Did the US military use chemical weapons in Iraq?

RAI, the all news state-run satellite channel in Italy, aired a documentary Tuesday that accused the United States of using chemical weapons against the civilian population during a November 2004 bombardment of Fallujah. AKI, the Italian news agency, reports that the documentary, entitled "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre" and aired on the first aniversary of the assault on insurgents in Fallujah, includes interviews with former US soldiers and with residents of Fallujah who say that during the assault on the city the US military used the chemical white phosphorus.

"I heard the order being issued to be careful because white phosphorus was being used on Fallujah. In military slang this is known as Willy Pete. Phosphorus burns bodies, melting the flesh right down to the bone," says one former US solider, interviewed by the documentary's director, Sigfrido Ranucci.

"I saw the burned bodies of women and children. The phosophorous explodes and forms a plume. Who ever is within a 150 metre radius has no hope," the former soldier adds.

La Repubblica, the Italian newspaper which recently broke the story on the Italian government's involvement with the forged Niger-Iraq uranium documents, reports the documentary also broadcast what it claimed is proof of the use in Iraq of a new napalm formula called MK77. The use of the incendiary substance on civilians is forbidden by a 1980 UN treaty. The use of chemical weapons is forbidden by a treaty that the US signed in 1997.

Truth : US tried to remove all anti US videos about Fallujah and called it a defamation of War on Terror. Actually USA and CIA either seems to be Blind or they are trying to be Blind. They forget fall of USSR or fall of KGB one of the most powerful country and Intelligence system.

The earth is round and no matter from where you start after a particular time you will reach at the same place. May be it takes 10-20 or 50 years but USA have to pay and answer for all its act which are root and mother of all evils.

CIA is the most dangerous terrorist in this world and his policies and act will destroy USA very soon. I think fall was already started and mother of this fall will be BUSH may be Senior or Junior.

One side they are nourishing Pakistan by providing fund, latest weapons, latest technology and other side expect that Pakistan will fight against Terrorism. A country who is root and house of Terrorism, will fight against Terrorism. This happens only in USA and CIA.

Why ?

India should be cautious about USA. They are not faithful and their one and only aim is to protect US benefits no matter who die or who suffer. India is just a shuttle cock to handle China nothing else.

Irregular Weapons Used Against Iraq

CLUSTER BOMBS AND MUNITIONS

Cluster bombs, dropped from the air, and cluster munitions, fired from the ground, are designated as such because they fragment into many smaller bombs. When a cluster weapon is dropped or fired, it opens in the air and disperses hundreds of smaller explosives (submunitions, or bomblets) which scatter over an area of up to hundreds of thousands of feet. Most of these submunitions explode upon impact, but between 5% and 30% fail to ignite. These “duds” retain their deadly features, and typically will explode immediately when touched. Herein lies the main threat to civilians, since dud bombs act as landmines across vast areas for many years.

During the first Gulf War, the US and its allies dropped cluster bombs containing around 20 million bomblets. In addition, cluster munitions spread more than 30 million bomblets. In Kuwait, around 200 cluster duds are still being found and destroyed each month. In Afghanistan, the United States dropped 1,228 CBU-87 cluster bombs containing 248,056 bomblets. Assuming a 7% failure rate, this would leave roughly 17,363 unexploded bomblets scattered across Afghanistan. The US and UK are quick to point out that cluster bombs and cluster munitions are not specifically banned under the 1997 Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty. Still, the indiscriminate nature of scattered explosives and the lingering danger of unexploded bombs make these weapons nearly identical to landmines. A strong case can also be made that cluster bombs and munitions are illegal under the Geneva Convention, which demands the protection of civilians even when intermingled with military personnel.

• On April 1, the residential al-Hilla outskirts of Babylon were hit with an undetermined number of BLU-97 A/B cluster bombs. Each bomb releases 202 bomblets which scatter over an area the size of two football fields, with a dud rate of 5%-7%. Immediate reports stated that at least 33 civilians died and around 300 were injured in the attack. Amnesty International condemned the attack, saying that “the use of cluster bombs in an attack on a civilian area of al-Hilla constitutes an indiscriminate attack and a grave violation of international humanitarian law." Independent reporter Robert Fisk wrote from al-Hilla, saying that many dud bombs landed, and remain, inside civilian homes.

• The British Ministry of Defence said on April 3 that RAF Harrier jets had dropped RBL755 cluster bombs on unspecified locations in Iraq. These bombs scatter 147 bomblets, and have a 10% rate of failure.

• Also on April 3, the United States reported that it had used B-52 bombers to drop six CBU-105 cluster bombs on Iraqi tanks defending Baghdad. On the same day, Iraq’s Information Minister reported that a cluster bomb attack on Baghdad had killed 14 people and wounded 66.

Cluster Munitions used against Iraq

Cluster munitions are similar to cluster bombs, but are fired from the ground and contained in artillery projectiles or rockets. When artillery or rockets fire cluster munitions, the result is the same as in cluster bombs: multiple bomblets scatter, many of which fail to explode. Human Rights Watch reported that more than 4,000 civilians were killed or injured by cluster munitions in Iraq after the end of the first Gulf War. The UK has admitted to firing cluster munitions around Basra. The US has yet to report that it is using cluster munitions, but numerous reports and videos from journalists embedded with US units show these munitions in use.

• Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), which only use cluster munitions, have been used by artillery units of the US 3rd Infantry Division. The standard warhead for the MLRS contains 644 M77 individual submunitions, also known as dual-purpose grenades, which have a failure rate of 16%. The standard volley of 12 MLRS rockets would leave more than 1,200 unexploded grenades over an area of 120,000-240,000 meters.

• On March 28, while supporting the 101st Airborne Division, US MLRS fired 18 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) against suspected air defense sites. An ATACMS releases either 300 or 950 submunitions and has a 2% rate of failure.

• An embedded journalist reported “hundreds of grenades” being fired by the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion using 155mm artillery. Human Rights Watch believes these were M483A1 and M864 projectiles, which release 88 and 72 dual-purpose grenades respectively and have a 14% rate of failure.

• Two US Marines died after stepping on unexploded cluster munitions in southern Iraq on March 28 and March 29.

• The British Ministry of Defence says that it has fired cluster shells on Basra. L20 cluster shells have been shot from long-range (30km) howitzers at targets described as “in the open.” These Israeli-made shells contain 49 bomblets with a failure rate of 5%.

NAPALM

Napalm is an incendiary chemical mix first tested during the Second World War, but used mainly during the Vietnam War. The mix, stored in bombs and dropped from the air, was initially used to clear jungle landing pads, but has also been used against civilian populations. The US claims to have stopped using napalm in the early 1970s and officially destroyed its last batch of stockpiled napalm on April 4, 2001.

• On March 22, reporters from CNN and the Sydney Morning Herald / Melbourne Age embedded with the 1st Battalion 7th Marines at Safwan Hill near Basra reported air strikes dropping napalm to beat Iraqi resistance. Martin Savidge of CNN said,

It is now estimated the hill was hit so badly by missiles, artillery and by the Air Force, that they shaved a couple of feet off it. And anything that was up there that was left after all the explosions was then hit with napalm. And that pretty much put an end to any Iraqi operations up on that hill. Lindsay Murdoch wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age, “[Marine artillery] were supported by US Navy aircraft which dropped 40,000 pounds of explosives and napalm.” When the Age’s foreign editor asked Murdoch to confirm the napalm use, the account was repeated to her by a marine officer.

The US Navy denied the reports, submitting this letter to the Herald, Your story ('Dead bodies everywhere', by Lindsay Murdoch, March 22, 2003) claiming US forces are using napalm in Iraq, is patently false. The US took napalm out of service in the early 1970s. We completed destruction of our last batch of napalm on April 4, 2001, and no longer maintain any stocks of napalm. - Jeff A. Davis, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense.

BUNKER BUSTER BOMBS

The GBU-28 Bunker Buster is a 5,000 pound bomb designed to penetrate up to 6 meters of concrete or 30 meters of earth before exploding. While former Nobel Peace Prize nominee Helen Caldicott warns that the casing of bunker busters are made of uranium 238 (depleted uranium, or DU), it is unclear whether the GBU-28 used on Iraq contains DU.

• Two bunker busters were dropped in Baghdad on March 28. The bombs hit a communications tower and dug “huge craters” around the main telephone exchange center. Little information has surfaced from the attack, and there has been no indication as to why a penetrating bomb was used on an above ground target.

DEPLETED URANIUM

Used in anti-tank shells since the first Gulf War, depleted uranium (DU) is uranium 238, the isotope remaining after uranium 235 has been enriched for use in nuclear weapons or reactors. When DU-tipped shells are fired at high speeds from tanks or planes, the radioactive material burns through tank armor, igniting the vehicle. After exploding, 70% of the shell is vaporized into tiny particles and can be carried by the wind for many miles. Although DU is only half as radioactive as uranium 235, the tiny particles can become trapped inside the human body for long periods of time, creating serious health problems.

During the first Gulf War, US tanks fired 14,000 DU shells, and anti-tank aircraft fired another 940,000 rounds, leaving a total of 564,000 pounds of DU either vaporized or unexploded on the desert floor. Iraqis have since experienced extremely abnormal rates of cancer, birth defects, and miscarriages in the areas where DU was used, particularly around Basra. The “Gulf War Syndrome” experienced by US veterans has also been widely blamed on depleted uranium.

The US and UK are unapologetic about DU, however, insisting that it poses no health risks and refusing to reduce DU usage in the current war on Iraq. DU will be used in most tank battles, and the amount and location of DU shells are impossible to judge at this point. DU shells are also being used against exposed troops as well as tanks, a tactic which may be used increasingly as tanks begin to wage urban warfare in Baghdad and Basra.

• On March 28, a tank unit fired two 120mm DU rounds down the main road of urban Kifl, creating a vacuum effect that “literally sucked guerrillas out from their hideaways into the street, where they were shot down by small arms fire or run over by the tanks.”

The Future Battlefield - War in the Future

Many advanced military technologies are on the battlefield in the middle east protecting US and allied troops from harms way. The United States Military is moving to a more mobile fighting force with unmanned aerial vehicles and robots to deploy in dangerous tactical situations. The reconnaissances technologies of the US military and other advanced nations have the ability to plot out enemy positions to a T for unmanned vehicles and stealth aircraft to engage. The future of war will consist of literally thousands of robots and unmanned vehicles tracking and engaging dynamic enemy threats.

Here is a list of just a couple of the technologies changing the battlefield:

1. Predator and MQ9 Reaper or Predator B
2. SWORDS - miniature combat robot
3. Firescout-unmanned aerial vehivle - helicopter
4. Gladiator-unmanned land Vehicle with munitions
5. Micr0 - UAV’s such as the Flybot
6. X-47 - long endurance UAV for reconnaissances
7. Big dog - Carry ammo and munitions to other Robots

If you think these technologies are incredible, look around for pictures and videos of the most advanced weapons systems in action.

Sensor Fuzed Weapon

A much improved version of the standard cluster bomb, the sensor fuzed weapon (formally the CBU-97) uses "smart" bomblets to spread destruction across battlefields with precise strikes on multiple enemy targets. The CBU-97 is actually a bomb-like canister (above, inset) containing 10 cylindrical canisters (called "submunitions") that each hold four "smart" hockey puck-shaped "skeet" bomblets, giving a total of 40 bomblets per weapon.

As shown in the diagram above, just after the main canister is released, its skin opens ("A" on the diagram), deploying the 10 submunitions each with its own parachute. At a preset altitude, the parachutes are jettisoned (B) and rockets in the submunition canisters (C) lift them up and then spin to disperse the skeet bomblets (D). Infrared sensors in the bomblets then search for targets that are taken out with small powerful warheads (E).

Thermobaric Bomb

With a name drawn from the combination of the Greek words for "heat" and "pressure," these bombs combine the power of both forces to greatly expand the potential for destroying more inaccessible targets. Although the term "thermobaric" is often used for a wide variety of enhanced explosive devices, it's most accurately used to describe bombs that mix a monopropellant fuel explosive with some type of highly combustible, energetic particle such as powdered aluminum.

The result is an intense concentrated fireball combined with devastating blast overpressure. Thermobaric bombs are ideal weapons for packing massed heat and pressure into a tight space, either to limit collateral damage or reach targets deep underground.

Corner Shot 40

Combining a swivel barrel with a video sighting array, this aptly named weapons system allows the operator to observe and fire at a target around corners without exposing himself to enemy fire. The barrel can rotate up to 63 degrees to the left or right, and the video/thermal imaging feed can be transmitted to team members.

In the latest version (shown here), the weapon is fitted with a 40mm grenade launcher, but the stock and mount can actually accept a range of small arms types, including 9mm handguns, the M-16 and smoke grenade launchers. Its Israeli designers and other experts see great potential for the weapon in anti-terrorist operations.

For India facing such a terrorist attacks it must be useful in all aspects.

Panzer Howitzer 2000

The German army's 55-ton self-propelled howitzer (Panzerhaubitze 2000) is the world's most advanced cannon artillery system. Its awesome striking power comes from its quick-firing 155mm gun, capable of rapid burst barrages ranging from three rounds in 10 seconds to 20 rounds in three minutes. The only constraint on maintaining this rate of fire is overheating, but the gun barrel's innovative chromium lining greatly minimizes this problem.

Priming, loading and clearing artillery rounds is completely automated. With conventional shells, the maximum range of the gun is about 18 miles, but with enhanced, "smart" rounds the effective range increases to an astonishing 34 miles. The howitzer has excellent cross-country performance -- it posts a top off-road speed of nearly 30 mph -- and a high level of armor protection for the crew.

MOAB : Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb

Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb

The MOAB is an Air Force Research Laboratory technology project that began in fiscal year 2002, as a descendant of the BLU-82 "Daisy cutter".

MOAB length is 30 feet, 1.75 inches (9.17 m), diameter is 40.5 inches (102.9 cm), weight is 22,600 lb. (9.5 tonnes), of which 18,700 lb. (8.4 tonnes) are high explosives. Blast radius is 450 feet (137.61m, 150 yards), though the massive shockwave created by the air burst is said to be able to destroy an area as large as nine city blocks. Due to its large size and weight, it must be dropped out of the back of a cargo aircraft, usually a C-130. It is guided by global positioning technology and uses a parachute to pull it out of the cargo door, so it can be dropped from a higher altitude and with higher accuracy than its predecessor, the BLU-82. It is the first U.S. weapon to use Russian-style lattice control surfaces (referred to as "Belotserkovskiy grid fins"),[3] like those used on the R-400 Oka and Vympel R-77. It is only slightly smaller than the Grand Slam bomb of World War II.

On 11 September 2007 the Russian military announced that it had tested what it called the "Father of All Bombs". Described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered munition, the Russian military claimed it was four times more powerful than the American
"Mother Of All Bombs." While the Russian bomb was reported to contain 7.8 tons of
"thermobaric" explosive, compared to the more than 8 tons of explosives in the American
bomb, the Russian bomb was said to use more highly efficient explosive, with a yield
equivalent to 44 tons of TNT. The bomb was reported to have a blast radius of 300 meters,
double that of the American bomb, while the temperature at the epicenter was also reported
to be twice as high.

The 21,700-pound [9,500 kilogram] bomb contains 18,700 pounds of H6, an explosive that is a
mixture of RDX (Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine), TNT, and aluminum. H6 is used by the
military for general purpose bombs. H6 is an Australian produced explosive composition.
Composition H6 is a widely used main charge filling for underwater blast weapons such as
mines, depth charges, torpedoes and mine disposal charges. HBX compositions (HBX-1, HBX-3,
and H6) are aluminized (powdered aluminum) explosives used primarily as a replacement for
the obsolete explosive, torpex. They are employed as bursting charges in mines, depth bombs,
depth charges, and torpedoes. HBX-3 and H-6 have lower sensitivity to impact and much higher
explosion test temperatures than torpex. The MOAB weapon produces a very large explosive
blast, with lesser fragmentation effects due to a thin-walled aluminum casing.

ASSAM : New Battelefield for Pakistan,China,Bangladesh and Burma

Guwahati, Oct.22 The recent violence in Udalguri and Darrang districts of north Assam has left local residents of the region, devastated. The victims of the communal riot appeal all to restore peace and harmony to let the normal life resume. Lamenting the ugly turn of the event, Bodos and Muslims, among whom the riot took place, doesn't deny the hand of local militants behind the communal violence.

Many people here are still clueless, how the violence broke out in the first place between the two communities, which left more than fifty dead and hundred others injured.

And our honorable Chief Minister says : "Bangladeshis are not an big issue"

Whats Happening:

China and Pakistan have a common goal to make India in trouble so that it is busy in its own business. But they have an invisible Mission : Cut Northeast from rest of India. Pakistan will take its revenge and China will tighten its hold on Arunachal and Sikkim.

Actually Bangladeshis are a major threat for India no matter blind politicians accept it or not. Assam, Some part of Bangal, Bihar, UP, Mumbai etc Bangadeshis became majority and can manipulate political results. Issue is one step ahead they are mother of most crime in area and a bigger threat to indian security and defense.

Most of the weapons / Drugs / Terrorists coming to India is through Bangladesh, Nepal, Srilanka and then Pakistan area. Today Bangladesh became biggest threat to India because its true that itself Bangladesh have no capacity to harm India but others can penetrate (already hitting) India using Bangladesh Land and people. Bangladesh neither want to stop it nor it can.

Pakistan and China wants to cut NE from India : How ? China had surrounded Eastern part of India like "head of deer in mouth of a Crocodile". The Narrow path near by Sikkim and Jalpaiguri area is a prominent activity area of Bangladeshis. From NJP and neighbouring stations they try to ship all type of materials coming from China, Bangladesh, Burma and some how Nepal. They are trying to create / use new unlnown passeges for trafficking. If this region will be in trouble then entire NE will be in a stage having no land connectivity with India. Same as our national Highway in Kashmir.

Who is Responsible :

First our Politians.

Second Central and States.

They are not seeing future of India they are concerning with their politics and to increase their seats in Parliament and Assembly. But those fools forget that "their existence depends on India. India's existence does not depend on Politicians." It is on god that how fast they understand this truth.