Radiation in Iraq = 250,000 Nagasaki bombs--Cancer spreading like wildfire

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> Radiation in Iraq =

> 250,000 Nagasaki bombs--Cancer spreading like

> wildfire

>

>

>

> Special Report

>

> Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki bombs

>

> By Bob Nichols

> Online Journal Contributing Writer

>

>

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/071304Nichols/071304nichols.html

>

>

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>

http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20040728092303616

> Wednesday, July 28 2004 @ 09:23 AM Central Daylight

> Time

>

> Views: 72

> Cancer and birth defects have been spreading like

> wildfire in Iraq since the1991 US-led Gulf War,

> prompting doctors to describe them as the Iraqi

> version of flu.

>

> Depleted uranium (DU) used by the United States and

> its allies against Iraq has taken its toll on

> around120 , 000to140 , 000Iraqis, according to the

> latest estimates released by the Iraqi health

> ministry.

>

> With Iraq becoming an almost radioactive toxic

> wasteland, the number of birth defects and

> cancer-infected Iraqis is on the rise day in and day

> out due to the lingering effects of the deadly

> nuclear substance, the London-based Al-Quds Press

> news agency reported Tuesday, July27 .

>

> Dr Abdul Kazimi, director of Baghdad only nuclear

> medicine hospital, said 7500 Iraqis are being

> infected with cancer ever year.

>

> The substance is also blamed for the so-called Gulf

> War Syndrome, the still-unexplained malady that has

> reportedly plagued hundreds of thousands of Gulf War

> veterans.

>

> Press reports say about100 , 000tons of DU munitions

> had been used in the Desert Storm military

> operation, the first time such a weapon was used in

> a warfare.

>

> On January16 ,1991 , the US launched its allied

> Desert Storm military operation to liberate Kuwait.

>

> The unprecedented US-led aerial bombardment and DU

> armor-piercing shells forced the Iraqi troops to

> desperately retreat from Kuwait on February 27 .

>

> Aggravated

>

> Abdul Hamid Khalifa, an Iraqi specialist on

> carcinogens, said the crippling 13 -year-old US

> sanctions slapped on Iraq after the war have made

> matters worse.

>

> " It is a disaster in the broad sense of the word

> that has slipped out of control, " he said.

>

> " Cases of cancer-infected Iraqis started emerging

> following the 1991 Gulf War with most of the cases

> concentrating in the south and women taking the

> brunt. "

>

> The specialist added that infantry troops were

> identified as receiving the highest exposures to DU

> radiation.

>

> He further said that contaminated water, expired

> imported food stuff and devastated health

> infrastructure added insult to injury.

>

> Khalifa stressed that environmental pollution is

> causing 70 percent of cancer cases and food 30

> percent.

>

> Farras Abd, an Iraqi citizen whose uncle is a DU

> victim, said prayers are his one and only option.

>

> " The hospital is running out of medicine and can’t

> cope with the increasing number of cancer patients,

> who can’t afford traveling abroad for treatment, " he

> noted.

>

> Deadly Substance

>

> According to the United Nations Environmental

> Program (UNEP), depleted uranium is a highly dense

> metal that is the byproduct of the process during

> which fissionable uranium used to manufacture

> nuclear bombs and reactor fuel is separated from

> natural uranium.

>

> Uranium, a weakly radioactive element, occurs

> naturally in soil and water everywhere on Earth, but

> mainly in trace quantities.

>

> A second, potentially more serious hazard is created

> when a DU round hits its target.

>

> As much as 70 percent of the projectile can burn up

> on impact, creating a firestorm of ceramic DU oxide

> particles.

>

> The residue of this firestorm is an extremely fine

> ceramic uranium dust that can spread by the wind,

> inhaled and absorbed into the human body and

> absorbed by plants and animals, becoming part of the

> food chain.

>

> Once lodged in the soil, the munitions can pollute

> the environment and create up to a hundredfold

> increase in uranium levels in ground water,

> according to the UNEP.

>

> DU is said to be radioactive for about 4 thousand

> years.

>