Does anyone remember Giuliana Sgrena? She was the Italian journalist kidnapped then released only to be nearly murdered by American soldiers on her way to the Baghdad airport. Instead her bodyguard was killed. That was in early March. It was speculated by some that the American desire to do her in arose from her investigation of the use of chemical weapons through interviews with the refugees of Fallujah.1

Several whitewashes later the extraordinary journalist Dahr Jamail was interviewed by Amy Goodman in April—

GOODMAN: .... You are talking about Fallujah. What about the use of chemical weapons there? Last November, you reported the U.S. military has used poison gas and other non-conventional weapons against civilians in Fallujah. How do you know this?

DAHR JAMAIL: Many of the refugees I interviewed throughout November, just after the beginning of the siege, and then people who had been coming out of the city even into December, continued to report the use of chemical weapons in Fallujah, but really, one of the most important sources I have for this is an Iraqi doctor that I interviewed on the outskirts of Fallujah, and he said that he had worked as a medic during the Iran-Iraq War, he had treated Iraqi soldiers who had been hit with Iranian chemical weapons, so he knew what these types of injuries look like. And he said that he had treated people from Fallujah with the same types of injuries, as well as another Iraqi man that I had interviewed who went into the city, brought in by U.S. soldiers to help bury bodies, and that he had seen many bodies that he believed to have been hit by chemical weapons.

AMY GOODMAN: On March 3, Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli of the Iraqi Health Ministry held a news conference accusing the U.S. of using internationally banned chemical weapons, including nerve gas, during the assault. Do you have any more information on that?

DAHR JAMAIL: That report, actually, yes, I have read that and am aware of that. And it's just further confirmation of the fact that the — another, related to that what the doctor said that I had interviewed was that he was willing to go in and try to dig up some of these bodies that they were forced to bury by the U.S. military there in Fallujah, because he said that he is 100% certain that these types of weapons had been used, and he, among so many other people inside the city, are pleading for an international investigation of the types of these — of what illegal weapons were used there, because they are absolutely certain they were chemical weapons, cluster bombs, fleshettes, types of napalm and various other weapons, as well.

So the documentary aired today by the Italian government-run news channel is not "news" in the sense that new charges are being made. What is different is that the documentary is being shown through a state-run channel of a NATO ally and that the allegations are now accompanied by photographs2 and the testimony of American soldiers.

Only the British Independent is covering the story, but Peter Popham's account is itself unusual in its candor—

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.

Ever since the assault, which went unreported by any Western journalists, rumours have swirled that the Americans used chemical weapons on the city.
....

In December the US government formally denied the reports, describing them as "widespread myths". "Some news accounts have claimed that US forces have used 'outlawed' phosphorus shells in Fallujah," the USinfo website said. "Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination purposes.

"They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters."

But now new information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.

The story so far has been reported by only one American newspaper. National Public Radio does not mention it among its "top news stories," though it does find "Circulation Decline Continues for Daily Newspapers" worthy of the list. "Morning Edition" today covered the elections in Liberia.

Watch the news for this one. If the media don't respond, this is a story that must not be allowed to go away. And it is an atrocity that must not be allowed to go without an investigation by a war-crimes commission.

If there is any good news of late it is that the effect of bloggers on the news media is becoming more and more palpable. This may prove to be a test case of that assertion.