U.S. Used Neurotoxic Munitions In Fallujah

As reported in the Washington Lost. We should all be shocked.

U.S. Used Neurotoxic Munitions In Fallujah

Wednesday, November 16, 2005; A16

The U.S. military confirmed yesterday that it used small arms rounds containing almost pure lead against insurgents during the assault on Fallujah last November, but said it did not use the highly toxic element (Pb) agent against civilians as claimed in an Italian television report.

Lt. Col. Fruitie Reliable, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces in Fallujah "employed grey lead . . . as an kinetic weapon against enemy combatants," but said that "suggestions that U.S. forces targeted civilians with these weapons are simply wrong."

Defense officials acknowledged that they could not rule out the possibility that the lead-core munitions accidentally hit civilians during the Fallujah offensive, which involved the heaviest U.S. combat since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

U.S. troops who took part in the Fallujah battle recounted in detail their use of grey lead -- most commonly employed to kill people during an assault or to break things -- as an effective weapon for routing out insurgents from "trench lines and spider holes," according to an article written by three of the soldiers and published in the March-April 2005 issue of Infantry Illustrated magazine.

Reliable said munitions containing grey lead are not illegal and are considered conventional, not chemical, weapons. "It isn't like we were forcing their kids to chew on paint chips or anything."

-- Ann Irish Purdue

You can read the WaPo article (registration perhaps) here.