Incinerating Iraqis; the napalm cover up
by Mike Whitney
06/27/05 "ICH" - - "You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son.
Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the
morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was
all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The
smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory.
Robert Duvall, "Apocalypse Now" (1979)
Two weeks ago the UK Independent ran an article which
confirmed that the US had "lied to Britain over the use of napalm in Iraq".
(06-17-05) Since then, not one American newspaper or TV station has picked up
the story even though the Pentagon has verified the claims. This is the extent
to which the American "free press" is yoked to the center of power in
Washington. As we've seen with the Downing Street memo, (which was reluctantly
reported 5 weeks after it appeared in the British press) the air-tight American
media ignores any story that doesn't embrace their collective support for the
war. The prospect that the US military is using "universally reviled" weapons
runs counter to the media-generated narrative that the war was motivated by
humanitarian concerns (to topple a brutal dictator) as well as to eliminate the
elusive WMDs. We can now say with certainty that the only WMDs in Iraq were
those that were introduced by foreign invaders from the US who have used them to
subjugate the indigenous people.
"Despite persistent rumors of injuries among Iraqis consistent with the use of
incendiary weapons such as napalm" the Pentagon insisted that "US forces had not
used a new generation of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq." (UK
Independent)
The Pentagon lied.
Defense Minister, Adam Ingram, admitted that the US had misled the British
high-command about the use of napalm, but he would not comment on the extent of
the cover up. The use of firebombs puts the US in breach of the 1980 Convention
on Certain Chemical Weapons (CCW) and is a violation the Geneva Protocol against
the use of white phosphorous, "since its use causes indiscriminate and extreme
injuries especially when deployed in an urban area."
Regrettably, "indiscriminate and extreme injuries" are a vital part of the
American terror-campaign in Iraq; a well-coordinated strategy designed to spawn
panic through random acts of violence.
It's clear that the military never needed to use napalm in Iraq. Their
conventional weaponry and laser-guided technology were already enough to run
roughshod over the Iraqi army and seize Baghdad almost unobstructed. Napalm was
introduced simply to terrorize the Iraqi people; to pacify through intimidation.
Cheney, Rumsfeld and Negroponte are old-hands at terrorism, dating back to their
counterinsurgency projects in Nicaragua and El Salvador under the Reagan
Administration. They know that the threat of immolation serves as a powerful
deterrent and fits seamlessly into their overarching scheme of rule through
fear. Terror and deception are the rotating parts of the same axis; the two
imperatives of the Bush-Cheney foreign policy strategy.
Napalm in Falluja
The US also used napalm in the siege of Falluja as was reported in the UK Mirror
("Falluja Napalmed", 11-28-04) The Mirror said, "President George Bush has
sanctioned the use of napalm, a deadly cocktail of polystyrene and jet-fuel
banned by the United Nations in 1980, will stun the world.. Reports claim that
innocent civilians have died in napalm attacks, which turn victims into human
fireballs as the gel bonds flames to flesh.Since the American assault on Falluja
there have been reports of 'melted' corpse, which appeared to have napalm
injuries."
"Human fireballs" and "melted corpses"; these are the real expressions of
Operation Iraqi Freedom not the bland platitudes issuing from the presidential
podium.
Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli, who was the head of the Iraqi Ministry of Health in
Falluja, reported to Al Jazeera (and to the Washington Post, although it was
never reported) that "research, prepared by his medical team, prove that the US
forces used internationally prohibited substances, including mustard gas, nerve
gas, and other burning chemicals in their attacks on the war-torn city."
Dr Shaykhli's claims have been corroborated by numerous eyewitness accounts as
well as reports that "all forms of nature were wiped out in Falluja".as well as
"hundreds, of stray dogs, cats, and birds that had perished as a result of those
gasses." An unidentified chemical was used in the bombing raids that killed
every living creature in certain areas of the city.
As journalist Dahr Jamail reported later in his article "What is the US trying
to Hide?", "At least two kilometers of soil were removed..exactly as they did at
Baghdad Airport after the heavy battles there during the invasion and the
Americans used their special weapons."
A cover up?
So far, none of this has appeared in any American media, nor has the media
reported that the United Nations has been rebuffed twice by the Defense Dept. in
calling for an independent investigation into what really took place in Falluja.
The US simply waves away the international body as a minor nuisance while the
media scrupulously omits any mention of the allegations from their coverage.
We can assume that the order to use napalm (as well as the other, unidentified
substances) came straight from the office of Donald Rumsfeld. No one else could
have issued that order, nor would they have risked their career by unilaterally
using banned weapons when their use was entirely gratuitous. Rumsfeld's
directive is consistent with other decisions attributed to the Defense
Secretary; like the authorizing of torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the
targeting of members of the press, and the rehiring of members of Saddam's
Secret Police ( the Mukhabarat) to carry out their brutal activities under new
leadership. Rumsfeld's office has been the headwaters for most of the
administration's treachery. Napalm simply adds depth to an already prodigious
list of war crimes on Rumsfeld's resume'.
Co-opting the Media
On June 10, 2005 numerous sources reported that the "U.S. Special Operations
Command hired three firms to produce newspaper stories, television broadcasts
and Internet web sites to spread American propaganda overseas. The Tampa-based
military headquarters, which oversees commandos and psychological warfare, may
spend up to $100 million for the media campaign over the next five years."
(James Crawley, Media General News Service) It's clear that there's no need for
the Defense Dept. to shore up its "strategic information" (propaganda)
operations in the US where reliable apparatchiks can be counted on to obfuscate,
omit or exaggerate the coverage of the war according to the requirements of the
Pentagon. The American press has been as skillful at embellishing the imaginary
heroics of Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman as they have been in concealing the
damning details of the Downing Street Memo or the lack of evidence concerning
the alleged WMDs. Should we be surprised that the media has remained silent
about the immolation of Iraqis by American firebombs?
The US "free press" is a completely integrated part of the state-information
system. Its meticulously managed message has been the most successful part of
the entire Iraqi debacle. By providing the requisite cheerleading, diversions
and omissions, the media has shown itself to be an invaluable asset to the men
in power; perpetuating the deceptions that keep the public acquiescent during a
savage colonial war. Given the scope of the media's culpability for the violence
in Iraq, it's unlikely that the use of napalm will cause any great crisis of
conscience. Their deft coverage has already facilitated the deaths of tens of
thousands of innocent people; a few more charred Iraqis shouldn't matter.
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at:
fergiewhitney@msn.com
Copyright: Mike Whitney.