Rai news 24 would
like to clarify that concerning the claimed “lacked of neutrality in our report entitled “Fallujah the hidden massacre”,
which reveals the use of white phosphorus as chemical agent during
the battle that took place in November 2004:
The report is based on direct accounts given by people who appeared on screen under their first and last name.
GI Jeff Englehart has declared he has personally heard the order
given by the American command to watch out because white phosphorus
was being used. The soldier has repeated what he told RAI NEWS
24 in a confrontation with the Pentagon’s speaker during a famous American television program. Biologist Mohammed Tareq al Deraji, Director of the Center for the defense of human rights in Fallujah has declared he has seen a “shower of fire” made
of arson substances coming down from the sky and hitting people.
However, we think the video shot in Fallujah during the night of
November 8, 2004 is very important and it can be clearly seen that
a white phosphorus rain falls on the town. RAI NEWS 24 journalist,
who has realized the report has also verified the footage and the
photographs about Fallujah’s dead people. The video we have received
from town inhabitants, shows some sites that clearly identify Fallujah
after November bombing.
The date reads November 18, 2004.The pictures that have been published
contain an identification number that can be found in the cemetery
records, written under American authority’s supervision. The records
report the identity, the district of Fallujah where the body was
found and the burial site.
The photographs and videos that show Fallujah’s corpses have been
seen by esperts, doctors and soldiers who have confirmed that those
effects might have been caused by arson explosives or white phosphorus.
However, in that part of the report there is no reference to link
cause-effect. Instead, the abnormality of those bodies has been
shown. They were carbonized, melted and their clothes intact.
Those images are very similar to the ones of the victims of the phosphorus RAF bombing in Amburg and Dresden in 1945. Those pictures can be found on RAI NEWS 24 web site.In the declaration made by the American Embassy is written that the report has been made by professional people that were not in Fallujah. Ranucci Sigfrido has tried to reach the town without success and only after 50 days he has given up.
Our reporter had gathered accounts from journalists who were in
Iraq, about the use of white phosphorus as a weapon. Those accounts
have been repeated during and after the broadcasting of the report
by Giuliana Sgrena, journalist of “Il Manifesto”. However, reporters
from The Indipendent, The Guardian, The Daily Mirror and Al Jazeera
have been talking about the use of napalm and phosphorus bombs
for a long time.
It is true that white phosphorus is not banned, but it is a chemical
agent and, as the Convention on Chemical Weapons says, its mass
and direct use on human beings and animals is forbidden. The images
broadcasted
by RAI NEWS 24 show a white phosphorus bombing on Fallujah’s districts.
These pictures as well have been verified by military experts.As
for the lack of commentaries by a representative of the Pentagon,
we would like to clarify that the position of the Department of
State and of the American Armed Forces on Fallujah’s accusation
has been widely quoted. During the coming days RAI NEWS 24 will
analyse in
depth all the legal and technical elements contained in the report.
Moreover we are available to host at any time the representatives
of the American Administrtion and Armed Forces.
Roberto Morrione – Director of Rai News 24 |
