June 27, 2005
"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." (6/17/05)
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
treatment of the Downing Street Memo,
(which was reluctantly reported five 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 résumé.
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, and can be reached at:
fergiewhitney@msn.com.