- There's something bizarre going on here. We've hunted
for three years for weapons of mass destruction which we swore over and
over that Iraq had, but didn't; while all along we've been using WMD's---lethal
chemical weapons---not only on the Iraqi people, but on our own soldiers,
who can't help getting in the way.
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- This killer chemical is known as "depleted
uranium dust"? (DU), and is a by-product of the chemical ingredients
used in making artillery shells.
-
- Please don't call it the fortunes of war. That's
going too easy on the battle-challenged goons at the Pentagon.
-
- But wait. I'll let a Sergeant in Baghdad (who asked
not be identified) assigned to a Bradley Fighting Vehicle give it to you
straight, in his own words: "After we shoot something with depleted
uranium ordnance, we're not supposed to go around it, due to the fact that
it could cause cancer. We don't know the effects of what it could do. If
one of our vehicles burnt with a DU round inside, we wouldn't go near it,
even if it had important documents inside. We play it safe."
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- And play it safe they should, because lest you think
this Sergeant is making mountains out of molehills, listen to what Nuha
Al Radi, Iraqi artist and author of the "Baghdad Diaries"? had
to say in September 2004:
- "Everyone seems to be dying of cancer. Every
day one hears about another acquaintance or a friend dying. How many more
die in hospitals that one does not know? Apparently, over thirty percent
of Iraqis have cancer, and there are lots of kids with leukemia.
-
- "?The depleted uranium left by the U.S. bombing
campaign has turned Iraq into a cancer-infested country. For hundreds of
years to come, the effects of the uranium will continue to wreak havoc
on Iraq and its surrounding areas."? Shortly after saying this Nuha
Al Radi died of leukemia.
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- So, just what is "depleted uranium dust"?
and what makes it so deadly? Well, this writer, being chemically illiterate,
will have to defer to Dr. Dan Bishop who is on the International Depleted
Uranium Study Team.
-
- Dr. Bishop tells us that natural uranium (NU) is fairly
safe because most of it is excreted from the body within 24 hours. But
depleted uranium (DU) is a different animal. When a DU bomb hits a hard
target most of its energy becomes heat, hot enough to ignite the DU.
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- This heat converts up to 70% of the DU to a super
fine dust. It is this dust---particles about the size of the ash in cigarette
smoke---that does the damage, and makes it different from natural uranium
(NU) which seldom reaches such a small size.
-
- What damage does DU cause? These minute particles
get into the lungs, become lodged in place, then dissolve slowly into the
bloodstream and lymphatic fluids causing severe damage: DU has been identified
in the bloodstream of Gulf War veterans nine years after the war. This
testifies to the permanence of DU-oxide in the lungs.
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- Children in particular are susceptible to DU poisoning.
They have a much higher absorption rate, as their blood is being used to
build and nourish their bone tissue. Cancer of the lymph system, which
has rarely been seen before the age of 12 is now common.
-
- And this lethal depleted uranium dust, now lodged
deep in the Iraqi environment is what is poisoning by radiation a significant
portion of the adult civilian population, and up to 600 Iraqi children
per day, and God only knows how many American soldiers.
-
- All this considered, is it any wonder that international
law (which we ignore) forbids the use of chemical weapons against civilian
populations.
-
- Which brings us back to the Big Hunt. The fact that
the Bush administration can't find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
is so absurd it's laughable. We're using them.
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