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11 May 09 - 08:36 AM (#2628934) Subject: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: beardedbruce fire attacks. US military: 44 Afghan cases of white phosphorus Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writers – 8 mins ago KABUL – The U.S. military accused militants in Afghanistan on Monday of using white phosphorus munitions in attacks on American forces and in civilian areas, saying it has documented at least 44 incidents of insurgents using or storing the weapons. A spokeswoman labeled the attacks "reprehensible." White phosphorus is a spontaneously flammable material that leaves severe chemical burns on flesh. Using white phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is considered legitimate under international law, but rights groups say its use over populated areas can indiscriminately burn civilians and constitutes a war crime. The U.S. military, in documents supplied to The Associated Press, said there had been at least seven instances of militants using white phosphorus in improvised explosive attacks since spring 2007, including attacks in civilian areas. The military documents showed 12 attacks where militants used white phosphorus in mortar or rocket attacks, the majority of which came the last two years. The most recent attack came last Thursday, when a NATO outpost in Logar was hit with two rounds of indirect white phosphorus fire, the documents said. Most troops in Logar, which lies south of Kabul, are American. A U.S. spokeswoman, Maj. Jenny Willis, said the use of white phosphorus as a weapon could cause "unnecessary suffering" as defined in the laws of warfare. "This pattern of irresponsible and indiscriminate use of white phosphorus by insurgents is reprehensible and should be noted by the international human rights community," she said. Willis said the U.S. military and NATO have been able to document 44 cases of white phosphorus use by insurgents — either attacks or in weapons caches — but that there may be more. Thirty-eight of those cases occurred in eastern Afghanistan, the region where the majority of American troops are stationed. Six cases came from other parts of the country. White phosphorus is used to mark targets, create smoke screens or as a weapon, and can be delivered by shells, flares or hand grenades. Human rights groups denounce its use as a weapon for the severe burns it causes, though it is not banned by any treaty to which the United States is a signatory. The U.S. military used white phosphorus in the battle of Fallujah in Iraq in November 2004. Israel's military used it in January against Hamas targets in Gaza. Afghan officials on Sunday said they were investigating the possibility that white phosphorus was used in a U.S.-Taliban battle in Farah province last week that President Hamid Karzai said killed up to 130 civilians. Nader Nadery, an official with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said Monday that doctors are treating 16 patients with severe burns suffered in the May 4 battle. The commission is investigating the possible use of white phosphorus or another incendiary chemical against villagers during the battle. Nadery said Farah's governor told the group's researchers that many of those killed in the battle also had severe burns. The governor confirmed that Taliban fighters may attacked the villagers with a flammable material, though not necessarily white phosphorus, Nadery said. |
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11 May 09 - 09:22 AM (#2628961) Subject: RE: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: Rapparee WP ain't pretty. Leaves nasty, nasty wounds -- burns until the oxygen is cut off and it WILL burn completely through flesh, and I mean through. Here's a picture (WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC!). The US, by the way, now has very strict restrictions on the use of Willy Peter, napalm, and other flame weapons. |
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11 May 09 - 09:39 AM (#2628971) Subject: RE: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: Donuel Isreal is famous for WP use. This Taliban White Phosphorus story has emerged 7+ days after the claim that 144 Afghan civilians at a wedding were killed by a US remote controled air strike. fog of war, misinformation, BS? I don't know. The doctors who treated the deep burn wounds several days after the bombing said they do know either ,they said they did not encounter shrapnel wounds amoung the dead and injured, which has been typical of US remote attacks thus far. US drones can carry a 500 lb. bomb and takes incredible resolution pictures from its front swivel mounted cameras. Pictures could prove what happened. Apparently the pictures are classified. |
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11 May 09 - 10:02 AM (#2628985) Subject: RE: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: Greg F. Oh, thne barbarity - Can't those devils in human form kill, maim, cripple & blind people humanely?? |
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11 May 09 - 10:02 AM (#2628986) Subject: RE: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: McGrath of Harlow Seems clear that someone has been using White Phosphorus - Phosphorus claim after fatal air strikes in Afghanistan : Dr Mohammad Aref Jalali, the head of an internationally funded burns hospital in Herat, said villagers taken to hospital after the incident had "highly unusual burns" on their hands and feet that he had not seen before. "We cannot be 100% sure what type of chemical it was and we do not have the equipment here to find out. One of the women who came here told us that 22 members of her family were totally burned. She said a bomb distributed white power that caught fire and then set people's clothes alight." Sadly, in the light of previous incidents and previous denials about stuff like that, the claim that it was the Taliban and not the US, has to be regarded with suspicion. "...members of the human rights department at the UN mission in Afghanistan have been appalled by witness testimony from people in the village, according to one official in Kabul who talked anonymously to the Guardian. "He said bombs were dropped after militants had quit the battlefield, which appeared to be backed up by the US air force's own daily report, which is published online. "The stories that are emerging are quite frankly horrifying," the official said. "It is quite apparent that the large bulk of casualties were called in after the initial fighting had subsided and both the troops and the Taliban had withdrawn. "Local villagers went to the mosque to pray for peace. Shortly after evening prayers the air strikes were called in, and they continued for a couple of hours whilst the villagers were frantically calling the local governor to get him to call off the air strikes." |
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11 May 09 - 10:35 AM (#2628997) Subject: RE: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: artbrooks The story that some one actually saw a "white powder" catch fire, and the reports that none of the burn victims had shrapnel wounds, would indicate that it was not white phosphorous. Weapons grade WP is generally flakes rather than a powder, and is distributed by the detonation of a bomb or shell rather than by base ejection and dispersion. |
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11 May 09 - 10:44 AM (#2629001) Subject: RE: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: beardedbruce Taliban may have killed Afghans By Jason Straziuso and Lara Jakes Associated Press Published: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 10:34 p.m. UTC >KABUL — Villagers dug dirt graves Wednesday to bury what the international Red Cross said were dozens of Afghans — including women and children — killed in American bombing runs. A former Afghan government official said up to 120 people may have died. If so, it would be the deadliest case of civilian casualties since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. "deeply, deeply" regretted the loss of innocent life, and the U.S. military dispatched a brigadier general to investigate the deaths in two villages in western Afghanistan's Farah province. The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, voiced doubts about whether it was an American airstrike that caused the tragedy. McKiernan said U.S. military personnel had come to the aid of Afghan forces who may have been ambushed by Taliban militants on Sunday. He said the Taliban beheaded three civilians, perhaps to lure police. "We have some other information that leads us to distinctly different conclusions about the cause of the civilian casualties," McKiernan said. He would not elaborate but said the United States was working with the Afghan government to learn the truth. A senior U.S. defense official said late Wednesday that Marine special operations forces believe the Afghan civilians were killed by grenades hurled by Taliban militants, who then loaded some of the bodies into a vehicle and drove them around the village, claiming the dead were victims of an American airstrike. A second U.S. official said a senior Taliban commander is believed to have ordered the grenade attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. Two other senior defense officials said the grenade report comes from villagers interviewed by U.S. investigators who went to the site, but there is no proof yet that the report is right. If correct, it would be the first time the Taliban has used grenades in this way, presumably to mimic the effect of a bombing. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the deaths "unacceptable," speaking only hours before his first face-to-face meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House. Karzai has long pleaded with the U.S. to minimize civilian deaths during its operations, contending that such killings undermine support for the fight against the Taliban. Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, said Obama led off his meeting with Karzai by expressing great sympathy over the loss of life and pledging that investigations into what happened in the bombing will be "pursued aggressively." Karzai did not ask that U.S. airstrikes be suspended or reduced in intensity pending the outcome of the investigation, Jones said. The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan's worsening conflict jumped 40 percent to a new high last year, though more than half of the deaths were inflicted by Taliban insurgents and other militants, the U.N. has reported. A record 2,118 civilians died from violence last year, up from 1,523 the previous year. Associated Press photos showed villagers burying the dead in about a dozen fresh graves early Wednesday, while others dug through the rubble of demolished mud-brick homes. On Tuesday, an international Red Cross team in Farah's Bala Baluk district saw "dozens of bodies in each of the two locations that we went to," said spokeswoman Jessica Barry. "There were bodies, there were graves, and there were people burying bodies when we were there," she said. "We do confirm women and children." Afghan police have said that 25 Taliban died in the fighting, which began Monday and lasted until early Tuesday. It was unclear whether they were among the dozens of bodies witnessed by the Red Cross. Tribal elders called the Red Cross during the fighting to report civilian casualties and ask for help, said Reto Stocker, the agency's head in Afghanistan. We know that those killed included an Afghan Red Crescent volunteer and 13 members of his family who had been sheltering from fighting in a house that was bombed in an airstrike," Stocker said. A Western official said Marine special operations forces called in the airstrikes. The U.S. troops responded to a call for help from Afghan security forces who had been attacked by Taliban militants Monday afternoon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information. "Because of the overwhelming firepower coming in by the enemy, they called in airstrikes," said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military spokeswoman. Villagers said they gathered children, women and elderly men in several compounds near the village of Gerani to keep them away from the fighting, but the compounds were later hit by airstrikes. Taliban militants often take over civilian homes and launch attacks on Afghan and coalition forces. U.S. officials say the militants hope to attract U.S. airstrikes that kill civilians, thereby giving the Taliban a propaganda victory. After a massive case of civilian casualties in the village of Azizabad last August, McKiernan ordered forces to consider backing off from a fight if commanders thought civilians were in danger. Afghan officials and the U.N. say 90 civilians died in Azizabad; the U.S. says 33 died. Mohammad Nieem Qadderdan, a former district chief of Bala Buluk who visited the site of this week's battle, said 100 to 120 people were killed. If 100 civilians died in the fight, it would be deadliest case of civilian casualties since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. "People are still looking through the rubble," Qadderdan said. "We need more people to help us. Many families left the villages, fearing other strikes." Provincial authorities have told villagers not to bury the bodies, but instead to line them up for the officials conducting the investigation, Qadderdan said. Karzai ordered an investigation, and the U.S. military sent a brigadier general to Farah to head a U.S. probe, said Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. spokesman. Afghan military and police officials were also part of the team. The team did not reach the site of the bombings Wednesday but hoped to on Thursday. Opening a meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan at the State Department, Clinton said any loss of innocent life was "particularly painful." Karzai thanked Clinton for "showing concern and regret" and said he hoped the countries "can work together to completely reduce civilian casualties in the struggle against terrorism." State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said later that Clinton's remarks were offered as a gesture, before all the facts of the incident are known, because "any time there is a loss of innocent life we are going to be concerned about it, and we wanted to make that very clear." Kai Eide, the senior U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, said avoiding civilian casualties is a "particularly big challenge" given the increased number of U.S. forces arriving in the country this summer. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates landed in Kabul to meet with troops as the U.S. prepares to send 21,000 more forces to bolster the record 38,000 already in the country to battle an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705301903/Taliban-may-have-killed-Afghans.html?pg=3 |
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11 May 09 - 12:25 PM (#2629066) Subject: RE: BS: Taliban using WP on civilians, direct From: Greg F. Taliban may have...... and the U.S. certainly has. |
