IRAQ: IT’S NOT BOMBS, RPGS AND MINES THAT KILLS ALONE

Depleted Uranium – The Invisible Killer 

by

Rajan Alexander, Development Consultancy Group, Bangalore

 

 

 

GULF WAR ILLNESS SYMPTOMS

Chronic fatigue syndrome-that's the mitochondria; severe headaches; rashes; joint pain; muscle pain; nerve damage; neurological damage; kidney damage; long damage; cardiovascular signs or symptoms; thyroid disease; multiple cancers; autoimmune deficiencies; unusual fevers and night sweats; fluid buildups; sleep disturbances; gastrointestinal signs or symptoms; abnormal births and defects; menstrual problems; reduced IQ; confusion; memory loss; blood in stools and urine; fibromyalgia; Epstein-Barr syndrome; genetic alterations; sinus diseases; mycoplasma fermentans incognitus; infections; unusual hair loss; loss of smell; chemical sensitivities; asthma; vision problems.

And that is just a short list.

Leuren-Moret

Environmental Commissioner of Berkeley, and president for the Scientists of Indigenous People

 

The BBC recently carried the moving story of Stephen Child who recently succumbed from cancer of the pancreas. Child left behind an apparently bizarre will in which he directed his wife to investigate his death to exposure to depleted uranium (DU) in Iraq.

 

A veteran of Gulf War 1, Child received multiple inoculations before and during his stint in Iraq. Nonetheless, his wife told the inquest that her husband returned from the Gulf looking thinner, perpetually tired, smelling of latex and sweating a lot. By the time cancer was diagnosed, a series of chemotherapy failed to stem the advance of his disease. 50 of his colleagues, who served in the Gulf, had demonstrated similar symptoms and died much before he did. In all these cases, the coroner’s verdict was death to natural causes. Yet Child, like many other Gulf Veterans in Britain, describes these symptoms simply as the Gulf Syndrome. Their belief resulted in the formation of the Gulf Veteran’s Association, whose meetings usually center on a single issue - DU!

 

Meanwhile in the US, a lawsuit filed on behalf of 100,000 Gulf War 1 veterans, sent shock waves down the Bush administration, 11 corporate establishments and 33 banks who allegedly helped Saddam Hussein amass Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the eighties, despite open knowledge that he used these same weapons against the Iranians and the Kurdish minority in Iraq. The lawyer for the plaintiff quoted by Associated Press (AP) said "These companies have to be held accountable or they'll do this same thing in the future with some other tyrant."

 

It is estimated that up to half the 697,000 Gulf War 1 veterans are demonstrating signs of “Gulf Syndrome”.  As in the UK, the Department of Defense (DoD) in the US has been in the center of a raging storm for mishandling health issues of Gulf War 1 veterans, often resorting to bureaucratic technicalities to withhold treatment and compensation. This lawsuit is just an expression of this growing resentment.

 

According to the Guardian, at least 100 Coalition troops from the USUK attack on Iraq are demonstrating mystery pneumonia-like symptoms. It is a matter of speculation how many more have died due to such ailments, particularly when only half the reported US casualties (over 145) suffered since May 1st 2003 is officially categorized as being killed in action. Families of troops are demanding immediate answers. Take the case of Josh Neusche, a former track star from Missouri, now serving in Iraq. He wrote home that he was chosen to do some secret hauling mission on June 26th. Five days later, Josh was in coma with the military authorities medically retiring him, depriving him of any salary entitlements or health compensation. By July 12th, Josh died unsung. Another case is Zeferino E. Colungo, a 20-year-old from Texas. Colungo died after battling an unexplained pneumonia-like illness. His family wrote angrily to Ronald Rumsfeld “"We deserve to know why a healthy young man who was supposedly screened and determined fit for deployment would suddenly die. It is our right to receive honest answers."

 

Era of Mini-Nuke Wars

 

Dr. Leuren Moret takes great pride to flaunt his credentials as a whistleblower on the nuclear establishment. Moret who previously worked with the Lawrence Berkeley Lab considers it significant that soon after the 2003 USUK attack the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that cancer incidences would increase by 50% by 2020. This comes as no surprise to Moret since huge amounts of DU had been used in Iraq – “Radiation has no borders, respects no races or socio-economic classes…it’s going to get all of us”. Moret should know best. Her specialty study is atmospheric dust and their capability to free float from one part of the world to another.

 

Moret quotes official US military memos, which describe the need to develop weaponry that uses radioactive materials, including DU to be deployed in the battlefield. These memos include evidence of long-term test results on human beings, plants and animals. According to Moret, once these materials are grinded to 0.1µ [1/10 of micron], these (alpha) particles are smaller than bacteria and behave almost as a gas – diffusing in the lungs and bloodstream. Their size makes it difficult to protect victims even if gas masks are used – at least 70% of these alpha particles will penetrate the state-of-art HEPA filters distributed to coalition troops in Gulf War II. She describes what happens when these particles enter the bloodstream:

 

“After uranium metal burns...and depleted uranium is pyrophoric-burns when it heats to 170° C. So, as soon as they shoot them, and the surface of the weapon heats up to 170° C, it starts burning. And you can see them. They look like tracers going through the air on the battlefield. They are creating billions and billions and billions of superfine particles. These did not settle out by gravity. Gravitational forces do not pull them out of the air. They stay suspended. They act like a radioactive gas. And we know-I work with 8 independent scientists-we've measured depleted uranium, which after it burns, is very very insoluble. It forms oxides that will almost not dissolve. And because they will not dissolve, they will not dissolve and body fluids. And so, the body cannot excrete them through the kidneys in the urine. These particles are like fairy dust. They go everywhere that is red blood cell or a white blood cell will go. And they stay in the body-millions and billions of them. These alpha particles tear through the cell. They tear through the membrane, which damages the immune system. They tear through the mitochondria, which is your energy system. They tear through the DNA, causing mutations.”

 

99.8% of DU is constituted by Uranium 238, whose half-life is 4.5 billon years – equivalent to those estimated as the age of earth. As DU decays, it gradually assumes a ten-fold increase in radioactivity by the end of a million years, when it reaches a state of equilibrium. Accordingly, the bombed sites will not decrease but increase in radioactive potency over time. In short, DU facilitates weaponry that continues in its lethalness even after the war is over. The people of Iraq may bear much of the brunt of its lethality. However, the impact of DU through atmospheric free-floats can reach any corner of the world. More over, the signature effect of its lethality is that it can kill most inhumanely and indiscriminately. It is for these reasons why peace activists all over the world has cried for its unequivocal ban and for prosecution of Bush, Blair and Howard for crimes against humanity for using such weaponry.

 

Since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Gulf War 1 saw the first break of war convention of not using nuclear weapons. After that followed the Balkans, Afghanistan and Gulf War II. It is estimated that the US used 340 or more tons of DU during Gulf War 1, under 100 tons in Bosnia and Kosovo and over 1000 tons in Afghanistan. Estimates of DU used for Gulf War II are over 5000 tons. Moret considers these mini-nukes as similar to the fourth generation nuclear weapons being currently developed by the US. These weaponry needed to be used so that the effects of DU on health and environment can be studied.

 

The Idaho Statesman reported that soon after September 11th the U.S. announced it would stockpile tactical nuclear weapons, including small neutron bombs, nuclear mines and shells suited to conduct warfare. Commenting on the bunker buster bombs, George Smith writes in the Village Voice, "Built ram tough, with a heavy metal casing for smashing through the earth and concrete, the B61-11 explodes with a force of an estimated 340,000 tons of TNT. It is lots of bang for the buck, literally two apocalypse bombs in one-a boosted plutonium firecracker, call the primary, and a heavy hydrogen secondary for the good old fashioned H-bomb fireball."

 

If any more corroboration is needed, the Uranium Medical Research Center reports that urine samples of Afghanis show the highest level of uranium in the world. Afghanis are reported to be dying, demonstrating similar symptoms as the Gulf Syndrome. Dead birds, still perched in trees, are found partially melted, with blood oozing from their mouths. Such scenario is now repeated in Iraq, albeit on a wider scale. As in Afghanistan, the genetic future of Iraqis is destroyed. What if some of their ire was expressed through retaliatory bombings of the Jordanian Embassy, UN Office or the Najaf Mosque? Surely, all these acts of “terrorism” simply pale into insignificance the most heinous crime committed against the Iraqi nation.

 

A Japanese journalist wrote about the fallout of DU in a book entitled Discounted Casualities. In it are tragic cases of such as Gulf War 1 veterans returning home only to find that intercourse with their wives leave their vaginal areas burning and without sensation and their semen contaminated with DU. In a study conducted of 251 Gulf War 1 veterans who prior to Iraq had normal children, 67% of their children born after their return were found physical, psychologically and/or mentally abnormal. The Veterans Administration – a unit of the US military conducted this study. Despite the existence of such studies, the causal linkages of DU to Gulf Syndrome are still officially denied. Many among the coalition forces now serving in Iraq are simply not aware of the plight of Gulf War 1 veterans. Some, who knew, took the precaution of depositing their sperm with a sperm bank before departing to Iraq. 

 

Beating US Pressure to Send Troops

 

Four months after Bush Jnr. declared cessation of hostilities, it is apparent that USUK forces are trapped in a quagmire in Iraq, increasingly being described as a Mecca for terrorists. Iraq has proved ungovernable by the occupiers, with rampant crime, making security a nightmare for occupying forces. The Guardian last month brought out an article entitled "'Bring us home': GIs flood US with war-weary emails." The article quoted a soldier named Kindblade – “‘the rules of engagement are crippling. We are outnumbered. We are exhausted. We are in over our heads. The President says, "Bring 'em on." The generals say we don't need more troops. Well, they're not over here'." Their desperation gets even more pathetic as many troops in Iraq are now learning that their wives and girl friends are planning to leave them on the fear that they will come home, (assuming they survive their posting), significantly disabled due to DU overexposure and consequently jobless.

 

Costs of the occupation of Iraq are cascading with the coalition forces unable to pump out Iraqi oil into the global markets to generate revenue to offset the costs of occupation and reconstruction. Reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts have themselves come to a halt with aid agency and contracting personnel taking to their heels. Recent opinion polls indicate that only one of out five British trust Tony Blair. Approval ratings of Bush have plunged with the latest Zogby poll suggesting that he trails a generic democrat presidential challenger 45-48%.

 

With realization of defeat, the US now proposes to introduce a new UN resolution to permit countries that opposed the war like India, Pakistan, Germany, France, Russia and China to join a multi-national force led by the US. India is expected to contribute a force as large as 18,000 troops and as such viewed as a jewel in their eyes. We can never tell what turn diplomacy can take. It is possible that India’s ruling NDA coalition may succumb to US pressures, and using such a new UN resolution as a fig leaf, condemn more troops to a fate worse than death by serving in Iraq.

 

If this is to be avoided than a concerted campaign has to be initiated now. Articles on this subject need to be circulated as widely as possible so that a media debate is enabled. We need to ensure that this information reaches our forces and their immediate families and those retired members of our armed forces, particularly those represented in parliament. If at all the sacrifice of our people is unavoidable, let us ensure that the fate of USUK DU victims do not befall our troops and that USUK are held responsible for compensating them and their heirs for any symptoms resembling the Gulf Syndrome. 

 

If we fail even in this attempt, can it be ensured that all troops to be posted in Iraq be at least permitted to deposit their sperm in a sperm bank to protect their genetic inheritance and the right to normal procreation? We can always dump our political leaders, but this is the very least we owe our troops, who for no fault of their own, could end up being reduced to cannon fodder just to ensure that Bush Jnr. is at last elected legally and the Bush cartel profits from its oil/arms business!

 

For more information on the international campaign against DU contact david broatch, environmental future research, 34 Roberton Road, Auckland New Zealand, tel:  64 9 8287849 e-mail: davidbroatch@xtra.co.nz 

rajan alexander, development consultancy group, 43, da costa layout, ii cross, st. mary’s town, bangalore 560 084, india, tel no 0091-80-5479457 e-mail: rajanalex@now-india.net.in