U.S. use of DU[Depleted Uranium]: A war crime

[freepalestine]

US use of DU: A war crime

</U>Mujahid Kamran


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</U></I></B></STRONG>January 4, 2011

While the American scientists and scholars have played a key role in the intellectual evolution of mankind, its wealthy elite and agents - the rulers of the US - have committed the greatest crimes against humanity. These horrific crimes continue unabated with silent intensity. With some exceptions, the "free" US media has maintained complete silence on these crimes. The reason for this silence has to do with the vested interests of media owners - their interests lie in suppressing humanity. Many conscientious and aware Americans do raise their voice against these crimes, but the torment and agony of these American citizens does not seem to have any effect on the pet journalists of media owners. This insensitivity is drowning the United States of America and with it the rest of the world.

One of the most diabolical advances in weaponry is the use of uranium that can no longer be used in reactors. This is known as depleted uranium. It is radioactive. After a certain processing, it can be converted into the hardest material on earth. A steel bullet will not penetrate a steel tank. However, a bullet made of depleted uranium will penetrate through the steel body of the tank and explode inside the tank. Uranium has the property that when heated it burns intensely. In powder form, uranium automatically catches fire when heated.
Nuha al-Radi, an artist and author of Baghdad Diaries, shortly before her death due to leukaemia wrote in 2004: "Everyone seems to be dying of cancer. Every day one hears about another acquaintance or friend of a friend dying. How many more die in hospitals that one does not know? Apparently, over 30 percent of Iraqis have cancer, and there are lots of kids with leukaemia. The depleted uranium left by the US 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."

The US has used depleted uranium in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Wherever depleted uranium is used in warfare, it generates radioactivity. Burnt uranium will keep radiating for billions of years. Radiations emitted from uranium do not travel far from the source. But if, perchance, these radioactive particles happen to enter your body either through inhalation or through contaminated water intake, then till your dying day and afterwards, they will keep on disrupting basic structures in your body such as DNA, etc. Their effect is to produce deadly disorders such as cancer, which eventually leads the exposed individual to his grave. The US authorities have spread this radioactive debris in various parts of the world and concealed this fact from its people.






:: Article nr. 73590 sent on 05-jan-2011 04:53 ECT


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Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza twice overnight

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:: Article nr. 73597 sent on 05-jan-2011 16:12 ECT

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[The Fighting_Crusnik]

Holy shit that is bad... if the US has been using depleted radiation, then the world needs to rise up and expose the US government and hold it responsible... One thing that I wonder is why the hell we would have depleted uranium over there in the first place? In other words, why is it there and where did it come from?

[LibertyOrMartyrdom]

The United States Government has also used the mining of uranium against the Native American movement in the not to distant 20th century. John Trudell was an activist that spoke about this a lot.

[FreeFocus]

As the Anti-Flag song goes, "Depleted uranium is a war crime!" It really is. But when the international community has trouble passing a ban on land mines, and won't dismantle nuclear weapons, the prospects of having something as basic as bullets re-examined and sanctioned is impossible.

The effects are horrible and show that we really do face a situation of socialism or barbarism.

[blake 3:17]

There's been an appearance of a new/old movement here in Canada against uranium mining. It's evil. While Canada didn't 'officially' participate in the Vietnam or last Iraq war, our business community made a swell profit!

http://www.barrierelakesolidarity.org/

http://www.ccamu.ca/

[Raúl Duke]

Depleted Uranium is the cause of high incidence of cancer in the island of Vieques off-shore of Puerto Rico. That's what the Navy used in their target practice in the military zones of that island and when they left they didn't clean it up, to my knowledge.

[crazyirish93]

Holy shit that is bad... if the US has been using depleted radiation, then the world needs to rise up and expose the US government and hold it responsible... One thing that I wonder is why the hell we would have depleted uranium over there in the first place? In other words, why is it there and where did it come from?

Du is there because of the Iraq war Abrams tanks and a10s use it as their main anti armour projectile also its speculated that its armor contains Du too so whenever a Du projectile hits or enters a water supply it contaminates it ive heard of 1 case where a du projectile went straight true an Iraqi t55 and into the towns only source of water and has seen a dramatic increase in birth defects and cancer.

[blake 3:17]

Research links rise in Falluja birth defects and cancers to US assault

• Defects in newborns 11 times higher than normal

• 'War contaminants' from 2004 attack could be cause



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Martin Chulov (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/martin-chulov)
guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), Thursday 30 December 2010 21.34 GMT
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Article history (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/30/faulluja-birth-defects-iraq/print#history-link-box)
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/12/30/1293744772306/US-marines-prepare-for-Fa-007.jpg White phosphorous smoke screens are fired by the US army as part of an early morning patrol in November 2004 on the outskirts of Falluja, Iraq, in preparation for an offensive against insurgents. Photograph: Scott Nelson/Getty Images The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Wednesday 5 January 2011
The story below reported the authors of a study as saying that birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja could have been caused by weaponry used in US assaults in 2004, and added by way of background that this suggestion might add to the dispute over whether rounds containing depleted uranium have residual effects. But a line of explanation went wrong in saying that such rounds "contain ionising radiation to burst through armour". As readers with expertise in this area noted, it is not the radiation emitted by this substance that makes it penetrate armour. Rather, depleted uranium is used because of its density and its melting point, one of whose effects is to produce heat and therefore fires or explosions upon high-speed impact (http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/DepletedUranium/properties.pdf).


A study examining the causes of a dramatic spike in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja has for the first time concluded that genetic damage could have been caused by weaponry used in US assaults that took place six years ago.

The research, which will be published next week, confirms earlier estimates revealed by the Guardian of a major, unexplained rise in cancers and chronic neural-tube, cardiac and skeletal defects in newborns (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/falluja-cancer-children-birth-defects). The authors found that malformations are close to 11 times higher than normal rates, and rose to unprecedented levels in the first half of this year – a period that had not been surveyed in earlier reports.

The findings, which will be published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, come prior to a much-anticipated World Health Organisation study of Falluja's genetic health. They follow two alarming earlier studies, one of which found a distortion in the sex ratio of newborns since the invasion of Iraq (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq) in 2003 – a 15% drop in births of boys.
"We suspect that the population is chronically exposed to an environmental agent," said one of the report's authors, environmental toxicologist Mozhgan Savabieasfahani. "We don't know what that environmental factor is, but we are doing more tests to find out."

The report identifies metals as potential contaminating agents afflicting the city – especially among pregnant mothers. "Metals are involved in regulating genome stability," it says. "As environmental effectors, metals are potentially good candidates to cause birth defects.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/30/faulluja-birth-defects-iraq

Edited to add: Thise seems to a mostly Northern European group, could be wrong but it seems like it has some good info on it: http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Depleted Uranium is not toxic due to it's radioactivity. In fact, it's less radioactive than natural uranium. I guess that's why it's called "depleted".

No, if there are negative repercussions from the deployment of DU weapons, then they come from the fact that uranium is a toxic heavy metal.

Noble causes are not served by lies and exaggerations.

[blake 3:17]

I'm not so good on my physics re: radioactivity v heavy metals -- but isn't the main point that they are deadly to people, animals and plants? And there shouldn't be any?

[empiredestoryer]

americas weopens of mass murder

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I'm not so good on my physics re: radioactivity v heavy metals -- but isn't the main point that they are deadly to people, animals and plants? And there shouldn't be any?

Unless you want to look like a know-nothing idiot, it's a good idea to correctly attribute the hazards presented by DU weapons. If you genuinely care about an issue, you should know what the hell you're talking about.

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

If DU ammunition was radioactive, it wouldn't really be much use, considering it would pose such a threat to those usuing it. The toxic effects are most likely coming from fragments of heavy metal getting into the food chain/water suppies, similarly to the effects of chemicals such as the infamous Agent Orange, as NoXion suggested.