Iraq « nuclear-news

Did depleted uranium cause birth defects in Iraq?

Huge rise in birth defects in FallujaIraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities guardian.co.uk,13 November 2009 Doctors in Iraq‘s war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting. Continue reading →

November 14, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, health, Iraq | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Depleted Uranium contamination in Iraq

The Responsibility of the US in Contaminating Iraq with Depleted Uranium Global Research by Prof Souad N. Al-Azzawi 10 Nov 09 For two decades, the administrations of the United States of America and the United Kingdom have been waging continuous wars on Iraq to occupy this oil rich country.The armed forces of those two countries attacked civilians with different kinds of conventional, non-conventional, and banned weapons such as cluster bombs ammunitions, napalm bombs, white phosphorous weapons and depleted Uranium weapons. Continue reading →

November 10, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, Iraq, weapons and war | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Is depleted uranium causing birth deformities?

Fallujah Horror: Depleted Uranium? Ya Libnan By Ghassan Karam, Beirut, 1 November, 2009
“…………………..we are concerned with much more sinister effects of war, effects that linger on and destroy life. Continue reading →

November 2, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, health, Iraq | antinuclear, cancer, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Iraq now wanting nuclear power

Iraq flags desire to resume nuclear power The Age MARTIN CHULOV, BAGHDAD October 29, 2009 IRAQ has started lobbying for approval to again become a nuclear player, Continue reading →

October 29, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, Iraq, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, nuclear weapons | Leave a comment

Scandalous legacy of depleted uranium

America’s Poison Legacy Pacific Free Press by Dave Lindorff 19 October 2009 Depleted Uranium Weapons:

The Dead Babies in Iraq and Afghanistan Are No Joke The horrors of the US Agent Orange defoliation campaign in Vietnam, about which I wrote on Oct. 15, could ultimately be dwarfed by the horrors caused by the depleted uranium weapons which the US began using in the 1991 Gulf War (300 tons), and which it has used much more extensively–and in more urban, populated areas–in the Iraq War and the now intensifying Afghanistan War. Continue reading →

October 21, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, Afghanistan, Iraq, weapons and war | antinuclear, depleted, indigenous, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Wind, dust, carry depleted uranium far and wide

Australia ‘uranium’ dust concerns
muzzylogic Oct 3, 2009 ‘Environmentalists have raised concerns that another giant dust storm blowing its way across eastern Australia may contain radioactive particles.

It is argued that sediment whipped up from Australia’s centre may be laced with material from a uranium mine.

Scientists have played down concerns, saying there is little to worry about.’ Full story here

Well, now this is interesting. The argument against the spread is the fact that uranium ore dust is going to be too dense to be carried by the wind. However, if that turns out not to be the case then it will have serious implications for the clap trap nonsense the US military likes to spout as regard the use of depleted uranium munitions.

Clap trap because whether or not the dust from the mine tailings is too dense, the dust from DU is much finer grain and was deposited much closer to inhabited areas to start with. Of course, reports of the presence of abnormally high levels of uranium in the urine of people in Iraq and Afghanistan is a total coincidence to start with…

If uranium is found in the Australian dust, then the military argument will have no credibility at all.

Australia ‘uranium’ dust concerns – MPACUK :: Muslim Discussion Forum

October 3, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, environment, Iraq, secrets,lies and civil liberties | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, nuclear wastes, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Radioactive wreckage, landmines blight Iraq

Radioactive wreckage, landmines blight Iraq
Herald Sun By Aubrey Belford in BaghdadAugust 24, 2009
RADIOACTIVE wreckage and tens of millions of landmines still blight Iraq after decades of war and the deadly violence that engulfed the nation after the 2003 invasion, the environment minister says.Narmin Othman Hasan said a lack of funding and Iraq’s fragile security situation was hampering efforts to clean up contaminated sites across the country.She said that only a fraction of tanks and other wartime vehicles contaminated with depleted uranium have been successfully treated and disposed of by the Iraqi authorities.”We have only found 80 per cent (of the contaminated sites)… because of the (lack of) security there are still some areas we can’t reach,” she estimated.The twin menaces are the legacy of decades of conflict: the 1980-1988 war with neighbouring Iran, the 1991 Gulf war that followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and its bloody aftermath.
……………

Depleted uranium, a radioactive metal present in armour piercing bullets used by US-led forces during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion, and which is twice as dense as lead, has been blamed for health problems from cancer to birth defects, but much research remains inconclusive.

“All radiation is dangerous – but how much depleted uranium radiation is affecting health, that is still under study,” Ms Hasan said, a

Radioactive wreckage, landmines blight Iraq | Herald Sun

August 24, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, environment, Iraq | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Iraq’s Wrecked Environment

Half Life of a Toxic War Iraq’s Wrecked Environment ounterpunch May 1 By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR and JOSHUA FRANK – “………………….

Months of bombing during the first Gulf War by the United States and Great Britain left a deadly and insidious legacy: tons of shell casings, bullets and bomb fragments laced with depleted uranium. In all, the United States hit Iraqi targets with more than 970 radioactive bombs and missiles.

Depleted uranium (DU) is a rather benign sounding name for uranium-238, the trace element left behind when fissionable material is extracted from uranium-235 for nuclear reactors and weapons. For decades, this waste was a nuisance; by the late 1980s there were nearly a billion tons of the radioactive material piled at plutonium processing plants across the country. Then Pentagon weapons designers discovered a use for the tailings: they could be molded into bullets and bombs. Uranium is denser than lead, making it perfect for armor penetrating weapons designed to destroy tanks, armored personnel carriers and bunkers. When tank-busting bombs explode, depleted uranium oxidizes into microscopic fragments that float through the air, carried on the desert winds for decades. Inhaled, the lethal bits of carcinogenic dust stick to the lungs, eventually wreaking havoc in the form of tumors, hemorrhages, ravaged immune systems, and leukemia.

More than 15 years later, the dire health consequences of our first radioactive bombing campaign in this region are coming into focus. Since 1990, the incidence rate of leukemia in Iraq has increased over 600 percent.

Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank: Iraq’s Wrecked Environment

May 4, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Iraq | Leave a comment

AFP: Iraq to create nuclear energy commission

Iraq to create nuclear energy commission7 hours ago Google News 10 April 09 BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq plans to create an atomic energy agency nearly three decades after Israeli bombers destroyed a reactor being built by the late dictator Saddam Hussein, the government spokesman said on Thursday.”The government has decided to create a national nuclear energy commission that will be responsible for controlling nuclear activities in the country and assuring they are in line with international regulations,” Ali al-Dabbagh said.”It will also deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAE) and other institutions, make suggestions on the peaceful use of atomic energy and be charged with disposing of nuclear waste,” he added.In 1976, Iraq and France signed an accord to build a nuclear reactor. Five years later, as the Iraq-Iran war raged and amid fears the nearly completed reactor might be loaded with nuclear fuel, it was bombed and heavily damaged by Israeli warplanes.There is still nuclear waste at that plant, 19 kilometres (12 miles) south of Baghdad, which must be disposed of.In February, Iraqi Electricity Minister Karim Wahid asked France to help the country build a new reactor.

AFP: Iraq to create nuclear energy commission

April 10, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iraq, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Iraq’s War Disfigured Babies

Iraq’s War Disfigured Babies iSLAMoNlINE.NET By Afif Sarhan, Feb. 23, 2009 BAGHDAD— In new Iraq, women like Leila Omar Wassin are heart-broken giving birth to babies born malformed because of the deadly substances years of war have sown in their bodies.

“My first baby died after he was born without legs and the second one died few days ago because his spinal cord was exposed and his head was too big,” the 36-old woman told IslamOnline.net.

Wassim is one of the victims of the massive bombing of Fallujah in 2004, when the US army admittedly used depleted uranium munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste……………………………

After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used in shelling Fallujah.

It also admitted to having used more than 1,200 tons of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.

The plight of babies’ birth defects has exacerbated over the years, becoming a common occurrence for doctors and nurses.

“Baghdad has shown a high level of contamination,” a doctor and a researcher at a Red Crescent Hospital in Baghdad told IOL, requesting anonymity.

“In 2005, we had about 600 cases reported at public hospitals and three years latter, this number has doubled.”

Iraq’s War Disfigured Babies – IslamOnline.net – News

February 25, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, Iraq | Leave a comment

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