

Qatar-based Internet site Islam Online was one of the first to spead
the false chemical weapons claim. On November 10, 2004, it reported
that U.S. troops were allegedly using "chemical weapons and poisonous
gas" in Fallujah. ("US Troops Reportedly Gassing Fallujah") [1] It
sourced this claim to Al-Quds Press, which cited only anonymous sources
for its allegation.

The inaccurate Islam Online story has been posted on hundreds of Web
sites.

On November 12, 2004, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a denial of
the chemical weapons charge, stating:

"The United States categorically denies the use of chemical weapons at
anytime in Iraq, which includes the ongoing Fallujah operation.
Furthermore, the United States does not under any circumstance support
or condone the developement, production, acquisition, transfer or use
of chemical weapons by any country. All chemical weapons currently
possessed by the United States have been declared to the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and are being destroyed
in the United States in accordance with our obligations under the
Chemical Weapons Convention."

To its credit, Islam Online ran a November 25, 2005, story carrying the
U.S. denial.[2]

In both stories, Islam Online noted that U.S. forces had used
napalm-like incendiary weapons during the march to Baghdad in the
spring of 2003. Although all napalm in the U.S. arsenal had been
destroyed by 2001, Mark-77 firebombs, which have a similar effect to
napalm, were used against enemy positions in 2003.

The repetition of this story on Islam Online's led to further
misinformation. Some readers did not distinguish between what had
happened in the spring of 2003, during the march to Baghdad, and in
Fallujah in November 2004. They mistakenly thought napalm-like weapons
had been used in Fallujah, which is not true. No Mark-77 firebombs have
been used in operations in Fallujah.

On November 11, 2004, the November 10 Islam Online story was reposted
in the New York Transfer News Web site, with the inaccurate headline
"Resistance Says US Using Napalm, Gas in Fallujah." [3; The State
Department's link is outdated; the correct link is in Note 3.]

------------------------------------------------------------------
[NOTE: Actually, NY Transfer headlined the story, correctly, that
it was the Iraqi Resistance making these claims, quoted Islam Online's
title and link, and introduced the story with this sentence: "If it's
true, we'll learn about it in days or weeks, and not from the tame
embedded reporters."

As indeed we did, though it took almost a year, until November, 2005.
When others investigated, and when Italian reporter Giulina Sgrena
was finally rescued from Iraq and was seriously injured (and her
bodyguard, Italian intelligence agent, Nicola Calipari, was
murdered) in an attack by US troops as they were trying to get to the
airport. For the whole story, see the Wikipedia entry: "Documental
italiano afirma que Estados Unidos utilizó armas químicas en Iraq,"
("Italian Documentary Says the US Used Chemical Weapons in Iraq")
which is in Spanish, but has many English-language links to stories by
Reuters, the BBC and others, including a transcript of an interview
with Sgrena. There is also a link to the documentary produced by
RAI in Italy which quotes former US soldiers and Fallujah residents
who testified to the fact that white phosphorous was used in an
indiscriminant manner by the US in Fallujah causing many serious
injuries to civilians, including women and children. [4]

It's harder for the US government to lie in the age of the Internet.
But let us now return to the State Department's lies of December
9, 2004. -NY Transfer
----------------------------------------------------------------

The headline was wrong in two ways. First, as explained above, Islam
Online was incorrect in claiming that U.S. forces were using poison gas
in Fallujah. Second, the New York Transfer News misread the Islam
Online story to mean that U.S. forces were currently using napalm-like
weapons in Fallujah. But Islam Online had never claimed this; it had
only talked about napalm use in 2003.

The false napalm allegation then took on a life of its own. Further
postings on the Internet repeated or recreated the error that the New
York Transfer News had made, which eventually appeared in print media.
For example, on November 28, 2004, the UK's Sunday Mirror inaccurately
claimed U.S. forces were "secretly using outlawed napalm gas" in
Fullujah.[5; See Footnote for actual title.]

The Sunday Mirror story was wrong in two ways.

First, napalm or napalm-like incendiary weapons are not outlawed.
International law permits their use against military forces, which is
how they were used in 2003.

Second, as noted above, no Mark-77 firebombs were used in Fallujah.

The Sunday Mirror's phrasing "napalm gas" is also revealing. Napalm is
a gel, not a gas. Why did the Sunday Mirror describe it as a gas?

It may be that, somewhere along the line, a sloppy reader read the
inaccurate New York Transfer News headline, "Resistance Says US Using
Napalm, Gas in Fallujah," and omitted the comma between napalm and gas,
yielding the nonsensical "napalm gas."

Ironically, Islam Online, as well as Qatar-based Arabic satellite
television station Al Jazeera, repeated the Sunday Mirror's
misinformation about "napalm gas," in identical articles on November
28, 2004. [no links provided]

With that, the circle of misinformation was complete. What began as a
false story on Islam Online on November 10, 2004, resulted in another
false story on Islam Online on November 28, 2004, through its own
mistakes and the mistakes of others. [no link provided]

Finally, some news acounts [6] have claimed that U.S. forces have used
"outlawed" phosphorus shells in Fallujah. Phosphorus shells are not
outlawed. U.S. forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for
illumination purposes. They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy
positions at night, not at enemy fighters.

There is a great deal of misinformation feeding on itself about U.S.
forces allegedly using "outlawed" weapons in Fallujah. The facts are
that U.S. forces are not using any illegal weapons in Fallujah or
anywhere else in Iraq.

End Notes (on original as embedded links)

[1] US Troops Reportedly Gassing Fallujah
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-11/10/article05.shtml

[2] US Denies Gassing Fallujah
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-11/25/article05.shtml

[3] "Resistance Says US Using Napalm, Gas in Fallujah" is at:
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20041108/008840.html

The State Dept's link is outdated. NY Transfer's headline states,
correctly, that the Iraqi Resistance is making these claims, and
repeats Islam Online's title and link. It also introduces the story
with this sentence:

"If it's true, we'll learn about it in days or weeks, and not from
the tame embedded reporters." And indeed we did, but it took nearly
a year. See note [4]

[4] "Documental italiano afirma que Estados Unidos utilizó armas
químicas en Iraq" (Italian Documentary Says that US Used Chemical
Weapons in Irag") - Wikipedia: http://tinyurl.com/227al7

FULL URL:
http://es.wikinews.org/wiki/Documental_italiano_afirma_que_Estados_Unidos_utiliz%C3%B3_armas_qu%C3%ADmicas_en_Iraq

[5] The copy of actual title of the Sunday Mirror's piece is:
"FALLUJAH NAPALMED: US uses banned weapon ..but was Tony Blair told?"
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=14920109&method=full&siteid=106694&headline=fallujah-napalmed-name_page.htmlSunday

[6] the source cited for "some news accounts claim" actually links to
one Al Jazeera Opinion piece, not a news account at all, by Sam
Hamod dated December 3, 2004, entitled "Iraq The U.S. Wrong All the Way"
It is no longer available at the link provided:
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2004%20opinions/December/3%20o/Iraq%20The%20U.S.%20Wrong%20All%20the%20Way%20By%20Sam%20Hamod.htm

[7] In Washington, DC, at the Mother Ship, the US State Dept's
"We didn't do it and besides they deserved it" page is here:
http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive_Index/Illegal_Weapons_in_Fallujah.html

ADDITIONAL LINKS PROVIDED IN THE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY [4] ABOVE;
(Not all articles are still available)

[8] "La strage nascosta" ("The Secret Massacre")
RAI, Nov 8, 2005
http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/default_02112005.asp

[9] "Iraq: Italian TV Alleges U.S. Used Chemical Weapons in Fallujah".
mediachannel.org, Nov 8, 2005.
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/1760

[10] "US used white phosphorus on Iraqi civilians-report"
by Phil Stewart, Reuters, Nov 8, 2005.

[11] "US 'uses incendiary arms' in Iraq". BBC, Nov 8, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4417024.stm

excerpts:

Eyewitnesses and ex-US soldiers say the weapon was used in built-up
areas in the insurgent-held city.

The US military denies this, but admits using white phosphorus bombs
in Iraq to illuminate battlefields.

Washington is not a signatory of an international treaty restricting
the use of white phosphorus devices....

The documentary begins with formerly classified footage of the
Americans using napalm bombs during the Vietnam war.

It then shows a series of photographs from Falluja of corpses with the
flesh burnt off but clothes still intact - which it says is consistent
with the effects of white phosphorus on humans.

Jeff Englehart, described as a former US soldier who served in Falluja,
tells of how he heard orders for white phosphorus to be deployed over
military radio - and saw the results.

"Burned bodies, burned women, burned children; white phosphorus kills
indiscriminately... When it makes contact with skin, then it's
absolutely irreversible damage, burning flesh to the bone," he says.

Last December, the US state department issued a denial of what it
called "widespread myths" about the use of illegal weapons in Falluja.

"Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very
sparingly in Falluja, for illumination purposes. They were fired into
the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters,"
the US statement said.

However, the Rai film also alleges that Washington has systematically
attempted to destroy filmed evidence of the alleged use of white
phosphorus on civilians in Falluja. ...

[There is more, and a video link]

[12] "Thompson's last trip" by Chad Abraham, The Aspen Times,
Aug 21, 2005
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20050821/NEWS/108210008&SearchID=73224911438880

[13] "Nicola Calipari: An 'extraordinary hero'". BBC, Mar 6, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4323209.stm

[14] "Transcript: Giuliana Sgrena interview". BBC, Mar 7, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4324251.stm

[15] "Did the U.S. Use "Illegal" Weapons in Fallujah?". USINFO,
Jan 27, 2005
http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive_Index/Illegal_Weapons_in_Fallujah.html

----------------------------
ALSO NOT CITED, OR DENIED, BY THE US GOVERNMENT, IS THIS:

[16] "Fallujah: Women & Children Buried in Mass Grave," Al Jazeera,
Nov 22, 2004
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20041122/009354.html

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