top
International
International
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Uranium bombing in Iraq contaminates Europe

by Bob Nichols, Project Censored Award Winner (Bob.bobnichols [at] gmail.com)
The average radioactive dose, according to official government index
based calculations, was about 23 million radioactive particles for the
average adult male in Britain and Europe.
aldermaston_atomic_bomb_factory.jpgblktx3.jpg
Uranium bombing in Iraq contaminates Europe


by Bob Nichols, Project Censored Award Winner


Nine days after the start of the American president's 2003 "shock and awe" uranium bombing campaign in Baghdad, an invisible radioactive uranium oxide gas cloud swept through Britain's towns and countryside and throughout Europe.

Respected scientists reported on the unrevealed gas cloud after conducting research on specialized high volume air filters in England. Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan stunned Europe in a Sunday Times of London article on Feb. 19, 2006. Their scientific paper, released March 1st, 2006, [1] proved the event. With all the vigor of delusional drunkards, British nuclear and military spokesmen predictably denied the reality of an invisible radioactive cloud.

The military claimed that a Chernobyl-like event in the area was probably responsible, but no explosive meltdowns of operating reactor cores have been reported or observed in 2006 anywhere in the world. Evidence of the truth of the gas cloud panicked the military into frantic, irrational, ludicrous denials. The military spin was later refined and the new Chernobyl claim quietly dropped.

In America, lightweight wannabe spin doctor Dan Fahey issued the cover up talking points. [2] The "nuke sycophants" will take up these siren call lies as per instructions.

Bush's radioactive "shock and awe" gas cloud descended on Britain and Europe like a warm, deadly ticking blanket and stayed throughout the American and British shock and awe bombing campaign in 2003. Bush's radioactive cloud lasted more than five weeks at high radioactive particle concentration levels. There is no gas mask filter fine enough to trap this radioactive gas and protect humans.

At Aldermaston, England, where the data was collected and where the British Atomic Weapons Establishment, complete with air monitoring facilities, is located, the deadly uranium oxide gas measured about 48,000 radioactive particles per square meter. The average radioactive dose, according to official government index based calculations, was about 23 million radioactive particles for the average adult male in Britain and Europe.

Yes, people breathed this poison gas, absolutely. People throughout England and presumably throughout Europe breathed in large quantities of this radioactive uranium poison gas.

What are the effects of the poison gas cloud? After a steady decline for 41 years, the infant death rate has started inching up, many researchers think because of the Central Asian nuclear wars. The infant death rate is the most sensitive measure of the health of the human race. Like the proverbial canaries in a coal mine, the tiniest babies die first.

George W. Bush, as the current appointed manager of the senior American political and military establishments, oversees a vast empire that knows exactly what the effect of millions of pounds of deadly weaponized radioactive ceramic uranium oxide gas and tiny aerosols are on the health of people throughout the world. They used uranium munitions in Iraq anyway.

The American political and military leaders wanted to use genocidal weapons. You might even say the U.S. military went out of their way to use these radiation-based genocidal weapons in Iraq. Lots of them, too.

Indeed, the American permanent war establishment has known the effect of poisonous uranium oxide gas since 1943. A declassified World War II memo to Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the ultra-secretive Manhattan Project to make atomic bombs, listed two reasons to use radioactive gas: One was to kill people, and the other was to contaminate their land. [3]

A British newspaper quotes Dr. Busby, a government adviser on radiation, as saying: "This research shows that rather than remaining near the target, as claimed by the military, depleted uranium weapons contaminate both locals and whole populations hundreds to thousands of miles away." [4]

There were and are laws in England that require notification of the government when levels of radioactivity are reached around the nuclear weapons complex at Aldermaston. No notification was made. When the records were requested, the clearly labeled "shock and awe" time frame data was omitted.

The Defense Procurement Agency in Bristol supplied the missing data to scientists Busby and Morgan. The real British patriots are the ones who provided the deleted incriminating data to Busby and Morgan.

Bush and his faithful followers, the neocon fascists, will be remembered as securing their place in history by exposing hundreds of millions of people to high levels of internal radiation poisoning. Make no mistake about it; this is real radioactive uranium gas. The Americans used this genetics changing and killing weapon on men, women and children. It made no difference to the Americans.

The citizen opposition liberal groups in America who only stand on the street corners with signs are misdirecting legitimate citizen outrage and protest. These groups are more than just not effective; they contribute to the protection of the multi-national corporations, senior political and military leaders involved in these pre-planned war crimes.

About ineffective protests, the famous author Ward Churchill says: "(N)o one really cares a whit that a sector of the beneficiary population (American protesters) has chosen to bear a sort of perpetual 'moral witness' to the crimes committed against the Third World. What they do care about is whether such witnesses translate their 'professions of outrage' into whatever kinds of actions may be necessary to actually put an end to the horror." [14] When will the protesters awaken and take action to put an end to this horror? Never? Sometime? When?

A well planned effort

The American military is nothing if not well planned. When the decision was made to go nuclear in conventional warfare with the promiscuous use of radiation dispersing uranium weapons, including land mines, bullets, shells, missiles and bombs, the proper and correct Army rules and regulations for radiological clean-up were created as well. These rules have the force of American law throughout the world. However, the same government that adopted these rules is not following them, even in the United States.

Army Rules and Regulations on Radiation Poisoning (AR 700-48 and TB 9-1300-278) [15] unambiguously specify that U.S. troops and local civilians exposed to radiation poisoning will be treated. Radiation casualties exist, and provisions are made for their care as best as can be done for a non-curable bystander affliction: radiation poisoning. Clean and treat rules also apply; they are just not obeyed.

In short, the regulations say that if the U.S. military is going to use radioactive weapons, then it must clean up the radiological contamination and treat the casualties. It is consistent with the philosophy of some "if you break it, fix it" former U.S. military leaders. The applicable rules and regulations are a common sense approach and the only responsible radiological warfare position for the only superpower on the planet.

The rules are not followed even in the United States itself [5] but are buried away in their mountains of paperwork. Why has this approach been rejected by the senior U.S. political leadership? http://tinyurl.com/bk2yn

Marion Fulk, a consultant physicist at the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, is one of the original Manhattan Project scientists. When asked if the main purpose for using depleted uranium was for destroying things and killing people, Fulk was more specific: "I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people." [6]

Dr. Rosalie Bertell, a respected scientist who serves on a variety of Pentagon committees, says about 1.3 billion people have already been killed, maimed or diseased since the nuclear age started. [7] Is this the Pentagon's purpose for using uranium munitions and rejecting the legally mandated task to treat and clean?

Most reasonable people would agree that racking up 1.3 billion people killed or maimed since the beginning of the nuclear age and the American uranium bombing tragedy spreading the gas cloud to Europe and Britain is not the "treat and clean" approach to radioactive warfare set out in the regulations.

On the contrary, the Bush radioactive gas cloud is just the opposite. The plain purpose of exposing hundreds of millions of people would seem to be to kill and sicken more people. As a rare Pentagon admission said, "The properties of uranium do not change."

Famed former Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab scientist Leuren Moret has spoken about the dangers of so-called "depleted uranium" in 42 countries. In "Exotic Weapons," the author, radio and film celebrity states, "Since 1991, the continued U.S. military use of dirty bombs, dirty missiles and dirty bullets threatens humanity and all living things ... and is turning Planet Earth into a death star." [8] [12]

Massive carpet bombing of whole countries with uranium bombs appears to be the current war fighting plan of the U.S. military. Unfortunately, U.S. troops are the first to be sacrificed on the altar of the neocon warfare plan for total global domination.

As former U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger said, "Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." [9] American political and military leaders never asked the "pawns" or troops if that was OK.

In the authoritative World Affairs Journal, Moret states: "The Korea Times reported on Dec. 23, 2005, that the U.S. military has 2.7 million depleted uranium bombs [pre-positioned] in South Korea. It is understandable why North Korea wants nuclear weapons." [10]

North Korea is just slightly smaller than the American state of Mississippi. Two million seven hundred uranium bombs is enough to carpet bomb with workhorse Air Force B-52s at the rate of 10 bombs per square mile. Some researchers believe that grid bombing with uranium bombs was used in the American war in the former Yugoslavia. There is clear circumstantial evidence that carpet bombing with genocidal weapons is the preferred response of the American military to local resistance efforts.

The San Francisco-based humanitarian and war crimes lawyer Karen Parker states unequivocally that the use of depleted uranium in American/U.K. weapons in Iraq, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia is a war crime. War crimes are punishable by imprisonment or execution, typically by hanging or a firing squad.

America's war criminal class of senior politicians and military leaders has a powerful reason to lie about using genocidal weapons for at least 15 years in Central Asia - their very lives depend on it. In Johnny's Dad's words, the senior leaders are "filthy rotten scum." [16]

Upcoming war crimes trial

The chief Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor speaks knowingly and directly across more than 50 years to resolutely instruct American citizens on exactly what our duty is today, right now: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience … therefore have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring." [11]

The statement was affirmed by the Nuremberg Tribunal and is now international law and, by extension, American law. It is our duty as Americans to prevent crimes against peace and humanity. The fascist administration now controlling America and the U.S. military cannot be allowed to continue these crimes. The world and international law holds us all accountable, and the price is dear.

It is time to impeach and imprison members of our government for their war crimes commensurate with their degree of complicity and guilt. If the House will not impeach and the Senate will not put them on trial; then we, all 300 million Americans, have a problem.

We all are citizens of this country and the world, and, as such, we must acknowledge the incontrovertible evidence of war crimes by the leaders of the American Expeditionary Forces in Iraq with the use of genocidal weapons. Bush and others crossed the line long ago when they lied to get us into the Iraq War.

They continue to lie about the damage being done with uranium weapons. One of the comforts history provides us is a road map out of unthinkable situations, to a more or less tenable, workable future.

The injured and maimed and families of the dead are due treatment and/or compensation, the cleanup must be initiated and whole countries rebuilt. That is the true legacy of the neocons, the new American Nazis.

What people can do

Every single day thousands of American military and government workers handle thousands of "sensitive" papers that "prove" the War Crimes of the American Government's senior political and military leaders.

These thousands of people could, if they wanted to, create havoc in the fascist administration by providing these incriminating papers and the "smoking guns" of innumerable crimes they hold to the public: A "paper blizzard" to teach a whole new generation that what's right is right.

About 40 years ago, it was thousands of pages of the "Pentagon Papers" that did the trick with the illegal Viet Nam War and President Nixon. Thousands more pages are needed now.

The neocon or neolib papers like the disgraced New York Times or the conservative phantom Washington Post no longer will do the right thing. The timid NYT took almost a year to publish the proof of illegal NSA government spying on American citizens. Bush then bragged about the illegal spying on network prime time television.

We do not need "timid" now. Far less than that forced Nixon to leave the president's office.

Do what you think best

To follow up on these ideas, the following Speaker's Group and individuals are presented to you for your important events. Speaker's fees are required.

Writers & Warriors Speakers Group

Contact Bob Nichols at bob.bobnichols [at] gmail.com for college distinguished lecture series speakers, commencement speakers, people's events and rallies. Available speakers include Leuren Moret, Dr. Doug Rokke, Dennis Kyne, Karen Parker and Bob Nichols.

Topics generally include those of interest in building a positive culture in the midst of a militarized society and items of interest in nuclear warfare.

A well known video, "The 14 Characteristics of Fascism," from Dr. Lawrence Britt, Ph.D., Mike Malloy and Eric Bumrich is a great, short video. See http://www.bushflash.com/14.html. It is only a few minutes long but goes a long way in telling why American leaders embrace the rampant use of genocidal weapons. The "14 Points" video is a great way to start a meeting.

The following documents were consulted in the preparation of this essay.

1. Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan, "Did the use of uranium weapons in Gulf War 2 result in contamination of Europe?" March 1, 2006, "European Biology and Bioelectromagnetics." http://www.llrc.org/du/subtopic/aldermastonrept.htm

2. Dan Fahey's instructions to his secretary, Jack Cohen, for distribution, du-list@yahoogroups, Feb. 26, 2006, 11:52 p.m.

3. Letter to Congessman McDermott, Attachment 2. Declassified memo to general L.R. Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, Oct. 30, 1943. http://tinyurl.com/93eq9

4. The Sunday Times, Britain, Feb. 19, 2006, "UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells," quoting Dr. Chris Busby.

5. Bob Nichols, "Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home," San Francisco Bay View newspaper. http://tinyurl.com/bk2yn

6. Marion Fulk quoted in the San Francisco Bay View newspaper by Leuren Moret in "Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets - A death sentence here and abroad," Aug 18, 2004. http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml

7. Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., "Planet Earth: The Latest Weapon of War." http://tinyurl.com/gf9dj

8. Leuren Moret, "Planet Earth as a Weapon and Target," World Affairs Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4, Winter 2005. http://tinyurl.com/e6d8v

9. Kissinger's quote regarding military men comes from Chapter 14, which extensively discusses Al Haig, Kissinger and other Nixon staff advisors' negotiations and differences over national security issues during the 1969-1974 period. The exact, direct quote marks begin with the word 'dumb' and terminate after the word 'used.' Source: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, "The Final Days," second Touchstone paperback edition (1994), chapter 14, pp. 194-195.

10. Leuren Moret.

11. War Crimes Watch, http://tinyurl.com/k6xb3

12. Documentary "Beyond Treason" with Moret, Rokke and Dennis Kyne. http://www.beyondtreason.com/ Documentary "Blowin' in the Wind" with Moret and Rokke. http://www.bsharp.net.au/

13. Dissent Voice, Bob Nichols. "There Are No Words: Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki Bombs ...." http://tinyurl.com/yqxoe

14. Ward Churchill, "The Ghosts of 9-1-1: Reflections on History, Justice and Roosting Chickens," Alternative Press Review http://tinyurl.com/fvhzn

15. Army Regulation 700-48 and Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278 can be found easily at the Traprock Peace Site. http://tinyurl.com/erjue and http://tinyurl.com/pzcrm And the regulations themselves, http://tinyurl.com/kl2r2 and http://tinyurl.com/jzha8 Adobe .pdf versions are also available for download from Traprock Peace Center.

16. "Johnny Got a Gun - Protest Song" by Johnny's Dad. Uranium Weapon Anthem. Distribute freely: http://tinyurl.com/k2zze

This author won a prized Project Censored Award for an article on depleted uranium munitions in October 2004. The article was titled "There Are No Words." http://tinyurl.com/yqxoe (headlined in the Bay View "Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki bombs," http://www.sfbayview.com/041404/radiationiniraq041404.shtml. [13] Turns out that story was but Part One, a thing I never suspected would be so. This article is Part Two and serves as an update for the war fighting activities of the senior American political and military leaders.

Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award Winner. He is a correspondent for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper and a frequent contributor to various on line publications. Nichols is completing a book based on 15 years of nuclear war in Central Asia. Nichols is a former employee of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. Nichols can be reached by email. You are encouraged to write bob.bobnichols [at] gmail.com.

http://www.sfbayview.com/031506/uraniumbombing031506.shtml

http://tinyurl.com/lo6pc

Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by maria
I am very angry about this pollution and I wondered if it was possible to sue the American goverment ,or Bush and/or Blair personally for contaminating us all.I was protesting about these weapons before this gulf war started,I would have thought anyone with a little scientific knowledge could see that these weapons are lethal to everyone .I should think the Iraqi government would have an open and closed case.How can we get rid of these dreadful leaders?I am afraid they are about to cause even more damage.I wouldn't like to be in their shoes when they have to answer to their maker,even if they are escaping culpability now.Maria
by Jaye (jfele [at] aol.com)
Let them eat depleted Uranium and cake!
by Leta (leta.licata [at] sbcglobal.net)
God Help Us All. What is keeping the rest of the world from attacking America after what we have done.

I started learning about DU about 2 years ago. I have yet to talk to one person that believes what I am telling them. They won't believe it, and even more frustrating, they will not even look into the matter in order to form their opinion.

We live in very scary times. I figure I will only have maybe 20 to 30 years left to live, if that long. However, I have three children, and three grandchildren and my mind cannot even comprehend what life will be like for them when I am gone.

Thank you for putting this very serious topic in front of people.
by Jaye
D. U. from America with love! D. U. and Torture our gift to the World!
I feel for you sister. This issue is far bigger than DU. You must acknowledge that having kids was an unsound decision, that your children doing so was even less sound, and for your grandchildren to do so will be downright criminal. The tragedies of the next 100 years will be unbearable to witness. I would not wish that bearing of witness on anyone. Those whose minds are too shriveled and selfish for their hearts to break from what they see will be the most obscene characters of all, the walking dead. Those born today, if they're worthy of breathing, will thus be shattered by despair, but then the walking dead are already becoming the dominant type. Surveying all the things about this death cult that make no sense, the authorship of new life is number one by a big margin, and people -- especially young adults -- need to have this laid out plainly before them. Talk about a thing NOBODY wants to think about!
by robert (robertbolske [at] hotmail.com)
From my reading, the toxic cloud of radiation which blew into Europe,, was not from DU munitions,, but rather it was from a Nutron Bomb ( radiation bomb ) used early in the war.

American troops were surrounded, by a superior force,, so, rather than fight like men,, they simply used nutron bombs.
D.U., War and Torture must be ok, as long as Haliburton and the Necons are making money right? Europe eat our radioactive D.U. dust, cause you helped us with this war! Eat It Now!
by Veltri
I do not thinik that it is possible for radioactive material to travel on the winds from south west to north east in the Northern hemisphere. If someone with some scientific credability has the answer to this please let me know.
by Re:
"travel on the winds from south west to north east in the Northern hemisphere"
In the US we do have winds from the Soith West to North East all the time. In fact the current Jet Stream in the US is blowing that way:
http://maps.weather.com/images/maps/aviation/jet1_277x187.jpg (from http://www.wtastro.org/weather.html)

Of course the Middle East is South East of Europe so Im guessing you meant that one rarely sees wind blowing North West in the Northern hemisphere? Wind does tend to blow Eastward but you have only to look at storms that move in the opposite direction due to teh Earths coriolis force (such as hurricanes) to see that such winds are possible (afterall Hurricane Katrina had high winds blowing North East).

Can winds in Europe blow North East under normal condistions?
Yes and they are right now
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/charts/world/neur_wind_07022611.jpg (from http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/north_europe/wind.shtml on 2/25)
but as your can see the circular patern is currently blowing from Belgrade over East Germany and not blowing from farther S East over Western Europe.
and the winds in the Middle East are currently blowing South West
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/middle_east/wind.shtml#no_url
if you click through a couple days of weather you can see winds blowing from Iraq N West into a circular pattern that could then take stuff back over Europe (which doesnt prove that it often happens or radiation is getting blown that way but does suggest its not impossible)..


by Uk Sunday Times
Mark Gould and Jon Ungoed-Thomas
RADIATION detectors in Britain recorded a fourfold increase in uranium levels in the atmosphere after the “shock and awe” bombing campaign against Iraq, according to a report.

Environmental scientists who uncovered the figures through freedom of information laws say it is evidence that depleted uranium from the shells was carried by wind currents to Britain.

Government officials, however, say the sharp rise in uranium detected by radiation monitors in Berkshire was a coincidence and probably came from local sources.

The results from testing stations at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston and four other stations within a 10-mile radius were obtained by Chris Busby, of Liverpool University’s department of human anatomy and cell biology.

Each detector recorded a significant rise in uranium levels during the Gulf war bombing campaign in March 2003. The reading from a park in Reading was high enough for the Environment Agency to be alerted.

Busby, who has advised the government on radiation and is a founder of Green Audit, the environmental consultancy, believes “uranium aerosols” from Iraq were widely dispersed in the atmosphere and blown across Europe.

“This research shows that rather than remaining near the target as claimed by the military, depleted uranium weapons contaminate both locals and whole populations hundreds to thousands of miles away,” he said.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) countered that it was “unfeasible” depleted uranium could have travelled so far. Radiation experts also said that other environmental sources were more likely to blame.

The “shock and awe” campaign was one of the most devastating assaults in modern warfare. In the first 24-hour period more than 1,500 bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad.

During the conflict A10 “tankbuster” planes — which use munitions containing depleted uranium — fired 300,000 rounds. The substance — dubbed a “silver bullet” because of its ability to pierce heavy tank armour — is controversial because of its potential effect on human health. Critics say it is chemically toxic and can cause cancer, and Iraqi doctors reported a marked rise in cancer cases after it was used in the first Gulf conflict.

The American and British governments say depleted uranium is relatively harmless, however. The Royal Society, the UK’s academy of science, has also said the risk from depleted uranium is “very low” for soldiers and people in a conflict zone.

Busby’s report shows that within nine days of the start of the Iraq war on March 19, 2003, higher levels of uranium were picked up on five sites in Berkshire. On two occasions, levels exceeded the threshold at which the Environment Agency must be informed, though within safety limits. The report says weather conditions over the war period showed a consistent flow of air from Iraq northwards.

Brian Spratt, who chaired the Royal Society’s report, cast doubt on depleted uranium as a source but said it could have come from natural uranium in the massive amounts of soil kicked up by shock and awe.

Other experts said local environmental sources, such as a power station, were more likely at fault. The Environment Agency said detectors at other sites did not record a similar increase, which suggested a local source.

A MoD spokesman said the uranium was of a “natural origin” and there was no evidence that depleted uranium had reached Britain from Iraq.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article732523.ece
by R. Holloway
The article on uranium is just so much rubbish. "Famed scientist Leuren Moret" ? give me a break.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$210.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network