Printed on Monday, December 01, 2003
Report by YellowTimes.org
NewsFromtheFront.org
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1683&mode=thread&order=0
Tons of Depleted Uranium Polluting Iraq
WASHINGTON (NFTF.org) -- U.S. forces unleashed at least 75 tons of toxic
depleted uranium on Iraq during the war, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
An unnamed U.S. Central Command spokesman disclosed to the Monitor last week
that coalition forces fired 300,000 bullets coated with armored-piercing
depleted uranium (DU) during the war. "The normal combat mix for these 30-mm
rounds is five DU bullets to 1 -- a mix that would have left about 75 tons of DU
in Iraq," wrote correspondent Scott Peterson.Peterson measured four sites around
Baghdad struck with depleted uranium munitions and found high levels of
radioactive contamination, but few warnings to this effect issued among the
populace at large. While the Pentagon maintains that spent weapons coated with
the low-level, radioactive nuclear-waste are relatively harmless, Peterson notes
that U.S. soldiers have taken it among themselves to print leaflets or post
signs warning of DU contamination. "After we shoot something with DU, we're not
supposed to go around it, due to the fact that it could cause cancer," said one
sergeant requesting anonymity. On a group of abandoned burnt-out U.S. munitions
supply trucks, Peterson saw signs U.S. troops put up warning in Arabic, "Danger
-- Get away from this area." A local vendor said that soldiers in masks warned
him and others to keep away from the site. These were the only warnings Peterson
found. He wrote that despite the military's attempts to bulldoze the surrounding
topsoil, the Geiger counter readings on remaining piles of radioactive DU dust
registered at hundreds of times the average, and a DU dart from a 120 mm tank
shell emitted radiation over 1,300 times normal. Two other sites visited were
randomly selected Iraqi armored vehicles destroyed with DU bullets. The remains
of these tanks sit near a produce vendor on the outskirts of Baghdad, and have
become popular playthings for children; the Geiger counter reading from "a DU
bullet fragment no bigger than a pencil eraser" near one child registered 1,000
times normal. There were no warnings posted informing the populace of the
radioactive emissions coming from the tanks. "Radioactive? Oh, really?" was the
response of a former director general of the ministry, when Peterson presented a
Geiger counter registering emissions of 1,900 times normal from spent DU-coated
bullets amongst the grounds at the Ministry of Planning. "Yesterday, more than
1,000 employees came here, and they didn't know anything about it," he said. "We
have started to not believe what the American government says. What I know is
that the occupiers should clean up and take care of the country they invaded."
YellowTimes.org correspondent Lisa Ashkenaz Croke drafted this report.