Depleted uranium weapons

DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS POISON IRAQ AND CAUSE ILLNESS AND DEATH FOR CIVILIANS AND SOLDIERS

9,600 US veterans of first Gulf War have died since being exposed to DU

by David Tyler

[This article was published in: The New Unionist, July/ August 2004.]

The use of depleted uranium (DU) shells in Iraq is underreported in the US media. More than 9,600 veterans of the first Gulf War have died since being exposed to DU.

Both the US and the UK continue to use depleted uranium shells, ignoring a UN resolution that refers to the shells as illegal weapons of mass destruction. Thus, both Bush I and Bush II have murdered their own soldiers with WMD, not to mention that much of Iraq is now radioactive.

Nobel Peace Prize candidate Helen Caldicott has said that shell particles can be inhaled through gas masks and lodge in the lungs. After lodging in the lungs the particles can wind up in the kidneys and other vital organs.

Gulf War veterans are said to be excreting uranium in their semen, leading to chromosome damage. The uranium is also found in their urine.

DU has a half-life of 4.1 billion years, painting a dire picture for the people of Iraq and other areas where DU is used.

Army nurse Carol Picou, who has spoken out about DU, has compiled documentation on birth defects found among Iraqis as well as US Gulf War veterans. When she was to testify before Congress she began receiving threatening phone calls, and later her car, which contained information on DU, was destroyed.

A 2002 UN report says the use of DU weapons is a violation of numerous laws and UN conventions.

Meanwhile, the US has blamed the Gulf War diseases on stress, pesticides, vaccines and oil-well smoke. However, the army itself reports that “short-term effects of high doses (of DU) can result in death, while long-term effects of low doses have been implicated in cancer.”

US soldiers in Iraq were not warned. According to the story published by Censored 2004, the military coverup is “intentional” and “widespread.”

This shows that all the hurrahs by the Bushites about supporting our troops is a hypocritical lie. It also goes to the lie that the Iraq invasion was carried out with humanitarian intentions. Many of our soldiers will be sick when they return, and Iraq will face immeasurable suffering as a result of DU poisoning.

Bush and the other architects of the war should be held accountable. They should be prosecuted.