Toxic truths from the Iraqi battlefront

Check out Siddharth Varadarajan's essay:

One of the collateral benefits of defeating a country in war is that victory brings with it not just Victor's Justice but Victor's Book-keeping as well. Thanks to Paul Volcker and the CIA-run Iraq Survey Group of Charles Duelfer — which preceded him and couldn't find WMDs and so decided to find a corruption scam — we now know the fate of virtually every farthing paid into and out of the Iraqi oil-for-food accounts. What we don't know is how many Iraqi civilians have been killed in U.S. offensive operations — "We don't do body counts," General Tommy Franks had famously said — or how they died and are still dying. After Nuremberg, all aggressors have realised the value of sloppy record-keeping.

The essay is about the recent allegations that the US has indiscriminately used White Phosphorous munitions -- dangerous chemical weapons -- in the Iraq war, and how the US media, by and large, ignored this piece of news.

Siddharth Varadarajan is one MSM journalist who understands the powers of the blog medium. He uses his blog essentially to archive his writings, but with links enabled to many of his sources. Needless to say, the links to the primary sources on the net wherever possible, enhance the power of these essays.

Update (Nov 17): George Monbiot writes (Thanks P&J):

Saddam Hussein, facing a possible death sentence, is accused of mass murder, torture, false imprisonment, the embezzlement of billions and the use of chemical weapons. He is certainly guilty on all counts. So, it now seems, are the people who overthrew him.

Also check out Baghdad Burning.