The casualties of the Iraq War will be ongoing for years to come, whether we leave now or later. Some of us non-combatants may end up as a casualty years from now just because of where we live.
Radioactive Tank
The enduring vigorous stupidity of the U.S. military pretends that radiation is one of those things that if you can’t see it, it can’t hurt you. They are thoroughly delusional, of course. A National Academy of Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds that there is no safe level of radiation. Any radiation is bad.
More snippets below:
“In conclusion,” Dr. Rokke urged, “the president of the United States, George W. Bush, and the prime minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, must acknowledge and accept responsibility for willful use of illegal uranium munitions – their own “dirty bombs” – resulting in adverse health and environmental effects.”
Are Bush and Blair aware of this or was the ‘intelligence’ faulty?
Another explanation is that the U.S. Army and other branches of the military are far from stupid. They are, in fact, the most lethal and carefully planned military in the history of the world. The extensive use of weaponized uranium oxide gas, aerosols and dust is not an accident or an oversight. They did it on purpose.
If this is true, they purposely used a genocidal weapon over at least a 15-year period. No, this is not a callous mistake of empire; it is a calculated act of genocide to weaken the oil- and gas-rich countries of Central Asia, including Iraq. Take your choice: they are either stupid or genocidal monsters.
Who will they blame for this? Osama Bin Laden or will this be the Saddam’s illusive Weapons of Mass Destruction in the history books?
Karen Parker, a prominent U.S. international human rights lawyer, says there are four rules derived from humanitarian laws and conventions regarding weapons:
Weapons may only be used against legal enemy military targets and must not have an adverse effect elsewhere (the territorial rule).
Weapons can only be used for the duration of an armed conflict and must not be used or continue to act afterwards (the temporal rule).
Weapons may not be unduly inhumane (the “humaneness” rule). The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 speak of “unnecessary suffering” and “superfluous injury” in this regard
Weapons may not have an unduly negative effect on the natural environment (the “environmental” rule).
“DU weaponry fails all four tests,” Parker states. “First, DU cannot be limited to legal military targets. Second, it cannot be ‘turned off’ when the war is over but keeps killing.
“Third, DU can kill through painful conditions such as cancers and organ damage and can also cause birth defects, such as facial deformities and missing limbs. Lastly, DU cannot be used without unduly damaging the natural environment.
“In my view, use of DU weaponry violates the grave breach provisions of the Geneva Conventions,” Parker concluded, “and so its use constitutes a war crime, or crime against humanity.”
I think we need to be more concerned of the future Iraq War Syndrome than of the future Bird Flu.
AGREED!
Quickly saw either a diary or comment, over at the orange place, about trainloads of radioactive tanks being moved by train in Kansas.
The tanks were made radio active by DU. Wish I could give you a link, but it was after midnight and I was fuzzy tired.
If this information from the orange place is accurate, not only will returning vets have problems, but civilians in certain areas, because the US Govt will store these poisonous machines somewhere on our land.
There most certainly is a safe level of radiation. You’re being bombarded with something below that threshold right now. The body naturally cycles atoms out of itself, so there is a rate at which it purges radioactive isotopes, and if the exposure rate is less than that rate, there’s little chance of permanent damage. Then there’s a level of exposure that will not cause problems before you die of natural causes, etc.
However, the method of exposure and duration of exposure is just as important as the concentration. External alpha radiation, for example, is a minor threat, as the skin can absorb it easily and without serious harm. Ingest the radioactive isotope, though, and it suddenly becomes capable of causing much more damage. And that is the problem with using depleted uranium in combat. It fragments, shreds, and vaporizes, making it very likely that a good deal of it will wind up inside soldiers on both sides. To make matters worse, not only is it radioactive, it’s toxic. Oops!
There are multiple documented reports of effects like this. So either there’s significant toxicity and radioactivity threats from battlefield use of DU, or the American army is using some really sick chemical warfare agents without informing or protecting their own troops.
Anyone care to give odds on which it is?
It is notable that the clothing of the fleshmelt victims in Iraq is quite intact.
I try and keep track of all the DU articles that are written(since first Gulf War) and they only become more horrifying as time goes on.
DU is going to(and already has)cause such massive damage to the troops that were in Iraq(and elsewhere)then passed on the spouses and as mentioned the general public with the bringing back of vehicles/tanks etc that are covered with this stuff. And to think the Iraqi’s(and Afghanistan) are living with this shit and have been since the first Gulf War and now we’ve used a 100 fold more bombs/bullets with no end in sight. The devastation this is going to cause to the general health of most troops might become the crime of century if people start being told the whole story on DU. That would be in tandem with troops probably being denied help or correct diagnosis by the government to further cause the soldiers mental anguish of no doubt having to fight for basic benefits.
This is another one of those MSM stories that has been completely ignored…a crime in itself.
Of course the military is going to deny DU is dangerous-what else can they say?….their still trying to ignore Agent Orange for the most part for gods sake.
What’s really scary, though, is that the stuff isn’t just radioactive. Radioactivity is nasty, but it eventually goes away on its own, and can be dealt with to one degree or another.
If memory serves, a number of studies found that DU is also toxic. And toxic stuff can be a lot harder to get rid of safely.
I should have added that I think it will be up to bloggers to keep stories of DU alive and try to get the information of DU to the general public. And one more reason to think bush is a vile piece of garbage but then he’s probably never even heard of DU-and wouldn’t believe it if he did anymore than he believes in global warming.
DU is only slightly radioactive. So this aspect is overstated. It is, however, a heavy metal like lead and thus can cause the usual types of heavy metal poisoning that these substances create. It can be removed from the body by the same techniques used to treat other heavy metals, usually EDTA.
What makes DU a problem is that it gets vaporized in battle and becomes dispersed and likely to be inhaled. It can then lodge in the lungs, which is not a good thing. Using it is irresponsible, but slightly less so than some of the other things military forces do. Its use should be banned, but the US has still not agreed to the ban on land mines, which is probably a much more devastating issue.
Here is a sample link discussing the subject:
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/du.htm