Making weapons out of nuclear waste is a very convenient, very cheap, and very profitable enterprise. It is also a very deadly way to get rid of nuclear waste, particularly if it ends up killing our military.

Lying about the reasons to go to war is bad enough but to deliberately expose our troops to the toxic effects of Depleted Uranium is reprehensible. It shows the level of disdain and disregard the Bush Administration have for the thousands of soldiers currently putting their lives on the line each and every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On April 5, 2004, Juan Gonzalez, co-host of Democracy Now and journalist for the New York Daily News, revealed that four soldiers of the 442nd Military Police Company of the New York Army National Guard returning from Iraq tested positive for Depleted Uranium contamination. They are the first confirmed cases of inhaled Depleted Uranium exposure from the current war in Iraq.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she will write to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld demanding answers and plans to introduce legislation to require health screenings for all returning troops. She also criticized Pentagon officials for not appropriately testing soldiers returning from Iraq. Governor George Pataki (R-NY) has also called for the Pentagon to screen and treat all returning veterans from the war.

What is Depleted Uranium?

Depleted Uranium is left after enriched uranium is separated from natural uranium in order to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. During this process, the fissionable isotope Uranium 235 is separated from uranium. While the term 'depleted' implies it isn't particularly dangerous, in fact, this waste product of the nuclear industry is 'conveniently' disposed of by producing deadly weapons.

Depleted Uranium is chemically toxic. It is an extremely dense, hard metal, and can cause chemical poisoning to the body in the same way as can lead or any other heavy metal. Depleted Uranium is also radiologically hazardous, as it spontaneously burns on impact, creating tiny aerosolized glass particles that are small enough to be inhaled. These uranium oxide particles emit all types of radiation, alpha, beta and gamma, and can be carried in the air over 1000 miles.

Depleted Uranium is believed to be the most successful anti-tank weapon ever developed and it was first used on a large scale in military combat during the 1991 Gulf War, and has since been used in Bosnia in 1995, and again in the Balkans war of 1999.

Among other things, DU weapons are also suspected of being a contributing cause of the highly controversial and often disputed "Gulf War Syndrome," which is reportedly suffered by tens of thousands of U.S., British, Canadian and French veterans who participated in Operation Desert Shield. Their ills include swollen joints, depression, chronic fatigue and leukemia. US veteran groups estimate that since the first Gulf War of 1991 as many as 13,000 have died and approximately 270,000 individuals have become ill.

Lie and Deny

Depleted Uranium projectiles are not only deadly when striking military vehicles, they also remain hazardous long after impact because of their chemical toxicity and radioactivity. In these ways, their effects can be indiscriminate. Yet the United States Department of Defense, the British Ministry of Defense and NATO assert that DU poses minimal risks.

Dr. Asaf Durakovic, director of the Uranium Medical Research Center, an independent organization with offices in the United States and Canada, has done extensive work on the effects of Depleted Uranium. After his research team conducted a three-week field trip to Iraq in October 2003, Durakovic said preliminary tests show that the air, soil and water samples contained "hundreds to thousands of times" the normal levels of radiation. Dr. Durakovic spent 19 years as a military doctor for the U.S. Defense Department, and studied the health of veterans after the 1991 Gulf War.

"This high level of contamination is because much more Depleted Uranium was used this year than in (the Gulf War of) 1991," Durakovic told The Japan Times. "We analyzed the urine of American war veterans" of the 1991 Gulf War, he said. "Nine years after (my initial tests), they are still positive."

Depleted Uranium rounds release translucent radioactive particles upon impact, Durakovic said. It is used in the military's 30-millimeter ammunition shells shot out of A-10 aircrafts at about 4,000 rounds per minute. It is also used on several other missile systems and battle tanks. It is described as being able to penetrate an enemy tank like butter. It's on fire when its shot and when it lands it disburses particles into a very fine dust that is breathed in by anybody in the area. If the particles are inhaled, they enter the lymph nodes and bones and can remain within the body for years. The Pentagon has admitted using some 300 tons of Depleted Uranium during the Gulf War. Dr. Durakovic puts the amount used in the latest war on Iraq at 1,700 tons.

"They are hampering efforts to prove the connection between Depleted Uranium and the illness," Durakovic said. "They do not want to admit that they committed war crimes" by using weapons that kill indiscriminately, which are banned under international law.

After coming forward with his findings, Dr. Durakovic was forced to resign from his position at the Pentagon. The U.S. government continues to deny that Depleted Uranium can be harmful to human health. Since the war in Iraq, there have been over 18,000 medical evacuations.

Official documents reveal that the US military knew as far back as 1943 that Depleted Uranium was problematic. It recommended the use of a gas mask and a respirator for anyone coming into contact with DU munitions. Depleted Uranium has a half-life of about 4.5 billion years, and the presence of Depleted Uranium ceramic aerosols can pose a long-term threat to human health and the environment. Our soldiers are fighting in the midst of this, not to mention the Iraqi civilians being exposed.

Bush Found Guilty

Although not reported in the mainstream American press, a recent Tokyo tribunal, guided by the principles of International Criminal Law and International Humanitarian Law, found President George W. Bush guilty of war crimes. On March 14, 2004, Nao Shimoyachi, reported in The Japan Times that President Bush was found guilty "for attacking civilians with indiscriminate weapons and other arms," and the "tribunal also issued recommendations for banning Depleted Uranium shells and other weapons that indiscriminately harm people."

The Tokyo tribunal specifically found President George Bush guilty of the following crimes:

1. For waging a war of aggression against Afghanistan and its people;

2. For the use of weapons prohibited by the laws of warfare causing death and destruction to the Afghani people;

3. For crimes against humanity resulting in inhumane acts affecting large sections of the population caused by the military invasion, bombing and lack of humanitarian relief;

4. For the torture and killings of prisoners of war who has surrendered, and for their detention and deportation;

5. For the crime of "omnicide"; the extermination of life, contamination of air, water and food resources, and the irreversible alteration of the genetic code of living organisms as a consequence of the use of radioactive munitions, further affecting other countries in the region;

6. For exposing soldiers of the coalition forces to radioactive contamination, hazarding their lives, their physiology, and that of their future progeny by the irreversible alteration of their genetic code.

The tribunal's summation outlines that the principles of International Law have clearly banned weapons falling into these categories:

1. Their use has indiscriminate effects;

2. Their use is out of proportion with the pursuit of military objectives;

3. Their use adversely affects the environment in a widespread, long term and severe manner;

4. Their use causes superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering.

According to these definitions, the DU weapons unleashed upon Afghanistan (and Iraq) are deemed illegal and therefore, our Supreme Court appointed Commander-in Chief is guilty of war crimes.

Above the Law

Before you break out the champagne celebrating Bush's "war crimes conviction", it's necessary to note that this guilty verdict means very little to the Bush Administration. Last year, in an unprecedented move, President Bush withdrew the United States as a signatory to the International Criminal Court's statute, which has been ratified by all other Western democracies. The White House actually seeks to immunize U.S. leaders from war crimes prosecutions entirely. It has also demanded express immunity from ICC prosecution for American nationals.

The Bush Administration's opposition to the ICC is completely hypocritical since the United States itself has asserted jurisdiction over foreign nationals in anti-terrorism, anti-narcotic trafficking, torture and war crimes cases. In addition, the U.S. government frequently blasts other countries for human rights violations and repeatedly supports -- or in the case of Iraq seeks to instigate -- war crimes prosecutions against other country's leaders.

The Tribunal's judgment concludes:

"If truth is known, tyranny and injustice will be defeated. The Tribunal has performed its judicial task. It is now for people to ensure implementation of this verdict." That means it is up to us.

The Bush Administration has made it clear that they will stop at nothing to achieve their imperialistic goals. It is time for the American people to make it clear that we will no longer allow this administration to arbitrarily utilize our troops in this contemptible manner.

Our soldiers are being killed on an almost daily basis, are suffering from poor morale and depression, some units have inadequate equipment and supplies, and many are being injured or falling ill each day. They are submersed in an unwelcome region fighting an unwanted, unjust war where they are regularly exposed to toxic and radioactive munitions. This is not just a crime against our troops. It is the ultimate crime against us all.

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For more on Depleted Uranium and Gulf War Illnesses, check out the following sites:

1. Gulf War Illness
2. Veterans For Common Sense
3. Department of Veteran Affairs
4. Traprock Peace Center
5. Uranium Medical Resource Center
6. Gulf War Medical Research Library
7. Gulf War Syndrome

Bush Administration :: Criminal Acts :: Healthcare :: Iraq :: Military | Link