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.
Depleted uranium, despite its rather benign-sounding name, is not depleted of radioactivity or toxicity. The term “depleted” refers only to its being depleted of the U-235 isotope needed for fission reactions in nuclear reactors. The nuclear waste material from nuclear power plants, DU as it is known, is what is removed from the power plants’ spent fuel rods and is essentially composed of the uranium isotope U-238 as well as U-236 (a product of nuclear reactor fission, not found in nature), as well as other trace radioactive elements.
Once simply a nuisance for the industry, that still has no permanent way to dispose of the dangerous stuff, it turns out to be an ideal metal for a number of weapons uses, and has been capitalized on by the Pentagon. 1.7 times heavier than lead, and much harder than steel, and with the added property of burning at a super-hot temperature, DU has proven to be an ideal penetrator for warheads that need to pierce thick armor or dense concrete bunkers made of reinforced concrete and steel. Once through the defenses, it burns at a temperature that incinerates anyone inside (which is why we see the carbonized bodies of bodies in the wreckage of Iraqi tanks hit by US fire).
Accordingly it has found its way into 30 mm machine gun ammunition, especially that used by the A-10 Warthog ground-attack fighter planes used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as Kosovo). It is also the warhead of choice for Abrams tanks and is also reportedly used in GBU-28 and the later GBU-37 bunker buster bombs, each of which can have 1-2 tons of the stuff in its warhead.
DU is also used as ballast in cruise missiles, and this burns up when a missile detonates its conventional explosive. Some cruise missiles are also designed to hit hardened targets and reportedly feature DU warheads, as does the AGM-130 air-to-ground missile, which carries a one-ton penetrating warhead. In addition, depleted uranium is used in large quantities in the armor of tanks and other equipment. This material becomes a toxic source of CU pollution when these vehicles are attacked and burned.
While the Pentagon has continued to claim, against all scientific evidence, that there is no hazard posed by depleted uranium, US troops in Iraq have reportedly been instructed to avoid any sites where these weapons have been used—destroyed Iraqi tanks, exploded bunkers, etc.—and to wear masks if they do have to approach. Many torched vehicles have been brought back to the US, where they have been buried in special sites reserved for dangerously contaminated nuclear materials. (Thousands of tons of DU-contaminated sand from Kuwait, polluted with DU during the US destruction of Iraq’s tank forces in the 1991 war, were removed and shipped to a waste site in Idaho last year with little fanfare.)
Suspiciously, international health officials have been prevented or obstructed from doing medical studies of DU sites in Iraq and Afghanistan. But an excellent series of articles several years ago by the Christian Science Monitor described how reporters from that newspaper had visited such sites in Iraq with Geiger-counters and had found them to be extremely “hot” with radioactivity.
The big danger with DU is not as a pure metal, but after it has exploded and burned, when the particles of uranium oxide, which are just as radioactive as the pure isotopes, can be inhaled or ingested. Even the smallest particle of uranium in the body is both deadly poisonous as a chemical, and over time can cause cancer—particularly in the lungs, but also the kidneys, testes and ovaries.
There are reports of a dramatic increase in the incidence of deformed babies being born in the city of Fallujah, where DU weapons were in wide use during the November 2004 assault on that city by US Marines. The British TV station SKY UK, in a report last month that has received no mention in any mainstream American news organization, found a marked increase in birth defects at local hospitals. Birth defects have also been high for years in the Basra area in the south of Iraq, where DU was used not just during America’s 2003 “shock and awe” attack on Iraq, but also in the 1991 Gulf War.
Further, a report sent to the UN General Assembly by Dr Nawal Majeed Al-Sammarai, Iraq’s Minister of Women’s Affairs since 2006, stated that in September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital had 170 babies born, 24 percent of which died within their first week of life. Worse yet, fully 75 percent of the babies born that month were deformed. This compares to August 2002, six months before the US invasion, when 530 live births were reported with only six dying in the first week, and only one deformity. Clearly something terrible is happening in Fallujah, and many doctors suspect it’s the depleted uranium dust that is permeating the city.
But the real impact of the first heavy use of depleted uranium weaponry in populous urban environments (DU was used widely especially in 2003 in Baghdad, Samara, Mosul and other big Iraqi cities), will come over the years, as the toxic legacy of this latest American war crime begins to show up in rising numbers of cancers, birth defects and other genetic disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Of course, as in the case of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the toxic effects of this latest battlefield use of toxic materials by the US military will also be felt for years to come by the men and women who were sent over to fight America’s latest wars. As with Agent Orange, the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department have been assiduously denying the problem, and have been just as assiduously denying claims by veterans of the Gulf War and the two current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who claim their cancers and other diseases have anything to do with their exposure to DU.
The record on Agent Orange should lead us to be suspicious of the government’s claims.
The deformed and dead babies in Iraq should make us demand a cleanup of Iraq and Afghanistan, medical aid for the victims, and a ban on all depleted uranium weapons.
Dave Lindorff is a Philadelphia-based journalist. He is author of Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal (Common Courage Press, 2003) and The Case for Impeachment (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work is available at thiscantbehappening.net
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This post was mentioned on Reddit by CliffDropOver: The US is a War Criminal of the 1st Class! Worse that anything Germany or Japan ever did in war….
This is a sad era of brutality and human hunger for blood and death. These graves we have created for the world will end up our own. Why cant this world live in peace and share the wealth. How many beds, cars, houses, and meals does a man need realy !
Really very sad I am a Muslim and i live in Pakistan but i will say this strictly that the people who are doing this are not Muslims. May Allah give them a very awful lesson that they never forget that.
My all prays are with the victams.
=(
Ayesha Farooq
Pakistan
The devil weapons made by man must be removed by the wisdom of man… we all should strengthen our beliefs and define with one and another what we can do and what should we do now. We should remove all wepons to bring peace and prosperity for all mankind.
Ayesha
Pakistan
*Ayesha, and then only the evil will have weapons. Like the taliban, terrorists and radical devout Muslims are just going to give up their weapons and play nicely? Don’t be so naive. We know better.
*Ubervu, this is terrible, but cannot compare to what Germany and Japan have done. And don’t forget old Mao Tse Tung.
*Larry, “Share the wealth”? America already does her fair share of that, better yet we want to bring liberty to where there is none. You can’t buy that. I don’t see any other country on the face of this earth doing for other countries what America has done to help.
Radio Flyer, I find your views quite repellant.
America is toxic to the human race as are many other nations. You state America is the country that has made more efforts to help… They have also been the ones to destroy.
Are you actually even aware of what other countries on this earth have done to assist war torn countries? Or do you suffer from the usual insular ‘USA is the greatest’ viewpoint?
Really sad that Lindorff uses a photo of a baby with Harlequin Ichthyosis to make his point. In reality, that proves that Lindorff is a liar – Harlequin Ichthyosis was first noted in 1750. Uranium was discovered about 40 years later and the actual metallic element was not isolated for nearly a century. Harlequin Ichthyosis is an extremely rare genetic skin condtiion that requires that both parents carry the same recessive gene. It has nothing to do with depleted uranium. Lindorff also falsely claims that there is DU in Afghanistan. I’ve got news for you, Dave, DU is only used in anti-tank kinetic energy penetrators. Those are used to kill tanks. The Taliban government had a small number of ex-Soviet tanks, but they never faced the US M1 Abrams tank that fires the 120mm DU penetrator round. That tank has never been deployed to Afghanistan. They also never faced the dreaded A-10 tank killer airplane that fires aluminum enshrouded DU penetrator rounds from its 30mm cannon in Desert Storm in 1991, the Balkans and in Iraq in 2003. The A10 was not deployed to Afghanistan until after the Taliban government had fallen and it does not use DU when it is not hunting tanks. DU is completely ineffective against dug in fighters on mountain tops. The A10 uses its high explosive cannon rounds, not DU, for that kind of target. DU is not used in any bombs. It was not used to bomb Tora Bora. When someone talks about all the DU in Afghanistan, you know that they are lying or as in Lindorff’s case, a very poor reporter. Do yourself a favor, do your own research, don’t rely on a reporter who does no more than regurgitate the internet.
Hat tip to Radio Flier.
Ayesha, the people who are doing this are not muslims ? What was your brother Saddam Hussein doing in his conquest of Iran and with his own people? Because of muslims we are in this mess. They slaughter all over the world, Darfur as an example; so think before you make a foolish remark like that. The rest of you need a good history lesson.
It is no secret anymore that the U.S. and its citizens have very little control over the actions in the middles east. The individuals that America has in particular offices are indicative of the Israeli influence over the States. Americans are actually fed up with the war proxy b.s. A silent revolution is currently underway and they are cognizant of the insiduous forces working ‘from within’ for Israel. It is sad that the U.S. gets the blame for something that Isaeli infiltrators have done in the name of the United States. Thus, the tables will be turned on Israel, and they shall have no ‘friend’ to fight their fight. How much ‘truth’ do Americans expect to receive from an Israeli dominated and consolidated media, publications, and news?
Shasta, I’m catholic but I do know that being a true Muslim entails being a peaceful person and is one of the most peaceful religions in the world. Unfortunately, as is true for ALL religious entities, there are extremists. If you look at the history of Catholicism there are extremists conquering lands and killing innocent people, these were extremists. Same thing goes for the Muslims who attack innocent lives today. They are not true Muslims, they do not follow the law of Allah, and they certainly don’t represent all Muslims or their religion. So please stop making broad generalizations about people you don’t even know anything about. Why don’t you get educated and stop being so ignorant? Then maybe people would listen to you and take what you had to say seriously.
Hey Roger, that’s a lot of asserting, with no supporting links. I don’t know jack about DU. So tell me: What are your sources? Credentials? How do you know so much about DU in Afghanistan? Has Lindorff ever responded? Have you been dogging him long, or just on this topic?
Just for you, Roger Helbig:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=1777
Denial is cowardice in it’s most harmful form.
I’m with you Radio Flyer. As for cleanup – let those nations clean it up themselves as a reminder not to waken the sleeping giant. However, clearly radioactive weaponry should not be used as casually as it has been and I think charges should be investigated into whomever pushed for their use as ’safe’ and of no impact to civilians (regardless of the level of their ‘innocence’) .
Roger Helbig is a paid Pentagon disinformation operative who, like toxic red tide that crops up at popular beaches and fishing spots, pops up wherever articles critical of depleted uranium arms appear, where he lobs baseless charges and engages in dishonest character assassination. My first encounter with Helbig came in 2005 when I wrote an article in the magazine In These Times about a group of returned NY State National Guard Iraqi War vets who were found to have been contaminated with DU and who were starting to show health impacts of that exposure. At that time, he used lies and disinformation in an effort to slander and discredit a leading DU critic, Doug Rokke, who supported the veterans’ claims that their ailments were DU-caused. Helbig disputed Rokke’s rank, disputed his academic credentials, and claimed Rokke was lying about his earlier role at the Pentagon in researching DU and in helping with the clean up of DU-contaminated equipment at the end of the Gulf War. Rokke sent me supporting documentation for all these things, but Helbig persists in his government campaign, and continues to slander Rokke. Just the fact that Helbig shows up instantly to respond to this latest article on a very new and not widely known (sorry Jason!) website shows that he is part of a campaign. (What’s the guy do, check the web every day for a DU article critical of the Pentagon? No, of course not. The Pentagon’s monitoring the media, and when something pops up attacking the use of DU, Helbig gets sicced on it.)
In the current instance, Helbig is using ad hominem against me, but he can no longer dispute the fact that hundreds of tons of dangerous uranium dust has been strewn across populated areas of Iraq and Afghanistan by the US military’s use of DU munitions in both those invasions. (He used to deny the numbers, and also the hazards.)
He can claim that the photo used with my article is not DU related, but that photo was drawn from a collection of photos taken of unusual births in Basra following the US assault on that southern Iraqi city in the Gulf War, where even the Pentagon admits over 300 tons of DU were used in weapons fired at Iraqi targets. The “fact” even if true that the particular deformity has been identified for three hundred years is a red herring, since it is a rare phenomenon and its appearance in this instance could well be induced by radiation exposure, just as fetal cancer and other birth abnormalities like hydrocephalism, sex organ deformities, etc., also rare but not unknown in pre-nuclear times, are more common following exposure to nuclear waste.
What is really disgusting about this kind of disinformation program is that it is government-directed and government financed. The Pentagon, beginning in the Bush/Cheney years, and on the evidence still now well into the Obama administration, has been assigning active and retired military personnel to pose as ordinary citizens to use the comment sections on internet sites like this one to sow doubt about articles critical of the military or of military practices. A number of major progressive web sites have discovered upon investigation that many of the critical posts on their comment sections can be traced to Pentagon servers. Even more disgusting is that these fake critics are apparently encouraged to use whatever arguments they like, including lies and distortions, in this devious and underhanded propaganda campaign.
` No matter. The truth will out.
By the way, Helbig is right about one thing. The uranium isotope U-236 does occur in nature, but very rarely. It is, however, much more common in depleted uranium, as it is a product of the fission process. What I had meant to say is that the prevalence U-236 at US battle sites and bombing sites is evidence of DU use, as it shows up in a way not found in nature. Thanks for the correction Rog!
Dave Lindorff
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
Danielle – you’re a bit ignorant … I wonder, do you live in a muslim theistic nation? I bet not. If so, I bet you and I BOTH know you’re lying. How many millions of extremist Catholics do you know who both cheer murdering civilians and engage in the rape of children, beating of women, murder of homosexuals, and establishment of a male totalitarian society? Do not lend legitimacy to satanists.
Mark Paquette: just because Catholic extremists in the US don’t do all those horrible things you mentioned does mean it wouldn’t happen if there weren’t strict laws against that stuff in the US.
This is a great article although very sad. What is more sad is the division between people. How about we all agree that WAR is not the answer to any of humanity’s issues. It is only perpetuating our suffering here on this planet and hurting the plantet. The USA is responsible for the latest war and those who started it should be charged for crimes against humanity and punished, we all know who they are. Watch “Fall of the Republic” it is the latest internet sensation movie, and it will show you what is going on behind the scense while we are dived and conqured because of our pettyness. To save humanity we will need to rise above this small thinking. It is time to wake up and see who is behind it all and I will give you all a hint, they deal with money and they love it more than anything else because with it they are beginning to control the whole planet.
Why do we keep having this BS racist anti-semitism on progressive sites. Sarah, I happen to be married to a jewish woman, and let me tell you, she’ s a brilliant harpsichordist, but as unconcerned about money as any first-class artist could be. You insult her, you insult me, and you insult every jew who has forsworn wealth to pursue art, social justice, peace or who has just tried to live a decent life with your racist comments about money. It is no excuse that you didn’t say the word jew. You know what you were signalling in your comment, and it is disgusting and out of place anywhere but certainly on this news site.
Jews are no more and no less concerned with money and control of money than are any other people on this planet.
Dave Lindorff
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
I didn’t interpret that Sarah was talking about Jews at all. It sounded as though she was speaking of our evil US Government and military. Most likely a particular party.
It would be hard to believe she would compliment your your article in the first sentence, agree that it is a sad issue, want to save humanity by small thinking, and at the same time insinuate racism. Seriously, Could you have perhaps misinterepreted who she was talking about? It seems to me she meant the money hungry machine our government has been running.
P.S. Not trying to be nasty, I was just shocked by your response to her post.
I
No Chris. I think it’s clear. There’s nothing secret about the craven money-loving behavior of our Congressional reps, and on the other hand, nobody could suggest that Congress “controls the planet.”
Nor is there anything secret about corporations loving money or being “behind” everything. That’s all right out front.
What she’s using is code words that have been used for centuries by anti-semites to refer to Jews.
@Dave Lindorff RE: Roger the truth dodger:
HA! Thought so. Thanks for clearing that up. Nice rebuttal of “Sarah,” too.
@Anyway…yes and who makes those strict laws in the US? Christians.
Ayesha clearly suggested those NOT muslim are the evil ones. America should give up their defense while terrorists and radical muslims don’t.?
@Danielle… we are talking about the here and now, not biblical times through the centuries, so stop lecturing. The only extremist groups today are muslim, given full reign to perpetrate vicious atrocities and vile acts upon the innocent, esp. non muslims. Read up on the civil and human rights act of non muslims in a muslim country and learn something. Go live there and find out first hand. Your nauseating sympathy and understanding won’t be recipricated I can assure you. Btw, I’m Catholic married to a muslim.! lol. My info is quite accurate. So I agree, ‘please stop making broad generalizations about people you don’t know anything about. Get informed and stop being ignorant? Then maybe people would listen to you and take what you had to say seriously.’ Good posts by Mr. Lindorff and Roger. Bye all. Leaving for the Far East again tomorrow.
I started reading this article with tremendous anger at anyone who could knowingly inflict this suffering to another human being and then reading through the comments my anger turned to sadness at how quickly sides were drawn according to personal religions. Some individuals, singly or ganging together, want to murder, terrorise and control, using whatever means to do so. Its only we, the public, who allow this to be in the name of individual religions. Why dont we erase mention of religion and refer to them as the heinous, murderers, terrorists, despots etc that they are because without their religion they have no collective banner to fight under
the claim that DU munitions are used only on armored vehicles is a lie – they are used widely and stupidity is no excuse – DU is Malthus’ dream come true – it fulfills Henry Kissinger’s good riddance to the the worlds “useless eaters,” as quoted from his infamous memo – as for contamination of coalition soldiers, there is also Dr. K to cite for Pentagon policy toward them: ‘Military men are “dumb, stupid animals to be used” as pawns for foreign policy.” That they continue to serve globalists who employ the likes of Kissinger could attest to that claim – common sense, one would think would lead them to turn on their real enemy who see us all as mere cannon fodder
IN THE END I BELIEVE THE WHOLE WORLD IS AGAINST MUSLIMS!
AND ONE DAY THOSE AGAINST MUSLIMS WILL RECEIVE THEIR PUNISHMENTS!! AMEEN
That’s really sad. it almost made me cry. Its hard to feel what goes on his parents when seeing their kid in such position.. Wonder what he has done that he is in such condition..
It’s good to see posts like Danielle’s and Sarah…. Let’s put religions a part. we are all human beings. each and everyone of us has family, friends and loved ones. we all live under one sky, same air blows around everyone. same water and food we eat, and so on… No one is superior than others. The superior ones are those who has feelings toward living beings. Slaughtering and attacking a poor nation leaves nothing behind except hatred and anger for eachother.
I must remind everyone that these wars are nothing but only a political game. Religion got nothing to do with this fight.
LETS SEE 20 years back, same religions and people were existing. But there were no war or anybody defaming religions or its followers. Why it has began in this last 9 years?
We Muslims are peacemaker and have kind heart just like everyone else. we have much respect towards other religions.. Jews and Christians are called the people of the book (e.g the books/scriptures thats been sent down to us from Allah / God’s sight). Muslims believe and have faith on prophet Jesus Christ and Abraham, as they are messengers of God. They came to us to guide us to the right path. showed us how to love one another and live a peaceful life.
Lets bring peace in the world. For sake of our new generations.
Roger,
I’m not sure what is wrong with that baby, but it definitely isn’t Harlequin Ichthyosis. Harlequin is a VERY visible skin disorder, which causes distinctive injuries not present on this poor baby.
I don’t have enough information to have formed an opinion on DU one way or the other, but this obvious (intentional?) error makes the rest of your comment suspect.