Colorado Springs – A former Army specialist who lives in Manitou Springs is at the center of an international controversy over whether U.S. forces used the incendiary white phosphorus to kill civilians during an assault on Fallujah last year.
Jeff Englehart, who served with the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, and now opposes the war in Iraq, said in the documentary “Fallujah – the Hidden Massacre” that white phosphorus is a chemical weapon that killed innocent women and children.
Englehart said Thursday that some of his statements were taken out of context. He maintained that he believes white phosphorus killed civilians, though he never saw anyone burned by it while in Fallujah.
“I never personally did,” he said. “That’s where the … documentary misquoted me. They took that out of context.”
The film’s producers could not be reached Thursday.
White phosphorus ignites when exposed to oxygen, creating intense heat and dense white smoke. An Army official said it is used primarily to provide a smoke screen, to conceal the movement of troops or to mark targets.
The documentary, which aired for the first time last week on the Italian television station RAI and has been excerpted on “NBC Nightly News” and the Arab station al-Jazeera, has created a stir among international media.
The film alleges that white phosphorus is an illegal chemical weapon that was used in a “massive and indiscriminate way” against civilians. The documentary shows graphic photos of burned bodies, faces melted away, with clothing that is still largely intact.
White phosphorus is a conventional weapon that was “used lawfully against legitimate targets” in Fallujah, Maj. Todd Vician, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday.
“In Fallujah, the insurgents were in entrenched lines and small holes, and we could not get at them effectively with our munitions. So (white phosphorus shells) were used then to bring the insurgents out of those areas to … engage them better with the high-explosive munitions,” Vician said.
Multiple news accounts from last year reported that the Army gave civilians several days’ notice that the battle was imminent and urged them to evacuate.
Army Lt. Col. Steve Boylan said from Baghdad on Thursday that without seeing the original photos taken by the Italian photojournalist, there’s no way to tell whether they’re authentic.
He said U.S. troops go out of their way to protect civilians.
“First off, we do not, with any means or any type of conventional munitions, we do not target civilians. Categorically, we do not target civilians,” Boylan said.
He said that people can be burned by white phosphorus.
“If you’re close enough, if you get some of the particles, the white phosphorus particles on you, sure. Did it? I don’t know,” Boylan said. “It is a munition that can be used to force people out of locations because of the smoke and the heat.
“We always fire it at a military target. It was a military target in Fallujah. It was against terrorists and insurgents.”
The use of white phosphorus is not banned but is covered by Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. The protocol prohibits use of the substance as an incendiary weapon against civilian populations and in air attacks against military forces in civilian areas. The U.S. is not a signatory to the convention.
Englehart was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday where he had been interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. He also has appeared on the “Democracy Now” radio program and was interviewed by smaller media outlets from the U.S. and abroad.
Englehart was not directly involved in the Fallujah fight. He escorted a high-ranking officer to the front lines and watched the firestorm from atop a Humvee parked on the outskirts of the city. He said he heard U.S. forces call over the radio for “Willie Pete,” the military vernacular for white phosphorus.
“I know I heard it being called for on the radio. That’s the only proof that I have, and I talked to a reconnaissance scout after the siege while we were still in Fallujah. He said they called in for white phosphorus on human targets,” Englehart said.
Englehart said an Italian reporter asked him during a five-hour interview in August whether he had seen innocent civilians killed in Iraq. Englehart said he had. Englehart said the producers of the Italian documentary took his answer to that question and edited it in after a question from a reporter about whether he had seen women and children killed by white phosphorus.
“It wasn’t very good journalism,” Englehart said. “It’s about 80 percent true.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 303-820-1405 or chubbard@denverpost.com.
