Britain, U.S. Using Radioactive ‘Dirty Bombs’
World’s foremost expert on the U.S. military’s use of depleted
uranium speaks out
By Dr. Doug Rokke
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/britain__u_s__using_radioactiv.html
(American Free Press-Issue #31, July 31st, 2006)
While U.S. and British military personnel continue using illegal uranium
munitions—America’s and England’s own “dirty bombs”—Department of Energy (DOE)
and Department of Defense (DOD) officials deny that there are any adverse health
and environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing and use
of uranium munitions. The reason for the doubletalk is obviously to avoid
criminal liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive and
toxic material—depleted uranium (DU).
How do I know this? Fourteen years ago, I was asked by the U.S. military to
clean up the initial DU mess from Gulf War I.
Following that, I headed the Depleted Uranium Project for the DOD, which created
a series of manuals and training videos to teach soldiers about the hazards
associated with handling DU munitions.
Still, DOD officials and others attempt to justify uranium munitions use while
ignoring mandatory requirements that are already in place to deal with the
contamination.
I am dismayed that DOD and DOE officials and their representatives continue
personal attacks aimed to silence or discredit those of us who are demanding
that medical care be provided to all DU casualties and that environmental
remediation be completed in compliance with government regulations.
The Pentagon arrogantly refuses to comply with its own orders and directives
that require the DOD to provide prompt and effective medical care to all exposed
individuals, as cited in military reports.
They also refuse to clean up dispersed radioactive contamination as required by
Army Regulation AR 700-48, titled Management of Equipment Contaminated With
Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities, and U.S. Army Technical Bulletin TB
9-1300-278, which notes the “Guidelines For Safe Response To Handling, Storage,
And Transportation Accidents
Involving Army Tank Munitions Or Armor Which Contain Depleted Uranium.”
Specifically, section 2-4 of Army Regulation AR 700-48, dated Sept. 16, 2002,
requires that:
• “Military personnel “identify, segregate, isolate, secure, and label all RCE”
(radiologically contaminated equipment).
• “Procedures to minimize the spread of radioactivity will be implemented as
soon as possible.”
• “Radioactive material and waste will not be locally disposed of through
burial, submersion, incineration, destruction in place, or abandonment”; and
• “All equipment, to include captured or combat RCE, will be surveyed, packaged,
retrograded, decontaminated and released. . . .”
In addition, medical care must be provided by DOD to all individuals affected by
the manufacturing, testing and use of uranium munitions. A thorough
environmental cleanup must also be completed without further delay.
The use of uranium weapons, the release of radioactive components in destroyed
U.S. and foreign military equipment and releases of industrial, medical and
research facility radioactive materials have resulted in unacceptable exposures.
Therefore, decontamination must be completed, as required by Army regulation,
and should include releases of all radioactive materials resulting from military
operations.
Americans should realize that adverse health and environmental effects of
uranium weapons contamination are not limited solely to combat zones. Any
facility and site where uranium weapons have been manufactured or tested should
be checked, also. These include Vieques, Puerto Rico; Colonie, N.Y.; Concord,
Mass.; Jefferson Proving Grounds in Indiana; and the Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
The willful dispersal of tons of solid radioactive and chemically toxic waste in
the form of uranium munitions is illegal. Beyond that, it does not even pass the
common sense test.
Even the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notes that DU is a dirty bomb.
DHS issued “dirty bomb” response guidelines on Jan. 3, 2006, for incidents
within the United States.
They specifically state: “A radiological incident is defined as an event or
series of events, deliberate or accidental, leading to the release, or potential
release, into the environment of radioactive material in sufficient quantity to
warrant consideration of protective actions.”
The first step in putting this terrible situation right should be for Bush and
Blair to set up medical care for all casualties.
They should then demand a thorough environmental assessment of the level of DU
contamination around testing facilities, munitions plants and battlegrounds.
They should also call for an immediate cessation of retaliation against all of
us who demand compliance with medical care provisions. And, finally, the two
leaders should order an immediate stop to the already illegal use of DU
munitions.
Doug Rokke, Ph.D. (ret.) is a veteran of the first Gulf War and is the former
director of the U.S. Army’s Depleted Uranium Project, which developed a series
of training videos and manuals about DU munitions for the military. The
materials were intended to teach servicemen and women about the use of and
hazards associated with DU munitions. However, the military never instituted the
program. Today, Dr. Rokke has become one of the leading critics of the U.S.
government’s continued use of DU