Depleted uranium is a health risk to our soldiers and is causing birth defects

[Guest guest]

From Karen:

I am attempting to save the lives an the health of thousands of people. I

hope you don't object to my efforts and will take the time to read about

depleted uranium. If this is too long, I highlighted the main points in yellow.

I

apologize to anyone who feels that this is off topic, but since depleted uranium

is affecting the health of our soldiers, their wives and children as well as

the people in Iraq it seems like people on health, spiritual, and alternative

news lists would all be interested. Most media is not covering this story, but

that does not mean that it isn't true. Please just delete if you don't care

about the huge increase in birth defects of children born to people exposed to

DU. If you are concerned, an easy action to take is to research the topic

yourself to check for accuracy, then help others become informed citizens.

Please

copy and paste, removing my name and email, and send to anyone that may be

interested. I have already sent it with my name and email to over 1,000. Copy

and pasting will prevent <<. I included the groups I sent it to at the bottom,

so you don't send it to ones I already sent to.

................

" I believe this battle is winnable. When the American people realize that we

are shooting nuclear wastes into other people's backyard, poisoning our very

own, inflicting innumerable casualties on other people, then I think the

American people will rise, and we will see the day when nations beat our DU

swords

into plowshares " .

......................

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2004/8.html

US/British Forces Continue Use of

Depleted Uranium Weapons Despite

Massive Evidence of Negative Health Effects

 

 

 

Sources:

The Sunday Herald

March 30, 2003

Title: " US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal' "

Author: Neil Mackay

Hustler Magazine

June 2003

Title: " Toxic Troops: What our Soldiers Can Expect in Gulf War II "

Author: Dan Kaplevitz

Children of War

March 2003

Title: " The Hidden Killer "

Author: Reese Erlich

Faculty Evaluator: Rick Williams JD

Student Researcher: Darrel Jacks, Jason Spencer

 

 

 

British and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells

in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a UN resolution which

classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction.

 

Nobel Peace Prize candidate, Helen Caldicott, states that the tiny

radioactive particles created when a DU weapon hits a target are easily inhaled

through

gas masks. The particles, which lodge in the lung, can be transferred to the

kidney and other vital organs. Gulf War veterans are excreting uranium in their

urine and semen, leading to chromosomal damage. DU has a half-life of 4.1

billion years. The negative effects found in one generation of US veterans could

be the fate of all future generations of Iraqi people.

 

An August 2002 UN report states that the use of the DU weapons is in

violation of numerous laws and UN conventions. Doug Rokke, ex-director of the

Pentagons DU project says " We must do what is right for the citizens of the

world- ban

DU. " Reportedly, more than 9600 Gulf War veterans have died since serving in

Iraq during the first gulf war, a statistical anomaly. The Pentagon has blamed

the extraordinary number of illnesses and deaths on a variety of factors,

including stress, pesticides, vaccines and oil-well fire smoke. However,

according to top-level U.S. Army reports and military contractors, " short-term

effects

of high doses (of DU) can result in death, while long-term effects of low

doses have been implicated in cancer. " Our own soldiers in the first Gulf War

were often required to enter radioactive battlefields unprotected and were never

warned of the dangers of DU. In effect, George Bush Sr. used weapons of mass

destruction on his own soldiers. The internal cover-up of the dangers of DU has

been intentional and widespread.

 

In addition to Doug Rocke, the Pentagon's original expert on DU, ex-army

nurse Carol Picou has been outspoken about the negative effects of DU on herself

and other veterans. She has compiled extensive documentation on the birth

defects found among the Iraqi people and the children of our own Gulf War

veterans.

She was threatened in anonymous phone calls on the eve of her testimony to

congress. Subsequently, her car, which contained sensitive information on DU,

was mysteriously destroyed.

UPDATE BY DAN KAPELOVITZ

 

Just as " Toxic Troops: What Our Soldiers Can Expect in Gulf War II " hit the

newsstands, the U.S. military was dropping a fresh batch of depleted-uranium

tipped shells on Iraq. The story couldn't have been timelier; yet the mainstream

media blatantly ignored Hustler's coverage of the hazards of depleted uranium

(DU) and largely failed to report any DU-related stories.

 

Rather than being ashamed that a porn magazine was more willing than they

were to publish the truth, major media outlets kidded themselves into believing

that the story didn't need to be covered, claiming it was " old news. " While

it's true that there has been some limited coverage of DU ever since the first

Gulf War, the average American has not heard of depleted uranium. Those who have

most likely saw reports focusing on DU's awesome armor-piercing abilities,

not its harmful long-term effects on people and the environment.

 

Had the mainstream media informed Americans about the hazards to the military

men and women caused by our own government, U.S. citizens might not have been

so gung-ho to again send our troops to Iraq. Instead, TV pundits constantly

told the American people that we attacked the Iraqi people in order to

" liberate " them. Thanks to U.S. efforts, the Iraqi population is now free to

live in a

radioactive battlefield.

 

As with the first Gulf War, there were relatively few immediate American

casualties. But with each passing year, more and more Gulf War veterans are sick

and dying, very possibly due to exposure to depleted uranium. The latest

Persian Gulf conflict was basically a low-level nuclear war, and our new

recruits

are destined to suffer DU-related illnesses and fatalities.

 

While there has been grass-roots activism against the use of depleted

uranium, the American military has ignored the concerns and have even discounted

their own report, completed six months prior to the first Gulf War, that

concluded

that DU was indeed dangerous. At least this time around, more soldiers seem

to be aware of the possible hazards of DU and are taking precautions to avoid

exposure. Some are even placing signs in Arabic to warn Iraqi children not to

play with radioactive shells or on contaminated tanks. After the war, the

British government, which also used DU weapons, asserted that it should help

clean

up the radioactive mess that it created. If the American media did its job

exposing the truth, perhaps the U.S. government, which was responsible for most

of the damage, would be shamed into sharing England's concerns.

Resources:

International Action Center

www.iacenter.org

The IAC published the book Metal of Dishonor Depleted Uranium:

http://www.nuclearpolicy.org

The New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military-Industrial Complex by Dr.

Helen Caldicott

Military Toxics Project, http://www.miltoxproj.org/

National Gulf War Resource Center, http://www.ngwrc.org

Uranium Medical Research Center, http://www.umrc.net

Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, http://www.cadu.org.uk

Update By Reese Erlich

 

The Pentagon loves using depleted uranium ammunition because it penetrates

and helps blow up enemy targets. They care little about the long-term health

effects on enemy soldiers, civilians or even U.S. military vets. As I

investigated the issue further, I began to realize the government may well be

covering up

a health scandal, just as it hid the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

 

In Basra, before the U.S. invasion of 2003, doctors showed me a photo album

of horribly deformed children, some born without noses or eyes. They compiled a

cancer registry of children suffering from leukemia and other cancers.

Children exposed to DU in southern Iraq saw a four fold increase in cancer and

birth

defects since 1990.

 

In " Hidden Killers, " I combined original reporting from Iraq and Bosnia with

interviews of U.S. military veterans. Too many Iraqi and Bosnian civilians

exposed to DU are showing up with the same kinds of cancers as American Gulf War

vets.

 

I also learned that the Pentagon doesn't like critics. Military officers and

scientists who criticize the Pentagon's position can come under withering

attack. After the Gulf War, Maj. Doug Rokke was assigned to develop official

procedures for soldiers at sites where DU was used. He and his committee

mandated

that soldiers wear special protective clothing because of the cancer risk. The

Pentagon overruled him, claiming DU is safe. Rokke, who is on disability as a

result of his DU exposure, later had his disability benefits cut off.

 

The topic of depleted uranium ammunition has surfaced in the mainstream media

over the years, but strong denials from the military and the complexity of

the topic have muted many of the stories. I've had editors at prestigious

publications tell me they won't touch the DU story because it's " too

controversial. "

In my opinion, few reporters or editors are willing to risk the career danger

inherent in criticizing the Pentagon, or taking on a popular president during

" wartime. "

 

Since " Hidden Killers " came out, the Uranium Medical Research Center

(www.umrc.net) has published studies showing the devastating impact of DU in the

Afghanistan War, and the Christian Science Monitor (5/15/03) featured an

excellent

report on the impact of DU use in urban areas during the Iraq invasion.

 

I'd like to particularly thank the Stanley Foundation, a non-profit in

Muscatine, Iowa, for its support in producing " Children of War: Fighting Dying,

Surviving, " the public radio documentary in which Hidden Killers was featured.

 

-------------------------

http://www.workers.org/du/dupicou.html

Via Workers World News Service

Reprinted from the Sept. 26, 1996

issue of Workers World newspaper

 

Carol Picou: Something was wrong with me

[Carol Picou served 17 years in the U.S. Army and was a nurse during the Gulf

War]

Our unit was the foremost hospital going into Iraq. We would jump, set up a

hospital and move on.

In Iraq as we drove on the back desert on a road created for us, there was

ammunition laying everywhere. The seven women who went to the front got sick. Of

150 people who went to the front, 40 are sick. Six have died-from homicides,

suicides and cancer.

As we headed in to Basra, we pulled up a half-mile off the road and set up

our hospitals. We saw to Iraqi civilians, babies playing with grenades, nomads

tending sheep who stepped on land mines, POWs who came in malnourished.

We stayed there for 15 days unprotected.

I started noting black specks over my skin so I reported it. I couldn't

control my bowels and my bladder anymore. I went on sick call.

Back home I told my husband my brain didn't feel well. My body didn't feel

well. Something was wrong with me and I knew it wasn't combat stress.

So I started seeking answers. I joined up out of patriotism. I was threatened

with losing my military career. And that happened.

Someone called me and suggested that I had depleted-uranium poisoning. [After

Washington told me I couldn't get tested], I called my Congressman and

finally got tested. My results came back positive on Sept. 10, 1994.

I have long-term and short-term memory deficits, and toxic enceph alo pathy

of the brain. I have developed thyroid deterioration.

Our babies are born without thyroids. I am on synthroid for the rest of my

life. I have suspicious squamous cancer cells of the uterus.

The army issued me diapers and said I could catheterize myself for the rest

of my life. I was afraid I would have a child born with birth defects and had

my tubes tied.

Deformed babies born in San Antonio in our support group of 125 veterans look

like the babies born in Iraq.

The Iraqi children play with the rounds of ammunition left in the sand. What

happened over there? Were we exposed?

Come together and fight for your sons, daughters, your mothers and fathers,

for the people over there now, and for the people of Iraq that are suffering

from the contaminants left behind in their land.

- END -

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is

cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011;

via e-mail: ww. For subscription info send message to:

ww-info. Web: http://www.workers.org/)

......................................

http://www.al-bushra.org/Iraq/parveez.htm

Parveez Syed Global Media Monitoring Unit Shanti Communications

Many thanks to Mr. Parveez Syed for granting us the permission to post and

redistribute his articles and the information he sends to us. Ibrahim Ebeid

Friday 29 August 1997

London-UK [i0220-0159-i000016] UPDATED Parveez Syed Global Media

Monitoring Unit Shanti Communications One Stuart Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey

CR7

8RA1 UK Tel: London-UK 44-0831-196693 Fax: 44-0181-405 4735 E-Mail INTERNET:

PARVEEZ Copyright 1997 © Shanti Communications news

agency. All rights reserved. The following feature may not be republished or

redistributed, in whole or in part. Copying, storing, transfer, redistribution,

retransmission, publication and exploitation of this information is hereby

expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of Shanti Communications

UK.

Gulf assault crimes: The ultimate bullet by Parveez Syed of Shanti RTV news

agency LONDON-UK (SRTV-SC) -

" Millions of defenceless children and women civilians, including Western

funded Kurds and Shias in Iraq were nuked during the Gulf assault by the Western

" Allies " , one Western intelligence source told Shanti RTV news agency. And

according to former US attorney-general, Ramsey Clark, " 350 tons of of depleted

uranium poisoned Iraq. I have seen the impact of this new poison [DU] when I

visited hospital wards for young children in Iraq.

Amidst the overwhelming horrors of the bombings and the starvation caused by

US-UK imposed sanctions, the doctors at first did not notice the huge rise in

the numbers of childhood cancers, such as leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and

lymphomas, " he told Shanti RTV news agency. " There has also been a significant

rise in the rate of congenital diseases and deformities in fetuses: an increase

startlingly similar to the increase of these conditions among babies of Gulf

assault vets, " Clark explained.

In the wake of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the US and its " allies "

pushed through the UN Security Council a series of resolutions imposing barbaric

sanctions against millions of civilians in Iraq. These sanctions, which remain

in place today, six years after the eviction of the Iraqi forces from Kuwait,

have inflicted barbaric hardship and suffering on the innocent civilian

population of Iraq. In his 1997 book, " The Scourging of Iraq: Sanctions, Law and

Natural Justice " , Geoff Simons accuses the US of committing war crimes under the

1977 Protocol 1 Addition to the 1949 Geneva Convention.

The Protocol states 'that the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare

is illegal and ethically indefensible' (p. xiii). Simons's book is effective

in revealing the appalling effects the sanctions are visiting upon the civilian

population of Iraq. The author makes a compelling case that the US is

violating several international agreements as well as acting inhumanely towad an

innocent civilian population. Above all, he imparts to his readers the wisdom

that, as human civilization stands poised to enter the twentyfirst century, the

international community should no longer accept genocide as a viable form of a

superpower's foreign policy.

" The United States has conducted two nuclear wars. The first against Japan in

1945, the second in Kuwait and Iraq in 1991. The first nuclear war fissioned

a plutonium bomb and one made made of uranium. The second nuclear war utilized

depleted-uranium weapons..., " according to another 1997 book entitled 'Metal

of Dishonor'. " Let's talk about the Gulf massacre, which lasted six weeks.

During that time, 940,000 small DU shells were fired from U.S. planes, 14,000

larger DU shells from tanks, and many of these shells spontaneously ignited when

they hit their tanks " .

And according to an article in The Nation US (21 October 1996) by Bill

Mesler, " The Pentagon's Radioactive Bullet, " Iraq presented a study to the

United

Nations in August 1995 demonstrating a sharp increase in leukemia and cancer

incidence in the Basra region, and a secret British Atomic Energy Authority

report estimated that there was enough depleted uranium in the form of empty

shells

in the area to account for five hundred thousand (500,000) potential deaths.

But their calculations were unrealistically based upon forty tons, not the

three hundred tons of uranium left behind after the United States military

[allegedly] vacated the region " .

August 1997 was the 7th anniversary of the continuing US-led blockade on the

Iraqi people and the 52nd anniversary of the atomic bombings on Japan. The

similarities between the final attacks on Japan and the continuing US war

against

Iraq are chilling. The armed, remote onslaught on a defenseless people

included the first-time use of more than 300 tons of depleted uranium shells

plus a

frightening array of other internationally banned radiological, biological,

and chemical weapons. All in all, over 140,000 tons of explosives, equivalent to

7 nuclear bombs, were used against the Iraqi society in destroying their

environment and infrastructure. The war against the Iraqi people did not end

with

the cessation of military attacks in 1991, but continues to this very day with

a suffocating blockade that has already claimed over one million civilian

lives. More than 750,000 children have died in Iraq as a result of a critical

shortage of food and medicine. More than two and a half million children are

suffering from severe malnutrition because of this blockade.

These figures are confirmed by various UN agencies. Gulf assault veteran

nurse Carol Picou retraces her steps back to Iraq with her husband Anthony to

try

to prove her serious health problems stem from exposure to depleted uranium

(DU) weapons in the assault. She is the first US soldier to return to Iraq. In

her 45 minutes long factual documentary, US military admit proper precautions

were not taken and that troops were exposed to risk. However. the British army

- the only others to use DU weapons against millions of Iraqi civilian

children and women as well as soldiers - has refused point blank to admit any

mistakes were made. They also repeatedly refused to co-operate in the making of

the

documentary and continue to do so, despite a change of British government. [The

documentary is to be televised on Channel Four (C4) TV in the UK on Thursday

11 September 1997, from 9pm UK time] Described as the most significant

development in " battlefield " weapons since the machine gun and as the Western

army's

" miracle " weapon to kill millions of defenceless civilians in the Middle East

remotely, these new and devastating artillery shells are made from a highly

toxic radioactive waste product from the nuclear industry. First used against

millions of Iraqi civilians in the Gulf assault, DU is the heaviest metal on

earth. DU 'penetrators', fly much faster and further than coventional armour

piercing shells.

The Western weapons of mass, barbaric destruction blasted their way through

thousands of life support systems and facilities in Iraq as well as tanks and

vehicles. The heat generated by the weapons is so high, that victims inside

civilian and military targets were literally burnt alive in a fireball of fuel,

exploding weapons and gases. Dr Michio Kaku, a nuclear physics professor,

explains how the hot gases " literally fry people inside tanks, almost like

chickens " . Carol Picou is a 15-year veteran of the US Army Medical Service. She

served

in Asia, Africa and Europe before being sent to " Operation Desert Storm " . Her

unit was the front-line medical team during the ground assault, as fast

action response unit that moved at the head of the attack. Carol and her

colleagues

were the first women to ever serve as front-line troops in the US army. Until

the Gulf assault, Carol had been in excellent health. But today, like more

than 350,000 Gulf assault veterans and nine million defenceless Iraqi civilians,

she is seriously ill with a range of debilitating sickness. [Adding to the

vets sickness mystery is the inexplicable disappearance of as many as 700,000

service-related immunisation records from the Pentagon and the CIA offices].

Carol spent just two weeks inside Iraq during the Gulf assault. She witnessed

the

full ferocity of the new DU weapons, often arriving less than 30 minutes

after attacks. She remembers how different it was to anything she had seen in

her

15 year of serving in the US army. " It just wasn't normal. To me it looked

like we must have nuked them .... The bodies were as black as can be and some of

the bodies just melted ... " They had never witnessed such a destructive force.

Yet they did not fully understand what it was they were using and what

precautions should have been taken. They had no idea they were working right in

the

middle of a uranium 'battlefield'. No one told them they should avoid the

smouldering wrecks of Iraqi vehicles or surrendering soldiers. No one told them

the after-effects of DU could be highly dangerous. Anthony Picou says: " We,

along with the Pentagon know DU creates a dust cloud that can travel for 20

miles.

How many solders were in its path? Let's face it, even the air was

contaminated. My wife Carol breathed that air and also dealt with injured Iraqi

troops.

Their clothes and gear all contaminated. Thousands of soldiers are sick. I

truly believe that the army is totally aware of the consequences of inhalation

and ingestion of depleted uranium " .

The US and Britain used so much DU in weapons during the Gulf assault that

350 tons of residue permeate the ground and water, and will contaminate the

entire region for generations. One particle of DU in the lungs, for example,

radiates 800 times the accepted annual level of radiation. US forces in the Gulf

encountered DU in a variety of ways. Some were exposed during combat. Some were

exposed during the recovery of contaminated US vehicles that had been hit in

'friendly-fire' incidents. Some were exposed when they explored the after the

" cease-fire " . On returning to Iraq, the Picous discovered that officials there

believe DU to be responsible for an alarming rise in the number of birth

defects amongst Iraqi children. UN reports have confirmed that DU presents

serious

health risks to Iraq but under barbaric and ihhumane US-UK imposed UN

sanctions, nothing has been done to assist them in cleaning up an estimated 200

tonnes

of uranium used by the Western " Allies " (read US and UK). Carol explains how

she received what she describes as a 'secrect document' which lists dust from

DU weapons as hazard which may be responsible for causing symptoms identical

to hers. Her husband Anthony said the report confirms the existence of a

previous army report written four years before the Gulf assault. The report said

that DU hit tanks should only be approached while wearing breathing equipment

and

protective clothing. Anthony asks: " so if they know of the danger of

potential exposure, why aren't they trying to find out what happened to those

who were

exposed? " Carol describes how they received a series of threatening phone

calls and how one night their car was destroyed in a mass of flames. She is

convinced some sort of cover up is taking place. She meets veteran Mike Flores,

who

was exposed to DU penetrator rods. His twin sons were born with an arm

deformity identical to that of the child born around the same time to another

veteran exposed to DU rods in the Gulf. " Deformed babies born in San Antonio in

our

support group of 125 veterans look like the babies born in Iraq, " Carol said.

" I had depleted-uranium poisoning. My results came back positive on 10

September 1994 " . Anthony believes " it's because they realised that the depleted

uranium penetrator is such an awesome weapon that they don't want to jeopardise

its

use in the next war " . Carol is determined to continue her quest for proof.

" This is my life, trying to figure out what's wrong with me and try to figure

out how to help myself, because I'm not getting any help from the (US) military

doctors so I may as well keep researching to help myself get better and

stronger " . " US is guilty of biological warfare and genocide of civilians in

Iraq.

Many US and UK veterans know too much. They have big mouths. They expose US and

UK governments. They expose Western politicians and the leading

infant-killers. They expose US president George Bush and Norman Schwarzkopf as

leading liars

and mass infant-killers. They incriminate British ministers, including

Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair etc. They expose Western media lies

and

coverups. The veterans must be silenced and banned, " a Western intelligence

source told Shanti RTV news agency. During the making of the C4TV documentary,

Carol and Anthony were given open access to high-ranking Iraqi officials and

were

able to travel extensively in restricted and contaminated areas. " This was

better access than many sick veterans receive in the UK and US, " Anothony

commented. " The damage to children today and to unborn generations caused by

nuclear

testing and by Agent Orange was exposed by grassroots movements, "

Clark said. " We must act now to confront this new danger of depleted uranium.

We must heighten public awareness. We have to end the government cover-ups of

the spreading poison " . " We now shoot nuclear wastes into other people's

backyards. We're talking about laying the groundwork for an investigation into

war

crimes against ordinary people. There's one thing more powerful than a

hydrogen bomb. That's the power of a people united, the power of a people

educated,

the power of a people enraged that this obscenity is committed against other

people, " Michio Kaku said. " I believe this battle is winnable. When the American

people realize that we are shooting nuclear wastes into other people's

backyard, poisoning our very own, inflicting innumerable casualties on other

people,

then I think the American people will rise, and we will see the day when

nations beat our DU swords into plowshares " . " Although the military war against

Iraq allegedly ended in 1991, the destruction caused by the war continues until

today. Contrary to what was reported in the mass media, the military war

against Iraq was not a 'clean' war, but was a vicious massacre, in which toxic,

radioactive, and numerous banned weaponry were utilised against civilian

populations! The British and American armies used banned weapons such as cluster

bombs, napalm, and fuel air explosives in their destruction of Iraq. In

addition,

they used, for the first time, more than 350 tons of depleted Uranium (DU), a

radioactive waste product from the nuclear industry. In the six years since its

initial use against the Iraqi people, this radioactive poison has become

standard material in US weaponry all the while, the people in Iraq continue to

suffer from the consequences of this poison, " a caring Iraqi campaigner Rania

Masri told Shanti RTV. " There is only one thing the Pentagon fears - an informed

people, mobilised and angry. Information is power. When mobilised it can

actually undergo a chemical transformation and become outrage, " according to

Sara

Flounders of the International Action Center. " The United Nations and the

Clinton administration prefer to starve millions of men, women and children. The

children of Iraq do not cry out in silence - they cry out to us! We hear their

pain, and we must give strength to their voices so that the conscience of the

world will awaken to their cries, " Masri said. " Come together and fight for

your sons, daughters, your mothers and fathers, for the people over there now,

and for the people of Iraq that are suffering from the contaminants left behind

in their land, " Carol concluded. " The US sprays a crop-destroying insect on

Iraqi crops, contaminating water and southern Iraqi marshes every year, " the

Western intelligence source told Shanti RTV news agency.

" A report released by the Pentagon on 27 August 1997 says thousands of

Americans who served in the Navy and Air Force from the 1940s to the 1960s are

at

risk of health problems due to military radiation experiments, " the source

added. " When our masters covertyly poison our own loyal 'Western' soldiers and

the

Gulf vets, accidently or otherwise, just imagine how much they care about a

few million Iraqis civilians, infants and women " . He said the US and Israeli

officials, and royal Saudi dictators issue " fake warnings about fake threats to

regional security, imagined and fake armed attacks. They fake spy satellite

photos to mislead the UN, the royal Saudi and Kuwaiti dictators and to fool rest

of the world. The US even faked scud attacks in the region (Saudi Arabia and

Israel) as a pretext to justify the killings with UN-Security Council

approvals. This was an assault made for world-class media outlets (CNN, BBC etc)

to

help celebrate the killings of civilians, help sell the ultimate bullet and

other

weapons of mass, bio destruction made in the US. The cash for assualt

production for tv came from the Saudi dictators initially. Iraqi civilians are

now

paying and would continue to pay for it by their blood and oil forever. The Gulf

vets would also continue to pay for the 'made-for-tv-assault' " . FACT SHEET

1990-1997 The US-UN sanctions have caused the death of more than 1,000,000

Iraqis; at least 750,000 of them have been children; an additional 4,500 Iraqi

infants under five years of age die every month; more than 25 per cent of living

children now suffer from malnutrition (UNICEF-WFP); a full 20 per cent of the

Iraqi population is living in dire poverty; collective punishment is prohibited

by international law; punishment of innocent people violates universal

principles of human rights. "

...........................

http://www.mindfully.org/Health/Mal-de-Guerre7mar94.htm

Gulf War Syndrome

Mal de Guerre

LAURA FLANDERS / The Nation 7mar94

The third anniversary at the formal end of the Gulf War falls on February 27.

To hundreds of U.S. veterans the date marks the third year of being sick.

" The man I got back just wasn't the same person that I let out of my hands to go

over to the war, " said Penny Larrisey of Philadelphia. Her husband, a reserve

Air Force engine mechanic, spent 129 days in Oman in 1990-91. His letters from

that period read like a narrative of debilitation, through which Penny traced

rage, loss of confidence, insecurity, a handwriting change and a trail of

illness, exhaustion and depression. By March 1991, she recalls, " It was like I

was reading something from someone who had died. "

Bob Larrisey was stationed in a tent camp that the U.S, military sprayed

every four days with pesticides. The standing water he used for showering was

often unprotected and soldiers joked about its green color. Bob didn't worry too

much about that, or about the " alternative malaria pill " he was given by his

commanding officer, but now he's sick and getting sicker, and he and his wife

want to know why.

" Bob's a 52-year-old jet mechanic who can't be around chemicals, " said Penny.

He's been out of a job since returning from the gulf, and even perfume can

send him to bed with headaches, low blood pressure, fever, blurry vision and

nausea. As for Penny, like many soldiers' wives, she's experienced a rash of

vaginal infections. She's also developed white patches on her skin, just like

the

ones that Bob brought home with him from the gulf. When she told her doctor

that intercourse hurts and that her husband's semen stings, the doctor said that

she was suffering from stress.

" Will America stand behind disabled soldiers and their families? I don't

think so, " says Penny now. " Americans did their bit when they flew yellow flags

three years ago. "

" Gulf Syndrome, " the catch-all term that has been applied to health problems

like those experienced by the Larriseys, has been attributed to causes as

diverse as pollution from the 600-plus oilfield fires in Kuwait to sand flies

carrying a parasitic infection indigenous to the gulf region. But quite possibly

the largest threat to veterans' health may prove to be their own government's

use of depleted uranium in artillery shells, its administration of experimental

drugs and the irresponsible destruction of Iraqi weapons arsenals, some of

which may have been stocked with chemical and biological weapons manufactured

and exported by the United States.

Sgt. Carol Picou was an active duty Army nurse for fifteen years before going

to the gulf with the 41st Combat Hospital. At the start of the ground war,

when several men in her unit begged off front-line duty, Sergeant Picou was

asked to recruit seven women to accompany combat troops into Iraq. As they moved

forward they came upon an area that had been pummeled by U.S. artillery. Scrap

metal and the still-smoldering bodies of animals and humans covered the

ground. " I've seen burnt bodies, " said Picou. " And they were nothing like that.

These were charred black. It wasn't normal. "

It wasn't until her return to the United States that Picou learned about the

depleted uranium that U.S. forces had used in artillery rounds, a substance

that radiation experts say burns at extreme temperatures and creates an oxide

dust that can be easily inhaled and ingested. With no special protection, Picou

and her squad set up tamp just two miles down the road from the contaminated

battlefield, near the populous Iraqi town of Basra.

After several weeks, Picou's urinary control had gone. She couldn't keep food

down and she was passing black, tarry stools that Army doctors attributed to

" drinking too much water " and the change in diet. Picou had been taking the

pills the military demanded she consume: a new, anti-nerve gas medication called

pyridostigmine bromide. She had also been injected with two special

vaccinations: pentavalent botulinumtoxoid, an unproven drug used to combat

botulism,

and an anti-anthrax vaccine that can come in various forms, one of which

involves a live, recombinant DNA process that is highly experimental and

unlicensed.

" Soon after taking the bromide, I couldn't control my eyes, nose and facial

muscles. I was overtaken with chronic sneezing, a running nose and deltoid

twitching. " She tried skipping the pills to regain control over her sight, but

her

local health officer demanded that she resume taking them: 90 milligrams a

day for fifteen days, just like Bob Larrisey.

Now Carol Picou is on 70 percent disability retirement from the Army. Her

doctor, Thomas Callender, has diagnosed depleted blood supplies reaching her

left

thalamus gland and neurological damage to the left side of her brain

affecting her memory, vision and speech. She's jacked with respiratory problems,

abdominal distention, a rash on her face and neck, and regular fevers. Unable to

control either bowel or bladder movements, she is forced to catheterize herself

to urinate and to wear diapers. She also wears a permanent sanitary pad—her

period comes in semimonthly cycles, one week black and tarry, the next week

clotted and profuse.

After speaking with Picou, Patricia Axelrod, a weapons specialist with a

ten-year history of writing and research, dedicated part of a $60,000 MacArthur

Foundation grant to a study of the diseases contracted by Desert Storm

survivors. She says Picou's symptoms look just like those associated with the

drugs she

was forced to consume in the gulf.

Pyridostigmine bromide has been prescribed since 1955 for some rare

autoimmune diseases involving faulty transmission of nerve impulses to the

muscles.

According to Dr. Bary Wilson, a pharmaceutical scientist at Battelle Pacific

Northwest Laboratories in Washington, the drug initially stimulates muscular

strength and activity but eventually decreases nerve action, possibly resulting

in

paralysis. Side effects are known to include watering of the eyes, diarrhea

and the urge to urinate, as well as allergic reactions from skin rashes to loss

of hair and of muscle control.

Under FDA regulations, pyridostigmine must be administered with careful

monitoring, but the agency gave the Pentagon a waiver to use the drug randomly

in

the gulf. Military officials have testified in Congress that the drug was taken

voluntarily, but soldiers relate being forced to stand in formation to

receive their three daily doses of pyridostigmine as well as the other

medications.

" There was absolutely nothing voluntary about it;' both Larrisey and Picou

agreed.

And now the effects of Gulf Syndrome ate carrying over to a new generation,

Last December, Susie Spear, a health writer for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson,

Mississippi, reported that among her local unit of the National Guard severe

birth defects had affected thirteen of fifteen babies conceived by veterans or

their spouses since the end of the war. Since then, a Veterans Administration

survey of 251 parents statewide has revealed that 67 percent of their children

conceived since the war are afflicted with illnesses rated severe or have

birth defects including missing eyes and ears, blood infections, respiratory

problems and fused fingers.

Birth defects would be consistent with the effects of radiation from depleted

uranium and the sand fly-borne infection. (In November 1991 the Pentagon

ordered a two-year ban on blood donations from Gulf War veterans for fear of

spreading the infection; that ban was lifted early, in January 1993.)

Birth defects are also associated with the use of live, recombinant DNA

contained in the anti-anthrax vaccine administered to soldiers. Patricia Axelrod

says, " Desert Storm medical personnel warned people taking the vaccine against

having a child for three to four years. "

 

No one told Olivia Fowler of Mississippi about the vaccine's possible

repercussions. Both she and her husband served in Saudi Arabia. Now their baby,

born

with life-threatening damage to his bladder, kidneys and urethra, is another

casualty of the Gulf War.

The federal government has refused to acknowledge research like Axelrod's,

though numerous federal agencies have agreed to hold hearings on the veterans

situation. Meanwhile, people are without any diagnoses that could aid treatment.

On February 9, Senator Don Riegle called on the Administration to respond to

charges that gulf veterans may have been attacked by biological agents

purchased by Iraq from the United States before the war. The evidence is weak

that

Iraq actually used biological weapons. It's more likely that such agents were

released when U.S. munitions teams detonated Iraqi weapons stockpiles without

ascertaining whether they contained chemical or biological stores.

Axelrod, who witnessed some of the cleanup in the gulf, does not preclude the

possibility that the Iraqis released chemical or biological agents, but she

raised another possibility that, given recent revelations of the history of

drug testing, also cannot be discounted. " The U.S. had a perfect proving ground,

a perfect enemy and a perfect living laboratory for testing new vaccines that

we need for out own biological weapons industry. It's part of the Department

of Defense's scheme to relinquish responsibility. If you're only concerned

about dollars and cents, It's cheapest to have hearings until every last vet is

dead. "

Laura Flanders is the host and executive producer of CounterSpin, a

syndicated radio show.

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