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USA, UK, France will not admit the growing radioactive pollution of Iraq, due to depleted uranium weapons

du_roundsThe health effects are disputed by the US and UK governments, who joined with France and Israel to vote against a resolution calling for “a precautionary approach” to the use of DU weapons at the United Nations general assembly in December; 155 countries voted in favour of the resolution.

Iraq’s depleted uranium clean-up to cost $30m as contamination spreads  guardian.co.uk,  6 March 2013 Report says toxic waste is being spread by scrap metal dealers, and describes its ‘alarming’ use in civilian areas during Iraq wars Cleaning up more than 300 sites in Iraq still contaminated by depleted uranium (DU) weapons will cost at least $30m, according to a report by a Dutch peace group to be published on Thursday.

The report, which was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, warns that the contamination is being spread by poorly regulated scrap metal dealers, including children. It also documents evidence that DU munitions were fired at light vehicles, buildings and other civilian infrastructure including the Iraqi Ministry of Planning in Baghdad – casting doubt on official assurances that only armoured vehicles were targeted. “The use of DU in populated areas is alarming,” it says, adding that many more contaminated sites are likely to be discovered.

More than 400 tonnes of DU ammunition are estimated to have been fired by jets and tanks in the two Iraq wars in 1991 and 2003, the vast majority by US forces. The UK government says that British forces fired less than three tonnes.

DU is a chemically toxic and radioactive heavy metal produced as wasteby the nuclear power industry. It is used in weapons because it is an extremely hard material capable of piercing armour. Continue reading →

March 7, 2013 Posted by | Iraq, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

High rates of birth defects in Iraq, where depleted uranium was used

Fallujah-babyin Iraq, and Afghanistan, too, the idea of sicknesses related to depleted uranium does not seem in much doubt, from what we can tell. In Iraq, as we have reported many times, doctors are even advising women in certain areas not to have children because the chances of birth defects are so great

Depleted Uranium Receives More Attention , The Daily Bell
December 21, 2012
Mystery in Iraq – Are US Munitions to Blame for Basra Birth Defects? … The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently assembling a report on DU ammunition. It will reflect the current state of research on the issue, but it will hardly provide any new insights. With the help of the University of Greifswald, a cancer registry has been developed for the Basra region and will serve as the basis for all future study. Still, even as further research is needed, if only for the children’s sake, it will come too late for many. The guns have been silent in Iraq for years, but in Basra and Fallujah the number of birth defects and cancer cases is on the rise. Locals believe that American uranium-tipped munitions are to blame and some researchers think they might be right. – Der Spiegel

Dominant Social Theme: US munitions are harmless except to the bad guys.

Free-Market Analysis: The WHO (see above) is finally getting around to seeing if depleted uranium weapons used by NATO and the US are responsible for the many birth defects in Iraq. From what we can tell, the outcome will be a preordained “no.”

US officials, military or otherwise, have already ruled out the idea that depleted uranium dust could possibly be responsible for these birth defects or for US ailments that are much in dispute – having to do with immune deficiencies, etc. Continue reading →

December 24, 2012 Posted by | depleted uranium, health, Iraq, Uranium | 1 Comment

Fallujah: the forgotten scandal of babies affected by depleted uranium

Fallujah-baby
FallujahIraq: Crimes against Humanity. The Babies Will Haunt Us By Kelley B. Vlahos Global Research, December 18, 2012 antiwar.com It was like walking through a nightmare: drifting in an out of hospital rooms, down the long hallways, her contact with shock-ravaged Iraqi parents interrupted only by glimpses of their physically deformed and terminally sick babies who in many cases, would never see the outside of Fallujah’s main hospital, ever.

Then, the more than vague sense that she must apologize. The words thick like molasses were hard to form. “I felt inadequate,” said Donna Mulhearn. “What was so hard was, what do you say to these people other than saying sorry, which I said over and over again. You just wanted to offer more.”

Donna Mulhearn is a name we need to remember, as she is one of a small but dedicated group of citizen activists who, after most of us have said the long goodbye to Iraq in the rear-view mirror, are taking on the environmental and humanitarian legacy of the Iraq War as a personal cause. Right now, she is doing what the western mainstream has so far failed to do, which is report on the horrifying number of miscarriages, deaths, birth defects and congenital illnesses among babies in urban Fallujah, the site of some of the most intense U.S bombing (2004) during the war. Continue reading →

December 19, 2012 Posted by | depleted uranium, health, Iraq | 2 Comments

Birth defects in iraq from depleted uranium

Depleted Uranium to Blame for Iraqi Birth Defects?  http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&entry_id=5425 AMERICA – THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY , OCTOBER 16, 2012 by KEVIN CLARKE The U.S. military has consistently downplayed or denied possible adverse health and environmental effects because of its use of depleted uranium ordnance , yet birth defects and spikes in sometimes odd health problems seem to follow closely behind in communities unfortunate enough to have been the site of the heavy use of such munitions. U.S. and NATO forces used D.U. penetrator munitions in the 1991 Gulf War, the Bosnia war, Serbia and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Now in Fallujah, Iraq, the site of two rounds of intense fighting and bombing raids by U.S. forces in March and April 2004, a University of Michigan study  (<-warning: not for faint of heart) funded by the World Health Organization has uncovered “staggering” increases in sometimes bizarre birth defects—babies born with brains and other organs outside their bodies—according to a report in Britain’s Independent . The study found that in Fallujah, more than half of all babies born between 2007 and 2010 suffered some kind of birth defect. “Before the siege, this figure was more like one in 10.” Continue reading →

October 17, 2012 Posted by | health, Iraq | 3 Comments

CIA, France, Germany and some Middle Eastern States accused of murdering Iran’s nuclear scientists

Iran spy chief says CIA had help killing nuclear scientists Accuses French and German intelligence services, after previously blaming U.K. and Israel CBC News, The Associated Press  Jul 6, 2012   Iran’s spy chief on Friday accused French and German intelligence services of co-operating with the CIA to kill Iranian nuclear scientists, an allegation likelyto exacerbate tensions between Tehran and the West over the Islamic Republic’s disputed nuclear program. Heidar Moslehi said that other intelligence services in the region — including that of Iran’s arch foe Israel — also took part in the alleged campaign targeting the scientists. Continue reading →

July 7, 2012 Posted by | Iraq, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Covert war – Israel, USA versus Iran

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

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 Continue reading →

January 13, 2012 Posted by | Iraq, Israel, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

Depleted uranium has wreaked havoc on health in Iraq

The US and UK militaries have sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium, but Iraqi doctors like Alwachi and Alani, and along with researchers, blame the increasing cancer and birth defect rates on the weapon.

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.

Dr Samira Alani, a paediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, has taken a personal interest in investigating an explosion of congenital abnormalities that have mushroomed in the wake of the US sieges since 2005. ”We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine,” Alani told Al Jazeera at her office in the hospital, while showing countless photos of shocking birth defects.

As of December 21, Alani, who has worked at the hospital since 1997, told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009. Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699. Continue reading →

January 7, 2012 Posted by | depleted uranium, Iraq, Uranium | Leave a comment

The Hazards of Depleted Uranium Artillery

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.  Continue reading →

April 25, 2011 Posted by | depleted uranium, Iraq | 2 Comments

Depleted uranium – a public health disaster

“”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.” Continue reading →

January 31, 2011 Posted by | depleted uranium, health, Iraq | Leave a comment

Iraq cancers and birth defects from depleted uranium weapons

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. Continue reading →

January 2, 2011 Posted by | depleted uranium, Iraq, Uranium | 3 Comments

1,000 of Iran’s uranium plant centrifuges knocked out by Stuxnet worm?

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. Continue reading →

December 30, 2010 Posted by | Iraq, technology, Uranium | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons for Iraq?

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. Continue reading →

December 18, 2010 Posted by | Iraq, politics international | Leave a comment

10 years to ‘clean up’ Iraq’s nuclear sites?

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……. Continue reading →

August 30, 2010 Posted by | Iraq, wastes | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Depleted uranium the likely cause of Iraq child cancers

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,  …. Continue reading →

August 17, 2010 Posted by | depleted uranium, Iraq, Uranium | , , , , , | Leave a comment

USA keeps secret any data on depleted uranium use

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. Continue reading →

August 17, 2010 Posted by | Iraq, secrets,lies and civil liberties | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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