Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home

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Sun, 13 Nov 2005 17:11:05 EST

Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home

 

Some of you know Bob Nichols. He wrote this for the newspaper in which he is a

correspondent now in San Francisco. He added a note and said,

 

 

" The idea of getting out of this mess without permanently altering the human

genome, y'know sperms and eggs, the DNA and every other species, is getting

really remote. "

 

 

 

http://www.sfbayview.com/110905/radioactivetank110905.shtml

 

 

 

RADIOACTIVE " is stenciled on Abrams tanks in these pictures taken Oct.

13, 2005, in Topeka, Kansas.

Photo: Chris Bayru

 

 

 

Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home

by Bob Nichols

 

Across the plains of Kansas, destroyed, radioactive Abrams tanks,

perched on railroad flatcars, rolled towards an uncertain future. Only

one thing was certain. They would be radioactive forever. This would

be their everlasting death mask. The Pentagon deceptively calls it

" depleted uranium. "

 

The Abrams tanks are constructed with a layer of radioactive uranium

metal plates. The big tanks fire a giant uranium dart at 2,100 mph,

much faster than an F-16 fighter aircraft, mach III to airplane pilots

and very, very fast to the rest of us.

 

American taxpayers paid to ship the tanks to Iraq and to return them

for disposal or re-building in the United States. The tanks are 12

feet wide and weigh a stout 70 tons, or 140,000 pounds.

 

The enduring vigorous stupidity of the U.S. military pretends that

radiation is one of those things that if you can't see it, it can't

hurt you. They are thoroughly delusional, of course. A National

Academy of Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds that there is

no safe level of radiation. Any radiation is bad.

This radioactive tank sitting exposed on a flatbed railroad car in

Topeka, Kansas, should have been " encapsulated, " according to U.S.

Army Regulation 700-48, which has the force of law.

Photo: Chris Bayruh

 

From America to Iraq and back, these giant radioactive hulks can only

sicken and kill Americans. On top of the sheer, unrelenting stupidity

of playing with radiation with unsuspecting soldiers, now the neo-con

government is involving everyday Americans in their radiation madness.

 

The Pentagon can't even follow simple radiation hazard mitigation

instructions. Their own rules and regulations have the force of law

throughout the world. Yet they are ignored in the United States.

 

Dr. Doug Rokke

 

Dr. Doug Rokke is the Pentagon's former director of the U.S. Army

Depleted Uranium Project. When contacted on Oct. 22, he viewed Chris

Bayruh's photographs and made this statement about the radioactive

tanks in Kansas: " The radioactive damaged Abrams tanks that were left

unsecured on a Kansas railroad track are a perfect example of exactly

how not to ship damaged radioactive equipment and how not to protect

our Army's Abrams tanks from possible sabotage and compromise of

classified battle systems. "

 

On Oct. 10, prior to the discovery of the radioactive tanks, Dr. Rokke

made the following statement. It is eerily predictive of what would

happen in Kansas three days later. " U.S. Department of Defense

officials continue to deny that there are any adverse health and

environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing

and/or use of uranium munitions to avoid liability for the willful and

illegal dispersal of a radioactive toxic material - depleted uranium. "

This is another of the destroyed radioactive tanks in Topeka, Kansas.

Children were playing around the tanks.

Photo: Chris Bayruh

 

Dr. Rokke continued, " They [the U.S. military] arrogantly refuse to

comply with their own regulations, orders and directives that require

United States Department of Defense officials to provide prompt and

effective medical care to all exposed individuals. " (See Note 1 below.)

 

" They also refuse to clean up dispersed radioactive contamination of

equipment as required by Army regulations. " (See Note 2.)

 

" Specifically, they are required (see Note 3) to accomplish four things:

 

1) Military personnel must 'identify, segregate, isolate, secure and

label all RCE' (radiologically contaminated equipment).

 

2) 'Procedures to minimize the spread of radioactivity will be

implemented as soon as possible.'

 

3) 'Radioactive material and waste will not be locally disposed of

through burial, submersion, incineration, destruction in place, or

abandonment' and

 

4) 'All equipment, to include captured or combat RCE, will be

surveyed, packaged, retrograded, decontaminated and released.'

 

" The past and current use of uranium weapons, the release of

radioactive components in destroyed U.S. and foreign military

equipment, and releases of industrial, medical and research facility

radioactive materials have resulted in unacceptable exposures. "

 

Dr. Rokke added, " Therefore, decontamination must be completed as

required by U.S. Army Regulation 700-48 and should include releases of

all radioactive materials resulting from military operations.

 

" The extent of adverse health and environmental effects of uranium

weapons contamination is not limited to combat zones but includes

facilities and sites where uranium weapons were manufactured or

tested, including Vieques, Puerto Rico, Colonie, New York, and

Jefferson Proving Grounds, Indiana.

 

" Therefore, medical care must be provided by the United States

Department of Defense officials to all individuals affected by the

manufacturing, testing and/or use of uranium munitions. Thorough

environmental remediation also must be completed without further delay.

 

" I am amazed, " exclaimed Dr. Rokke, " that 14 years after I was asked

to clean up the initial DU mess from Gulf War I and almost 10 years

since I finished the depleted uranium project, United States

Department of Defense officials and many others still attempt to

justify uranium munitions use while ignoring mandatory requirements.

 

" But beyond the ignored mandatory actions, the willful dispersal of

tons of solid radioactive and chemically toxic waste in the form of

uranium munitions just does not even pass the common sense test.

 

" Finally, continued compliance with the infamous March 1991 Los Alamos

Memorandum (see Note 5) that was issued to ensure continued use of

uranium munitions cannot be justified.

 

" In conclusion, " Dr. Rokke urged, " the president of the United States,

George W. Bush, and the prime minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair,

must acknowledge and accept responsibility for willful use of illegal

uranium munitions - their own " dirty bombs " - resulting in adverse

health and environmental effects. "

 

" President Bush and Prime Minister Blair also should order:

 

1) medical care for all casualties,

 

2) thorough environmental remediation,

 

3) immediate cessation of retaliation against all of us who demand

compliance with medical care and environmental remediation requirements,

 

4) and ban the future use of depleted uranium munitions, " Dr. Rokke

concluded.

 

A little old lady in tennis shoes

 

Leuren Moret is a world famous scientist and radiation specialist who

formerly worked at the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, where

she became a whistleblower in 1991. She has spoken out about the

danger of uranium munitions to humanity in more than 42 countries.

 

Moret has appeared in four documentaries about uranium munitions

(depleted uranium). " Beyond Treason " debuted in August 2005 and won

the Grand Festival Award at the Berkeley Film Festival. The newest

film, " Blowin' in the Wind, " was nominated during its debut the first

week of November in Australia for an Academy Award.

 

Moret was an expert witness at the International Criminal Tribunal for

Afghanistan and serves as an adviser and expert witness in court cases

regarding radiation exposure. Her statement, made Oct. 24, about the

dead tanks in Kansas follows:

 

" Sally Devlin, a little old lady in tennis shoes, went to a public

meeting several years ago, held by the Air Force in Pahrump, Nevada.

Two officers told the citizens of the town that the Air Force would be

moving 80 old target practice tanks and tons of old depleted uranium

munitions through their town.

 

" The radioactive bullets had been picked up off the Nellis gunnery

ranges by order of the state of Nevada and were being transported to

the Nevada Test Site [a nuclear weapons test site] to be buried as

radioactive waste.

 

" When Mrs. Devlin politely asked them how they would prevent the

residents of the town from being contaminated by the radioactive dust

on the tanks and bullets, the officers said, 'We're wrapping them in

Saran Wrap.' She told them that would be unacceptable and stopped the

Air Force dead in their tracks, " Moret concluded.

 

Whether it is Saran Wrap in Nevada or nothing at all in Kansas, the

Pentagon just doesn't get it when it comes to uranium radiation

dispersing weapons. It is way past time to take all their nuclear

weapons and uranium munitions away from them and send them home to get

real jobs. They are clearly incapable of protecting this country from

all dangers, including those created by our own U.S. military.

 

The U.S. military shows so little regard for Americans in Kansas, one

wonders what on earth they have done to Iraq. The U.S. military has

distributed an estimated 8 million pounds of weaponized ceramic

uranium oxide gas, aerosols and dust on a practically defenseless

little country of 26 million people (see Note 6), according to an

estimate by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

 

What is this lethal radioactive weapon supposed to do? Why was it

used? Ceramic uranium oxide gas is a genocidal weapon, for God's sake.

It persists in the environment forever. In Leuren Moret's pithy words,

" The Iraqis are uranium meat. "

 

The politicians, Pentagon staff, generals, commanding officers and

others responsible for this war crime must be arrested, tried,

convicted and appropriately punished for their crimes against humanity.

 

There is another explanation

 

Another explanation is that the U.S. Army and other branches of the

military are far from stupid. They are, in fact, the most lethal and

carefully planned military in the history of the world. The extensive

use of weaponized uranium oxide gas, aerosols and dust is not an

accident or an oversight. They did it on purpose.

 

If this is true, they purposely used a genocidal weapon over at least

a 15-year period. No, this is not a callous mistake of empire; it is a

calculated act of genocide to weaken the oil- and gas-rich countries

of Central Asia, including Iraq. Take your choice: they are either

stupid or genocidal monsters.

 

A British group has estimated the weaponized ceramic uranium oxide

will account for an additional 25 million cancers in Iraq in the next

several years. There are only 26 million Iraqis to start with, minus

the nearly 1.7 million killed by war or sanctions since 1991, plus

some live births.

 

A National Academy of Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds

that there is no safe level of radiation. The committee dismissed the

idea that any radiation could be harmless or beneficial.

 

The radioactive tanks in Kansas and Iraq are the same. They are placed

there at great expense by the senior American political and military

leadership, with premeditated malice. The bottom line purpose of a

140,000-pound radioactive tank is to kill people.

 

Uranium munitions a war crime

 

Dennis Kyne, noted speaker and writer, is a former drill instructor

(DI) and a 15-year veteran of the Army as well as a Gulf War vet (see

www.denniskyne.com). Kyne makes a point of how " hot " or radioactive

the tanks in Kansas would be if they were hit by " friendly fire " to

get beat up so much. They could be contaminated with as much as 30,000

times background radiation. That is what uranium munitions do to a

tank, bunker or building.

 

Karen Parker, a prominent U.S. international human rights lawyer, says

there are four rules derived from humanitarian laws and conventions

regarding weapons:

 

1. Weapons may only be used against legal enemy military targets and

must not have an adverse effect elsewhere (the territorial rule).

 

2. Weapons can only be used for the duration of an armed conflict and

must not be used or continue to act afterwards (the temporal rule).

 

3. Weapons may not be unduly inhumane (the " humaneness " rule). The

Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 speak of " unnecessary suffering "

and " superfluous injury " in this regard

 

4. Weapons may not have an unduly negative effect on the natural

environment (the " environmental " rule).

 

" DU weaponry fails all four tests, " Parker states. " First, DU cannot

be limited to legal military targets. Second, it cannot be 'turned

off' when the war is over but keeps killing.

 

" Third, DU can kill through painful conditions such as cancers and

organ damage and can also cause birth defects, such as facial

deformities and missing limbs. Lastly, DU cannot be used without

unduly damaging the natural environment.

 

" In my view, use of DU weaponry violates the grave breach provisions

of the Geneva Conventions, " Parker concluded, " and so its use

constitutes a war crime, or crime against humanity. "

 

Notes

 

1. " Medical Management of Unusual Depleted Uranium Casualties, " DOD,

Pentagon, 10/14/93, " Medical Management of Army Personnel Exposed to

Depleted Uranium (DU), " Headquarters, U.S. Army Medical Command,

4/29/04, and section 2-5 of AR 700-48 .

 

2. AR 700- 48: " Management of Equipment Contaminated With Depleted

Uranium or Radioactive Commodities, " Headquarters, Department of the

Army, Washington, D.C., September 2002, and U.S. Army Technical

Bulletin TB 9-1300-278: " Guidelines For Safe Response To Handling,

Storage, and Transportation Accidents Involving Army Tank Munitions or

Armor Which Contain Depleted Uranium, " Headquarters, Department of the

Army, Washington, D.C., July 1996,

http://traprockpeace.org/du_pam_700-48.pdf.

 

3. Section 2-4 of United States Army Regulation 700-48 dated Sept. 16,

2002, specifies these requirements.

 

4. IAW Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278, DA PAM 700-48. Maximum exposure

limits are specified in Appendix F.

 

5. http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/du/doc1.html

 

6. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark's estimate,

http://www.covertactionquarterly.org/demonize.html

 

© Copyright Bob Nichols. Copying permitted if you credit the source

and leave everything intact, including notes. Bob Nichols is a Project

Censored Award winner and lives in California. He formerly lived in

Oklahoma. He is a contributor to OnLineJournal.com, AxisofLogic.com,

DissidentVoice.com and other online publications and is a

correspondent for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. Nichols is a

former employee of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. He can be

reached by email at bob.bobnichols.