Sprol

According to the International Action Center article Iraqi cities ‘hot with depleted uranium’ reporters have measured radiation levels that are between 1,000 and 1,900 times higher than would normally be expected in parts of Iraq.


The Dutch are concerned about this, as they plan to send troops to Iraq. They are slated to be stationed in the small town of Al-Samawah, where the U.S. insists it has not used D.U. However, according to the above referenced study, a Dutch journalist was able to confirm that when the U.S. Army fought Iraqi forces there, D.U. ammunition was “widely used.”

According to the American Gulf War Veterans Association, half of the soldiers who have returned to the U.S. since serving in the Gulf War have reported “serious illnesses.” About 30% of those suffer from chronic illness–a surprising number since the military screened soldiers for chronic conditions like asthma, cancer, diabetes, birth defects and heart conditions, before they were inducted. This unexplained incidence of chronic illness, therefore, has many believing it is related to exposure to D.U. radiation.

Under pressure to assess the dangers D.U. radiation poses to American solders, the Department of Defense hired the Rand Corporation to study the issue several years ago. The DoD briefing on the study was held on April 15, 1999. Interestingly, the Rand Corporation did not use the commission to gather data that would allow them to study health problems in soldiers and correlate them to data on actual D.U. usage. They focused, instead, on conducting a review of the literature.

Simply put, they compiled studies that had already been conducted by others. So the Rand Corporation’s final work is largely a science lesson on what D.U. is, and how it works. It does not delve into specifics regarding use of D.U. or numbers of soldiers/civilians who’ve been exposed to it, or the consequences of such exposure. In other words, it’s relatively useless for the purpose for which it was ostensibly designed.

What’s more, the study paid very little attention to the fact that D.U. can be internalized in more ways than one. In the press briefing that covered the literature review, Dr. Bernard D. Rostker said that while it is possible to ingest or inhale D.U., they don’t have any statistics on it. And in a surprisingly cavalier follow-up, added “Some people think that’s an issue.”

When asked for the actual number of soldiers believed to have been exposed to D.U. via friendly-fire instances (only U.S. soldiers were using shell casings made with D.U. during the Gulf War) or during D.U. clean-up, Dr. Rostker couldn’t seem to find the information in his report. When the reporter covering the briefing moved on to ask about airborne uranium left-over from battles in which D.U. shell casings were used, military spokesperson Col. Daxon was quick to point out that the tests showed the radioactive dust didn’t seem to travel more than about 50 yards, and “eventually settles.”

Perhaps that’s how the U.S. Military is now justifying its use in densely populated urban areas; in that case, even a 50 yard radius around a battle site would be a dangerous area to cover with uranium dust, wouldn’t it?

And doesn’t the dust just come back up again for somebody else to breath in when a car drives by or it’s particularly windy? In fact, even if the dust stays put, in water or in soil, isn’t that considered contamination? Wouldn’t ingestion vs. inhalation then be a problem? It’s not like the stuff just disappears. D.U. has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Yet, for some unknown reason, nobody during the briefing bothered to address these issues.

While statistics citing “mysterious” illnesses and “Gulf War Syndrome” abound, the military’s decision to separate those from any connection to D.U. exposure meant that only a small group of soldiers, 33 in all, who have actual D.U. shell casing fragments in their bodies, were included as part of the Rand study.

The military argued at the time that the soldiers in that group would, naturally, have a greater chance of suffering the effects of D.U. radiation because they had internal exposure to it; whereas, those who do not have actual shell fragments made from D. U. in their bodies (i.e., soldiers, Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops currently suffering from “mysterious” illnesses/and or Gulf War Syndrome), would be much less likely to be ill as a result of D. U. exposure. In other words, both the military and the Rand Corporation decided that D.U. radiation left over from U.S. military action is harmless. They didn’t research it; they assumed it.

Now, six years after the Rand Corporation published their literature review, veterans are even more concerned about the long-term health effects of D.U.; yet no more comprehensive work has followed that original study. More disturbing, the military has deliberately avoided the task of compiling the data that might answer questions concerning the relationship between the two. Instead, the military has continued to cite the Rand study as definitive evidence of the failure to connect D.U. exposure to the chronic illnesses suffered by veterans of both Gulf Wars.

But according to the International Action Center, Iraq’s National Ministry of Health put together a couple of international coalitions to do what the U.S. military would not, and their findings were quite disturbing. They showed “a six-fold increase in breast cancer, a five-fold increase in lung cancer and a 16-fold increase in ovarian cancer among those exposed to D.U.” Unfortunately, many are unaware of this because U.S. sanctions prevented the Ministry from publishing its findings in much of the world.

Meanwhile, Iraqis are focused on rebuilding their war-torn country: repairing power plants, securing clean water, fighting for jobs, and creating a Constitution that they hope will stave off civil war. Concerned about their immediate physical safety, they are totally unaware of the fact that their biggest battle–the battle for their long-term health–is still ahead.