This post is about weapons of mass destruction. I don't mean the imaginary ones that Bush and co said were in Iraq. We can all agree that they never really existed (at least I haven't seen any evidence of them, have you?). I mean the ones that are being used, right now, in Iraq. They are being used against, the so-called 'insurgents', they are being used against Iraqi civilians, and they are being used against unaware (and dispensable) soldiers. They are being deployed by the coalition forces right now. These weapons are not imaginary; they are classified by a United Nations resolution as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
The war in Iraq is a nuclear war. Nuclear weapons are currently being deployed in Iraq by the US military in the form of depleted uranium (DU) munitions. Their use breaches many international laws, treaties and conventions forbidding poisoned weapons that cause unnecessary (and prolonged) suffering.
What is depleted uranium? Depleted uranium is a waste product of the nuclear industry. It is the leftovers from the uranium enrichment process, used in weapons and in nuclear power plants. This toxic garbage is usually trucked away to a secure storage site, and left, because no one really knows what to do with it for the 4.5 billion years it remains radioactive. Over a decade ago however, the Pentagon war-makers came up with a new use for it. They decided to 're-cycle' it into weaponry (cheap, high-perforation shells) and fire it at their enemies. Much easier than storing the stuff.
The US has over 10 million tons of DU. It is now used in all kinds of weapons. The reason they use it (apart from being cheap and readily available), is because of its density. Its used in DU tipped missiles, tank rounds, and even tank amour (imagine the exposure suffered by the troops inside those tanks). At 1.7 times the density of lead, its penetrates virtually anything it hits. And all the time it is radioactive.
A giger counter will give a reading of between 5 to 15 pluses per minute, in a typical environment. Put one next to a spent DU round, and it will trigger a reading of well over 10000 pluses per minute. Iraq (and Afghanistan, and Kosovo) are littered with DU. It was first used in Desert Storm, well over 300 tons of it. In the 2003 invasion of Iraq, at least 5 times as much was used, and a lot more was used in towns and cities full of civilians.
When a typical DU round is fired it ignites on impact and is dispersed in a fine radioactive dust which permanently contaminates the air soil and water anywhere it is blown (the wind knows no borders). The problem of clean-up is an impossible one to solve, there is just nowhere to put that much contaminated material. The entire eco-system of Iraq is now contaminated, even the ground water. The effects of breathing or ingesting any of these radio-active particles are many and varied. Cancer, birth defects, kidney failure, neurological damage, blood and respiratory disorders are just a few, but the most agonizing of all must be passing this onto ones children.
"The Iraq people are the new hibakusha. Their fate, like that of the 'survivors' of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is a condition of death-in-life. The long term health effects of DU on the Iraqui people (and on our own troops) are incalculable. There is no mask or protective clothing that can be devised to prevent radioactive dust from entering the lungs or penetrating the skin. Moreover, DU targets the DNA and the Master Code (histone), altering the genetic future of exposed populations. Because it is the perfect weapon for delivering nanoparticles of poison, radiation, and nano-pollution directly into living cells, DU is the perfect weapon for extinguishing entire populations. The Iraqi's are not alone. Vast regions of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Balkans have been permanently contaminated with radioactive dust and debris."
Weapons of Mass Destruction Found in Iraq – Walter A Davis
"Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a professor of nuclear medicine at Georgetown University, is a former army medical expert. He told nuclear scientists in Paris last year that tens of thousands of sick British and American soldiers are now dying from radiation they encountered during Gulf War I. He found that 62 percent of sick vets tested have uranium isotopes in their organs, bones, brains and urine. Laboratories in Switzerland and Finland corroborated his findings."
How the US is Nuking its Own Troops - By Amy Worthington, The Idaho Observer
As it condemns its troops (and their children) and millions of innocent Iraqis (and their children) to slow and agonizing deaths the US military insists that the use of depleted uranium on the battle field is not a problem, even though it fits their own definition of a weapon of mass destruction:
The US CODE, TITLE 50,CHAPTER 40 Sec. 2302 "The term 'weapon of mass destruction' means any weapon or device that is intended, or has the capability, to cause death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through the release, dissemination, or impact of (A) toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors, (B) a disease organism, or (C) radiation or radioactivity."
More reading on the subject:
If this shocks and outrages you as much as it does me, you will probably be asking “what can I do about it?”. Here are a couple of suggestions to get you started:
- If you have a weblog, post a link to this post or any of the links above and help inform others.
- Next time you hear someone say “the Iraqi people are better off without Saddam” set them straight.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
8:59:41 PM 
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