Depleted Uranium in Afghanistan – Alex Newman

“..Camil said the U.S. should bear all costs and that those who ordered the use of DU during the “organized murder called war” should be tried as war criminals….”

“…The use of DU continues in Iraq today and something must be done, before there is more “collateral damage” (army jargon for civilian casualties including women and children) and before more of our troops die or become ill. Barber said that there are 150 troops with DU shrapnel inside them already….”

Alex Newman

Dear Editor,

The U.S. military has been using depleted uranium in Afghanistan and Iraq in violation of International Law for years. According to David Barber, a researcher at the University of Florida who has studied the effects of DU for the military for 5 years, the use of DU poses many serious threats to the health our troops, civilians in these regions, future generations and to the environment. I ask you to please read my article and if possible, to publish it. Most people have never heard of depleted uranium, and regardless of one`s political affiliation or stance on the war, the use of DU should stop. Please help me to inform your readers.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Alex Newman

The depleted uranium being used by the American military has nasty side effects on people and the environment, and the government is not taking any serious action to stop its use despite all the available information. Depleted uranium is useful to the army because of its extraordinary density, said David Barber of the Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology at the University of Florida. Barber has been studying the effects of DU for five years in a study funded by the U.S. military.

DU was first used by the Israeli military against Arabs and has since been adopted by the U.S. Scott Camil, a Vietnam veteran who is still active in defending the rights of veterans, is also familiar with DU.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if our government just said ‘we’ll fuck these people forever’…the use of DU is a disrespect to all life, human and otherwise; it is a crime against nature and humanity as a whole,” Camil said. There are several reasons the military uses DU. Because of its density it can be made into armor for tanks, used as counterweights in airplanes and can be made into a shell that penetrates enemy armor very effectively.

When a shell made of DU strikes its target, it turns into a cloud of dust that spreads and can pose very serious risks to anyone in the vicinity and to the environment, Barber said.

The dust from a fired shell can be breathed in and can seep through the soil and contaminate the water, Barber said. “Anybody who lives or works where a DU round has been fired has the potential for exposure to high levels of uranium, including our troops.”

Camil agreed: “When a shell hits a tank, 60 percent of the depleted uranium becomes dust, people breath that shit, and it gets in their lungs!”

Camil is very critical of the U.S. government’s treatment of its troops. “A soldier is kind of like a beer can, when you come home you no longer serve a purpose so they throw you away…[the soldiers] are tools and the government doesn’t give a shit about them.”

His proof that soldiers are used as “guinea pigs”: examples ranging from nuclear testing near soldiers during World War II to test the effects of radiation on people, to the use of Agent Orange during Vietnam.

“Some people even blame Gulf War Syndrome on DU, though there are many other possibilities due to [the government’s] irresponsibility….Of course there is no concern for the health of our troops.” Camil said.

DU is not highly radioactive, Barber said, but Scott Peterson, a writer for the Christian Science Monitor, reported radiation readings from his Geiger counter between 1,000 and 1,900 times higher than normal in downtown Baghdad. DU has been found to cause a wide array of health risks from kidney injury to tumors to serious birth defects and many kinds of cancer. It has also been found to cause bone seeking, where uranium atoms find their way into bones and become deposited in the marrow.

“What we’ve shown is that exposure to uranium can also cause neurological damage….It can cause functional neurological deficit and reduce levels of dopamine in the brain…. When we use it, it clearly causes environmental damage.” Barber said.

As for any alternatives to DU, the army is working to find some and the possibility of using some alloys might be explored, Barber said.

The harmful effects could potentially last for many years to come, in the form of birth defects, increased cancer rates and soil and water contamination. The half-life of uranium is 4.5 billion years. Regarding a clean-up, our government has not yet announced one.

Barber suggested that there are some ways to minimize the harmful effects. Better training for the troops to help minimize exposure, and providing education for children about staying away from blown-up contaminated vehicles and radioactive tanks that dot the landscape.

“We really should help clean up and remove that stuff.” Barber said.

The United Nations and the Pentagon have estimated that between 1,100 and 2,200 tons of DU has been used by coalition forces in Iraq. DU has also been used extensively in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia.

Camil said the U.S. should bear all costs and that those who ordered the use of DU during the “organized murder called war” should be tried as war criminals.

The International Criminal Tribunal in Tokyo charged George W. Bush with seven war crimes in violation of international law. Regarding the use of DU, the verdict stated that under International Criminal Law, our commander-in-chief is guilty of “exposing soldiers and other personnel of the [U.S.], U.K. and other soldiers of coalition forces to radioactive contamination by the use of DU weapons, hazarding their lives, their physiology, and that of their future progeny by irreversible alteration of the genetic code.” It also recommended that the use, manufacture and stockpiling of DU weapons cease in accordance with international law and that U.S. soldiers would be justified in refusing to obey any orders issued by Bush.

The Tribunal also stated in its verdict that Bush and his administration violated International Humanitarian Law. “The DU weapons used on the people of Afghanistan to exterminate the population; and the crime of ‘omnicide’, the extermination of life, contamination of air, water and food resources; and the irreversible alteration of the genetic code of all living organisms including plant life; as a direct consequence of the use of radioactive munitions in Afghanistan; affecting countries in the entire region.”

The use of DU continues in Iraq today and something must be done, before there is more “collateral damage” (army jargon for civilian casualties including women and children) and before more of our troops die or become ill. Barber said that there are 150 troops with DU shrapnel inside them already.

Frank Gonzalez, a democratic nominee for the House of Representatives in 2006 and a former candidate for the ’04 House elections with the Libertarian party, said: “Now that the harmful effects have been widely publicized and people have died as a result of depleted uranium poisoning during our illegal invasions and occupations, its use needs to stop.”

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