Depleted Uranium
I decided to write this post after I received many comments from Americans refusing to admit that the US did use depleted Uranium in the Gulf war and Iraq freedom or that DU if used has been a major cause of many health problems including cancers.
I made a quick research on the net and found hundreds of links about this subject, from the few links that I had checked I found many that assure my theory.
I will put excerpts from some links and their links.
US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal'
by Neil Mackay
Published on Sunday, March 30, 2003 by The Sunday Herald (Scotland)
BRITISH and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
DU contaminates land, causes ill-health and cancers among the soldiers using the weapons, the armies they target and civilians, leading to birth defects in children.
DU has been blamed for the effects of Gulf war syndrome -- typified by chronic muscle and joint pain, fatigue and memory loss -- among 200,000 US soldiers after the 1991 conflict.
It is also cited as the most likely cause of the 'increased number of birth deformities and cancer in Iraq' following the first Gulf war.
'Cancer appears to have increased between seven and 10 times and deformities between four and six times,' according to the UN sub commission.
The use of DU has also led to birth defects in the children of Allied veterans and is believed to be the cause of the 'worrying number of anophthalmos cases -- babies born without eyes' in Iraq. Only one in 50 million births should be anophthalmic, yet one Baghdad hospital had eight cases in just two years. Seven of the fathers had been exposed to American DU anti-tank rounds in 1991. There have also been cases of Iraqi babies born without the crowns of their skulls, a deformity also linked to DU shelling.
A study of Gulf war veterans showed that 67% had children with severe illnesses, missing eyes, blood infections, respiratory problems and fused fingers.
for more about this article you can read it in :
www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm
Depleted Uranium Weapons:Lessons from the 1991 Gulf War
By Dan Fahey
Local civilian populations are unlikely to be warned when depleted uranium weapons are used - even if depleted uranium contaminates their food or water supplies. Prior to the Gulf War, the U.S. Army was aware of the potential for depleted uranium contamination to cause health problems among civilian populations. However, during and after the Gulf War, the U.S. Department of Defense took no steps to warn the inhabitants of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq about depleted uranium contamination on their lands. In contrast, U.S. Army reports express more concern about public outcry and future restrictions on the use of depleted uranium weapons than with contaminating foreign lands and poisoning civilians.
Desert Storm veterans along with the people of Iraq and Kuwait were victims of one of the latest military experiments on human beings. I believe that the ignorance was culpable and criminal. -- Rosalie Bertell
In Iraq in 1997, I discovered monstrous births of deformed babies and old men who, amid the wreckage which the Allies had blasted with our uranium shells, told me of daughters with breast and liver cancer. -- Robert Fisk
There is now overwhelming evidence that use of depleted uranium is killing peacekeepers from Allied countries now based in the Balkans. It is killing the soldiers who went into the Balkans when the Serbs withdrew, and it is killing the people there who we went to war to supposedly protect. It is also killing the ordinary people of Iraq who have to suffer the triple pressures of a despotic regime, international sanctions, and death from depleted uranium. Using depleted uranium is clearly immoral, but it is also against international law and UN conventions which prohibit the use of weapons which cause indiscriminate deaths and injury. -- Caroline Lucas MEP
In the US soldiers are dying of brain tumours and cancers, young soldiers in their early twenty's with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Children are born with missing limbs, missing eyes, missing ears, hearts on the wrong side of the body. In Iraq, the Iraqi people are displaying the same symptoms and conditions, the only difference being that they lack any form of medical treatment due to the US/UK imposed and enforced sanctions which has already led to 500,000 dead children.
to read more :
www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/du.htm
Growing Concerns
Background to IRAQ
During the 1991 Gulf War around 350 tons of depleted uranium was used in southern Iraq and many chemical facilities were bombed. The Atomic Energy Authority has said that if 50 tons were dispersed, up to half a million deaths might result by the turn of the century. Shortly after the war, a German professor noted disturbing health trends amongst the Iraqi population. These included :
· A considerable increase in infectious diseases caused by most severe immunodeficiences in a great part of the population.
· Frequent occurrence of massive herpes and zoster afflictions, also in children; AIDS-like syndromes.
· A hitherto unknown syndrome caused by renal and hepatic dysfunctions.
· Leukaemia, aplastic anaemia and malignant neoplasms.
· Congenital deformities caused by genetic defects, which are also found in animals and plants.
· Cancer rates in Iraq have now increased up to 10-fold, with the incidence of cancers and leukaemia among children in Basra rising 384% and 300% respectively. There has also been a substantial increase in genetic disorders including neural tube defects which have had a notable 55% rise between 1998 and 2000; a staggering 250% increase in eye deformity and a 4.5% increase in Down’s Syndrome births.
The amount of uranium or depleted uranium (DU) used by US-led coalition forces during their attack on Iraq in March and April is unknown but may have been between 1000 and 2000 tons. The looting of nuclear sites and chemical sites is also posing a long term health crisis.
you can find this article in:
www.desertconcerns.org/duiraq.html
Iraq's real WMD crime
By Lawrence Smallman in Baghdad
Thursday 30 October 2003,
There are weapons of mass destruction all over Iraq and they were used this year. Iraqi children continue to find them every day.
They have ruined the lives of just under 300,000 people during the last decade - and numbers will increase.
The reason is simple. Two hundred tonnes of radioactive material were fired by invading US forces into buildings, homes, streets and gardens all over Baghdad.
The material in question is depleted uranium (DU). Left over after natural uranium has been enriched, DU is 1.7 times denser than lead - effective in penetrating armoured objects such as tanks
Leukaemia has already become the most common type of cancer in Iraq among all age groups, but is most prevalent in the under-15 category. It has increased way above the percentage of population growth in every single province of Iraq without exception.
Women as young as 35 are developing breast cancer. Sterility among men has increased tenfold.
you can read much more about this article in :
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E8C356F9-E89F-4CD3-88B5-BBBDF9E085C1.htm
The above is only some of what I have read,
For me using DU in wars is a crime against humanity what about you?
I made a quick research on the net and found hundreds of links about this subject, from the few links that I had checked I found many that assure my theory.
I will put excerpts from some links and their links.
US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal'
by Neil Mackay
Published on Sunday, March 30, 2003 by The Sunday Herald (Scotland)
BRITISH and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
DU contaminates land, causes ill-health and cancers among the soldiers using the weapons, the armies they target and civilians, leading to birth defects in children.
DU has been blamed for the effects of Gulf war syndrome -- typified by chronic muscle and joint pain, fatigue and memory loss -- among 200,000 US soldiers after the 1991 conflict.
It is also cited as the most likely cause of the 'increased number of birth deformities and cancer in Iraq' following the first Gulf war.
'Cancer appears to have increased between seven and 10 times and deformities between four and six times,' according to the UN sub commission.
The use of DU has also led to birth defects in the children of Allied veterans and is believed to be the cause of the 'worrying number of anophthalmos cases -- babies born without eyes' in Iraq. Only one in 50 million births should be anophthalmic, yet one Baghdad hospital had eight cases in just two years. Seven of the fathers had been exposed to American DU anti-tank rounds in 1991. There have also been cases of Iraqi babies born without the crowns of their skulls, a deformity also linked to DU shelling.
A study of Gulf war veterans showed that 67% had children with severe illnesses, missing eyes, blood infections, respiratory problems and fused fingers.
for more about this article you can read it in :
www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm
Depleted Uranium Weapons:Lessons from the 1991 Gulf War
By Dan Fahey
Local civilian populations are unlikely to be warned when depleted uranium weapons are used - even if depleted uranium contaminates their food or water supplies. Prior to the Gulf War, the U.S. Army was aware of the potential for depleted uranium contamination to cause health problems among civilian populations. However, during and after the Gulf War, the U.S. Department of Defense took no steps to warn the inhabitants of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq about depleted uranium contamination on their lands. In contrast, U.S. Army reports express more concern about public outcry and future restrictions on the use of depleted uranium weapons than with contaminating foreign lands and poisoning civilians.
Desert Storm veterans along with the people of Iraq and Kuwait were victims of one of the latest military experiments on human beings. I believe that the ignorance was culpable and criminal. -- Rosalie Bertell
In Iraq in 1997, I discovered monstrous births of deformed babies and old men who, amid the wreckage which the Allies had blasted with our uranium shells, told me of daughters with breast and liver cancer. -- Robert Fisk
There is now overwhelming evidence that use of depleted uranium is killing peacekeepers from Allied countries now based in the Balkans. It is killing the soldiers who went into the Balkans when the Serbs withdrew, and it is killing the people there who we went to war to supposedly protect. It is also killing the ordinary people of Iraq who have to suffer the triple pressures of a despotic regime, international sanctions, and death from depleted uranium. Using depleted uranium is clearly immoral, but it is also against international law and UN conventions which prohibit the use of weapons which cause indiscriminate deaths and injury. -- Caroline Lucas MEP
In the US soldiers are dying of brain tumours and cancers, young soldiers in their early twenty's with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Children are born with missing limbs, missing eyes, missing ears, hearts on the wrong side of the body. In Iraq, the Iraqi people are displaying the same symptoms and conditions, the only difference being that they lack any form of medical treatment due to the US/UK imposed and enforced sanctions which has already led to 500,000 dead children.
to read more :
www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/du.htm
Growing Concerns
Background to IRAQ
During the 1991 Gulf War around 350 tons of depleted uranium was used in southern Iraq and many chemical facilities were bombed. The Atomic Energy Authority has said that if 50 tons were dispersed, up to half a million deaths might result by the turn of the century. Shortly after the war, a German professor noted disturbing health trends amongst the Iraqi population. These included :
· A considerable increase in infectious diseases caused by most severe immunodeficiences in a great part of the population.
· Frequent occurrence of massive herpes and zoster afflictions, also in children; AIDS-like syndromes.
· A hitherto unknown syndrome caused by renal and hepatic dysfunctions.
· Leukaemia, aplastic anaemia and malignant neoplasms.
· Congenital deformities caused by genetic defects, which are also found in animals and plants.
· Cancer rates in Iraq have now increased up to 10-fold, with the incidence of cancers and leukaemia among children in Basra rising 384% and 300% respectively. There has also been a substantial increase in genetic disorders including neural tube defects which have had a notable 55% rise between 1998 and 2000; a staggering 250% increase in eye deformity and a 4.5% increase in Down’s Syndrome births.
The amount of uranium or depleted uranium (DU) used by US-led coalition forces during their attack on Iraq in March and April is unknown but may have been between 1000 and 2000 tons. The looting of nuclear sites and chemical sites is also posing a long term health crisis.
you can find this article in:
www.desertconcerns.org/duiraq.html
Iraq's real WMD crime
By Lawrence Smallman in Baghdad
Thursday 30 October 2003,
There are weapons of mass destruction all over Iraq and they were used this year. Iraqi children continue to find them every day.
They have ruined the lives of just under 300,000 people during the last decade - and numbers will increase.
The reason is simple. Two hundred tonnes of radioactive material were fired by invading US forces into buildings, homes, streets and gardens all over Baghdad.
The material in question is depleted uranium (DU). Left over after natural uranium has been enriched, DU is 1.7 times denser than lead - effective in penetrating armoured objects such as tanks
Leukaemia has already become the most common type of cancer in Iraq among all age groups, but is most prevalent in the under-15 category. It has increased way above the percentage of population growth in every single province of Iraq without exception.
Women as young as 35 are developing breast cancer. Sterility among men has increased tenfold.
you can read much more about this article in :
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E8C356F9-E89F-4CD3-88B5-BBBDF9E085C1.htm
The above is only some of what I have read,
For me using DU in wars is a crime against humanity what about you?
posted by rose at 3:30 AM
41 Comments:
You write a very imformative article but...why is it that the good people of iraq do not condem the terrorists and demand that they leave and this war could end. I hear every day that citizens and soldiers are being killed in the jihad with the US by a so called peaceful religion, but I hear nothing about religious leaders of the world calling for the fanatic's to end the attacking and get the heck out of iraq. You want the Marines to leave, I do also, but if they leave what will you do when the radicals take over your country and limit your freedom. I would like to bring every military person in the world backhome and let the rest of the world see what it would be like without the US. And take all our money with us too. I always say be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. Then where would you be?
While DU is a controversial subject and no one really has the definitive scientific answers, I find your citations extremely one-sided and not very factual. Al Jazeera, Robert Fisk, anti-war sites like Common Dreams...
I'd like to see actual unbiased scientific studies.
Some of the claims made in the articles you cite I find unbelievable, for example:
"A study of Gulf war veterans showed that 67% had children with severe illnesses, missing eyes, blood infections, respiratory problems and fused fingers."
67%? There's just no way that's anywhere near the truth.
hi rose,
you recent blog highlights the middle-eastern inclination to embrace rumour and propaganda without weighing things up yourself. this results in belief in rumours such as mossad flew the planes into the world trade centre, that jews were told not to come to work that day, etc, all of which is patently absurd to a western mind but believed as gospel by palestinians, etc.
as your readers have pointed out to you, web pages sponsored by the likes of robert fisk, noam chomsky, tony benn, and all the usual suspects are not likely to
carry much weight in a rational argument. these people are left wing careerists who earn their living catering to the gullibility of people such as you, rose.
it is most unlikely a united nations resolution was ever passed forbidding the use of depleted uranium when the member countries with the veto; usa, uk, france, russia and china are about the only countries that manufacture and arm their main battle tanks with du. wouldn't make sense, would it, rose?
as a matter of interest the reason du is used is because it is the only armour piercing round that can penetrate a modern (post t72) main battle tank's armour from a distance, that is to say, tank to tank. if you don't have du then you have to get up close and lose all your technological advantage. no point in owning an abrams or challenger2 if you have to sneak up to within 50m like some ww2 stormtrooper with a panzerfaust. it was the ussr and their east european satellites who flooded the world with these tanks, as they did with ak47s, from mozambique to nicaragua via iraq, vietnam, etc, etc. on the other hand you don't see too many abrams or challengers on the second hand market. just one more of the many things we have to thank communism for.
Anybody with a brain knows that the USA uses DU-weapons and will continue for some time to come! That is not the issue.
The question is the health effects on the population of DU.
According to CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, epidemiologists study the effect of Depleted Uranium on Kuwaiti children from Gulf War I. They compared the health and development of children in neighborhoods where DU weapons were used and compared them against neighborhoods where DU weapons were not used. They study showed no differenes in health outcomes.
Don't forget that Iraq has a terrible potable water system and poor sewarage systems. In many areas, garbage is not effectively dealt with. This leads to disease spreading. There is also questionable food supply reliability. Your medical delivery system is quite primitive.
There is almost no regulation of pollution and environmental contaminants from industry.
I think DU is low on the list of things causing poor health/low life expectancy for Iraqis. Nevertheless, DU should be cleaned up where it is found and I believe the USA should pay for this effort.
Lots of misperceptions on this page!
As for why Islamic clerics don't denounce terrorists in Iraq... go read Healing Iraq blog for a review of that. Short answer is, they do, at least a lot of them do. Interesting which ones DON'T.....
as to al Jezeera not being accurate: well, they did a story today on Jimmy Massey, US Marine who is testifying in Canada at a trial. I have met and talked with Jimmy several times, and I can assure you that al Jezeera was SPOT ON with getting his story down as Jimmy Massey tells it... I cannot say if what Jimmy is saying is accurate, but I suspect it is. Go read it.
US Vets with "Gulf War Syndrome" - it looks like that may have been caused by the anthrax vacine
*this is not to say the US military did it on purpose*
The US military says that DU is not dangerous when it is UNEXPLODED... well, guess what, it explodes on the battlefield. Is it dangerous for humans? We don't know. How much radioactive material do you want in your breakfest cereal???? HUH???? Just speaking for myself, I want NONE.
We do know that radiation causes cancer and birth defects... the question is how much, etc.....
As to whether using DU is a war crime... well, I think this entire war on Iraq is a war crime. Iraq had not attacked or threatened the USA (indeed, had no resources to do so), was not in a civil war or attacking another country, was not in the middle of significant human rights abuses (did in the past) for 12 years prior to the US invasion. Therefore, there was no reason to start a war. Therefore it is a war crime. And when it all goes sour, you can bet the Bushies will blame the Iraqis!!! And never notice anything THEY MIGHT HAVE DONE WRONG.
And they talk about Frisk or Chomsky not being reliable or honest!!! HA!!
Anyway, here is a link to an antiwar song for Iraq. It shows an American point of view, not unusual for most Americans. However, I think it is good. It is called OHIO and is based on the song FOUR DEAD IN OHIO, a reference to the students killed at Kent State demonstrating against the Vietnam War.
Check this out courtesy of Mark Crispin Miller and a group Supaclean.
www.15megsoffame.com/artist/736/Supaclean/song/1459/Ohio
Uranium is a common constituent of soil, and no one who knows what they are talking about believes that except for those who stopped a DU bullet, anyone has been harmed by DU. Anyone does not want to breath DU dust, just don't start a war with us.
Walter E. Wallis
Palo Alto, CA
Hello Rose. John from N.Z. here.
I'm not posting about D.U. It seems to me that anyone old enough to read should know by now about the unforseen side effects of this weapon. So what's the point of arguing with illiterates?
I'm glad that you liked my reference to Abu Kaheel. He seems to me to be the most intelligent and well-informed of the Iraqi bloggers, and he attracts some of the more interesting comments. (which one is me?)
A general comment:
We've just been visiting my elder daughter in Australia - the "lucky country." Just out of interest: she and her "boyfriend" or "partner," after years of study, are now both very highly qualified scientists, and I calculated that between them, they are earning more than all four of their parents, plus all of their brothers and sisters, combined!
25 years ago, she was playing with her dolls just like your little girl is doing now. What are your hopes for your daughter?
My daughter is the most intelligent person I have ever known. But she refuses to discuss the situation in Iraq. It is just too painful for her, as a supremely rational person she just cannot cope with the mistakes that the Americans have made there, it just offends her scientific mind too much!
Please believe that there are many, many millions of us out here in the real world who wish you the best.
Call me a cynic, but I don't believe that Baghdad Rose is a real person. I think that this site is a load of hooey. I would like to believe in it, but I don't.
Sorry Rose, you had me going there for a little while. I was interested in your cultural stuff, but I can learn that from my neighbor who is a Muslim. His family is from Bosnia and worked for years to become my neighbor, now he is proud to become an American.
To be American equals the freedom to be self governing, regardless of religion or Saddams rape rooms and mass graves. I am of the age of gulf war veterns. All of their babies actually have eye balls and 20 digits web free! Imagine that?
Google Baghdad Rose, and the majority of results are from liberal moonbats, go figure.
Depleted Uranium is NOT radioactive by any practical measurement. If you have a watch with glow-in-the-dark hands, it is much more radioactive than a DU round. DU is, however, a heavy metal and can cause heavy metal poisoning as has been mentioned above. A significant dose, however, would require being right where a DU round was to disintegrate, which would pose far more immediate health risks from shrapnel or burns from whatever just exploded.
Some of the statistics that are noted have already been debunked; my own experience seems to indicate that the incidences of birth defects among Gulf War I vets is not higher than the rest of the population.
This is not to say that the war has not increased the health risks of people in Iraq. Military equipment can produce toxic fumes when burned. Military fuels and oils can be toxic, as can their smoke. The Ba'athist regime did have stockpile of old chemical weapons which have been found which were buried haphazardly and which caused ground contamination. (These were the Iran-Iraq war era weapons, which were no longer usuable).
To complicate this, the Ba'athists created a health-care crisis in Iraq during the time of the sanctions, in order to try to create a humanitarian response to end those sanctions. This was a policy decision that led to many thousands of deaths due to malnurishment and poor medical care, while at the same time Saddam built new Palaces too many to count. He also bribed foreigners to smuggle in weapon systems that he was not supposed to be able to purchase.
I find it highly doubtful that DU is the primary cause of the documented increased rate of birth defects in portions of Iraq. I suspect that the more likely causes are instead the toxic fumes and run-off from destroyed military equipment and weapons, the pre-war policies of the Hussien administration, and the incidental poisoning of local water supplies by improperly stored (or improperly destroyed) chemical weapons.
There is no UN policy against depleted uranium, and it most certainly does not qualify as a weapon of mass-destruction. Use of such weapons is currently allowed by all conventions and treaties as conventional arms, and thus cannot be construed as a crime against humanity.
How are things in Baghdad now? What about Mosul? Hopefully the flu has run its course and won't be a problem again. I understand the electricity is still very unstable in Baghdad right now.
Eric
John from N.Z., ask your brilliant daughter how she would feel not being allowed outside her home except when accompanied by a male relative and covered with a burka. She should be ashamed of her disrespect of those who stand between her and that fate. You should be ashamed to have raised such a dumb daughter.
Walter E. Wallis
Palo Alto, CA
Dear Walter E. Wallis
you worthless piece of crap. See how you feel when an army invades your country. There's no such thing as freedom at the end of a gun barrel you slug.
As for DU, of course it was used. But it's our American way to turn and stick our collective heads in our asses and say 'oh no, not us, we are too good to be amoral'. No bigger hypocrisy than the good ol USA itself. I ought to know, I am a citizen.
I forgot to comment on one more thing, to whomever claimed that Al Jazeers is full of propaganda-- have you ever turned on Faux news? There is no more biased, self serving propaganda machine than that organization.
And for the record, I do receive the Al Jazeera feed as well as the Al Aribya satellite feed. Not even close to being as blatantly biased as Faux.
One other recent topic I found interesting, they (AJ) did a lot of nice coverage of the voting in Ukraine.
Hi, please remember that anyone can make up anything and put it up on the internet and present it as fact, and depleted uranium in particular is a favourite topic of those that like to invent and make up scare stories.
So I refer you to a reliable and well balanced source -the World Health Organizaton.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/
some clown just posted:
As for DU, of course it was used. But it's our American way to turn and stick our collective heads in our asses and say 'oh no, not us, we are too good to be amoral'.
this implies the usa, uk, etc do not admit to using du ordnance. this is nonsense. APFSDS (Armoured Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding Sabot) is the ammunition normally used by main battle tanks. its projectile is made of du. the older version, made of tungsten is obsolete because is lacked penetration against modern armour.
john of kiwiland, i was distressed to learn your supremely rational daughter cannot cope with the pain of discussing iraq. she sounds a little precious. on the other i was pleased to learn scientists earn such enormous money in australia. here in western europe scientists earn peanuts, which is why kids no longer do science. the famous dr kelly, who gained international exposure - was it only last year? - by lying to the bbc about tony blair's sexing up his dosier for war - he eventually killed himself - was referred to at the time as britain's top scientist - i think he earned something like four thousand pounds a month.
maybe your daughter works for an american multinational. whatever, she sounds as if she needs a little counseling. no point earning a lot of money if you can't cope with modern stresses of everyday life. anyway, good luck to her.
from John in NZ
Rose, do you remember a post I made a few Blogs ago about CHARITY? You can see exactly what I mean about the absence of charity in people, in the comment earlier by a Mr Willis, and the comment above. It must be very difficult living with those sorts of reactions in one's heart.
hey, you there down under - lighten up. "living with these sorts of reactions in their hearts". whoa! i think the anonymous dude was just remarking that du weaponry's no dirty secret. it's out in the open to discuss. the remark about your daughter being precious was maybe a little out of line. but then it's kinda weird for a man to refer to his daughter in public as the most intelligent human being on the plant, or whatever it was you said. peace, man. no venom.
Rose,
Perhaps I can give a little insight to my fellow Americans. You should all know from high school chemistry that depleted uranium is still a radioactive heavy metal and therefor detrimental to the human body. When these 30 mm rounds hit an object such as a tank the round disintegrates or vaporizes contaminating the whole area. I as a soldier here in Iraq had the misfortune of going to these ADA and tank sites being forced to pick up UXOs or lie in wait for insurgents to try and pick them up. I am telling my fellow citizens that the ground is different or unusual around these areas, compared to an area where regular tnt or c4 had been used. The soil around an area that has been hit does not have the same texture and is lifeless compared to the surrounding area. I saw the holes and impact marks from the 30 mm rounds however, I never saw an intact round or anything resembling a 30 mm round. With that said some of these birth defects you cite can be attributed to malnutrition during the mother's pregnancy. When I was a kid one of my dad's partners went off on some holy crusade in the Philippines to save orphaned kids created by the American marines and sailors who couldn't keep it in their pants. I remember several Philippine kids being shuttled to the states for corrective surgery via my father and his partners. Many of the Philippine kids had these same birth defects. -Temporary Resident of Iraq
Dear Rose,
It seems many of your readers are unfamiliar with Agent Orange, another substance which was determined to be safe by the experts working for the US government. They lied. How many Vietnamese And US servicemen suffered from this harmless material?
If this DU stuff is so safe I propose an experiment. Let's take one school in every state in the United States and give the building and grounds a good dose of vaporized DU. I wonder how many US parents would let their kids go to school in this perfectly safe environment?
Having lived in the United States all of my life let me tell you when you hear the words, "Hello, I'm from the federal (US) government and I'm here to help you," you are in trouble.
Bobby in Arkansas
To Anonymous 5.12 a.m. above
"... it's kinda weird for a man to refer to his daughter in public as the most intelligent human being on the plant, or whatever it was you said..."
Learn to read. I didn't say that. But she does indeed work with plants - it's ironic that in a few years time antagonistic people like you will probably be benefiting from her research! Get a life. And try to be nice, not nasty. You'll enjoy it.
Maddog
.....and they lick their thumbs when dealing a hand of cards and risk contaminating the dollar bills they play with. ;-)
Rose, I can assure you the British government would have done it’s homework on anything with the word Uranium in it before letting their armed forces or any civilian population anywhere near it. Remember when the nuclear reactor blew up in Chynobyl? There was a radioctive cloud wafting across Scandanavia towards the British Isles. The Government and supermarkets said English lamb and Scotch beef were perfectly safe but the public still panicked because they thought our cattle and sheep would eat contaminated grass and wouldn’t buy it, I stocked my freezer up with top quality meat at a working mans price. I can assure I haven’t got web feet and don’t walk like a duck. ;-)
Johnny
rose, we all feel for you. i mean, we here in the west know that iraq has strongly held views on health issues, particularly environmental ones. admittedly you guys were a little over the top in gassing your fellow iraqi kurds and shias in the south and draining the old marsh arabs terroir, so to speak, but hey, i say they should get a sense of humour.
i was musing, over an ungodly glass of beer, whether you guys setting fire to all the oil rigs etc in kuwait
during your short stay there might have contributed to the ill health of those down wind. don't take this the wrong way, rose, but knowing you have such concern about health issues i just thought you might want to sort of factor this behaviour of yours into the general picture. it might not all be down to the evil yanks and brits. you just might have brought some of this upon yourselves.
but then, rose, i am a touchy feel sort of guy. it is, admittedly, easier to blame americans. so maybe it's better to do so. as another poster said above, peace man, no venom.
enjoy your brief spurt of internet freedom while it lasts, rose, because if the americans fail, this little interlude will shortly become a memory. and then you can get back in line as you appear to have done so for the previous part of your miserable life.
Boy, he's really a sick one!
Thanks for your kind remarks in your next post, Rose, but you don't have to support me. I'll stand up for myself if I have to.
If you are wondering what to Blog about next, here's a suggestion that should be a challenge for you:
"What I have learned from five months of Blogging."
(Besides improving your English a lot!)
Of course, as a previous poster suggested, maybe you're not really a girl in Baghdad. Maybe you're a pimply teenage boy in Texas. But I don't think so, I think you're probably who you say you are. And a very brave person.
John in N.Z.
Rose, I am no expert on DU. It is possible that some of the arms we use add to it. It is also possible that the weapons found in such massive numbers in Iraq as stored by Saddam and either used by terrorists or destroyed by coalition add to it. I cannot link to news from months ago but I recall reaading about the uranium removed from Iraq. I remember reading about dumped radioactive materials found that Iraqis had dumped to get containers for water. I have to agree that while Saddam probably kept the area he frequented safe, he did not care a whit about the average Iraqi and how they would be affected by his storage and dumping methods. I am sad for Iraqi people who suffer, no matter what the original cause. Keep digging for information by people with the scientific credentials who truly research the subject. The media tells some truth and some lies so it is hard to know what is truth. John and Rose, you are rightfully proud of your children so do not think all Americans put you down.
I think John from NZ should be called Wormtongue. Rose, he tries to suck up to you (this is an american expression which means he tries to gain your good opinion in devious ways) all the time and tries to turn the comments into an "us against them" situation (meaning him and you against anybody who does not share his opinions). Making comments that basically say "My daughter is one of the smartest poeple in the world and makes tonnes of money" is generally consider extremely poor taste in the western world, unless your 8 that is. Going on about how we should be grateful to him because his daughters research is going to make our lives unbelievably better is even worse. I too am a scientist, making such statements in completely unacceptable in the academic world (or at least the civilized parts, ther e are some shady parts).
Also, any good scientist should be able to rationally judge the merits of ANY situation regardless of their feeling towards it. That is part of the definition of BEING a scientist. Letting your emotion control you (so that you cannot even talk about something) is not a trait of a good scientist. Sorry for being somewhat nasty John, but your posts are quite annoying. I am a Canadian and I study quanutm computing.
There's now physical evidence that depleted uranium, once in the body, migrates to the brain, lungs, bones and testicles of rats and mice. Researchers have found that even a single particle placed in contact with human bone cells can set off a chain reaction of cell and chromosomal abnormalities of the type thought to cause cancer.
Margot B
Web site: http://margotbworldnews.com
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I'm not sure about DU, but I am aware that the US has in the past lied about the health effects of lots of stuff. Downwinders in Utah, agent orange victims, nuke site employees in Nevada & workers at Groom Lake all are witness to US coverups.
Keep up the news from Iraq - it's very hard to get first hand news.
Terry
Dear Rose
Keep up your good work of telling it like it is.
Do not be dismayed by the comments from those who deny the toxic effects of Depleted Uranium. Their words can be hard and hurtful, but on Chrismas Eve I remind them Jesus' dying words were
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
The Romans occupied the Middle East, crucified Jesus, and drove the Jews out of their country, an action that had had echoes throughout history, even to this day.
Bush's America occupied the Middle East, and, among actions too numerous to mention fired toxic weapons which, sadly, will almost certainly affect the health of those yet unborn.
Rose-
I genuinely wish the very best for Iraq and for your family, and I wish you many happy Eid's. I simply have a sincere and honest warning for you. Many Americans have their hearts in the right place, but are dangerously uninformed, including about their own history, and at this point are trying desperately to justify their very bad choice to invade Iraq. This is why so many Americans want to be your friend and to gain your approval, though they did not have a bit of concern for your country during the 1980's and 1990's, when America's policies were causing the present crisis. If you only heed one piece of advice from me, I would ask this- before you blind trust America's plan for Iraq, please study all you can about Viet Nam, another war I grew with. Especially Viet Nam in the very early days, in the 1950's, when Diem came to power. Here you will see the techniques of the CIA, which was heavily involved with Saddam, the Shah of Iran and the Afghan Mujahudeen as well. Both American Democrats and Republicans are absolutely equally at fault. There is no difference.
The DU issue is like many issues in America. Only the military has DU or can study it. Only the government (or government sponsored universities) can afford to study it. Therefore, the only studies that are quoted are like the very incomplete Rand report.
I come from a long, proud military family, but I now know far too much about America's policies to support our government in any way. Here are some links to look over. There are some "radical" links here, both pro- and anti-DU, but there are also some anti-DU links from military and conservative scientific sources. The basic DANGER with DU that is always OVERLOOKED in pro-government reports (and which our own troops are not even told), is BREATHING THE DUST! NEVER breath DU dust. You cannot mistake pure DU-oxide- it is bright lemon yellow. It will only be found where a hard surface was hit. It is not too bad to touch- just wash thoroughly, but if you breath it, it can stay in your lungs or body forever until it causes proximity cancers from low level radiation.
Take care.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2970503.stm
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/radoncology/crr/reports1998/cm10.htm
http://www.iaea.org/search97cgi/s97_cgi?action=View&VdkVgwKey=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eiaea%2Eorg%2FNewsCenter%2FFeatures%2FDU%2Fdu%5Fqaa%2Eshtml&QueryZip=DU&&viewTemplate=Iaea%2Fiaeacvw_smpl.hts&collection=IaeaSite
http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library/
http://www.stopnato.org.uk/du-watch/index.htm
http://www.serendipity.li/nato/du.htm
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html#iraq5
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_syndrome.html
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=507&archive=true
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&q=Depleted+Uranium+site%3Awww.democraticunderground.com
http://www.google.com/search?q=Depleted+Uranium
http://www.ccnr.org/bertell_book.html
http://www.idust.net/
http://www.ippnw.at/
http://www.ngwrc.org/Issues.cfm?NewsTopicID=8
http://www.llrc.org/
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/extract/100/9/4973?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=14410%9614415&searchid=1095032287379_3323&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0
http://www.ngwrc.org/index.cfm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2970503.stm
http://postconflict.unep.ch/dufact.html
http://www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/low_radiation_hurts.html
http://www.lrri.org/cr/dustudy.html
http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/du/
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/du/DUrecommend.htm
I want to stress this United Nations page that shows exactly what to look for-
http://postconflict.unep.ch/dufact.html
DU is poisonous, just like any heavy metal (lead, for example). DU is not especially radioactive, and in fact is used in hospitals to shield against radiation in radiology departments.
The US is only one of many nations that use DU for main battle tank shells. For example, all of Iraq's Soviet / Russian produced main battle tanks (like the T-72) used DU shells. DU is simply the best thing out there for penetrating armor, and has been for some time.
The US has never denied using DU. It has pointed to quite a few studies showing DU to be no more hazardous than lead. Some of these were conducted by the UN, some by other organizations. (Other studies, by the way, suggest otherwise.)
I suggest using only the studies themselves for evidence. This is a very politicized issue, so don't believe what the governments, or the government-haters, say. Don't believe what reports of the studies say. Find the actual studies on the Internet and read them.
Thanks for blogging, Rose. I enjoy the site.
Nice blog that you have here.
I have a skin cancer symptom site. It pretty much covers Cancer related stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-) Cheers / Roger
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This report:
http://www.ccnr.org/bertell_book.html
explains so much.
I have used this as a starting point, and my researches have found many sources of corroborative information.
You must try to be objective.
What a shame so many spoilers have been posted. A serious subject such as Depleted Uranium and its effects deserves better.
Take the time to read a serious scientific report on the effects of Depleted Uranium, and how the U.S. military muddy the scientific waters with outmoded test proceedures. People have died trying to report the facts, I kid you not!
href=http://www.ccnr.org/bertell_book.html
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