Devilishness not a surprise

I confess the time has come for more honesty in my columns. I will not lie this time and say I was shocked by Wednesday's admission by the Pentagon that the United States used white-phosphorus against Fallujah. Nor will I say that I am perplexed that the United States media has barely touched the story after the Italian media broke the story a week ago. The truth is I am neither shocked nor perplexed.

It takes no stretch of the imagination to see the cruel irony that the country we punished for pursuing chemical and biological weapons was defeated by an army using chemical weapons. Pentagon spokesperson Brian Whitman defended the army's use of white-phosphorus by saying it is classified as a conventional weapon. Another Pentagon spokesperson told the press that white-phosphorus is not banned from use.

Unlike the Pentagon's version of the truth, the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons banned the use of incendiary weapons like white-phosphorus near civilians. The United States did not sign the convention's protocol. The United States' failure to recognize the convention does not wipe away the injustice seen in the photographs of civilians in Fallujah exhibiting the disgusting death caused by chemical weapons.

The thorn in the side of the Bush administration is the Internet, which allows for rapid distribution of the truth. Unlike the Vietnam War with Americans still learning of the horrors of war committed by the United States, the Internet brings instant access. I have looked at the pictures acquired by RAI News of Italy that they say prove the use of white-phosphorus against civilians in Fallujah. The images are far beyond words. I feel worse as a person for having seen these pictures.

In light of these pictures, I find it hard to say the American media should cover this horrible story that has generated great activity in the international media. It is a cruel world where anyone would have to witness the ravages of chemical warfare, which does not even mention those that experience chemical warfare.

Yet I confess that the first thought in my mind on seeing these images was the remarkable likeness to pictures of the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's chemical attack on the Kurds. These pictures made the rounds on American media multiple times in the buildup to the Iraq War. The American media is no stranger to the evils of war. It should not shy from showing the evils of war we ourselves have committed.

I know not how someone could support war after seeing its disturbing underside. As the administration defends its war, let Americans see what the administration is defending. Let there be no hypocrisy when Americans talk about war. It is a devilish act, and the hands of our nation are a dirty as those of its evil enemy.

Our nation has tortured captives, murdered innocents, and desecrated international law, and the war appears far from over. I cannot imagine what revelations the next few months of war will bring, but I confess that I will likely not be surprised at whatever happens. I have lost the ability to be amazed at the seemingly endless cruelties of our war. I can only wait nervously for the next news story to appear.