| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Enkidu the Atheist" |
| Date: |
15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 AM |
| Object: |
Death By Slow Burn |
Death By Slow Burn -
How America Nukes Its Own Troops - What 'Support Our Troops' Really Means
By Amy Worthington - The Idaho Observer 05. 2. 03
On March 30, an AP photo featured an American pro-war activist holding a
sign: "Nuke the evil scum, it worked in 1945!" That's exactly what George
Bush has done. America's mega-billion dollar war in Iraq has been indeed
a NUCLEAR WAR.
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
Over a decade ago, war-makers decided to incorporate this lethal waste
into much of the Pentagon's weaponry. Navy ships carrying Phalanx rapid
fire guns are capable of firing thousands of DU rounds per minute.(1)
Tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. ships and subs are DU-tipped.(2) The
M1 Abrams tanks are armored with DU.(3) These and British Challenger II
tanks are tightly packed with DU shells, which continually irradiate
troops in or near them.(4) The A-10 "tank buster" aircraft fires DU
shells at machines and people on the battlefield.(5)
DU munitions are classified by a United Nations resolution as illegal
weapons of mass destruction. Their use breaches all international laws,
treaties and conventions forbidding poisoned weapons calculated to cause
unnecessary suffering.
Ironically, support for our troops will extend well beyond the war in
Iraq. Americans will be supporting Gulf War II veterans for years as they
slowly and painfully succumb to radiation poisoning. U.S and British
troops deployed to the area are the walking dead. Humans and animals,
friends and foes in the fallout zone are destined to a long downhill
spiral of chronic illness and disability. Kidney dysfunction, lung
damage, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, joint pain, unsteady gait, memory
loss and rashes and, ultimately, cancer and premature death await those
exposed to DU.
Award-winning journalist Will Thomas wrote: "As the last Gulf conflict so
savagely demonstrated, GI immune systems reeling from multiple doses of
experimental vaccines offer little defense against further exposure to
chemical weapons, industrial toxins, stress, caffeine, insect repellent
and radiation leftover from the last war. This is a war even the victors
will lose."(6)
When a DU shell is fired, it ignites upon impact. Uranium, plus traces of
plutonium and americium, vaporize into tiny, ceramic particles of
radioactive dust. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit
radiation indefinitely. A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node
can devastate the entire immune system according to British radiation
expert Roger Coghill.(7)
The Royal Society of England published data showing that battlefield
soldiers who inhale or swallow high levels of DU can suffer kidney
failure within days.(8) Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled
lethal radioactive dust is not breathing. In the first two weeks of
combat, 700 Tomahawks, at a cost of $1.3 million each, blasted Iraqi real
estate into radioactive mushroom clouds.(9) Millions of DU tank rounds
liter the terrain. Cleanup is impossible because there is no place on the
planet to put so much contaminated debris.
Bush Sr.'s Gulf War I was also a nuclear war. 320 tons of depleted
uranium were used against Iraq in 1991.(10) A 1998 report by the U.S.
Agency for Toxic Substances confirms that inhaling DU causes symptoms
identical to those claimed by many sick vets with Gulf War Syndrome.(11)
The Gulf War Veterans Association reports that at least 300,000 Gulf War
I vets have now developed incapacitating illnesses.(12) To date, 209,000
vets have filed claims for disability benefits based on service-connected
injuries and illnesses from combat in that war.(13)
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a professor of nuclear medicine at Georgetown
University, is a former army medical expert. He told nuclear scientists
in Paris last year that tens of thousands of sick British and American
soldiers are now dying from radiation they encountered during Gulf War I.
He found that 62 percent of sick vets tested have uranium isotopes in
their organs, bones, brains and urine.(14) Laboratories in Switzerland
and Finland corroborated his findings.
In other studies, some sick vets were found to be expressing uranium in
even their semen. Their sexual partners often complained of a burning
sensation during intercourse, followed by their own debilitating
illnesses.(15)
Nothing compares to the astronomical cancer rates and birth defects
suffered by the Iraqi people who have endured vicious nuclear
chastisement for years.(16) U.S. air attacks against Iraq since 1993 have
undoubtedly employed nuclear munitions. Pictures of grotesquely deformed
Iraqi infants born since 1991 are overwhelming.(17) Like those born to
Gulf War I vets, many babies born to troops now in Iraq will also be
afflicted with hideous deformities, neurological damage and/or blood and
respiratory disorders.(18)
As an Army health physicist, Dr. Doug Rokke was dispatched to the Middle
East to salvage DU-contaminated tanks after Gulf War I. His Geiger
counters revealed that the war zones of Iraq and Kuwait were contaminated
with up to 300 millirems an hour in beta and gamma radiation plus
thousands to millions of counts per minute in alpha radiation. Rokke
recently told the media: "The whole area is still trashed. It is hotter
than heck over there still. This stuff doesn't go away."(19)
DU remains "hot" for 4.5 billion years. Radiation expert Dr. Helen
Caldicott confirms that the dust-laden winds of DU-contaminated war zones
"will remain effectively radioactive for the rest of time."(20) The
murderous dust storms which ensnared coalition troops during the first
few days of the current invasion are sure to have significant health
consequences.
Rokke and his cleanup team were issued only flimsy dust masks for their
dangerous work. Of the 100 people on Rokke's decontamination team, 30
have already "dropped dead." Rokke himself is ill with radiation damage
to lungs and kidneys. He has brain lesions, skin pustules, chronic
fatigue, continual wheezing and painful fibromyalgia. Rokke warns that
anyone exposed to DU should have adequate respiratory protection and
special coveralls to protect their clothing because, he says, you can't
get uranium particles off your clothing.
The U.S. military insists that DU on the battlefield is not a problem.
Colonel James Naughton of the U.S. Army Material Command recently told
the BBC that complaints about DU "had no medical basis."(21) The
military's own documents belie this. A 1993 Pentagon document warned that
"when soldiers inhale or ingest DU dust they incur a potential increase
in cancer risk."(22) A U.S. Army training manual requires anyone who
comes within 25 meters of DU-contaminated equipment to wear respiratory
and skin protection.(23) The U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute
admitted: "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to generate
significant medical consequences."(24) The Institute also stated that, if
the troops were to realize what they had been exposed to, "the financial
implications of long-term disability payments and healthcare costs would
be excessive."(25) For pragmatic reasons, DOD chooses to lie and deny.
Dr. Rokke confirms that the Pentagon lies about DU dangers and is
criminally negligent for neglecting medical attention needed by DU-
contaminated vets. He predicts that the numbers of American troops to be
sickened by DU from Gulf War II will be staggering.(26) As they gradually
sicken and suffer a slow burn to their graves, the Pentagon will, as it
did after Gulf War I, deny that their misery and death is a result of
their tour in Iraq.
Dr. Rokke's candor has cost him his career. Likewise, Dr. Durakovic's
radiation studies on Gulf War I vets were not popular with U.S.
officials. Dr. Durakovic was reportedly told his life was in danger if he
continued his research. He left the U.S. to continue his research abroad.
(27)
Naive young coalition soldiers now in Iraq are likely unaware of how
deadly their battlefield environment is. Gulf War I troops were kept in
ignorance. Soldiers handled DU fragments and some wore these lethal
nuggets around their necks. A DU projectile emits more radiation in five
hours than allowed in an entire year under civilian radiation exposure
standards. "We didn't know any better," Kris Kornkven told Nation
magazine. "We didn't find out until long after we were home that there
even was such a thing as DU."(28)
George Bush's ongoing war in Afghanistan is also a nuclear war. Shortly
after 9-11, the U.S. announced it would stockpile tactical nuclear
weapons including small neutron bombs, nuclear mines and shells suited to
commando warfare in Afghanistan.(29) In late September, 2001, Bush and
Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed that the U.S. would use tactical
nuclear weapons in Afghanistan while Putin would employ nuclear weapons
against the Chechnyans.(30)
Describing the Pentagon's B-61-11 burrowing nuke bomb, George Smith
writes in the Village Voice: "Built ram tough with a heavy metal casing
for smashing through the earth and concrete, the B-61 explodes with the
force of an estimated 340,000 tons of TNT. It is lots of bang for the
buck, literally two apocalypse bombs in one, a boosted plutonium
firecracker called the primary and a heavy hydrogen secondary for that
good old-fashioned H-bomb fireball."(31)
Drought-stricken Afghanistan's underground water supply is now
contaminated by these nuclear weapons.(32) Experts with the Uranium
Medical Research Center report that urine samples of Afghanis show the
highest level of uranium ever recorded in a civilian population. Afghani
soldiers and civilians are reported to have died after suffering
intractable vomiting, severe respiratory problems, internal bleeding and
other symptoms consistent with radiation poisoning. Dead birds still
perched in trees are found partially melted with blood oozing from their
mouths.(33)
Afghanistan's new president, Hamid Karzai, is a puppet installed by
Washington. Under the protection of American soldiers, Karzai's regime is
setting a new record for opium production. Both UN and U.S. reports
confirm that the huge Afghani opium harvest of 2002 makes Afghanistan the
world's leading opium producer.(34) Thanks to nuclear weapons,
Afghanistan is now safe for the Bush-Cheney narcotics industry.(35) ABC
News asserts that keeping the "peace" in Afghanistan will require decades
of allied occupation.(36) For years to come, "peacekeepers" will be
eating, drinking and breathing the "hot" carcinogenic pollution they have
helped the Pentagon inflict upon that nation for organized crime.
As governor of Arkansas during the Iran-Contra era, Bill Clinton
laundered $multi-millions in cocaine profits for then vice-president
George Bush Sr.(37) As a partner in the Bush family's notorious crime
machine, President Clinton committed U.S. troops to NATO's campaign in
the Balkans, a prime heroin production and trans-shipment area. DOD's
campaign to control and reorganize the drug trade there for the Bush
mafia was yet another nuclear project.
For years, the U.S. and NATO fired DU missiles, bullets and shells across
the Balkans, nuking the peoples of Serbia, Bosnia and Kosovo. As DU
munitions were slammed into chemical plants, the environment became
hideously toxic, also endangering the peoples of Albania, Macedonia,
Greece, Italy, Austria and Hungary. By 1999, UN investigators reported
that an estimated 12 tons of DU had caused irreparable damage to the
Yugoslavian environment, with agriculture, livestock and air water, and
public health all profoundly damaged.(38)
Scientists confirm that citizens of the Balkans are excreting uranium in
their urine.39 In 2001, a Yugoslavian pathologist reported that hundreds
of Bosnians have died of cancer from NATO's DU bombardment.(40) Many NATO
peacekeepers in the Balkans now suffer ill health. Their leukemias,
cancers and other maladies are dubbed the "Balkans Syndrome." Richard
Coghill predicts that DU weapons used in Balkans campaign will result in
at least 10,000 cases of fatal cancer.(41)
U.S. citizens at home are also paying a heavy price for criminal
militarism gone mad. DOD is a pollution monster. The General Accounting
Office (GAO) found 9,181 dangerous military sites in USA that will
require $billions to rehabilitate. The GAO reports that DOD has been both
slothful and deceitful in its clean-up obligations.(42) The Pentagon is
now pressing Congress to exempt it from all environmental laws so that it
may pollute and poison free from liability.(43)
The Navy uses prime fishing grounds off the coast of Washington state to
test fire DU ammunition. In January, Washington State Rep. Jim McDermott
chastised the Navy: "On one hand you have required soldiers to have DU
safety training and to wear protective gear when handling DU...and
submarines must stay clear of DU-contaminated waters. These policies
indicate there is cause for concern....On the other hand the Department
of Defense has repeatedly denied that DU poses any danger whatsoever.
There has been no remorse about leaving tons of DU equipment in the soil
in foreign countries, and there appears to be no remorse about leaving it
in the waters of your own country."(44)
DU has been used in military practice maneuvers in Indiana, Florida, New
Mexico, Massachusetts, Maryland and Puerto Rico. After the Navy tested DU
weaponry on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, one third of the island's
population developed serious illness. Many people show high levels of
uranium in their bodies. Hundreds have filed a class action suit against
the Navy for $100 million, claiming DU contamination has caused
widespread cancers.(45)
The Navy's Fallon Naval Air Station near Fallon, Nevada, is a quagmire of
26 toxic waste sites. It is also a target practice zone for DU bombs and
missiles. Area residents report bizarre illnesses, including 17 children
who have contracted leukemia within five years. A survey of groundwater
in the Fallon area showed nearly half of area wells are contaminated with
radioactive materials.(46)
The materials for DU weaponry have been processed mainly at three nuclear
plants in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, where workers handling uranium
contaminated with plutonium have suffered for decades with cancers and
debilitating maladies similar to Gulf War Syndrome.(47)
Emboldened by power-grabbing successes made possible by his
administration's devious 9-11 project, President Bush asserts that the
U.S. has the right to attack any nation it deems a potential threat. He
told West Point in 2002, "If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we
will have waited too long."(48) Thus, it is certain that Bush-Cheney
future pre-emptive nuclear wars are lined up like idling jets on a
runway. Both Cheney's Halliburton Corp. and the Bush family's Carlyle
Group are profiteers in U.S. defense contracts, so endless war is just
good business.(49)
The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon will create special
nuclear weapons for use on North Korea's underground nuclear facilities.
(50) Next August, U.S. war makers will meet to consolidate plans for a
new generation of "mini," "micro" and "tiny" nuclear bombs and bunker
busters. These will be added to the U.S. arsenal perhaps for use against
non-nuclear third-world nations such as Iran, Syria, Lebanon.(51)
The solution? Americans must stop electing ruthless criminals to rule
this nation. We must convince fellow citizens that villains like Saddam
Hussein are made in the U.S. as rationale for endless corporate war
profits. Saddam was placed in power by the CIA.(52) For years U.S.
government agencies, under auspices of George Bush Sr., supplied him with
chemical and biological weapons.(53) Our national nuclear laboratories,
along with Unisys, Dupont and Hewlett-Packard, sold Saddam materials for
his nuclear program.(54) ***** Cheney was CEO of Halliburton in the late
90s when its subsidiaries signed $73 million in new contracts to further
supply Saddam.(55) The wicked villain of Iraq was nurtured for decades as
a cash-cow by U.S. military-industrial piranhas.
If America truly supports its troops, it must stop sending them into
nuclear holocaust for the enrichment of thugs. Time is running out. If
the DU-maniacs at the Pentagon and their coven of nuclear arms peddlers
are not harnessed, America will have no able-bodied fighting forces left.
All people of the earth will become grossly ill, hideously deformed and
short- lived. We must succeed in the critical imperative to face reality
and act decisively. Should we fail, there will be no place to hide from
Bush-Cheney's merciless nuclear orgies yet to come or from the inevitable
nuclear retaliation these orgies will surely breed.
Endnotes
1."DOD Launches Depleted Uranium Training," Linda Kozaryn, American
Forces Press Service, 8-13-99.
2."Nukes of the Gulf War,"John Shirley, Zess@aol.com. See this article in
archives at www.gulfwarvets.com.
3. BBC News, "US To Use Depleted Uranium," March 18, 2003; U.S. General
Accounting Office, Operation Desert Storm: "Early Performance Assessment
of Bradley and Abrams," 1-2-92.
4."Nukes of the Gulf War," op. cit.
5. Ibid.
6. "Invading Hiroshima," William Thomas, 2-4-2003, www.willthomas.net
7. "US Shells Leave Lethal Legacy," Toronto Star, July 31, 1999; also
"Radiation Tests for Peacekeepers in the Balkans Exposed to Depleted
Uranium," www.telegraph.co.uk, 12-31-02.
8. "Depleted Uranium May Stop Kidneys In Days," Rob Edwards, New
Scientist.com, 3-12-02; also "Uranium Weapons Too Hot to Handle," Rob
Edwards, New Scientist.co.uk, 6-9-99.
9. "Navy Seeks Cash for More Tomahawks," David Rennie in Washington,
Telegraph Group Limited, 1-4-03, news.telegraph.co.uk.
10. "Going Nuclear in Iraq--DU Cancers Mount Daily," Ramzi Kysia,
CounterPunch.org, 12-31-01.
11."Depleted Uranium Symptoms Match US Report As Fears Spread," Peter
Beaumont, The Observer (UK) 1-14-01, www.guardianlimited.co.uk.
12. "Gulf War Illnesses Affect 300,000 Vets," Ellen Tomson, Pioneer
Press, www.pioneerplanet.com. See also American Gulf War Veterans
Association at www.gulfwarvets.com.
13. "2 of Every 5 Gulf War Vets Are On Disability: 209,000 Make VA
Claims," World Net Daily, 1-28-03, WorldNetDaily.com.
14. "Research on Sick Gulf Vets Revisited, "New York Times, 1-29-01;
"Tests Show Gulf War Victims Have Uranium Poisoning," Jonathon Carr-Brown
and Martin Meissonnier, The Sunday Times (UK) 9-3-02.
15. "Catastrophe: Ill Gulf Vets Contaminated Partners With DU," The
Halifax Herald Limited, Clare Mellor, 2-09-01. This article is available
in archives at www.rense.com.
16. "Iraqi Cancer, Birth Defects Blamed on US Depleted Uranium," Seattle
Post- Intelligencer, 11-12-02; "US Depleted Uranium Yields Chamber of
Horrors in Southern Iraq, Andy Kershaw, The Independent (London) 12-4-01.
17. "The Environmental and Human Health Impacts of the Gulf War Region
with Special References to Iraq," Ross Mirkarimi, The Arms Control
Research Centre, May 1992. See also Gulf War Syndrome Birth Defects in
Iraq at www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html.
18. "The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm, Has Our Country Abandoned Them?,"
Life Magazine, November 1995; "Birth Defects Killing Gulf War Babies,"
Los Angeles Times, 11-14-94; "Depleted Uranium, The Lingering Poison,"
Alex Kirby, BBC News Online, 6-7-99.
19. "Depleted Uranium, A Killer Disaster," Travis Dunn, Disaster
News.net, 12-29-02.
20. San Francisco Chronicle, 10-10-02.
21. "US To Use Depleted Uranium," BBC News, 3-18-03.
22. "Depleted Uranium Symptoms Match US Report As Fears Spread," Peter
Beaumont, The Observer (UK) 1-14-01.
23. "Iraqi Cancer, Birth Defects Blamed on US Depleted Uranium," Seattle
Post- Intelligencer, 11-12-02.
24. "US To Use Depleted Uranium," BBC News, 3-18-03.
25. US Army Environmental Policy Institute: Health and Environmental
Consequences of Depleted Uranium in the U.S. Army, Technical Report, June
1995.
26. "Pentagon Depleted Uranium No Health Risk," Dr. Doug Rokke, 3-15-03;
also "The Terrible, Tragic Toll of Depleted Uranium," Address by Dr.
Rokke before congressional leaders in Washington, D.C.,12-30-02; also
"Gulf War Casualties," Dr. Doug Rokke, www.traprockpeace.org. 9-30-02.
27."Tests Show Gulf War Victims Have Uranium Poisoning," Sunday Times
(UK), Jonathon Carr-Brown and Martin Meissonnier, 9-3-00.
28. "The Pentagon's Radioactive Bullet: An Investigative Report," Bill
Mesler, The Nation, 5-28-99, see www.thenation.com/
issue/961021/1021mesl.htm.
29. "Tactical Nukes Deployed In Afghanistan," World Net Daily, 10-7-01.
30. Ibid.
31. "The B-61 Bomb,The Burrowing Nuke" George Smith,VillageVoice.com 12-
29-02.; also "Bunker-busting US Tactical Nuclear Bombs, Nowhere to
Hide," Kennedy Grey, Wired.com, 10-9-01.
32."Perpetual Death From America," Mohammed Daud Miraki, Afghan-American
Interviews, 2-24-03; also "Dying of Thirst," Fred Pearce, New Scientist,
11-17-2001.
33. Ibid.
34. "Afghanistan Displaces Myanmar as Top Heroin Producer," Agence
France-Presse, 3-01-03. This article is at www.copvcia.com.;also "Opium
Trade Flourishing In the `New Afghanistan,'" Reuters, 3-3-03.
35. "The Bush-Cheney Drug Empire," Michael C. Ruppert, Nexus Magazine,
February-March 2000; The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global
Drug Trade, Alfred W. McCoy, Lawrence Hill & Co., revised edition due May
2003; Drugging of America, Rodney Stich, Diablo Western Press, 1999;
"Blood for Oil, Drugs for Arms," Bob Djurdjevic, Truth In Media, April
2000, www.truthinmedia.org. 36. ABC News, February 27, 2003.
37. Compromised, Clinton Bush and the CIA, Terry Reed and John Cummings,
S.P.I. Books, 1994; The Clinton Chronicles and The Mena Cover-up,
Citizens for Honest Government, 1996; "The Crimes of Mena, Grey Money,"
Ozark Gazette, 1995 (see www.copvcia.com.)
38. "Damage to Yugoslav Environment is Immense, Says a UN Report," Bob
Djurdjevic, 7-4-99, truthinmedia.org. This report was submitted to the UN
Security Council on June 9, 1999; also, "New Depleted Uranium Study Shows
Clear Damage," BBC News,8-28-99; also "NATO Issued Warning About Toxic
Ammo," Associated Press, 01-08-01.
39. CounterPunch.org, 12-28-01.
40. "Hundreds Died of Cancer After DU Bombing--Doctor," Reuters, 1-13-01.
41."Depleted Uranium Threatens Balkan Cancer Epidemic," BBC News, 7-30-
99.
42. "Many Defense Sites Still Hazardous," Associated Press, 9-24-02; also
Old US Weapons Called Hidden Danger, Los Angeles Times, 11-25-02.
43. "Pentagon Seeks Freedom to Pollute Land, Air and Sea," Andrew Gumbel
in L.A., 3-13-03, Independent Digital (UK) Ltd.
44. "Radioactive DU Ammo Is Tested in Fish Areas," Seattle Post-
Intelligencer, 1-11-03; Letter from Rep. McDermott to Department of the
Navy: see "Navy Fired DU Rounds Into Waters Off Coast of Washington," 1-
20-03, rense.com.
45."Cancer Rates Soar From US Military Use of DU On `Enchanted Island,'"
www.telegraph.co.uk, 2-5-01; also "Navy Shells With Depleted Uranium
Fired in Puerto Rico," Fox News Online, 5-28-99.
46. "The Fallon, NV Cancer Cluster And a US Navy Bombing," Jeffrey St.
Clair, CounterPunch.org, 8-10-02.
47. "DU Shells Are Made of A Potentially Lethal Cocktail of Nuclear
Waste," Jonathon Carr-Brown, www.sunday-times.co.uk, 1-22-01.
48. "Preventative War Sets Perilous Precedent," Helen Thomas, Hearst
Newspapers, 3-20-03.
49. PIGS at the Trough, Arriana Huffington, Random House, 2003 (New York
Times best seller.); also "The Best Enemies Money Can Buy, From Hitler to
Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden Insider Connections and the Bush
Family's Partnership With Killers of Americans;" Mike Ruppert, From the
Wilderness,10-10-01; also "Bush Sr.'s Carlyle Group Gets Fat on War and
Conflict," Jamie Doward, The Observer (UK), 3-25-03; also "Halliburton
Wins Contract for Iraq Oil Firefighting, Reuters, 3-7-03; also "Cashing
In-Fortunes in Profits Await Bush Circle After Iraq War, Andrew Gumbel,
The Independent (London) 9-15-02; also "War Could Be Big Business for
Halliburton," Reuters, 3-23-03.
50. "Pentagon Seeks a Nuclear Digger," Washington Post, March 10, 2003.
51. "Remember: Bush Planed Iraq War Before Taking Office," Neil Mackay,
The Sunday Herald (UK) 3-27-03; also "US Mini-Nukes Alarm Scientists,"
The Guardian (UK) 4-18-01; also "US Nuclear First-Strike Plan--It Keeps
Getting Scarier, Jeffrey Steinberg, Executive Intelligence Review, 2-24-
03.
52. Wall Street Journal, 8-16-90: The CIA supported the Baath Party and
installed Hussein as Iraqi dictator in 1968.
53. "United States Dual-Use Exports to Iraq and Their Impact on the
Health of Persian Gulf War Veterans," Senate Committee on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs, 1992, 1994; "U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq
Buildup," Washington Post, 12-30-02.
54. "US Government, 24 US Corps Illegally Helped Iraq Build Its WMD,"
Hugh Williamson in Berlin, Financial Times, 12-19-02; "Full List of US
Weapons Suppliers To Iraq," Anu de Monterice, coachanu@earthlink.net, 12-
19-02.
55. Huffington, op. cit.
Amy Worthington is a reporter for The Idaho Observer
--
Enkidu AA#2165
EAC Chaplin and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
Priest: "No, not if you did not know."
Eskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"
-- Annie Dillard, 'Pilgrim at Tinker Creek'
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| User: "Guardian Pegasus" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 03:33:15 AM |
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On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
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| User: "Enkidu the Atheist" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 04:07:12 AM |
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Guardian Pegasus <popeundercover@holysee.va> wrote in
news:5fdu51lotvfdaac5l5rmh8u0niidm4aaob@4ax.com:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored
at secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
Would you allow your children to play with it? I wouldn't. And any
radiation source lodged in side the body can be dangerous. How
dangerous? Depends on a lot of factors.
--
Enkidu AA#2165
EAC Chaplin and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But
if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there
would be no end of divine things.
-- Hippocrates
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| User: "Guardian Pegasus" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 05:39:10 AM |
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On 15 Apr 2005 04:07:12 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Would you allow your children to play with it? I wouldn't. And any
No, but I wouldn't let my kids play with an empty gun either.
radiation source lodged in side the body can be dangerous. How
dangerous? Depends on a lot of factors.
Well... how exactly are people to ingest these heavy particles?
There's been a single recorded case of DU contaminating groundwater,
in Bosnia, next to a river. As I understand it the particles are too
heavy, too few, and too expired to do any damage even if you somehow
did manage to get it into your body. The way I see it you'd have to
basically eat a spoonfull of DU to get any effect, and if you did, the
only likely problem you'd have is with your digestion. You might also
have biochemical problems, but not radioactive ones.
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| User: "No 33 Secretary" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 03:33:37 PM |
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Guardian Pegasus <popeundercover@holysee.va> wrote in
news:g8ku51t5vvk4o9uq1ahgdvqiu4926rbbec@4ax.com:
On 15 Apr 2005 04:07:12 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Would you allow your children to play with it? I wouldn't. And any
No, but I wouldn't let my kids play with an empty gun either.
radiation source lodged in side the body can be dangerous. How
dangerous? Depends on a lot of factors.
Well... how exactly are people to ingest these heavy particles?
There's been a single recorded case of DU contaminating groundwater,
in Bosnia, next to a river. As I understand it the particles are too
heavy, too few, and too expired to do any damage even if you somehow
did manage to get it into your body. The way I see it you'd have to
basically eat a spoonfull of DU to get any effect, and if you did, the
only likely problem you'd have is with your digestion. You might also
have biochemical problems, but not radioactive ones.
Like most heavy metals, DU is a chemical poison. You wouldn't want to eat
it any more than you would want to eat lead, for the same reasons. The
carbon-14 in your body is more radioactive than DU is. The alpha particles
it gives off are easily stopped by ordinary clothing. Washing your hands
after handling it is sufficient for radiation protection (and you need to
any way, to avoid chemical poisoning).
Only retards buy the ***** this moron is shoveling.
--
Terry Austin
www.hyperbooks.com
Campaign Cartographer now available
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| User: "Tim McGaughy" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
16 Apr 2005 04:31:36 PM |
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No 33 Secretary wrote:
Like most heavy metals, DU is a chemical poison. You wouldn't want to eat
it any more than you would want to eat lead, for the same reasons. The
carbon-14 in your body is more radioactive than DU is.
I'm willing to bet that there's a HUGE difference in mass between the
amount of carbon-14 in your body and the amount of depleted uranium in
an armor-piercing uranium slug.
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| User: "No 33 Secretary" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
18 Apr 2005 03:49:28 PM |
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Tim McGaughy <teekem@ispwest.com> wrote in
news:d3rela0o5j@enews2.newsguy.com:
No 33 Secretary wrote:
Like most heavy metals, DU is a chemical poison. You wouldn't want to
eat it any more than you would want to eat lead, for the same
reasons. The carbon-14 in your body is more radioactive than DU is.
I'm willing to bet that there's a HUGE difference in mass between the
amount of carbon-14 in your body and the amount of depleted uranium in
an armor-piercing uranium slug.
I'm happy for you. You do not, however, dispute my claim. Thanks for
admitting I'm right.
--
Terry Austin
www.hyperbooks.com
Campaign Cartographer now available
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| User: "R" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 05:06:33 AM |
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Guardian Pegasus <popeundercover@holysee.va> wrote in
news:5fdu51lotvfdaac5l5rmh8u0niidm4aaob@4ax.com:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
Depleted uranium is like water that comes from a sewage treatment plant.
All the bad stuff is gone.
Just more scare mongering.
rj
--
Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes.
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| User: "James" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 05:43:06 AM |
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R wrote:
Guardian Pegasus <popeundercover@holysee.va> wrote in
news:5fdu51lotvfdaac5l5rmh8u0niidm4aaob@4ax.com:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
Depleted uranium is like water that comes from a sewage treatment plant.
All the bad stuff is gone.
Just more scare mongering.
Ten seconds of Google gave me this:
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm
"Depleted uranium is approximately 40 percent less radioactive than
natural uranium." "When fired, or after "cooking off" in fires or
explosions, the exposed depleted uranium rod poses an extremely low
radiological threat *as long as it remains outside the body.*"
It goes on to explain that soldiers are reasonably well-protected, but
conspicuously avoids mention of the other people involved. You know,
the ones getting depleted uranium shot AT them. There's a wealth of
information indicating that the ***** may be dangerous, primarily
revolving around the lengthy lifespan of DU and the danger of spent
rounds contaminated groundwater, food supply, etc.
I'm not saying it's 100% conclusive, but it's certainly more than "scare
mongering."
--
James B, former monkey #4,567,000,000
aa #944
"Hence the greatest crimes have been found, in many instances,
compatible with a superstitious piety and devotion: Hence, it
is justly regarded as unsafe to draw any certain inference in
favour of a man's morals from the fervour or strictness of his
religious exercises, even though he himself believe them sincere."
-David Hume, "The Natural History of Religion"
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| User: "Tim McGaughy" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
16 Apr 2005 04:15:12 PM |
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R wrote:
Guardian Pegasus <popeundercover@holysee.va> wrote in
news:5fdu51lotvfdaac5l5rmh8u0niidm4aaob@4ax.com:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
Depleted uranium is like water that comes from a sewage treatment plant.
All the bad stuff is gone.
MOST of the bad stuff is gone. It still emits gamma radiation. Not much,
but enough that you don't want to carry it around in your pocket for
great lengths of time.
It also carries the same chemical hazards to the human body that all
heavy metals, including lead, have.
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| User: "Jez" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 08:20:55 AM |
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Guardian Pegasus wrote:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
***** !!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1118590.stm
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_syndrome.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleted_uranium_milner.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleteduranium.html
http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/du2012.htm
--
Jez, MBA.,
Country Dancing and Advanced Astrology, UBS.
'Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable
notion that you should base your actions on reality, you are too often
led to accept, without much questioning, someone else's version of what
that reality is. It is a crucial act of independent thinking to be
skeptical of someone else's description of reality.'-
Howard Zinn
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| User: "No 33 Secretary" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 03:35:29 PM |
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Jez <iced_spear@NODAMNSPAMpipex.com> wrote in
news:TJqdnUSaG4375MLfRVnyjg@pipex.net:
Guardian Pegasus wrote:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually
stored at secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
***** !!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1118590.stm
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_syndrome.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleted_uranium_milner.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleteduranium.html
http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/du2012.htm
Find us an MSDS sheet on it. None of your sources is even remotely
credible. None of them have shown the slightest evidence of being able to
tell their ***** from a hole in the ground, and most are known to be willing
to just make ***** up.
--
Terry Austin
www.hyperbooks.com
Campaign Cartographer now available
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| User: "Jez" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 06:01:43 PM |
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No 33 Secretary wrote:
Jez <iced_spear@NODAMNSPAMpipex.com> wrote in
news:TJqdnUSaG4375MLfRVnyjg@pipex.net:
Guardian Pegasus wrote:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually
stored at secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
***** !!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1118590.stm
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/du_syndrome.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleted_uranium_milner.html
http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleteduranium.html
http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/du2012.htm
Find us an MSDS sheet on it. None of your sources is even remotely
credible. None of them have shown the slightest evidence of being able to
tell their ***** from a hole in the ground,
Tell that to Doug Rokke and Scott Ritter and Ramsey Clark for that matter !
Good to see your so ignorant that even the BBC is regarded as a
less-than-credible source !
and most are known to be willing
to just make ***** up.
No, they are the ones on the Government side, still trying to cover-up
the effects.
http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm
--
Jez, MBA.,
Country Dancing and Advanced Astrology, UBS.
'Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable
notion that you should base your actions on reality, you are too often
led to accept, without much questioning, someone else's version of what
that reality is. It is a crucial act of independent thinking to be
skeptical of someone else's description of reality.'-
Howard Zinn
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| User: "Glenn Arnold" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
16 Apr 2005 02:38:35 AM |
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Guardian Pegasus wrote:
On 15 Apr 2005 02:29:40 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Bush-Cheney have delivered upon 17 million Iraqis tons of depleted
uranium (DU) weapons, a "liberation" gift that will keep on giving.
Depleted uranium is a component of toxic nuclear waste, usually stored at
secure sites. Handlers need radiation protection gear.
There is no evidence or reason to believe DU is dangerous.
Regardless of whether Depleted Uranium is radioactive, any form of uranium is
extremely toxic. In fact, the toxic affects outweigh the radioactive effects
in most cases.
Uranium is a heavy metal, much more toxic than lead. DU projectiles vaporize
on impact, creating a toxic vapor that can be inhaled. Veterans of the Gulf
War I are currently being treated for toxic effects, in large part because
they were told not to worry about DU because it "isn't radioactive" which
isn't really true either.
Glenn Arnold
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| User: "No 33 Secretary" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
15 Apr 2005 03:31:18 PM |
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You are more radioactive than depleted uranium. Literally.
--
Terry Austin
www.hyperbooks.com
Campaign Cartographer now available
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| User: "Tim McGaughy" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
16 Apr 2005 04:17:17 PM |
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No 33 Secretary wrote:
You are more radioactive than depleted uranium. Literally.
Yeaaaaahh.
I'm sure I give off gamma radiation.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
17 Apr 2005 04:00:21 PM |
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On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 11:17:17 -0500, Tim McGaughy <teekem@ispwest.com>
wrote:
No 33 Secretary wrote:
You are more radioactive than depleted uranium. Literally.
Yeaaaaahh.
I'm sure I give off gamma radiation.
Just 'ganpa' radiation.... ;)
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "No 33 Secretary" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
18 Apr 2005 03:49:01 PM |
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Tim McGaughy <teekem@ispwest.com> wrote in
news:d3rdqd1ngu@enews2.newsguy.com:
No 33 Secretary wrote:
You are more radioactive than depleted uranium. Literally.
Yeaaaaahh.
I'm sure I give off gamma radiation.
DU doesn't give of gamma, retard. Only alpha, easily stopped with ordinary
clothing.
Nice attempt to lie your way out of a corner, though.
--
Terry Austin
www.hyperbooks.com
Campaign Cartographer now available
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Death By Slow Burn |
18 Apr 2005 05:49:26 PM |
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On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 15:49:01 -0000, No 33 Secretary
<taustin+usenet@hyperbooks.com> wrote:
Tim McGaughy <teekem@ispwest.com> wrote in
news:d3rdqd1ngu@enews2.newsguy.com:
No 33 Secretary wrote:
You are more radioactive than depleted uranium. Literally.
Yeaaaaahh.
I'm sure I give off gamma radiation.
DU doesn't give of gamma, retard. Only alpha, easily stopped with ordinary
clothing.
Nice attempt to lie your way out of a corner, though.
Hmmm....dig dig dig
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm
DEPLETED URANIUM
Q. What is depleted uranium?
A. Depleted uranium is what is left over when most of the highly
radioactive types (isotopes) of uranium are removed for use as nuclear
fuel or nuclear weapons. The depleted uranium used in armor-piercing
munitions and in enhanced armor protection for some Abrams tanks is
also used in civilian industry, primarily for stabilizers in airplanes
and boats.
Q. What makes depleted uranium a potential hazard?
A. Depleted uranium is a heavy metal that is also slightly
radioactive. Heavy metals (uranium, lead, tungsten, etc.) have
chemical toxicity properties that, in high doses, can cause adverse
health effects. Depleted uranium that remains outside the body can not
harm you.
A common misconception is that radiation is depleted uranium's primary
hazard. This is not the case under most battlefield exposure
scenarios. Depleted uranium is approximately 40 percent less
radioactive than natural uranium. Depleted uranium emits alpha and
beta particles, and gamma rays.
/end excerpt
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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