Depleted Uranium – One Of The Greatest Environmental
Horrors In The History Of The World
Source:
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/depleted-uranium-one-of-the-greatest-environmental-horrors-in-the-history-of-the-world
Most Americans have no idea that depleted uranium munitions used by the U.S.
military are causing one of the greatest environmental nightmares in the history
of the world. In fact, most Americans have no idea what depleted uranium even
is. But even as many Americans gobble down their burgers and french fries and
pizza and enjoy the "good life" watching their big screen televisions, an
entirely different story is being written on the other side of the world. In
Iraq and Afghanistan today, there are some areas that have been so polluted by
depleted uranium that they have literally become uninhabitable hellholes.
Americans like to think of themselves as so "environmentally conscious", but the
truth is that one of the greatest environmental tragedies of all time is being
caused by the U.S. military and yet nobody seems to care.
But now some of the victims are starting to fight back - at least in court.
According to one Iraqi minister, Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a
lawsuit against the United States and the United Kingdom over their use of
depleted uranium munitions in Iraq.
Iraq's Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, reportedly told the
Assabah newspaper that the lawsuit will be based on reports from the Iraqi
ministries of science and the environment. These reports allege that the U.S.
and the U.K. used nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs during the early
years of the the Iraq war.
In fact, one official Iraqi study has found that more than 40 sites across Iraq
are currently contaminated with high levels of radiation and dioxins.
So who is responsible for that? We are.
In areas where depleted uranium use was the highest, Iraqi doctors have reported
a massive rise in the number of babies born with birth defects and they have
seen the number of cancer cases among Iraqi citizens absolutely skyrocket.
In fact, what is happening to babies in the city of Fallujah is beyond
horrifying. Back in November, one major U.K. newspaper described the situation
this way....
In September this year, say campaigners, 170 children were born at Fallujah
General Hospital, 24 per cent of whom died within seven days. Three-quarters of
these exhibited deformities, including "children born with two heads, no heads,
a single eye in their foreheads, or missing limbs". The comparable data for
August 2002 – before the invasion – records 530 births, of whom six died and
only one of whom was deformed.
The top brass in the U.S. and the U.K. militaries know full well the impact that
depleted uranium munitions have had on many areas of Iraq, but they simply do
not care.
So what exactly are depleted uranium munitions?
They are essentially "dirty bombs" made from nuclear waste.
Depleted Uranium is a waste product of the nuclear enrichment process. Despite
claims that depleted uranium is much less radioactive than natural uranium, the
truth is that it actually emits about 75% as much radioactivity as natural
uranium.
This makes it highly toxic to humans.
When depleted uranium munitions impact a target, the uranium coating of these
weapons becomes a powder which easily contaminates the surrounding air, soil and
water.
Depleted uranium is both chemically toxic and highly radioactive. In laboratory
tests it severely damages human cells, causes DNA mutations and has other
carcinogenic effects.
Depleted uranium poisoning has been linked to a vast array of illnesses and
diseases including severe skin rashes, intense muscle and joint pain, major
birth defects, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, brain tumors and just about
every type of cancer. Depleted uranium also replaces calcium in the body, thus
destroying both teeth and bones.
As a result of the massive depleted uranium contamination in Iraq and
Afghanistan, severe birth defects and cancer have dramatically increased not
only among civilians living in the affected areas, but also among U.S. troops
who served in areas where depleted uranium munitions were used.
Depleted uranium munitions are classified by the United Nations as illegal
weapons of mass destruction, and yet the U.S. and the U.K. continue to use them.
The uranium used in depleted uranium munitions has a half-life of 4.5 billion
years, so the environmental hell that the invading armies have caused in Iraq
and Afghanistan will be a gift that keep on giving.
Forever.
It has been said that when a woman delivers a baby in Iraq now, the first
question she asks is typically not if it is a boy or a girl.
Instead the most typical first question now is this: "Is it normal?"
But it is not just those in other nations who are suffering from the effects of
depleted uranium.
Most Americans have no idea that thousands upon thousands of our own troops are
getting sick and dying from depleted uranium exposure.
According to official (but unpublicized) U.S. government data, there have been
over 70,000 deaths and over 1 million disabilities among U.S. troops as a result
of America's wars in the Middle East.
The truth is that we have been slowly nuking our own troops and most Americans
don't even realize it.
In her excellent article entitled "Death By Slow Burn:How America Nukes Its Own
Troops", Amy Worthington painted a very graphic picture of the effect that
exposure to depleted uranium is having on U.S. and British troops....
U.S and British troops deployed to the area are the walking dead. Humans and
animals, friends and foes in the fallout zone are destined to a long downhill
spiral of chronic illness and disability.
Kidney dysfunction, lung damage, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, joint pain,
unsteady gait, memory loss and rashes and, ultimately, cancer and premature
death await those exposed to DU.
Award-winning journalist Will Thomas wrote: “As the last Gulf conflict so
savagely demonstrated, GI immune systems reeling from multiple doses of
experimental vaccines offer little defense against further exposure to chemical
weapons, industrial toxins, stress, caffeine, insect repellent and radiation
left over from the last war. This is a war even the victors will lose.”
When a DU shell is fired, it ignites upon impact. Uranium, plus traces of
plutonium and americium, vaporize into tiny, ceramic particles of radioactive
dust. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit radiation
indefinitely.
A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire immune
system according to British radiation expert Roger Coghill. The Royal Society of
England published data showing that battlefield soldiers who inhale or swallow
high levels of DU can suffer kidney failure within days. Any soldier now in Iraq
who has not inhaled lethal radioactive dust is not breathing.
In fact, the vast majority of veterans who have served in the Gulf War, Iraq or
Afghanistan either have already developed incapacitating illnesses or they will
eventually develop them as Worthington explained in her article....
The Gulf War Veterans Association reports that at least 300,000 Gulf War I vets
have now developed incapacitating illnesses. To date, 209,000 vets have filed
claims for disability benefits based on service-connected injuries and illnesses
from combat in that war.
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a professor of nuclear medicine at Georgetown University, is
a former army medical expert. He told nuclear scientists in Paris last year that
tens of thousands of sick British and American soldiers are now dying from
radiation they encountered during Gulf War I. He found that 62 percent of sick
vets tested have uranium isotopes in their organs, bones, brains and urine.
Laboratories in Switzerland and Finland corroborated his findings.
In other studies, some sick vets were found to be expressing uranium in even
their semen. Their sexual partners often complained of a burning sensation
during intercourse, followed by their own debilitating illnesses.
How is the world can we possibly do this to our own troops?
Is our government simply this cold?
What in the world are we becoming?
The following is just one testimony from one of our soldiers who has had his
life changed forever by depleted uranium....
In early September 2003, Army National Guard Spec. Gerard Darren Matthew was
sent home from Iraq, stricken by a sudden illness.
One side of Matthew's face would swell up each morning. He had constant migraine
headaches, blurred vision, blackouts and a burning sensation whenever he
urinated.
The Army transferred him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for
further tests, but doctors there could not explain what was wrong.
Shortly after his return, his wife, Janice, became pregnant. On June 29, she
gave birth to a baby girl, Victoria Claudette. The baby was missing three
fingers and most of her right hand.
Matthew and his wife believe Victoria's shocking deformity has something to do
with her father's illness and the war — especially since there is no history of
birth defects in either of their families.
They have seen photos of Iraqi babies born with deformities that are eerily
similar.
In June, Matthew contacted the Daily News and asked us to arrange independent
laboratory screening for his urine. This was after The News had reported that
four of seven soldiers from another National Guard unit, the 442nd Military
Police, had tested positive for depleted uranium (DU).
The independent test of Matthew's urine found him positive for DU - low-level
radioactive waste produced in nuclear plants during the enrichment of natural
uranium.
What have we done?
This is one of the greatest environmental tragedies imaginable, and yet nobody
is talking about it.
What does it say about us when we live in a world where we can knowingly create
this kind of environmental nightmare and nobody seems to care?
The truth is that we owe the world an apology of unprecedented magnitude for
using depleted uranium munitions. This is one of the biggest environmental
crimes in the history of the planet, and it must stop NOW.
In the video posted below, you will see Dr. Doug Rokke (who was one of the top
depleted uranium experts in the U.S. military) talk about depleted uranium and
the effects that it had on his team.
Dr. Rokke's team was one of the first assigned to try to clean up some of the
depleted uranium contamination in Iraq. Of the 100 people on Dr. Rokke's
decontamination team, 30 have already dropped dead.
Dr. Rokke is seriously ill himself with radiation damage to his lungs and
kidneys. He also has severe brain lesions, skin pustules, chronic fatigue,
continual wheezing and painful fibromyalgia. He is not just an expert on
depleted uranium, he is also living through the horror of DU poisoning....
The stories of U.S. military veterans who have had their lives destroyed by
depleted uranium exposure could literally fill a phone book. We have turned
Iraq, Afghanistan and a number of other areas across the globe (including Puerto
Rico) into environmental wastelands.
And yet the U.S. military continues to use depleted uranium and continues to
insist that there is nothing wrong with it.
Depleted uranium needs to become one of the top priorities for every
environmental advocacy organizations in the entire world. The environmental
damage that is being caused by these weapons is of an unprecedented magnitude
and it will never be able to be cleaned up.
It is time to wake up and start making this an issue. Now that you know the
truth, you can be part of the solution.
But will you?