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UK follows US in admitting use of white phosphorus in Iraq

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Nov 16, IRNA
UK Phosphorus-Iraq

British troops have also used white phosphorus in Iraq, Defence Secretary John Reid admitted Tuesday.

But Reid insisted that the highly flammable chemical substance, which can burn flesh, was not used against civilians, according to the BBC.

"We do not use it for anything other than a smokescreen to protect our troops when in action," he said after the admission by US forces that they used phosphorous in the controversial assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah after previously denying the claim.

The admission led to anti-war Labour MP Alan Simpson accusing Prime Minister Tony Blair of hypocrisy over the issue as British troops were supposed to have been sent to Iraq over its alleged chemical weapons.

"What we are forced to address is that in a post-war occupation of Iraq, the coalition forces - British and American - have also used chemical weapons," Simpson told the BBC.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell suggested that the denial would convince skeptics there was something to hide.

"A vital part of the effort in Iraq is to win the battle for hearts and minds," Campbell said. "The use of this weapon may technically have been legal, but its effects are such that it will hand a propaganda victory to the insurgency," he warned.

Labour chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Mike Gapes suggested that although white phosphorous was defined as an "incendiary," that treaties on chemical weapons should be
strengthened so they covered the substance.

The Americans had mishandled the issue by initially denying using white phosphorus as a "public relations disaster for them," said Gapes.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat members of the European Parliament Graham Watson said he was calling for a United Nations inquiry into the extent to which white phosphorus has been used.

The opposition Conservative shadow foreign secretary Liam Fox said there needed to be more openness from the US Pentagon, but he also defended the use.

"Although white phosphorus is a brutal weapon, we need to remember that we were talking about some pretty brutal insurgents," he said.

HC/2322/1412