There has been obvious push-back from Iran in the form of repeated claims its secretive Al Quds Force has attacked U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan using Iranian-designed improvised explosive devices.

“Waging a covert, low-level war is not without risks, including the risk of undesirable escalation,”  “No matter how carefully we try to control the level of force, there’s always the danger that matters spiral out of control.”

Iranian nuclear scientists’ deaths no mystery, National Post, Peter Goodspeed  13 Jan 12, A covert war between Iran and the West burst to the surface Wednesday on the fashionable streets of northern Tehran when two men on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the car of a 32-year-old nuclear scientist, killing him and his bodyguard…….

Mr. Roshan’s killing is the latest in a long line of suspicious setbacks to Iran’s nuclear program. These have included assassinations, kidnappings, sabotaged equipment, computer viruses that destroyed information networks and mysterious
explosions at nuclear sites, missile-testing grounds, refineries and pipelines.

“Iranian nuclear engineers have to worry about being killed on their way to work, about their colleagues leaking information to the West, about their computers not working, about their equipment malfunctioning, about lacking necessary materials, about unavailability of training and advice and about the possibility of strikes from UAVs [drones]. That list of problems is daunting,” said Patrick Clawson, director of research for the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy…..
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. But on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief of staff, told a special parliamentary committee Iran should expect more “unnatural” events in 2012

Last year, Dan Meridor, Israel’s Minister for Intelligence & Atomic
Matters, told Israeli Radio, “There are countries that impose economic
sanctions and there are countries who act in other ways.”

Wednesday the French newspaper Le Figaro reported Israeli Mossad
agents are recruiting and training Iranian dissidents from Iraq’s
Kurdish region to work against the regime in Tehran……
“Covert action against Iran’s nuclear program has been under way on
many fronts for years,” said Mr. Clawson.

“It does appear that there is a campaign of assassinations and
cyber-war, as well as the semi-acknowledged campaign of sabotage.

“The U.S. government has acknowledged it secured the defection of an
important Iranian nuclear scientist, and the Iranian government has
alleged a U.S. hand behind the disappearance of a brigadier general
from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” he said.

“In addition, Iran’s December 2011 downing of a U.S. unmanned aerial
vehicle [UAV] revealed a vigorous U.S. covert intelligence collection
effort.

“The Israelis, too, appear to be conducting an active military
disruption campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, including the
assassination of several Iranian nuclear scientists as alleged by
Tehran.”

There has been obvious push-back from Iran in the form of repeated
claims its secretive Al Quds Force has attacked U.S. troops in Iraq
and Afghanistan using Iranian-designed improvised explosive devices.

Last year, U.S. officials alleged Al Quds operatives planned to hire
assassins from Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi
ambassador in Washington and undertake a terrorist bombing campaign.

On Monday, Iran said it had sentenced Amir Hekmati, a former U.S.
Marine, to death for allegedly spying for the Central Intelligence
Agency. Late last year, Iran also claimed to have arrested an entire
CIA network of Iranian and Lebanese spies……
In recent years, the United States has become much more active in
using aggressive, low-profile attacks, including targeted drone
killings in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen.

The next step, Mr. Clawson suggests may be “equipping the UAVs flying
over Iran with strike capabilities, a step that could raise anxiety
for the Revolutionary Guard, who could worry during missile tests that
UAVs may ignite the highly explosive fuel.”

In November a huge explosion ripped through a Revolutionary Guard
Corps’ base outside Tehran, leveling most of the buildings and killing
17 people, including a founder of Iran’s ballistic missile program,
General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam.

Two weeks later, another large explosion damaged a key uranium
enrichment plant at Isfahan.

On Dec. 11, seven people were reported killed in an explosion at a
steel mill linked to nuclear program in Yazd.

Iran is now threatening to respond with tit-for-tat attacks against
U.S. and Israeli targets.

“Waging a covert, low-level war is not without risks, including the
risk of undesirable escalation,” said Stephen Walt, a professor of
international relations at Harvard University.

“No matter how carefully we try to control the level of force, there’s
always the danger that matters spiral out of control.”
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/01/11/peter-goodspeed-iranian-nuclear-scientists-deaths-no-mystery/

Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of Uranium in Iraq, has been researching the effects of depleted uranium on Iraqis since 1991. He told Al Jazeera he personally measured radiation levels in the city of Kerbala, as well as in Basra, and his Geiger counter was “screaming” because “the indicator went beyond the range”.

Fallujah babies: Under a new kind of siege, Doctors and residents blame US weapons for catastrophic levels of birth defects in Fallujah’s newborns, Al Jazeera, Dahr Jamail   06 Jan 2012  Fallujah, Iraq - While the US military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as “catastrophic” levels of birth defects and abnormalities.

In April of 1991, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority described the potential problems of radioactive dust spreading over the battlefields and getting into the food chain and the water. At that time it warned that forty tons of radioactive debris left from DU weapons could cause over five hundred thousand deaths. The amount of radioactive debris left behind in the Gulf War is over three hundred tons.

Nuclear War in the Mideast , Subversify, By karlsie  April 22, 2011  ”…..The Hazards of Depleted Uranium Artillery Depleted uranium artillery projectiles are  favored by the military as they are shelf sharpening, penetrate deeply into their target and are pyrophoric.  When a DU penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle, it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew, and possibly causing the vehicle to explode.  When a DU projectile explodes, it leaves behind a dust that is both toxic and radioactive. 

When the powder is ingested, either through drinking, eating or breathing it in, it causes damages to the kidneys, liver, bone marrow and chromosomes.

Although the metal itself is not radioactive, the low level radiation from exploded DU projectiles has a half life of 4.4 billion years.  Because it is a very heavy and dense metal, unexploded shells sink deeply into the ground, eventually leaching radiation into the soil and water.  Effectively, the radiation does not dissipate over time, but instead accumulates with additional detonation.

In April of 1991, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority described the potential problems of radioactive dust spreading over the battlefields and getting into the food chain and the water. At that time it warned that forty tons of radioactive debris left from DU weapons could cause over five hundred thousand deaths. The amount of radioactive debris left behind in the Gulf War is over three hundred tons.

At least 350 sites in Iraq were contaminated during DU weapons bombing.  The Nation now reports 140,000 cases of cancer with six to seven thousand new ones reported each year.  The bombing not only increased birth defects and severe deformities within civilian exposure, but sixty-seven percent of those enlisted into active military service who parented children after their return home, had babies with birth defects and/or  cancers.

Depleted uranium has been proven to cause serious damage to troops, civilians and the environment, but the US, France and Britain have blocked a UN ban proposal. The US Government categorically denies the dangers of depleted uranium, despite evidence that 90,000 of registered claims of Gulf War Syndrome have deteriorated into cancers and debilitating diseases.  The problem, as explained by medical specialists, is once the dust settles into the lungs, it will not come out.  The depleted uranium, with its four billion year half life, is there to stay…….http://subversify.com/2011/04/22/nuclear-war-in-the-mideast/

“”I arranged for a delegation from Japan’s Hiroshima hospital to come and share their expertise in the field of radiological diseases that we are likely to face over time.

The delegation told me the Americans had objected, so they decided not to come.

Public health disaster for Iraqi people by Depleted Uranium, tehran times, 31 Jan 2011, “……….Ross B. Mirkarimi, a spokesman at The Arms Control Research Centre stated:”"Unborn children of the region are being asked to pay the highest price, the integrity of their DNA.”

Prior to her death from leukemia in Sept. 2004, Nuha Al Radi , an accomplished Iraqi artist and author of the “”Baghdad Diaries”" wrote:
“”Everyone seems to be dying of cancer. Every day one hears about another acquaintance or friend of a friend dying.

One does not know how many more will die of cancer in hospitals?

Apparently, over thirty percent of Iraqis have cancer, and there are lots of kids with leukemia.”"

“”The depleted uranium left by the U.S. bombing campaign has turned Iraq into a cancer-infested country. For hundreds of years to come, the effects of the uranium will continue to wreak havoc on Iraq and its surrounding areas.”"

This excerpt has written in her diary, in 1993, after Gulf War I (Approximately 300 tons of DU ordinance, mostly in desert areas) but before Operation Iraqi Freedom, (Est. 1,700 tons with much more near major population centers).
So, it’s 5-6 times worse than what it was when she wrote that diary entry!!

That works out to over one million pounds of dust scattered throughout Iraq.

As a special advisor to the World Health Organization(WHO), the United Nations, and the Iraqi ministry of health, Dr. Ahmad Hardan has documented the effects of DU in Iraq between 1991 and 2002.

“”American forces admit to using over 300 tons of DU weapons in 1991.  The actual figure is closer to 800.

This has caused a health crisis that has affected almost a third of a million people.

As if that was not enough, the U.S.A. went on and used 200 tons more in Bagdad alone during the recent invasion.

I don”"t know about other parts of Iraq, it will take me years to document that.

“”In Basra, it took us two years to obtain conclusive proof of what DU does, but now we know what to look for and the results are terrifying.”"

By far the most devastating effect is on unborn children.

Nothing can prepare anyone for the sight of hundreds of preserved fetuses “” scarcely human in appearance.

Iraq is now seeing babies with terribly foreshortened limbs, with their intestines outside their bodies, with huge bulging tumors where their eyes should be, or with a single eye-like Cyclops, or without eyes, or without limbs, and even without heads.

Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside textbooks, showing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the Pacific.     Dr. Hardan also states:

“”I arranged for a delegation from Japan’s Hiroshima hospital to come and share their expertise in the field of radiological diseases that we are likely to face over time.

The delegation told me the Americans had objected, so they decided not to come. …tehran times : Public health disaster for Iraqi people by Depleted Uranium

A July joint study by the Environmental Health and Science Ministry in Iraq also found that there are communities near the cities of Najaf, Basra and Fallujah with increased rates of cancer and birth defects since 2004………. The United States and Britain used up to 2,000 tons of this type of ammunition during the Iraq war.

Fallujah cancer spike linked to U.S. raid, Tehran Times, 2 Jan 2011, A new study concludes that the high rate of birth defects and cancer diagnoses in the Iraqi city of Fallujah is caused by weapons used by U.S. and UK forces six years ago.The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, confirmed the reports that U.S. and British forces used depleted uranium ammunitions during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2004.

The findings indicate that the defects in newborns in Fallujah are 11 times higher than the normal average and rose to unprecedented levels in 2010.

“The high prevalence of birth defects in Fallujah is impairing the population’s health and its capacity to care for the surviving children,” the research said.

“These defects could be due to environmental contaminants which are known components of modern weaponry,” the Guardian newspaper quoted the report as saying.

The report shows that 15 percent of the 547 babies born had defects, while 14 percent were spontaneous abortions and 11 percent were born at less than 30 weeks in May of 2010 alone.
………The study, which was conducted between May and August, examined 55 families with seriously deformed newborns.

A July joint study by the Environmental Health and Science Ministry in Iraq also found that there are communities near the cities of Najaf, Basra and Fallujah with increased rates of cancer and birth defects since 2004.

……… The United States and Britain used up to 2,000 tons of this type of ammunition during the Iraq war. tehran times : Fallujah cancer spike linked to U.S. raid

Stuxnet might have damaged 1,000 centrifuges in Natanz, 30 Dec 10, “………The Stuxnet virus which has contaminated Iran’s nuclear setting up might have been at the back of the decommissioning of the 1,000 centrifuges in the Natanz uranium fortification facility earlier the year, according to the new study of the malevolent software.
Set by the Washington foundation “Institute For Science And International Security”, this paper hoist the option that the reported fracture of the 1,000 centrifuges was reason by this virus.

In accordance with this paper, the moment of the taking away of the 1,000 centrifuges was reliable with a statement finished last month via “Ali Akbar Salehi”, the then-head of the Iran’s “Atomic Energy Organization” as well as recently selected as the country’s overseas minister, who long-established in an meeting: “One year as well as several months before, Westerners drive a virus toward [our] country’s nuclear location

There are at present just about 10,000 IR-1 centrifuges set up in the interior of the Natanz uranium enhancement plant, according to this report.

Stuxnet might have damaged 1,000 centrifuges in Natanz

The Security Council’s action demonstrates how the inconsistency and hypocrisy apply not only to nuclear weapons but also to nuclear programs short of weapons……we ought not to get very relaxed about Iraq possibly developing a nuclear weapon in the future, however remote a possibility that may seem now.

An Iraqi Nuclear Weapon | The National Interest , by Paul Pillar, 16 Dec 10, At the urging of the United States, the United Nations Security Council passed on Wednesday a resolution permitting Iraq to have a civilian nuclear program. The resolution, which also lifted prohibitions on exports to Iraq of certain materials that could be used to develop nuclear and other unconventional weapons, was one of several U.S.-backed measures to end restrictions that dated from before the invasion that removed Saddam Hussein from power.
The Council’s action represented a retreat from its earlier position that it would not lift the nuclear restrictions unless Baghdad accepted an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that provides for more intrusive international inspections. The Council’s action in affirming Iraq’s right to a peaceful nuclear program is ironic in view of the obsessive campaign to deny the country on its eastern border the same right.
This is one more demonstration of the hypocrisy and inconsistency that characterize much nonproliferation policy, especially as it relates to the Middle East. What ostensibly is a concern about a certain category of weapons is actually much more a concern about the coloration and even the rhetoric of certain regimes that might get those weapons.

It isn’t even chiefly a concern about nuclear-armed regimes throwing their weight around and handling neighbors roughly; if it were, then we ought to be paying far more attention than we do to the elephant in the room: Israel’s sizable nuclear arsenal. The Security Council’s action demonstrates how the inconsistency and hypocrisy apply not only to nuclear weapons but also to nuclear programs short of weapons……
in focusing on the ways in which Iran could be a threat we too infrequently consider the threats that Iranians see from elsewhere. The main thing that would ease Iranian concerns about Iraq is something that should increase ours: the increased Iranian influence in post-Saddam Iraq. There are other reasons we ought not to get very relaxed about Iraq possibly developing a nuclear weapon in the future, however remote a possibility that may seem now. Iraq is a very unstable country, to the point of substantial and seemingly unending violence…….

An Iraqi Nuclear Weapon | The National Interest Blog

the clearing operation which had been estimated to take up to 10 years. So far scientists have only cleared one site in central Baghdad.

EU to help Iraq dismantle old nuclear facilities . (Reuters), By Aseel Kami. Aug 29, 2010 BAGHDAD, - The European Union signed a 2.5 million euro ($3.2 million) agreement with Iraq on Sunday to help Iraqi scientists’ dismantle, decommission and decontaminate nuclear facilities built under dictator Saddam Hussein…….
Iraq has tried to clean up its 10 old nuclear sites around the country as U.S. combat operations end seven years after the invasion to topple Saddam. But the going has been slow since the work began two years ago.

The EU programme to train Iraqi scientists and provide equipment will speed up the clearing operation which had been estimated to take up to 10 years. So far scientists have only cleared one site in central Baghdad.

EU to help Iraq dismantle old nuclear facilities | Energy & Oil | Reuters

Many are asking whether this spike could be connected to contamination caused by the use of depleted uranium in the bombs and bullets used by American forces.

Iraqi child cancer ‘linked to US weapons’ 16 August 2010  Source: SBS Dateline The number of deformed babies and children with leukaemia is increasing in Iraq, with locals blaming Depleted Uranium weapons used in US attacks,  ….

Stories are now emerging of increased deformities in the country’s newborn babies as well as a dramatic rise in the number of children with cancer.

A report published on The Independent says cancers and other diseases in the city of Falluja are higher than those recorded in the survivors of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many are asking whether this spike could be connected to contamination caused by the use of depleted uranium in the bombs and bullets used by American forces.

World News Australia – Iraqi child cancer ‘linked to US weapons’

one major obstacle is standing in the way of these assessments – the refusal by the US to release data on exactly where the weapons have been used and in what quantities. At present, states that use uranium weapons do not have to disclose quantitative or geographical data about their use – no where, no how much, nothing.

Fallujah birth malformations demand transparency over depleted uranium use By International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, 16 Aug 2010, Recent research and a tide of media coverage are indicating that something is very wrong in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. The rates of certain cancers and birth malformations seem to be far higher than those of other countries in the region.

Such is the level of concern, that the World Health Organisation is currently undertaking research in the city, elsewhere experts are trying to gauge whether environmental factors may be responsible. One such risk factor could be the possible use of uranium weapons in the US Marine-led assault on Fallujah in 2004

Unfortunately, one major obstacle is standing in the way of these assessments – the refusal by the US to release data on exactly where the weapons have been used and in what quantities.

At present, states that use uranium weapons do not have to disclose quantitative or geographical data about their use – no where, no how much, nothing. There are no norms governing the recording of data and nothing to say that it should be transferred between states. Indeed states are currently under no obligation to assist either each other – or the United Nations’ agencies for that matter – in identifying, marking, assessing, monitoring or clearing sites contaminated by uranium weapons. This is completely unacceptable.

That exposure to uranium weapons has the potential to cause ill health is generally accepted. The main question remaining is how that risk is influenced by military, geographical, social and other factors. More research is urgently needed into civilian populations living in contaminated areas and right now the single biggest obstacle researchers face continues to be the lack of transparency from users.

Transparency was identified as a priority by the UK Royal Society’s Depleted Uranium Working Group as far back as 2003: “The coalition needs to make clear where and how much depleted uranium was used in the recent conflict in Iraq. We need this information to identify civilians and soldiers who should be monitored for depleted uranium exposure and to begin a clean-up of the environment,” said Prof. Brian Spratt in 2003…….

If states are unwilling to voluntarily release data on the use of uranium weapons, it is beholden on the international community to agree to take whatever steps necessary to develop binding rules governing what happens to these weapons once they are fired.

ICBUW is calling for a resolution on this issue at the UN First Committee this autumn

Fallujah birth malformations demand transparency over depleted uranium use » The Comment Factory