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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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November 8th,
2006 - Phosphorus Shells Used in Lebanon Invasion, UN Says |
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Phosphorus Shells
Used in Lebanon Invasion, UN Says By Steve Connor The Independent November 8, 2006 Israel fired artillery
shells containing white phosphorus in its recent conflict with Hizbollah
militants in the Lebanon, according to an official investigation by the
United Nations. White phosphorus is banned
under the Geneva Convention when used against civilians or in civilian areas,
although Israel insists that the shells were directed against solely military
targets. However, the UN team failed
to find any evidence that Israel used depleted uranium, enriched uranium or
any other radioactive material in bombs dropped on Lebanon during the
month-long war, which ended on 14 August. Achim Steiner,
under-secretary general and executive director of the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP), said that samples taken by scientists had confirmed the use
of white phosphorus in artillery and mortar ammunition. Mr Steiner also said that
the scientific analysis found no evidence of penetrators or other metallic
bomb components made of depleted or enriched uranium, as claimed by two
British activists in a report last month. The samples taken by the UN
for analysis were collected between 30 September and 21 October. Three
independent laboratories in Europe undertook the tests on behalf of the UN. The findings conflict with a
report by Chris Busby, a Green Party activist, and his colleague Dai
Williams, an occupational psychologist, who claimed to have found evidence of
enriched uranium in a sample collected from a bomb site in southern Lebanon. The sample was sent for
analysis at the Harwell Laboratory in Oxfordshire, which is used by the
Ministry of Defence. "We are concerned that UNEP don't know what they
are doing. Earlier [in 2001] they were useless at finding depleted uranium in
Kosovo due to wrong choice of instrumentation," Dr Busby said. The UN secretary general,
Kofi Annan, has called for a freeze on the use of cluster bombs, saying they
had "atrocious, inhumane effects" on civilians. External link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/phosphorus-shells-used-in-lebanon-invasion-un-says-423414.html |