news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=647397
Daily e-mail update US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor 17 June 2005 American officials lied to British ministers over the use of "internation ally reviled" napalm-type firebombs in Iraq. Yesterday's disclosure led to calls by MPs for a full statement to the Co mmons and opened ministers to allegations that they held back the facts until after the general election. Despite persistent rumours of injuries among Iraqis consistent with the u se of incendiary weapons such as napalm, Adam Ingram, the Defence minist er, assured Labour MPs in January that US forces had not used a new gene ration of incendiary weapons, codenamed MK77, in Iraq. But Mr Ingram admitted to the Labour MP Harry Cohen in a private letter o btained by The Independent that he had inadvertently misled Parliament b ecause he had been misinformed by the US. "The US confirmed to my offici als that they had not used MK77s in Iraq at any time and this was the ba sis of my response to you," he told Mr Cohen. "I regret to say that I ha ve since discovered that this is not the case and must now correct the p osition." Mr Ingram said 30 MK77 firebombs were used by the 1st Marine Expeditionar y Force in the invasion of Iraq between 31 March and 2 April 2003. They were used against military targets "away from civilian targets", he said . This avoids breaching the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weap ons (CCW), which permits their use only against military targets. Britain, which has no stockpiles of the weapons, ratified the convention, but the US did not. The confirmation that US officials misled British ministers led to new qu estions last night about the value of the latest assurances by the US. M r Cohen said there were rumours that the firebombs were used in the US a ssault on the insurgent stronghold in Fallujah last year, claims denied by the US. He is tabling more questions seeking assurances that the weap ons were not used against civilians. Mr Ingram did not explain why the US officials had misled him, but the US and British governments were accused of a cover-up. The Iraq Analysis G roup, which campaigned against the war, said the US authorities only adm itted the use of the weapons after the evidence from reporters had becom e irrefutable. Mike Lewis, a spokesman for the group, said: "The US has used internation ally reviled weapons that the UK refuses to use, and has then apparently lied to UK officials, showing how little weight the UK carries in influ encing American policy." He added: "Evidence that Mr Ingram had given false information to Parliam ent was publicly available months ago. He has waited until after the ele ction to admit to it - a clear sign of the Government's embarrassment th at they are doing nothing to restrain their own coalition partner in Ira q" The US State Department website admitted in the run-up to the election th at US forces had used MK77s in Iraq. Protests were made by MPs, but it w as only this week that Mr Ingram confirmed the reports were true. Mike Moore, the Liberal Democrat defence spokes-man, said: "It is very se rious that this type of weapon was used in Iraq, but this shows the US h as not been completely open with the UK. "It has also taken two months for the minister to clear this up. This is welcome candour, but it will raise fresh questions about how open the Go vernment wished to be... The MK77 bombs, an evolution of the napalm used in Vietnam and Korea, car ry kerosene-based jet fuel and polystyrene so that, like napalm, the gel sticks to structures and to its victims. The bombs lack stabilising fin s, making them far from precise.
|
http://csua.com/feed/