DEPLETED URANIUM ALERT!

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THE PLAGUE OF 2006

[Veteran's and Family PRESS HERE]

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
- George Orwell -

VIDEOS: Invisible war 'Invisible War skillfully tackles the complicated debates concerning the health effects of DU (both radiological effects and heavy metal toxicity). The official views are neatly debunked by DU experts, including ex-US Army whistle blowers.'  | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4  | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 9/6/06 "The Charles Goyette Show" KNFX 1100 AM INTERVIEW: RE: Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets AUDIO: "The Whole World is in danger....!" http://www.apfn.net/pogo/A002I060906AM2.MP3  They are saying in the last video (Part 7) that its nuclear reactor waste, and that's BAD. full review: http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/442/442p24b.htm further info: http://www.cadu.org.uk/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/europe/2001/depleted_uranium/ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/  Translate this Page! Download pdf brochure format on Depleted Uranium

Dr. Doug Rokke Depleted Uranium The Pentagon Betrayal Of GIs And Iraqis John Hanchette editor of USA Today from 1991 to 2001and Pentagon DU expert Dr. Doug Rokke, a serving officer for 30 years. [The Gulf War soldiers were in Iraq a tiny fraction of the time the soldiers are being kept in Iraq.] Rokke says he was ordered to lie about DU, because the military was determined to continue using it, despite the danger to US troops. Watch the Full Movie CLICK HERE. Army DU Specialist turned whistleblower Dr. Doug Rokke- Depleted Uranium Audio: http://www.apfn.org/audio/rokke-depleted_uranium.mp3 Environmental Cost of War While the death and destruction caused by war is reason enough to examine our current state of militarism, SourceCode investigates longterm costs of war's damage to the environment. Weapons of Mass Destruction in Washington DC? Chemical weapons from World War One were buried in the Spring Valley neighborhood in our nation's capital. Army Corp of Engineer whistleblowers tour us around the most toxic of the sites. Then, Truthout's Chris Hume talks with Azzam Alwash about the destruction and revitalization of the Mesopotamian Marshes in southern Iraq, the birthplace of civilization. (And thurston Moore of Sonic Youth sings "they're bombing the garden of eden"). SourceCode looks at "depleted" uranium and the alarming claims of soldiers and Iraqis who have been exposed to it. And we'll join the Alterazioni Video Collective in New York to hear more about their Baghdad Space Sharing project, designed to connect people around the world to the struggles Iraqi civilians are facing. OUT NOW. Watch the Full Movie CLICK HERE. http://sourcecode.freespeech.org/sc306War TEDD WEYMAN: THE NUCLEAR WAR ON IRAQ It is known world wide, he says, that DU weapons have long-term implications that, right now corporations and governments are hiding Video: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/DU_nuclear.htm "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre, "Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre," featuring interviews with U.S. soldiers, Iraqi doctors and international journalists on the U.S. attack on Fallujah. Produced by Italian state broadcaster RAI TV, the documentary charges U.S. warplanes illegally dropped white phosphorus incendiary bombs on civilian populations, burning the skin off Iraqi victims. One U.S. soldier charges this amounts to the U.S. using chemical weapons against the Iraqi people. Watch the Video Click Here Israel Drops White Phosphorus Bombs, Littlest Victims Suffer http://www.apfn.org/apfn/DU_Israel.htm

 

U.S. Soldiers Are Sick of It Associated Press 10:20 AM Aug, 12, 2006 NEW YORK -- It takes at least 10 minutes and a large glass of orange juice to wash down all the pills -- morphine, methadone, a muscle relaxant, an antidepressant, a stool softener. Viagra for sexual dysfunction. Valium for his nerves. Four hours later, Herbert Reed will swallow another 15 mg of morphine to cut the pain clenching every part of his body. He will do it twice more before the day is done. Since he left a bombed-out train depot in Iraq, his gums bleed. There is more blood in his urine, and still more in his stool. Bright light hurts his eyes. A tumor has been removed from his thyroid. Rashes erupt everywhere, itching so badly they seem to live inside his skin. Migraines cleave his skull. His joints ache, grating like door hinges in need of oil. There is something massively wrong with Herbert Reed, though no one is sure what it is. He believes he knows the cause, but he cannot convince anyone caring for him that the military's new favorite weapon has made him terrifyingly sick. In the sprawling bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs, he has many caretakers. An internist, a neurologist, a pain-management specialist, a psychologist, an orthopedic surgeon and a dermatologist. He cannot function without his stupefying arsenal of medications, but they exact a high price. "I'm just a zombie walking around," he says. Reed believes depleted uranium has contaminated him and his life. He now walks point in a vitriolic war over the Pentagon's arsenal of it -- thousands of shells and hundreds of tanks coated with the metal that is radioactive, chemically toxic, and nearly twice as dense as lead. A shell coated with depleted uranium pierces a tank like a hot knife through butter, exploding on impact into a charring inferno. As tank armor, it repels artillery assaults. It also leaves behind a fine radioactive dust with a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Depleted uranium is the garbage left from producing enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and energy plants. It is 60 percent as radioactive as natural uranium. The United States has an estimated 1.5 billion pounds of it, sitting in hazardous waste storage sites across the country. Meaning it is plentiful and cheap as well as highly effective. Reed says he unknowingly breathed DU dust while living with his unit in Samawah, Iraq. He was med-evaced out in July 2003, nearly unable to walk because of lightning-strike pains from herniated discs in his spine. Then began a strange series of symptoms he'd never experienced in his previously healthy life. At Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C, he ran into a buddy from his unit. And another, and another, and in the tedium of hospital life between doctor visits and the dispensing of meds, they began to talk. "We all had migraines. We all felt sick," Reed says. "The doctors said, 'It's all in your head.' " Then the medic from their unit showed up. He too, was suffering. That made eight sick soldiers from the 442nd Military Police, an Army National Guard unit made up of mostly cops and correctional officers from the New York area. But the medic knew something the others didn't. Dutch marines had taken over the abandoned train depot dubbed Camp Smitty, which was surrounded by tank skeletons, unexploded ordnance and shell casings. They'd brought radiation-detection devices. The readings were so hot, the Dutch set up camp in the middle of the desert rather than live in the station ruins. "We got on the Internet," Reed said, "and we started researching depleted uranium." Then they contacted The New York Daily News, which paid for sophisticated urine tests available only overseas. Then they hired a lawyer. Reed, Gerard Matthew, Raymond Ramos, Hector Vega, Augustin Matos, Anthony Yonnone, Jerry Ojeda and Anthony Phillip all have depleted uranium in their urine, according to tests done in December 2003, while they bounced for months between Walter Reed and New Jersey's Fort Dix medical center, seeking relief that never came. The analyses were done in Germany, by a Frankfurt professor who developed a depleted uranium test with Randall Parrish, a professor of isotope geology at the University of Leicester in Britain. The veterans, using their positive results as evidence, have sued the U.S. Army, claiming officials knew the hazards of depleted uranium, but concealed the risks. The Department of Defense says depleted uranium is powerful and safe, and not that worrisome. Four of the highest-registering samples from Frankfurt were sent to the VA. Those results were negative, Reed said. "Their test just isn't as sophisticated," he said. "And when we first asked to be tested, they told us there wasn't one. They've lied to us all along." The VA's testing methodology is safe and accurate, the agency says. More than 2,100 soldiers from the current war have asked to be tested; only eight had DU in their urine, the VA said. The term depleted uranium is linguistically radioactive. Simply uttering the words can prompt a reaction akin to preaching atheism at tent revival. Heads shake, eyes roll, opinions are yelled from all sides. "The Department of Defense takes the position that you can eat it for breakfast and it poses no threat at all," said Steve Robinson of the National Gulf War Resource Center, which helps veterans with various problems, including navigating the labyrinth of VA health care. "Then you have far-left groups that ... declare it a crime against humanity." Several countries use it as weaponry, including Britain, which fired it during the 2003 Iraq invasion. An estimated 286 tons of DU munitions were fired by the United States in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. An estimated 130 tons were shot toppling Saddam Hussein. Depleted uranium can enter the human body by inhalation, the most dangerous method; by ingesting contaminated food or eating with contaminated hands; by getting dust or debris in an open wound, or by being struck by shrapnel, which often is not removed because doing so would be more dangerous than leaving it. Inhaled, it can lodge in the lungs. As with imbedded shrapnel, this is doubly dangerous -- not only are the particles themselves physically destructive, they emit radiation. A moderate voice on the divisive DU spectrum belongs to Dan Fahey, a doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley, who has studied the issue for years and also served in the Gulf War before leaving the military as a conscientious objector. "I've been working on this since '93 and I've just given up hope," he said. "I've spoken to successive federal committees and elected officials ... who then side with the Pentagon. Nothing changes." At the other end are a collection of conspiracy-theorists and internet proselytizers who say using such weapons constitutes genocide. Two of the most vocal opponents recently suggested that a depleted-uranium missile, not a hijacked jetliner, struck the Pentagon in 2001. "The bottom line is it's more hazardous than the Pentagon admits," Fahey said, "but it's not as hazardous as the hard-line activist groups say it is. And there's a real dearth of information about how DU affects humans." There are several studies on how it affects animals, though their results are not, of course, directly applicable to humans. Military research on mice shows that depleted uranium can enter the bloodstream and come to rest in bones, the brain, kidneys and lymph nodes. Other research in rats shows that DU can result in cancerous tumors and genetic mutations, and pass from mother to unborn child, resulting in birth defects. Iraqi doctors reported significant increases in birth defects and childhood cancers after the 1991 invasion. Iraqi authorities "found that uranium, which affected the blood cells, had a serious impact on health: The number of cases of leukemia had increased considerably, as had the incidence of fetal deformities," the U.N. reported. Depleted uranium can also contaminate soil and water, and coat buildings with radioactive dust, which can by carried by wind and sandstorms. In 2005, the U.N. Environmental Program identified 311 polluted sites in Iraq. Cleaning them will take at least $40 million and several years, the agency said. Nothing can start until the fighting stops. Fifteen years after it was first used in battle, there is only one U.S. government study monitoring veterans exposed to depleted uranium. Number of soldiers in the survey: 32. Number of soldiers in both Iraq wars: more than 900,000. The study group's size is controversial -- far too small, say experts including Fahey -- and so are the findings of the voluntary, Baltimore-based study. It has found "no clinically significant" health effects from depleted uranium exposure in the study subjects, according to its researchers. Critics say the VA has downplayed participants' health problems, including not reporting one soldier who developed cancer, and another who developed a bone tumor. So for now, depleted uranium falls into the quagmire of Gulf War Syndrome, from which no treatment has emerged despite the government's spending of at least $300 million. About 30 percent of the 700,000 men and women who served in the first Gulf War still suffer a baffling array of symptoms very similar to those reported by Reed's unit. Depleted uranium has long been suspected as a possible contributor to Gulf War Syndrome, and in the mid-90s, veterans helped push the military into tracking soldiers exposed to it. But for all their efforts, what they got in the end was a questionnaire dispensed to homeward-bound soldiers asking about mental health, nightmares, losing control, exposure to dangerous and radioactive chemicals. But, the veterans persisted, how would soldiers know they'd been exposed? Radiation is invisible, tasteless, and has no smell. And what exhausted, homesick, war-addled soldier would check a box that would only send him or her to a military medical center to be poked and prodded and questioned and tested? It will take years to determine how depleted uranium affected soldiers from this war. After Vietnam, veterans, in numbers that grew with the passage of time, complained of joint aches, night sweats, bloody feces, migraine headaches, unexplained rashes and violent behavior; some developed cancers. It took more than 25 years for the Pentagon to acknowledge that Agent Orange -- a corrosive defoliant used to melt the jungles of Vietnam and flush out the enemy -- was linked to those sufferings. It took 40 years for the military to compensate sick World War II vets exposed to massive blasts of radiation during tests of the atomic bomb. In 2002, Congress voted to not let that happen again. It established the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses -- composed of scientists, physicians and veterans' advocates. It reports to the secretary of Veterans Affairs. Its mandate is to judge all research and all efforts to treat Gulf War Syndrome patients against a single standard: Have sick soldiers been made better? The answer, according to the committee, is no. "Regrettably, after four years of operation neither the Committee nor (the) VA can report progress toward this goal," stated its December 2005 report. "Research has not produced effective treatments for these conditions nor shown that existing treatments are significantly effective." And so time marches on, as do soldiers going to, and returning from, the deserts of Iraq. Herbert Reed is an imposing man, broad shouldered and tall. He strides into the VA Medical Center in the Bronx with the presence of a cop or a soldier. Since the Vietnam War, he has been both. His hair is perfect, his shirt spotless, his jeans sharply creased. But there is something wrong, a niggling imperfection made more noticeable by a bearing so disciplined. It is a limp -- more like a hitch in his get-along. It is the only sign, albeit a tiny one, that he is extremely sick. Even sleep offers no release. He dreams of gunfire and bombs and soldiers who scream for help. No matter how hard he tries, he never gets there in time. At 54, he is a veteran of two wars and a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department, where he last served as an assistant warden at the Riker's Island prison. He was in perfect health, he says, before being deployed to Iraq. According to military guidelines, he should have heard the words depleted uranium long before he ended up at Walter Reed. He should have been trained about its dangers, and how to avoid prolonged exposure to its toxicity and radioactivity. He says he didn't get anything of the kind. Neither did other reservists and National Guard soldiers called up for the current war, according to veterans' groups. Reed and the seven brothers from his unit hate what has happened to them, and they speak of it at public seminars and in politicians' offices. It is something no VA doctor can explain; something that leaves them feeling like so many spent shell rounds, kicked to the side of battle. But for every outspoken soldier like them, there are silent veterans like Raphael Naboa, an Army artillery scout who served 11 months in the northern Sunni Triangle, only to come home and fall apart. Some days he feels fine. "Some days I can't get out of bed," he said from his home in Colorado. Now 29, he's had growths removed from his brain. He has suffered a small stroke -- one morning he was shaving, having put down the razor to rinse his face. In that moment, he blacked out and pitched over. "Just as quickly as I lost consciousness, I regained it," he said. "Except I couldn't move the right side of my body." After about 15 minutes, the paralysis ebbed. He has mentioned depleted uranium to his VA doctors, who say he suffers from a series of "non-related conditions." He knows he was exposed to DU. "A lot of guys went trophy-hunting, grabbing bayonets, helmets, stuff that was in the vehicles that were destroyed by depleted uranium. My guys were rooting around in it. I was trying to get them out of the vehicles." No one in the military talked to him about depleted uranium, he said. His knowledge, like Reed's, is self-taught from the internet. Unlike Reed, he has not gone to war over it. He doesn't feel up to the fight. There is no known cure for what ails him, and so no possible victory in battle. He'd really just like to feel normal again. And he knows of others who feel the same. "I was an artillery scout, these are folks who are in pretty good shape. Your Rangers, your Special Forces guys, they're in as good as shape as a professional athlete. "Then we come back and we're all sick." They feel like men who once were warriors and now are old before their time, with no hope for relief from a multitude of miseries that has no name. http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,71585-0.html?tw=wn_index_7

 

Please help APFN by supporting our sponsor links!   Why Has Our Military Refused to Show This Training Video To Our Troops Now Serving In Iraq? US ARMY TRAINING VIDEO: Depleted Uranium Hazard Awareness Video: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/DU_training_video.htm Depleted Uranium Audios: Doug Rokke AUDIO: Wed., June 7, 2006: Playlists: M3U | RAM (Individual MP3: Click Here) Christopher Bollyn speaks with Doug Rokke, and Leuren Moret about the military's use of Depleted Uranium in munitions. Mr.Rokke is the former Director of the US Army Depleted Uranium Project. Ms. Moret is a geophysicist specializing in atmospheric sciences, a nuclear activist, and a former scientist and whistle blower at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. http://mp3.rbnlive.com/Piper06.html White phosphorus White phosphorus called Shake and Bake http://www.apfn.org/apfn/DU_shake_&_bake.htm Democracy Now! Lebanese President Accuses Israel of Using White Phosphorus Bombs in Lebanon July 25, 2006 Independent journalist Dahr Jamail, who exposed how the U.S. used white phosphorus bombs in Iraq, says Israel is using the same tactic in Lebanon. We speak to him in Beirut. While Human Rights Watch is accusing Israel of using cluster bombs, the Lebanese president Emile Lahoud says Israel is also using white phosphorus. Lebanese doctors have reported witnessing the effects of white phosphorus on their patients. Independent journalist is in Beirut and has spoken to some of those doctors. Audio: http://www.apfn.org/audio/dn2006-0725-1_64kb.mp3 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/25/1442242 INTERVIEW: JOYCE RILEY... IRAQ DU PROBLEM FREE: BEYOND TREASON (CD) TO ANY GULF WAR VET 877 GULF VET Audio: http://www.apfn.net/pogo/A002I060712-goyette2.MP3 RANT: CHARLES, ABOUT DU & NUKE WEAPONS Audio: http://www.apfn.net/pogo/A003I060712-goyette3.MP3 United States Code TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I - CRIMES CHAPTER 118 - WAR CRIMES U.S. Code as of: 01/19/04 Section 2441. War crimes (a) Offense. - Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death. (b) Circumstances. - The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are that the person committing such war crime or the victim of such war crime is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States or a national of the United States (as defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act). (c) Definition. - As used in this section the term "war crime" means any conduct - (1) defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party; (2) prohibited by Article 23, 25, 27, or 28 of the Annex to the Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907; (3) which constitutes a violation of common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva, 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party and which deals with non-international armed conflict; or (4) of a person who, in relation to an armed conflict and contrary to the provisions of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended at Geneva on 3 May 1996 (Protocol II as amended on 3 May 1996), when the United States is a party to such Protocol, willfully kills or causes serious injury to civilians. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/ts_search.pl?title=18&sec=2441 ==================================== § 2332a. Use of weapons of mass destruction (a) Offense Against a National of the United States or Within the United States.— A person who, without lawful authority, uses, threatens, or attempts or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction— (1) against a national of the United States while such national is outside of the United States; (2) against any person or property within the United States, and (A) the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce is used in furtherance of the offense; (B) such property is used in interstate or foreign commerce or in an activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce; (C) any perpetrator travels in or causes another to travel in interstate or foreign commerce in furtherance of the offense; or (D) the offense, or the results of the offense, affect interstate or foreign commerce, or, in the case of a threat, attempt, or conspiracy, would have affected interstate or foreign commerce; (3) against any property that is owned, leased or used by the United States or by any department or agency of the United States, whether the property is within or outside of the United States; or (4) against any property within the United States that is owned, leased, or used by a foreign government, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if death results, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.   (b) Offense by National of the United States Outside of the United States.— Any national of the United States who, without lawful authority, uses, or threatens, attempts, or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction outside of the United States shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if death results, shall be punished by death, or by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.   (c) Definitions.— For purposes of this section— (1) the term “national of the United States” has the meaning given in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(22)); (2) the term “weapon of mass destruction” means— (A) any destructive device as defined in section 921 of this title; (B) any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors; (C) any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector (as those terms are defined in section 178 of this title); or (D) any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life; and (3) the term “property” includes all real and personal property. ==================================== http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002332---a000-.html The 1925 Protocol is part of the Geneva Conventions.  The War Crimes Act of 1996, in turn, specifically makes it a crime to commit a "grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party."  See Section (c)(1) of the War Crimes Act of 1996. The U.S. National Safety Council states that "White phosphorus is a poison . . . If its combustion occurs in a confined space, white phosphorus will remove the oxygen from the air and render the air unfit to support life . . . It is considered a dangerous disaster hazard because it emits highly toxic fumes.  The EPA has listed white phosphorus as a Hazardous Air Pollutant. Depleted Uranium The U.S. military's bombardment of Iraq in the current war and in the first Gulf War is also likely a war crime which violates the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996. Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's depleted uranium project -- a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel who was tasked by the US department of defense with the post-first Gulf war depleted uranium desert clean-up -- said use of Depleted Uranium ("DU") was a war crime. According to a August 2002 report by the UN subcommission, laws which are breached by the use of DU shells include the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. Since the use of DU violates the Geneva Conventions of 1949, it also likely violates the War Crimes Act of 1996. The use of white phosphorous as a weapon against civilians and the use of thousands of metric tons of DU could thus be prosecuted as war crimes under the 1996 Act.  Such actions -- especially when taken together with the numerous war crimes discussed previously -- could provide the basis for imposing life sentences or even the death penalty against the high-level U.S. officials who ordered, condoned or covered up such crimes, including those who provided the philosophical framework which allowed such crimes to occur. Source: http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/... Congress Calls For Truth About DU Troop Poisoning 'Definitive answer' on depleted uranium sought for troops audrey.parente@news-jrnl.com July 30, 2006, Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH -- After years of veterans pleading for help with illnesses occurring after service in the Gulf wars, the U.S. House and Senate are calling for an immediate study of health effects of exposure to a radioactive metal used in U.S. weapons and armor.   Lori Brim photo Dustin Brim with his mother, Lori Brim, in the summer of 2004 at Fisher House near Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., co-author of a Senate bill on depleted uranium that passed June 20, said other studies have been done on the subject. Those studies concluded there was no evidence that exposure to the metal caused illnesses.  "It is time for a review by the Pentagon to see if there has been scientific progress that would provide a more accurate and definitive answer to possible links to adverse health," Lieberman said in a written statement to The News-Journal. "This amendment would require the Pentagon to provide that assessment." The House passed a similar bill in May, and details are being hashed out in a joint committee. If the proposal becomes law, results of the study would be submitted to Congress within one year from its effective date. But the study comes too late for one Ormond Beach mother of an American soldier who believes exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq killed her son. UNCOVERING A CONTROVERSY In 2004, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Lori Brim's son, Army Spc. Dustin Brim, died at 22 of very aggressive cancers. The military physicians who tried to save him said exposure to depleted uranium did not cause his diseases. But Lori Brim took the whispered advice of a social worker there and started looking into the issue. She discovered political and medical controversies -- about whether the U.S. military should be using depleted uranium munitions and what effects exposure brings -- that have been raging since soldiers began returning home from the first Gulf War with mysterious ailments. Though that war marked the first time depleted uranium munitions had been used in combat, military sources have consistently discounted a link. Risks of exposure are minimal and abated by training, they say. And, they add, because tank armor and munitions made with the extremely dense material are so effective, use of depleted uranium saves U.S. lives. Brim said she has been frustrated in her efforts to acquire medical records that might offer evidence the cancers that killed her son resulted from exposure to depleted uranium. "I'm trying to share Dustin's voice, create awareness and make a difference," Brim said. "I believe to this day that, if soldiers and other personnel had been made aware of the risks of exposure to DU and how dangerous it is -- Dustin said he went for medical help 11 times while he was in Iraq -- somebody may have paid attention to him." Brim said she has been unable to find a Florida legislator willing to introduce a bill similar to several passed by other states, demanding study of the issue and testing for National Guard members returning from Iraq. She also has been disappointed by attorneys unwilling to help her and other mothers she knows pursue a class-action lawsuit against manufacturers of weapons she believes are polluting the Earth. She's hired Holly Hill author Lonnie Story to write her son's story. BODY MAY BE EXHUMED Dr. Asaf Durakovic, founder and head scientist at Uranium Medical Research Centre in Toronto, Canada, said Brim could exhume her son's body to be tested for radiation exposure. "If I found DU in his bones, it could prove his sickness could have been related to DU contamination," said Durakovic in a phone interview from Washington D.C, where he also has an office. "Radiation will not decompose." Brim said that's too emotional a decision for her to make now but continues to try to obtain the medical records. Those who, like Brim, are looking for answers about depleted uranium's health effects, "are facing a multibillion-dollar industry making radioactive ammunition," Durakovic said. Attempts to talk with some manufacturers of weapons containing depleted uranium went either unanswered or spokespeople declined interviews. The Department of Defense takes the position that depleted uranium is the best metal available for tank armor and munitions to penetrate armor on enemy vehicles. The military says that all personnel who use such equipment are adequately trained to safely handle depleted uranium. Doug Rokke, a veteran of the Gulf War, who has a doctorate in technology from the University of Illinois and was charged with cleanup of depleted uranium contaminated equipment after the first Gulf War, has been outspoken about the issue. He said soldiers are not properly trained and that "medical care has been willfully denied to a majority of DU casualties who are supposed to receive care." He said he's not sure that, if the bill before the joint committee makes it to law, it would have any effect on the use of weapons or treatment of soldiers. "The directive is to continue to use uranium munitions and avoid all liability," said Rokke, 57, of Rantoul, Ill. He said he is seeking medical care for exposure to radiation from depleted uranium. "The legal requirement to provide medical care has always existed, but the military disregards that." The military said more than 2,100 Operation Iraqi Freedom service members have been tested for exposure to depleted uranium, and eight were found to be positive. "All eight were involved in combat situations where they were exposed to depleted uranium fragments," said Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of Deployment Health Support in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, in a written statement. "The depleted uranium testing that is done for the military personnel is done at the U.S. Army laboratory at the Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, and at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology." He said all testing is paid for by the Department of Defense. At Northern Arizona University biochemist Diane Stearns said her recent studies should make the issue hard to ignore. Her results -- published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at a recent Society of Toxicology conference -- established that when cells are exposed to uranium, the uranium binds to DNA, and the cells mutate. She said exposure during the Gulf wars may link to increased cancers and birth defects in soldiers and in civilian survivors of exposure in the Middle East. Congress Calls For Truth About DU Troop Poisoning WantToKnow.info White House proposes retroactive war crimes protection Fri Aug 11, 2006 14:19   This message is available online at http://www.WantToKnow.info/060811newsarticles White House proposes retroactive war crimes protection August 10, 2006, 2006, Boston Globe/Associated Press http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/08/10/white_house_proposes_retroactive_war_crimes_protection/ The Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would retroactively protect policy makers from possible criminal charges for authorizing any humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal. At issue are interrogations carried out by the CIA and the degree to which harsh tactics such as water-boarding were authorized by administration officials. When interrogators engage in waterboarding, prisoners are strapped to a plank and dunked in water until nearly drowning. One section of the draft would outlaw torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, but it does not contain prohibitions from Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions against "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment." Another section would apply the legislation retroactively. The initiative is "not just protection of political appointees, but also CIA personnel who led interrogations." Interrogation practices "follow from policies that were formed at the highest levels of the administration." Declassified papers show U.S. atrocities went far beyond My Lai August 6, 2006, 2006, Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-vietnam6aug06,0,92368.story Kill anything that moves. Moments later, the 19 villagers lay dead or dying. Back home in California, Henry published an account of the slaughter. Yet he and other Vietnam veterans who spoke out about war crimes were branded traitors and fabricators. No one was ever prosecuted. Now, nearly 40 years later, declassified Army files show that Henry was telling the truth. The files are part of a once-secret archive...that shows that confirmed atrocities by U.S. forces in Vietnam were more extensive than was previously known. The Times...obtained copies of about 3,000 pages — about a third of the total — before government officials removed them from the public shelves, saying they contained personal information that was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. The documents detail 320 alleged incidents that were substantiated by Army investigators. Many war crimes did not make it into the archive. The archive...includes investigative fies, sworn statements by witnesses and status reports for top military brass. The records describe recurrent attacks on ordinary Vietnamese. Hundreds of soldiers...described a violent minority who murdered, raped and tortured with impunity. Abuses...were uncovered in every Army division that operated in Vietnam. Ultimately, 57 [soldiers] were court-martialed and just...fourteen received prison sentences ranging from six months to 20 years, but most won significant reductions on appeal. The stiffest sentence went to a military intelligence interrogator. He served seven months of a 20-year term. Many substantiated cases were closed with a letter of reprimand, a fine or, in more than half the cases, no action at all.   http://www.stopclustermunitions.org Technical analysis of cluster munitions CLICK, WATCH A CLUSTER "F" Cluster munitions are weapons that work by dispersing several smaller submunitions, often referred to as bomblets or grenades, over a wide area to destroy dispersed, moving and unseen targets. A cluster munition consists of a canister and several submunitions. After being dropped or fired, the canister opens in mid-air and ejects its cargo of submunitions. These submunitions then scatter over the target area and are designed to explode on impact.Cluster munitions can be delivered from aircraft, via rockets, missiles or bombs. Cluster munitions can also be launched from land-based systems such as artillery, from rockets, artillery shells or missiles. Cluster munitions are area weapons. This means they have effects that are not confined to one precise target, such as an indidual tank for example. Other examples of area weapons include napalm or incendiary bombs, or even nuclear weapons. Area weapons can be distinguished from point weapons, which attack single, pre-identified targets. An example of a point weapon is a guided missile set to destroy an anti-aircraft gun. Depending on the type of cluster munition and the type of delivery system, one cluster munition will strike an area as large as one square kilometre. This impact area is known as a footprint (click to watch). As noted above, cluster munitions are designed to explode on impact, or in other words each submunition will explode on impact, projecting shrapnel that is deadly over a radius of up to 50 metres. However, as with all munitions, a certain number of submunitions in each canister fail to explode on impact due to technical malfunction, inappropriate launch or drop conditions, soft terrain in the target area or a variety of other reasons. MORE: Watch different videos of cluster munitions: http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/dokumenti/dokument.asp?id=24 Depleted Uranium Situation Worsens Requiring Immediate Action By President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and Prime Minister Olmert Dr. Doug Rokke, PhD., former Director, U.S. Army Depleted Uranium project July 24, 2006 The delivery of at least 100 GBU 28 bunker busters bombs containing depleted uranium warheads by the United States to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon will result in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the middle east. Today, U.S., British, and now Israeli military personnel are using illegal uranium munitions- America's and England's own "dirty bombs" while U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense, and British Ministry of Defence officials deny that there are any adverse health and environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing, and/or use of uranium munitions to avoid liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive toxic material - depleted uranium. The use of uranium weapons is absolutely unacceptable, and a crime against humanity. Consequently the citizens of the world and all governments must force cessation of uranium weapons use. I must demand that Israel now provide medical care to all DU casualties in Lebanon and clean up all DU contamination. U.S. and British officials have arrogantly refused to comply with their own regulations, orders, and directives that require United States Department of Defense officials to provide prompt and effective medical care to "all" exposed individuals. Reference: Medical Management of Unusual Depleted Uranium Casualties, DOD, Pentagon, 10/14/93, Medical Management of Army personnel Exposed to Depleted Uranium (DU) Headquarters, U.S. Army Medical Command 29 April 2004, and section 2-5 of U.S. Army Regulation 700-48. Israeli officials must not do so now. They also refuse to clean up dispersed radioactive Contamination as required by Army Regulation- AR 700-48: "Management of Equipment Contaminated With Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities" (Headquarters, Department Of The Army, Washington, D.C., September 2002) and U.S. Army Technical Bulletin- TB 9-1300-278: "Guidelines For Safe Response To Handling, Storage, And Transportation Accidents Involving Army Tank Munitions Or Armor Which Contain Depleted Uranium" (Headquarters, Department Of The Army, Washington, D.C., JULY 1996). Specifically section 2-4 of United States Army Regulation-AR 700-48 dated September 16, 2002 requires that: (1) "Military personnel "identify, segregate, isolate, secure, and label all RCE" (radiologically contaminated equipment). (2) "Procedures to minimize the spread of radioactivity will be implemented as soon as possible." (3) "Radioactive material and waste will not be locally disposed of through burial, submersion, incineration, destruction in place, or abandonment" and (4) "All equipment, to include captured or combat RCE, will be surveyed, packaged, retrograded, decontaminated and released IAW Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278, DA PAM 700-48" (Note: Maximum exposure limits are specified in Appendix F). The previous and current use of uranium weapons, the release of radioactive components in destroyed U.S. and foreign military equipment, and releases of industrial, medical, research facility radioactive materials have resulted in unacceptable exposures. Therefore, decontamination must be completed as required by U.S. Army Regulation 700-48 and should include releases of all radioactive materials resulting from military operations. The extent of adverse health and environmental effects of uranium weapons contamination is not limited to combat zones but includes facilities and sites where uranium weapons were manufactured or tested including Vieques; Puerto Rico; Colonie, New York; Concord, MA; Jefferson Proving Grounds, Indiana; and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Therefore medical care must be provided by the United States Department of Defense officials to all individuals affected by the manufacturing, testing, and/or use of uranium munitions. Thorough environmental remediation also must be completed without further delay. I am amazed that fifteen years after was I asked to clean up the initial DU mess from Gulf War 1 and over ten years since I finished the depleted uranium project that United States Department of Defense officials and others still attempt to justify uranium munitions use while ignoring mandatory requirements. I am dismayed that Department of Defense and Department of Energy officials and representatives continue personal attacks aimed to silence or discredit those of us who are demanding that medical care be provided to all DU casualties and that environmental remediation is completed in compliance with U.S. Army Regulation 700-48. But beyond the ignored mandatory actions the willful dispersal of tons of solid radioactive and chemically toxic waste in the form of uranium munitions is illegal ( http://www.traprockpeace.org/karen_parker_du_illegality.pdf  ) and just does not even pass the common sense test and according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, DHS, is a dirty bomb. DHS issued "dirty bomb" response guidelines, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/fr-cont.html , on January 3, 2006 for incidents within the United States but ignore DOD use of uranium weapons and existing DOD regulations. These guidelines specifically state that: "Characteristics of RDD and IND Incidents: A radiological incident is defined as an event or series of events, deliberate or accidental, leading to the release, or potential release, into the environment of radioactive material in sufficient quantity to warrant consideration of protective actions. Use of an RDD or IND is an act of terror that produces a radiological incident." Thus the use of uranium munitions is "an act or terror" as defined by DHS. Finally continued compliance with the infamous March 1991 Los Alamos Memorandum that was issued to ensure continued use of uranium munitions can not be justified. In conclusion: the President of the United States- George W. Bush, the Prime Minister of Great Britain-Tony Blair, and the Prime Minister of Israel Olmert must acknowledge and accept responsibility for willful use of illegal uranium munitions- their own "dirty bombs"- resulting in adverse health and environmental effects. President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and Prime Minister Olmert should order: 1. medical care for all casualties, 2. thorough environmental remediation, 3. immediate cessation of retaliation against all of us who demand compliance with medical care and environmental remediation requirements, 4. and stop the already illegal the use (UN finding) of depleted uranium munitions. References- these references are copies the actual regulations and orders and other pertinent official documents: http://www.traprockpeace.org/twomemos.html http://www.traprockpeace.org/rokke_du_3_ques.html http://www.traprockpeace.org/du_dtic_wakayama_Aug2002.html http://www.traprockpeace.org/karen_parker_du_illegality.pdf http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/fr-cont.html http://cryptome.org/dhs010306.txt http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m25045&hd=0&size=1&l=e Nuns and Priests File Depleted Uranium Bunker Buster Resolution at Three Weapons Companies by Bill Baue - July 26, 2006 The resolution goes to vote next week at Alliant Techsystems, and already received more than double the support needed to re-file next year at Lockheed Martin and Textron. SocialFunds.com -- Depleted uranium (DU), the radioactive byproduct of uranium enrichment, is in the headlines as the US recently agreed to send 100 Guided Bomb Unit-28 bunker buster bombs containing DU warheads to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon, as reported by Reuters and others. Shareowner activists are also placing DU on the corporate agenda by filing a new resolution expressing health and environmental concerns and asking for a report from three companies on their involvement with DU. Concern centers on the pyrophoric properties of DU, which burns and loses much of its mass upon impact, dispersing a fine radioactive dust that can be carried long distances by winds or absorbed by soil and groundwater--not to mention human bodies. The resolution received 6.4 percent support at Lockheed Martin (ticker: LMT) and 9 percent support at Textron (TXT), both well over the 3 percent threshold required by the SEC for re-filing next year. The proposal goes to vote next week at Alliant Techsystems (ATK), which manufactures 120 mm rounds containing DU for penetrating tanks and light armor vehicles. "It's one thing to make a weapon that 'does the job' on the battlefield; it's another to manufacture and use one that destroys not only tanks, armored personnel carriers and underground bunkers but may also leave a potentially poisonous legacy in the bodies of the people who return to those areas after hostilities have ceased," said John Celichowski, head of the corporate responsibility program for the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order, which filed the resolution at Alliant. "We believe that the choice to use particular weapons in areas that are bound to be inhabited or re-inhabited by civilians raises serious moral questions which need to be addressed by our policy-makers, our armed services, the society they claim to be defending, and the companies that make such weapons." "The pyrophoric qualities of these weapons also creates potential risks for our own soldiers," he told SocialFunds.com. The resolutions make not only a moral and ethical case, but also a business case against DU. "The business case against DU centers around the potential liability for human and environmental impacts and damage to the companies' reputations," said Valerie Heinonen, a corporate social responsibility consultant to the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Detroit Charitable Trust, which filed the resolution at Lockheed. "Rather than seeking a market for radioactive waste, the federal government and corporations should work with NGOs to find solutions for long-term storage." PROXY Governance, one of the three major proxy advisory firms, recommends voting for the resolution at Alliant "PROXY Governance acknowledges that there are serious concerns regarding the health effects of using munitions containing depleted uranium (DU)," states PROXY Governance. "While we are not aware of significant litigation involving the health and safety of workers at DU munitions production facilities at this time, the potential for future such litigation exists." In fact, Richard David of the UK filed suit against Honeywell in 2004 claiming adverse health effects from working at a munitions factory during the first Gulf War where DU was used in manufacturing, according to an article in The Observer. "And while the World Health Organization and others have stated that there is no conclusive medical evidence linking DU to health problems, reports by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights have suggested that the weapons may well be illegal under The Geneva Conventions, The Hague Conventions and other international law," continues the PROXY Governance report. "Such a finding could complicate efforts by DU weapons manufacturers to defend themselves against potential future litigation involving health effects or environmental clean-up efforts." The Alliant board argues in its proxy statement that the company discloses information regarding its military- and defense-related contracting in its SEC filings, but PROXY Governance notes that these filings do not discuss the specific matters brought up in the resolution. PROXY Governance also recommended voting for the resolution at Lockheed, but against it at Textron, as the company's board points out in its proxy statement that the company is not involved in DU production and has no plans to be. Both ISS and Glass Lewis recommend voting against the resolution at all three companies. "We were in conversation with Textron management following the filing of the resolution, but we did not get satisfactory answers and therefore the lead filer, the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary decided to leave the resolution on the ballot," Sr. Heinonen told SocialFunds.com. "The vote at Textron may lead to further, more satisfactory conversation." http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/2067.html DU discussion with Leuren Moret and others, USA http://www.apfn.org/apfn/audio/WBAIDepletedUranium.mp3 "Radio Your Way" DAY 15: AUDIO: "Crisis in the Middle East" UPDATE: CNN: Anderson Cooper.... White Phosphorus (DU) Burns Explained http://www.apfn.net/pogo/L001I060724-anderson-cooper360.MP3 Depleted Uranium In India, Spreading Worldwide They Kill Us For Sport http://www.apfn.org/apfn/DU_india.htm  Interview with GleInterview with Glen Milner of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action about new nukes, depleted uranium and harassment by the Coast Guard 07/24/05 http://www.gzcenter.org/ http://www.apfn.org/apfn/audio/072405cf.mp3 Military OPT-OUT FORM http://www.apfn.org/pdf/military_opt_out.pdf

Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets A death sentence here and abroad by Leuren Moret At an April press conference, a group of New York Army National Guard vets raised their hands when asked if they have health problems. The soldiers, all from the 442nd Military Police Company, are complaining of headaches and fatigue after what they think is exposure to depleted uranium during their recent tour in Iraq. At an April press conference, a group of New York Army National Guard vets raised their hands when asked if they have health problems. The soldiers, all from the 442nd Military Police Company, are complaining of headaches and fatigue after what they think is exposure to depleted uranium during their recent tour in Iraq. “Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” - Henry Kissinger, quoted in “Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW’s in Vietnam” Vietnam was a chemical war for oil, permanently contaminating large regions and countries downriver with Agent Orange, and environmentally the most devastating war in world history. But since 1991, the U.S. has staged four nuclear wars using depleted uranium weaponry, which, like Agent Orange, meets the U.S. government definition of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Vast regions in the Middle East and Central Asia have been permanently contaminated with radiation. And what about our soldiers? Terry Jemison of the Department of Veterans Affairs reported this week to the American Free Press that “Gulf-era veterans” now on medical disability since 1991 number 518,739, with only 7,035 reported wounded in Iraq in that same 14-year period. This week the American Free Press dropped a “dirty bomb” on the Pentagon by reporting that eight out of 20 men who served in one unit in the 2003 U.S. military offensive in Iraq now have malignancies. That means that 40 percent of the soldiers in that unit have developed malignancies in just 16 months. Since these soldiers were exposed to vaccines and depleted uranium (DU) only, this is strong evidence for researchers and scientists working on this issue, that DU is the definitive cause of Gulf War Syndrome. Vaccines are not known to cause cancer. One of the first published researchers on Gulf War Syndrome, who also served in 1991 in Iraq, Dr. Andras Korényi-Both, is in agreement with Barbara Goodno from the Department of Defense’s Deployment Health Support Directorate, that in this war soldiers were not exposed to chemicals, pesticides, bioagents or other suspect causes this time to confuse the issue. This powerful new evidence is blowing holes in the cover-up perpetrated by the Pentagon and three presidential administrations ever since DU was first used in 1991 in the Persian Gulf War. Fourteen years after the introduction of DU on the battlefield in 1991, the long-term effects have revealed that DU is a death sentence and very nasty stuff. Scientists studying the biological effects of uranium in the 1960s reported that it targets the DNA. Marion Fulk, a nuclear physical chemist retired from the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab and formerly involved with the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid malignancies in soldiers from the 2003 war as “spectacular … and a matter of concern.” This evidence shows that of the three effects which DU has on biological systems - radiation, chemical and particulate ­ the particulate effect from nano-size particles is the most dominant one immediately after exposure and targets the Master Code in the DNA. This is bad news, but it explains why DU causes a myriad of diseases which are difficult to define. In simple words, DU “trashes the body.” When asked if the main purpose for using it 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.” Soldiers developing malignancies so quickly since 2003 can be expected to develop multiple cancers from independent causes. This phenomenon has been reported by doctors in hospitals treating civilians following NATO bombing with DU in Yugoslavia in 1998-1999 and the U.S. military invasion of Iraq using DU for the first time in 1991. Medical experts report that this phenomenon of multiple malignancies from unrelated causes has been unknown until now and is a new syndrome associated with internal DU exposure. Just 467 U.S. personnel were wounded in the three-week Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991. Out of 580,400 soldiers who served in Gulf War I, 11,000 are dead, and by 2000 there were 325,000 on permanent medical disability. This astounding number of disabled vets means that a decade later, 56 percent of those soldiers who served now have medical problems. The number of disabled vets reported up to 2000 has been increasing by 43,000 every year. Brad Flohr of the Department of Veterans Affairs told American Free Press that he believes there are more disabled vets now than even after World War II. They brought it home Not only were soldiers exposed to DU on and off the battlefields, but they brought it home. DU in the semen of soldiers internally contaminated their wives, partners and girlfriends. Tragically, some women in their 20s and 30s who were sexual partners of exposed soldiers developed endometriosis and were forced to have hysterectomies because of health problems. In a group of 251 soldiers from a study group in Mississippi who had all had normal babies before the Gulf War, 67 percent of their post-war babies were born with severe birth defects. They were born with missing legs, arms, organs or eyes or had immune system and blood diseases. In some veterans’ families now, the only normal or healthy members of the family are the children born before the war. The Department of Veterans Affairs has stated that they do not keep records of birth defects occurring in families of veterans. How did they hide it? Before a new weapons system can be used, it must be fully tested. The blueprint for depleted uranium weapons is a 1943 declassified document from the Manhattan Project. Harvard President and physicist James B. Conant, who developed poison gas in World War I, was brought into the Manhattan Project by the father of presidential candidate John Kerry. Kerry’s father served at a high level in the Manhattan Project and was a CIA agent. Conant was chair of the S-1 Poison Gas Committee, which recommended developing poison gas weapons from the radioactive trash of the atomic bomb project in World War II. At that time, it was known that radioactive materials dispersed in bombs from the air, from land vehicles or on the battlefield produced very fine radioactive dust which would penetrate all protective clothing, any gas mask or filter or the skin. By contaminating the lungs and blood, it could kill or cause illness very quickly. They also recommended it as a permanent terrain contaminant, which could be used to destroy populations by contaminating water supplies and agricultural land with the radioactive dust. The first DU weapons system was developed for the Navy in 1968, and DU weapons were given to and used by Israel in 1973 under U.S. supervision in the Yom Kippur war against the Arabs. The Phalanx weapons system, using DU, was tested on the USS Bigelow out of Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in 1977, and DU weapons have been sold by the U.S. to 29 countries. Military research report summaries detail the testing of DU from 1974-1999 at military testing grounds, bombing and gunnery ranges and at civilian labs under contract. Today 42 states are contaminated with DU from manufacture, testing and deployment. Women living around these facilities have reported increases in endometriosis, birth defects in babies, leukemia in children and cancers and other diseases in adults. Thousands of tons of DU weapons tested for decades by the Navy on four bombing and gunnery ranges around Fallon, Nevada, is no doubt the cause of the fastest growing leukemia cluster in the U.S. over the past decade. The military denies that DU is the cause. The medical profession has been active in the cover-up - just as they were in hiding the effects from the American public - of low level radiation from atmospheric testing and nuclear power plants. A medical doctor in Northern California reported being trained by the Pentagon with other doctors, months before the 2003 war started, to diagnose and treat soldiers returning from the 2003 war for mental problems only. Medical professionals in hospitals and facilities treating returning soldiers were threatened with $10,000 fines if they talked about the soldiers or their medical problems. They were also threatened with jail. Reporters have also been prevented access to more than 14,000 medically evacuated soldiers flown nightly since the 2003 war in C-150s from Germany who are brought to Walter Reed Hospital near Washington, D.C. Dr. Robert Gould, former president of the Bay Area chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), has contacted three medical doctors since February 2004, after I had been invited to speak about DU. Dr. Katharine Thomasson, president of the Oregon chapter of the PSR, informed me that Dr. Gould had contacted her and tried to convince her to cancel her invitation for me to speak about DU at Portland State University on April 12. Although I was able to do a presentation, Dr. Thomasson told me I could only talk about DU in Oregon “and nothing overseas … nothing political.” Dr. Gould also contacted and discouraged Dr. Ross Wilcox in Toronto, Canada, from inviting me to speak to Physicians for Global Survival (PGS), the Canadian equivalent of PSR, several months later. When that didn’t work, he contacted Dr. Allan Connoly, the Canadian national president of PGS, who was able to cancel my invitation and nearly succeeded in preventing Dr. Wilcox, his own member, from showing photos and presenting details on civilians suffering from DU exposure and cancer provided to him by doctors in southern Iraq. Dr. Janette Sherman, a former and long-standing member of PSR, reported that she finally quit some time after being invited to lunch by a new PSR executive administrator. After the woman had pumped Dr. Sherman for information all through lunch about her position on key issues, the woman informed Dr. Sherman that her last job had been with the CIA. How was the truth about DU hidden from military personnel serving in successive DU wars? Before his tragic death, Sen. Paul Wellstone informed Joyce Riley, R.N., B.S.N., executive director of the American Gulf War Veterans Association, that 95 percent of Gulf War veterans had been recycled out of the military by 1995. Any of those continuing in military service were isolated from each other, preventing critical information being transferred to new troops. The “next DU war” had already been planned, and those planning it wanted “no skunk at the garden party.” The US has a dirty (DU) little (CIA) secret A new book just published at the American Free Press by Michael Collins Piper, “The High Priests of War: The Secret History of How America’s Neo-Conservative Trotskyites Came to Power and Orchestrated the War Against Iraq as the First Step in Their Drive for Global Empire,” details the early plans for a war against the Arab world by Henry Kissinger and the neo-cons in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That just happens to coincide with getting the DU “show on the road” and the oil crisis in the Middle East, which caused concern not only to President Nixon. The British had been plotting and scheming for control of the oil in Iraq for decades since first using poison gas on the Iraqis and Kurds in 1912. The book details the creation of the neo-cons by their “godfather” and Trotsky lover Irving Kristol, who pushed for a “war against terrorism” long before 9/11 and was lavishly funded for years by the CIA. His son, William Kristol, is one of the most influential men in the United States. Both are public relations men for the Israeli lobby’s neo-conservative network, with strong ties to Rupert Murdoch. Kissinger also has ties to this network and the Carlyle Group, who, one could say, have facilitated these omnicidal wars beginning from the time former President Bush took office. It would be easy to say that we are recycling World Wars I and II, with the same faces. When I asked Vietnam Special Ops Green Beret Capt. John McCarthy, who could have devised this omnicidal plan to use DU to destroy the genetic code and genetic future of large populations of Arabs and Moslems in the Middle East and Central Asia - just coincidentally the areas where most of the world’s oil deposits are located - he replied: “It has all the handprints of Henry Kissinger.” In Zbignew Brzezinski’s book “The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives,” the map of the Eurasian chessboard includes four regions strategic to U.S. foreign policy. The “South” region corresponds precisely to the regions now contaminated permanently with radiation from U.S. bombs, missiles and bullets made with thousands of tons of DU. A Japanese professor, Dr. K. Yagasaki, has calculated that 800 tons of DU is the atomicity equivalent of 83,000 Nagasaki bombs. The U.S. has used more DU since 1991 than the atomicity equivalent of 400,000 Nagasaki bombs. Four nuclear wars indeed, and 10 times the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere from atmospheric testing! No wonder our soldiers, their families and the people of the Middle East, Yugoslavia and Central Asia are sick. But as Henry Kissinger said after Vietnam when our soldiers came home ill from Agent Orange, “Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used for foreign policy.” Unfortunately, more and more of those soldiers are men and women with brown skin. And unfortunately, the DU radioactive dust will be carried around the world and deposited in our environments just as the “smog of war” from the 1991 Gulf War was found in deposits in South America, the Himalayas and Hawaii. In June 2003, the World Health Organization announced in a press release that global cancer rates will increase 50 percent by 2020. What else do they know that they aren’t telling us? I know that depleted uranium is a death sentence … for all of us. We will all die in silent ways. http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml Poison Dust: A New Look At Radioactive Weapons in the Gulf-- Forum at the UN Church Center Tuesday, May 25, 2004 As the brutal occupation of Iraq continues, new revelations of U.S. war crimes emerge every day. One such crime is the use of Depleted Uranium weapons. Depleted Uranium is both chemically toxic and radioactive, and is linked to the symptoms known as Gulf War Syndrome. Today, half of the 697,000 veterans of the First Gulf War suffer serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth defects. The effects on the Iraqi people have been much greater. This crime against humanity must be exposed. The Depleted Uranium Project was formed to expose the impact of this illegal weapon and to put an end to its use. Over the past 6 years, we have produced a great deal of educational material, including a widely-read book and companion video, Medal of Dishonor. To that end, we are currently working on several projects, which include: The production of a new, updated documentary exposing the use and effects of depleted uranium. This film, Poison Dust, will be available to educators, activists, military personnel, and others. This film, which will graphically document the horrifying damage caused by depleted uranium weapons, will be an important tool in building a movement to stop this crime. A national tour to screen the DU film Poison Dust near military bases. The documentary, along with presentations by veterans and health care professionals, will bring this important information directly to military personnel and their families, who are directly affected by depleted uranium. “Poison Dust,” a forum to be held at the UN Church Center on Tuesday, May 25, to launch this new project before the media and the international community and to demand: full testing, full health care and compensation, decontamination, and reparations to all victims of depleted uranium. Speakers will include: former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; physicist Dr. Michio Kaku; Juan Gonzalez, Daily News reporter and host of Democracy Now; and GIs and Veterans affected by DU weapons. The publication of new educational literature to expose the use of these deadly and illegal weapons of mass destruction by the U.S. military. Please join us in building a movement to stop this war crime. This is an ambitious but urgently needed educational program. A great deal of work has been done already, but much more remains to be done. We need your help to finish the video and educational resources. Please consider sending a tax-deductible donation to the People’s Rights Fund /DU Project to help us with this important work. (All Donors will be listed in the film credits) Yours in the struggle, Dustin Langley, SNAFU Sue Harris, Peoples Video Network Billy Martin, Movement in Motion Sara Flounders, International Action Center  http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-26623.html Sailors sort blue-tipped depleted uranium MK-38 25mm machine-gun shells while another fires them out to sea in exercises at Shoalwater Bay. Notice the protective clothing and gloves. CAN YOU HELP US , PLEASE! Do you know what kind of weapons causes this damage? Israeli aggression on Lebanon July 2006 More photos: http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=55&p=24885&s2=21 INTERVIEW: JOYCE RILEY... IRAQ DU PROBLEM FREE: BEYOND TREASON (CD) TO ANY GULF WAR VET 877 GULF VET http://www.apfn.net/pogo/A002I060712-goyette2.MP3 RANT: CHARLES, ABOUT DU & NUKE WEAPONS http://www.apfn.net/pogo/A003I060712-goyette3.MP3 Philip Dru interviews Doug Rokke Ph.D. about depleted uranium. He is a former Army Lieutenant who was in charge of clean up and disposal of Iraqi (and American) tanks that were hit with depleted uranium in 1991. He is now working to have d.u. rounds banned. http://www.apfn.org/apfn/audio/072405cf.mp3

 

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Some pictures are classified because they reveal the secret ways the United States wages war. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/24/politics/24PHOT.html?ex=1398139200&en=61b6f8b9749b1c66&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND  President Bush has not attended the funeral of a single U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. And veterans are starting to notice. http://www.alternet.org/story/17079/

Is depleted Uranium the reason Bush does not want us to see the coffins? Is this why there are closed caskets? Is this why there are mass graves to bury the fallen? Kind of makes one wonder........ Pentagon eyes mass graves From Denver Post Snip) If soldiers are killed by "something like smallpox in which bodies cannot be decontaminated, we would have to cremate them right there," Kuykendall said. He said he recently discussed the option in detail with Brig. Gen. Steve Reeves, program executive officer for the Army's chemical and biological defense office. Reeves declined to comment. "You would have to protect the living, so you'd have to get rid of the (contaminated) bodies as quickly as possible," Kuykendall said. "You don't want to contaminate any survivors who are not already contaminated." It is possible to decontaminate bodies, but such efforts would be "very sensitive, expensive and time-consuming," particularly for corpses infected with contagious biological agents, Kuykendall said. http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/war/iraq/mass_graves.shtml

 

Learn About Depleted Uranium From The US Army's Expert on Depleted Uranium (DU) : Nuclear Holocaust and The Politics of Radiation http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Rokke-Depleted-Uranium-DU21apr03.htm Depleted Uranium Information about depleted uranium in question and answer form. www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm

 

Special Report on Depleted Uranium Charred bodies Bodies of Iraqi soldiers abandoned in the desert. Charred black by fires ignited by depleted uranium projectiles, they look all too familiar to those of us who have seen the A-bomb Memorial Museum in Hiroshima. (Courtesy of Carol Picou, taken February 1991 in southern Iraq) Click to view larger picture (54K) http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/special/index2.html

Uranium Munitions = Depleted Uranium half life of 4.5 billion years * http://www.criticalconcern.com/depleted_uranium.htm House Passes McDermott Depleted Uranium Study Amendment Possible DU Health Effects on Soldiers Will Be Studied May 11, 2006 For Immediate Release http://www.house.gov/mcdermott/pr060511b.shtml PDF] The Silent Genocide from America File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML "DU [deleted uranium] is released from fired weapons in the form of small. particles that may be inhaled, ingested or remain in the environment." ... www.ratical.org/radiation/DU/MirakiSGfromA.pdf  Depleted Uranium Watch http://www.stopnato.org.uk/du-watch/ Depleted Uranium: A slow, silent killer A crime against humanity http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2001/nn11107.htm

 

Teeshirts with large logo printing are relatively cheap at say $6.50 each plus a one time setup fee. Printing back and front gets attention at malls, stores, walking, working.... the message gets out! Ralph Charles Whitley, Sr. a decorated Veteran of One 4532 W. Kennedy Blvd. PMB-276 Tampa, Florida 33609-2042 backflow.prevention@verizon.net Killing our own with depleted uranium The United States has no business employing such weapons. The Minnesota Daily September 29, 2005 Imagine a weapon equivalent to Agent Orange combined with a nuclear bomb. Such weapons exists - and are in regular use. They are depleted-uranium weapons, made from the waste products of nuclear power plants and weapons facilities. U.S. forces are using them in Iraq, even after horrific side effects of their use surfaced during the 1991 Gulf war. The United States has no business employing such cruel weapons. The United Nations classifies depleted-uranium ammunition as an illegal weapons of mass destruction because of their long-term impacts on the land over which they explode and the long-term health problems they cause when people are exposed to them. Apparently, the United States is hypocritical enough to disregard a plea not to use weapons of mass destruction. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers suffer from Gulf war syndrome and have had children with severe birth defects after being exposed to depleted uranium; other health risks include cancer and radiation sickness-like syndromes. Enough studies have confirmed these harmful effects of radiation and heavy metal toxicity. It is not just U.S. soldiers who will feel the effects this time. While much of the depleted uranium use in the Gulf war occurred over desert, in Iraq the weapons are exploding over heavily populated civilian areas. Iraqis will feel the effects of the radiation and uranium years after the United States leaves the scene - U.S. forces are poisoning the very population they are supposedly seeking to liberate. And while U.S. citizens and Iraqis are dying, the Pentagon insists depleted uranium is "safe" for U.S. troops. This blatant disregard for scientific, medical proof that these weapons are damaging is a crime against humanity - some justifiably label it a war crime. Just as Agent Orange still affects Vietnam veterans and radiation sickness remains in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, depleted uranium-related illnesses will haunt thousands of soldiers and civilians for years to come. And the number of those affected will steadily increase the longer these weapons remain in use in Iraq. The U.S. armed forces must cease their use and regain an iota of compassion for human suffering. http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2005/09/28/65337 KNOWN ILLNESSES INFLICTED BY INTERNALIZATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM PARTICLES Table 1: Compiled by Leuren Moret from Interviews with Gulf War Vets and their families GENERAL abnormal births and birth defects abnormal metabolism of semen: contains  amine & ammonium alkaline  acute autoimmune symptoms  (lung-, liver-, kidney failure)  acute myeloid leukemia  (deadly within days or weeks) acute immune depression  acute respiratory failure  asthma auto-immune deficiencies Balkan-syndrome  blood in stools and urine body function control loss bone cancer  brain damage brain tumors  burning semen  burning sensations  calcium loss in body cardiovascular signs or symptoms chemical sensitivities Chronic Fatigue Syndrome  chronic kidney and liver disorders  chronic myeloid leukemia  chronic respiratory infections  colon cancer  confusion diarrhea  digestive problems  dizziness Epstein Barr Syndrome fluid buildup fibromyalgia gastrointestinal signs/symptoms general fatigue  genetic alterations glandular carcinoma  Gulf war-syndrome  headaches (severe)  heart attack/disease  high blood pressure  high frequency of micturition  Hodgkin lymphoma  immune system deficiency  infections  insomnia  involuntary movements  joint/muscle/leg pain  kidney failure/damage leukemia  liver carcinoma loss of feeling in fingers  Lou Gehrigs Disease -ALS low blood oxygen saturation ( low HbO2)  low lung volume lung damage lung cancer  lymph cancer  lymphoma melanoma  memory loss  metallic taste Microplasma fermentans/  incognitis infections mood swings ­ violence  homicide/suicide multiple cancers multiple myeloma  myeloma  muscle pain nerve damage  neuro-muscular degenerative  disease non-Hodgkin lymphoma  other malignancies  pancreas carcinoma  Parkinsons disease petit & grand mal fits rashes  reactive airway disease reduced IQ respiratory ailments  shortness of breath sinus diseases  skin cancer  skin damage: sweat glands  with trapped du-particles  skin infections  skin spotting  smell, loss of sleep disturbances stiffening of fingers  teeth crumbling thyroid cancer  thyroid disease unable to walk unusual fevers/night sweats unusual hair loss  vision problems weight loss CHILDREN alimentary disorders  asthma  bladder & sphincter paralysis  blindness  complete range of known and  unknown Congenital Defects  deafness  dyspraxia  headache  kidney disease  leukemia  lymphoma  malformations of legs, arms,  toes & fingers  respiratory disorders  stillbirth  neural tube defects FEMALE abdominal pain  breast cancer  breast cancer at very young  age (20)  cervix cancer  endometriosis headaches  incontinence  joint pain  lung cancer at age 20 and  non-smoker  menstrual problems  miscarriages  nausea  ovarian cancer  paralysis of digestive system  thyroid problems  uterine cancer MALE (acute) headache  acute myeloid leukemia  arthritis  avoiding people  breathing problems  (stridor)  chemical sensitivity  chronic myeloid leukemia  endometriosis in partners gastrointestinal disorder  hip and leg pain  joint pain  lung cancer at young age  lymphoma  skin cancer  skin eruptions  stomach pain  suicide  testicular cancer  unable to walk  VISIE: http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/du-diagnosis.html  DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM website: http://www.ushostnet.com/gulfwar/articles.htm  04/1504 http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Trojan-Horse1jul04.htm

 

UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Fifty-third session Item 5 of the provisional agenda Human Rights and Toxics: Depleted Uranium and the Gulf War Written statement submitted by International Educational Development/Humanitarian Law Project a non-governmental organization on the Roster 1. International Educational Development/Humanitarian Law Project welcomes the progress made on the issue of toxics and the innovative and necessary work of the Commission's rapporteur Fatma-Zohra Ksentini. We have submitted information to the rapporteur on the use of weapons containing depleted uranium by the United States forces in the Gulf War. We are also continuing to compile information on this subject in light of Sub-Commission resolution 1996/[ ] (U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/L.18) which requests that information on the use of weapons of mass destruction, including those containing depleted uranium, is including in a report by the Secretary-General to the Sub- Commission at its forty-ninth session. 2. During the Gulf War up to 800 tons of munitions containing depleted uranium were used by United States forces in military actions in Kuwait and Iraq. This was the first field test of these weapon in actual combat, and they proved to be exceptionally effective anti-tank projectiles due to their superior armour-piercing capacity. It is unclear how much of the discarded shell casings and other radioactive material still remains in Iraq, but several investigators who have traveled to the area reports that shell casings containing depleted uranium are scattered all over the ground in many areas, including in school yards and other similar civilian locales. 3. Depleted uranium contain about 30% less than normal of 235/U, a dangerous radioisotope of uranium used in nuclear bombs and commercial power plants. It is a byproduct of extraction of 235/U form natural uranium. Much of depleted uranium is 238/U with a half life of 4 billion years. 4. Depleted uranium vaporizes when deployed in armour-piercing bullets. Scientific studies indicate if as much as one small particle (<5 microns in diameter) enters the lungs, the lungs and surrounding tissue will be exposed to 270 times the radiation permitted for workers in the radiation industry. 5. We first raised this issue at the fifty-second session of the Commission when, in conjunction with Margarita Papandreou and Women for Mutual Security and the International Commission of Inquiry on Economic Sanctions, we addressed the serious situation of especially children in Iraq. Thousands of children in Iraq suffer from illnesses related to depleted uranium compounded in gravity by the effects of the economic sanctions. Now, children and animals in the area are being born with the serious congenital anomalies and disabilities associated with low grade radiation poisoning. At that session we presented Dr. Horst Gunther who has traveled to Iraq and who has documented, in report and by photograph, the devastating situation in Iraq. 6. Since that time, more evidence of the use of depleted uranium and the Iraqi medical catastrophe has been presented while at the same time the controversy over "Gulf War Syndrome" escalates in the United States. It now appears that key information relating to this situation has been removed from top secret files or destroyed. 7. Evidence compiled in the United States indicates as many as 50,000 veterans of the United States forces in the Gulf War and 4,000 or more from the allied countries have conditions that appear to be clear consequences of military service. There are no available statistics on the number of Iraqis showing similar symptoms, although Dr. Gunther's investigations indicate many thousands. 8. In addition to the serious problems faced by those exposed to DU during the Gulf War, there is a worldwide problem of the disposal of DU. These is an estimated billion pounds of DU tailings in the United States, and the United States Department of Energy is seeking opportunities to dispose of it. There are an estimated 30 million KGs DU tailings stored in Europe at URENCO plants. The United States Army Environmental Policy Institute (USAEPI) reports that the United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Thailand, Israel, France and other unspecified countries have developed or are developing DU weapons. 9. We urge the Special Rapporteur to investigate the situation of the use of DU in the Gulf War and its effect on human rights. We also urge the Rapporteur to monitor the situation of DU storage and transport. http://www.webcom.com/hrin/parker/c97-5w.html (original UN Report .pdf file is down)

 

Iraq's real WMD crime By Lawrence Smallman http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E8C356F9-E89F-4CD3-88B5-BBBDF9E085C1.htm Thursday 30 October 2003, 9:55 Makka Time, 6:55 GMT Depleted uranium has a half life of 4.7 billion years; that means thousands upon thousands of Iraqi children will suffer. There are weapons of mass destruction all over Iraq and they were used this year. Iraqi children continue to find them every day. They have ruined the lives of just under 300,000 people during the last decade - and numbers will increase. The reason is simple. Two hundred tonnes of radioactive material were fired by invading US forces into buildings, homes, streets and gardens all over Baghdad. The material in question is depleted uranium (DU). Left over after natural uranium has been enriched, DU is 1.7 times denser than lead - effective in penetrating armoured objects such as tanks. After a DU-coated shell strikes, it goes straight through before exploding into a burning vapour which turns to dust. "Depleted