Dr. ash-Shaykhli stated that his medical teams, assigned the responsibility of investigating the health situation in Fallujah by Iraq's health ministry, had done research that proved U.S. occupation forces used substances, including mus gas, nerve gas, and other burning chemicals there.
In fact Al-Jazeerah quoted Dr. ash-Shaykhli as stating, "I absolutely do not exclude their use of nuclear and chemical substances, since all forms of nature were wiped out in that city. I can even say that we found dozens, if not hundreds, of stray dogs, cats, and birds that had perished as a result of those gasses."
By April of 2004, Pentagon spokesperson Michael Kilpatrick admitted that
the US Army alone had used at least 127 tons (over one quarter of a million pounds) of depleted uranium materials in the Iraq war to that point. Depleted uranium is a substance commonly found in all types of U.S.-made munitions including machine gun bullets, tank rounds, and cluster bombs
During the attack on the city, eyewitnesses described horrific scenes that analysts have attributed to attacks with napalm, a poisonous tail of polystyrene and jet fuel that has the capacity of melting human flesh and bones.
Inter Press Service reported eyewitness accounts describing bombs that created mushroom clouds and explosions that caused skin to burn even when water was thrown on it. Some eyewitnesses saw indiscriminate shooting and the use of tanks to drag dead bodies to mass graves.
It was during the vicious assault on Fallujah that the shooting of a wounded Iraqi by an American marine was caught on videotape.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces prevented the Iraqi-based Red Crescent to enter the city to care for wounded civilians and bring aid to survivors. Some observers have insisted that the main purpose of this action was to prevent official recording of atrocities committed during the siege and attack.