THE UNITED STATES KNOWINGLY AND WILLFULLY BEGAN USING DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) IN 1991 IN THE FIRST GULF WAR, USED IT IN 1992 AND 1995 IN BOSNIA, IN 1999 IN THE BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA/SERBIA [Operation Noble Anvil], AGAIN IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN BEGINNING IN 2003.
THE EFFECTS OF DU WILL ASTOUND MOST WHO ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH WHAT EXPOSURE TO IT DOES.
FROM A WEBSITE RUN BY GULF WAR VETERANS, WE CAN SEE HOW THIS HAS AFFECTED OUR OWN:
http://gulfwarvets.com/du.htm
<<A special investigation on the effects of depleted uranium reveals the Army made a training tapes warning of the effects of depleted uranium which was never shown to troops despite the fact the Pentagon knew the agent to be potentially deadly, CNN reports Tuesday. (Feb 6, 2007) Be sure to view the video!
[Reported on CNN here: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_Agent_Orange_tame_compared_to_0206.html
And by Gulf War Vets here: http://gulfwarvets.com/du_2007.htm ]
CNN NO LONGER MAKES THE VIDEO VIEWABLE ON THAT WEBSITE, SO SEE THE EXACT SAME ONE HERE:
[VIDEO LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HekbyJhYNUhttp://youtu.be/3HekbyJhYNU]
THE GULF WAR VETS WEBSITE IS FULL OF AMAZING LINKS, FANTASTIC INFORMATION.
A group of soldiers began suing the U.S. government [in 2007] because they are sick from exposure. Yet, despite the DOCUMENTED EXISTENCE, THE UNDENIABLE PROOF that these training videos existed but these troops never saw them, the Army NOW denies that depleted uranium represents a serious health risk." The truth may some day come out in court, but I doubt it. I wish these veterans could be heard by every citizen in America, but they will most likely be crucified by mainstream media as cranks, malcontents, hypochondriacs, "unamerican" stooges for trial lawyers, and worse, and then the whole thing will blow over, just as happened with Agent Orange, as soon as the next hurricane or celebrity "costume/gown malfunction" pictures come across the screen.
We've all heard the term "Gulf War Syndrome" and it is now known world-wide, but, only after the 1991 Iraq war, as formerly 'A1' fit soldiers fell ill with debilitating symptoms, BY THE THOUSANDS, was the cause discovered. It was in 1993, when a group of twenty-four affected soldiers approached Professor Asav Durakovic, one of the world's leading experts in the effects of radiation, that the root of their illnesses came to light. They ALL had many times the "safe" level of chemically toxic and radioactive depleted uranium (DU) in their bodies. (June 2007)
WHO WILL BELIEVE THAT OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD TREAT OUR OWN SOLDIERS LIKE THIS?
YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED HOW MANY KNOW, FIRST-HAND, THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED IN EVERY WAR SINCE 1991! HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF OUR LOVED ONES, VETERANS OF ONE OF THE GULF WARS, OR THE WAR IN BOSNIA, RETURNED TO THEM SUFFERING THE SYMPTOMS OF DU CONTAMINATION!
BUT, BEING SURPRISED IS NOT ENOUGH!
WE SHOULD BE ENRAGED!
Beneath this video we can read:
<<Between October and December 1995, the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium (DU) Project completed a series of training videos and manuals about depleted uranium munitions. This training regimen was developed as the result of recommendations made in the January 1993 General Accounting Office (GAO) report, Army Not Adequately Prepared to Deal with Depleted Uranium Contamination. The training materials were intended to instruct servicemen and women about the use and hazards of depleted uranium munitions.
Throughout 1996, these videos sat on a shelf, while U.S. soldiers continued to use and work with depleted uranium munitions. In June 1997, Bernard Rostker, The Department of Defense (DoD) principle spokesperson for their investigation of Gulf War hazardous exposures, stated that the depleted uranium safety training program would begin to be shared by a limited number of servicemen and women in July 1997. >>
THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN!
<<A UN expert team reported in November 2002 that they found traces of DU in three locations among 14 sites investigated in Bosnia following NATO airstrikes in 1995.
Over the days and years following such an event, the contamination normally becomes dispersed into the wider natural environment by wind and rain. People living or working in affected areas may inhale contaminated dusts or consume contaminated food and drinking water.
STILL TODAY the vast majority of servicemen and women in the U.S. military, and likely in the armed forces of other countries which are developing or have obtained depleted uranium munitions, are unaware of the use and dangers of depleted uranium munitions, or of the protective clothing and procedures which can minimize or prevent serious short-term exposures.>>
BUT, THESE TRAINING VIDEOS WERE NEVER, NEVER SHOWN TO OUR TROOPS!
THEY WENT IN UNAWARE OF WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO THEM AFTER AMERICA USED THESE MUNITIONS, ETC, IN THE 1991 'GULF WAR', IN BOSNIA BEFORE THAT, IN EVERY "WAR" SINCE VIETNAM AND IN GREAT AMOUNTS ON OUR SECOND INVASION OF IRAQ, THOUGH THESE VIDEOS WERE AVAILABLE, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DIDN'T USE THEM TO WARN OUR OWN TROOPS!
WHY?
WHY, IN THE NAME OF GOD, DIDN'T THEY LET THEIR OWN MILITARY SEE WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO THEM?
YES, IT IS A HORROR, A NIGHTMARE FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF OUR AMERICAN AND ALLIED TROOPS, BUT WHAT IS IT FOR THOSE IN THE NATIONS IN WHICH DEPLETED URANIUM WAS LEFT?
WARNING: THE IMAGES ARE GRAPHIC, BUT YOU GO LOOK AT THEM ANYWAY. WE ALL NEED TO SEE THIS!
NEXT: Google search "depleted uranium babies" -- see how many pages come up!
SEE HOW MANY PAGES FROM RENOWN NEWS SOURCES!
THESE ARE NOT FAKED!
THESE ARE NOT PHOTO-SHOPPED!
DON'T YOU DARE THINK THAT THEY ARE!
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=985&bih=61&q=depleted+uranium+babies&oq=depleted+uranium+babies&gs_l=img.12..0j0i5j0i24.2583.2583.0.4488.1.1.0.0.0.0.97.97.1.1.0.ckwqrh..0.0...1.2.7.img.w99Krtu0i4sX
Now, I realize that MOST need to see these things in their FAVORITE media's news articles in order to believe it, but most are too controlled by the government and those who OWN the government to show much, if any, of these FACTS.
Yes, I could link you to several, but why bother JUST to appease your need to see it on your FAVORITES?
Take a deep breath, free your minds of PREJUDICES and MSM PROGRAMMING, STOP BEHAVING LIKE MINDLESS PUPPETS AND BLIND SHEEP AND JUST WATCH WHAT YOU CAN EVENTUALLY FIND ON THOSE SITES YOU LOVE.
WATCH THIS!
THOSE WHO PUT THIS TOGETHER DO NOT BOW AND SCRAPE TO WALL STREET OR TO "GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS".
AMAZING FIND, YES?
THIS IS RAW, THIS IS THE TRUTH.
THIS COULD EASILY BE YOU, AS HAWAII HAS SEEN! YES, HAWAII KNOWS ABOUT DU NOW!
I DIDN'T WANT TO WATCH IT EITHER, BUT I AM GLAD I DID!
WATCH!
IRAQ, TEN YEARS LATER:
"Ten Years Later, U.S. Has Left Iraq with Mass Displacement & Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers"
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/3/20/ten_years_later_us_has_left
FULL TRANSCRIPT IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THIS SITE.
FYI: Jamail is a fourth generation AMERICAN, the son of Gerald Jamail, and grew up in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M University and later moved to Alaska.
In October 2007, his first book, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq, was published by Haymarket Books. Jamail's second book, The Will to Resist: Soldiers who refuse to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan was published by Haymarket Books in 2009.
Dahr Jamail is currently a correspondent for Truthout.
HE IS NOT SOME "ARAB JIHADIST", HE IS NOT SOME "EMBEDDED SPY", BUT IS AN AWARD-WINNING AMERICAN JOURNALIST.
OUR OWN AMERICAN VETERANS APPRECIATE THE MAN.
SO DO I.
ABOUT MY REFERENCE TO HAWAII:
http://rense.com/general78/hawa.htm
10-06-2007
<<The US Army admitted the radiological contamination of Hawaii in the summer of 2007. The contamination was later confirmed by the senior US Senator from Hawaii, The Honorable Daniel Inouye. The first 2007 Army air born radiological contamination survey identified 45 locations with dangerous levels of Gamma Ray radiation from US Army uranium munitions. Satellite radiation observations have not been released by the Pentagon...>>
NOW, THE LINK ON THAT ARTICLE [ http://www.protecthawaii.ws ] LEADS NOWHERE, AND WHEN I FIND THAT, I TURN TO THE 'WAYBACK MACHINE' TO LOCATE ARCHIVED PAGES, SO YOU CAN READ THE PLEA FOR HELP FROM HAWAII HERE:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070728015251/http://www.protecthawaii.ws/
<<For over sixty years, the land and residents of Hawai'i have endured tremendous toxic pollution exposure from military use and munitions' training in the islands. The 2004 Defense Environmental Restoration Program report to Congress listed 798 military contamination sites at 108 installations in Hawai'i, 96 of which were contaminated with unexploded ordnance, seven of the military contamination sites were considered "Superfund" sites. These sites have not been cleaned up. Meanwhile, the toxic components of this pollution leach into our environment.>>
STILL BEING REPORTED ON THE ISLANDS IN 2012!
http://westhawaiitoday.com/sections/news/local-news/army-seeks-skirt-depleted-uranium-rules.html
<<November 30, 2012 , 'Army seeks to skirt depleted uranium rules' : The U.S. Army maintains that it does not need a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] to possess depleted uranium at its training ranges in Hawaii.
But in the event that the NRC decides a license is needed, the Army wants to avoid the requirement that radiation monitoring be done, on the grounds that the decades-old material poses no risk to human health.
[DU] rounds were found in Hawaii [at] Pohakuloa Training Area and Oahu’s Schofield Barracks.>>
If terrorists succeeded in spreading something throughout the U.S. that ended up causing hundreds of thousands of cancer cases and birth defects over a period of many years, they would be guilty of a crime against humanity that far surpasses the Sept. 11th attacks in scope and severity. Although [PERHAPS] not deliberate, with our military campaigns in Bosnia, Serbia, Iraq and Afghanistan, and likely Libya, THE UNITED STATES AND THE UK have done just that.
(REPORTED: April 28, 2006)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/depleted-uranium-far-worse-than-9-11/2374
<<In 1979, depleted uranium (DU) particles escaped from the National Lead Industries factory near Albany, N.Y.,which was manufacturing DU weapons for the U.S military. The particles traveled 26 miles and were discovered in a laboratory filter by Dr. Leonard Dietz, a nuclear physicist. This discovery led to a shut down of the factory in 1980, for releasing morethan 0.85 pounds of DU dust into the atmosphere every month, and involved a cleanup of contaminated properties costing over 100 million dollars. >>
QUITE A REVEALING READ!
NOW, YOU CAN SIT THERE AND SIGH ABOUT ALL THIS, SAY "WELL, WHAT CAN WE DO? WHAT'S DONE IS DONE! IT'S SAD, BUT, OH, WELL!"
OR, YOU CAN SHARE THIS WITH OTHERS, AND YOU CAN WRITE LETTERS TO YOUR CONGRESSMEN, AND YOUR LOCAL MEDIA, AND PASTE IT ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGES, AND TALK ABOUT IT TO THOSE IN YOUR LIVES.
WE CAN FACE THIS AND DO SOMETHING TO HELP THE UNBORN, THE MUTILATED, THE INNOCENTS, AND OUR OWN MILITARY VETERANS, ALSO INNOCENT BECAUSE THEY WERE NEVER TOLD WHAT THIS 'DU' DOES.
WE OWE IT TO ALL WHO ARE AFFECTED FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES, AND THOSE WHO WILL NEVER HAVE A LIFE, TO SPEAK OUT, TO BE ENRAGED ENOUGH TO FINALLY STEP OUT AND HELP THEM!
IF WE DON'T, WHO WILL?
THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS REPRODUCED ALMOST IN ITS ENTIRETY BY EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR. I AM MOST GRATEFUL FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF PASSING IT ON. ALL-CAPS/BOLD WORDS ARE OF MY OWN DOING.
"Depleted Uranium – One Of The Greatest Environmental Horrors In The History Of The World"
By Michael, on February 2nd, 2010
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/depleted-uranium-one-of-the-greatest-environmental-horrors-in-the-history-of-the-world
Most Americans have no idea that depleted uranium munitions used by the U.S. military are causing one of the greatest environmental nightmares in the history of the world. In fact, most Americans have no idea what depleted uranium even is. But even as many Americans gobble down their burgers and french fries and pizza and enjoy the “good life” watching their big screen televisions, an entirely different story is being written on the other side of the world. In Iraq and Afghanistan today, there are some areas that have been so polluted by depleted uranium that they have literally become uninhabitable hellholes. Americans like to think of themselves as so “environmentally conscious”, but the truth is that one of the greatest environmental tragedies of all time is being caused by the U.S. military and yet nobody seems to care.
But now some of the victims are starting to fight back – at least in court. According to one Iraqi minister, Iraq’s Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against the United States and the United Kingdom over their use of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq.
Iraq’s Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, reportedly told the Assabah newspaper that the lawsuit will be based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment. These reports allege that the U.S. and the U.K. used nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs during the early years of the the Iraq war.
In fact, one official Iraqi study has found that more than 40 sites across Iraq are currently contaminated with high levels of radiation and dioxins.
So who is responsible for that?
WE ARE.
In areas where depleted uranium use was the highest, Iraqi doctors have reported a massive rise in the number of babies born with birth defects and they have seen the number of cancer cases among Iraqi citizens absolutely skyrocket.
In fact, what is happening to babies in the city of Fallujah is beyond horrifying. Back in November, one major U.K. newspaper described the situation this way….
In September this year, say campaigners, 170 children were born at Fallujah General Hospital, 24 per cent of whom died within seven days. Three-quarters of these exhibited deformities, including “children born with two heads, no heads, a single eye in their foreheads, or missing limbs”. The comparable data for August 2002 – before the invasion – records 530 births, of whom six died and only one of whom was deformed.
So what exactly are depleted uranium munitions?
They are essentially “dirty bombs” made from nuclear waste.
Depleted Uranium is a waste product of the nuclear enrichment process. Despite claims that depleted uranium is much less radioactive than natural uranium, the truth is that it actually emits about 75% as much radioactivity as natural uranium.
This makes it highly toxic to humans.
When depleted uranium munitions impact a target, the uranium coating of these weapons becomes a powder which easily contaminates the surrounding air, soil and water.
Depleted uranium is both chemically toxic and highly radioactive. In laboratory tests it severely damages human cells, causes DNA mutations and has other carcinogenic effects.
Depleted uranium poisoning has been linked to a vast array of illnesses and diseases including severe skin rashes, intense muscle and joint pain, major birth defects, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, brain tumors and just about every type of cancer. Depleted uranium also replaces calcium in the body, thus destroying both teeth and bones.
As a result of the massive depleted uranium contamination in Iraq and Afghanistan, severe birth defects and cancer have dramatically increased not only among civilians living in the affected areas, but also among U.S. troops who served in areas where depleted uranium munitions were used.
Depleted uranium munitions are classified by the United Nations as ILLEGAL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION , and yet the U.S. and the U.K. CONTINUE to use them.
The uranium used in depleted uranium munitions has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, so the environmental hell that the invading armies have caused in Iraq and Afghanistan will be a gift that keep on giving.
FOREVER.
But it is not just those in other nations who are suffering from the effects of depleted uranium.
Most Americans have no idea that thousands upon thousands of our own troops are getting sick and dying from depleted uranium exposure.
According to official (but unpublicized) U.S. government data, there have been over 70,000 deaths and over 1 million disabilities among U.S. troops as a result of America’s wars in the Middle East.
The truth is that we have been slowly nuking our own troops and most Americans don’t even realize it.
In her excellent article entitled “Death By Slow Burn:How America Nukes Its Own Troops”, Amy Worthington painted a very graphic picture of the effect that exposure to depleted uranium is having on U.S. and British troops….
U.S and British troops deployed to the area are the walking dead. Humans and animals, friends and foes in the fallout zone are destined to a long downhill spiral of chronic illness and disability.
Kidney dysfunction, lung damage, bloody stools, extreme fatigue, joint pain, unsteady gait, memory loss and rashes and, ultimately, cancer and premature death await those exposed to DU.
Award-winning journalist Will Thomas wrote: “As the last Gulf conflict so savagely demonstrated, GI immune systems reeling from multiple doses of experimental vaccines offer little defense against further exposure to chemical weapons, industrial toxins, stress, caffeine, insect repellent and radiation left over from the last war. This is a war even the victors will lose.”
When a DU shell is fired, it ignites upon impact. Uranium, plus traces of plutonium and americium, vaporize into tiny, ceramic particles of radioactive dust. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit radiation indefinitely.
A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire immune system according to British radiation expert Roger Coghill. The Royal Society of England published data showing that battlefield soldiers who inhale or swallow high levels of DU can suffer kidney failure within days. Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled lethal radioactive dust is not breathing.
In fact, the vast majority of veterans who have served in the Gulf War, Iraq or Afghanistan either have already developed incapacitating illnesses or they will eventually develop them as Worthington explained in her article….
The Gulf War Veterans Association reports that at least 300,000 Gulf War I vets have now developed incapacitating illnesses. To date, 209,000 vets have filed claims for disability benefits based on service-connected injuries and illnesses from combat in that war.
Dr. Asaf Durakovic, a professor of nuclear medicine at Georgetown University, is a former army medical expert. He told nuclear scientists in Paris last year that tens of thousands of sick British and American soldiers are now dying from radiation they encountered during Gulf War I. He found that 62 percent of sick vets tested have uranium isotopes in their organs, bones, brains and urine. Laboratories in Switzerland and Finland corroborated his findings.
In other studies, some sick vets were found to be expressing uranium in even their semen. Their sexual partners often complained of a burning sensation during intercourse, followed by their own debilitating illnesses.
How is [SIC] the world can we possibly do this to our own troops?
Is our government simply this cold?
The following is just one testimony from one of our soldiers who has had his life changed forever by depleted uranium….
In early September 2003, Army National Guard Spec. Gerard Darren Matthew was sent home from Iraq, stricken by a sudden illness.
One side of Matthew’s face would swell up each morning. He had constant migraine headaches, blurred vision, blackouts and a burning sensation whenever he urinated.
The Army transferred him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for further tests, but doctors there could not explain what was wrong.
Shortly after his return, his wife, Janice, became pregnant. On June 29, she gave birth to a baby girl, Victoria Claudette. The baby was missing three fingers and most of her right hand.
Matthew and his wife believe Victoria’s shocking deformity has something to do with her father’s illness and the war — especially since there is no history of birth defects in either of their families.
They have seen photos of Iraqi babies born with deformities that are eerily similar.
In June, Matthew contacted the Daily News and asked us to arrange independent laboratory screening for his urine. This was after The News had reported that four of seven soldiers from another National Guard unit, the 442nd Military Police, had tested positive for depleted uranium (DU).
The independent test of Matthew’s urine found him positive for DU – low-level radioactive waste produced in nuclear plants during the enrichment of natural uranium.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE?
This is one of the greatest environmental tragedies imaginable, and yet nobody is talking about it.
What does it say about us when we live in a world where we can knowingly create this kind of environmental nightmare and nobody seems to care?
The truth is that we owe the world an apology of unprecedented magnitude for using depleted uranium munitions. This is one of the biggest environmental crimes in the history of the planet, and it must stop NOW.
In the video posted below, you will see Dr. Doug Rokke (who was one of the top depleted uranium experts in the U.S. military) talk about depleted uranium and the effects that it had on his team.
[PLEASE NOTE, THAT VIDEO WAS REMOVED BOTH ON MICHAEL'S SITE AND FROM YOUTUBE BUT I FOUND IT AND SET THE NEW LINK BELOW]
Dr. Rokke’s team was one of the first assigned to try to clean up some of the depleted uranium contamination in Iraq. Of the 100 people on Dr. Rokke’s decontamination team, 30 have already dropped dead.
Dr. Rokke is seriously ill himself with radiation damage to his lungs and kidneys. He also has severe brain lesions, skin pustules, chronic fatigue, continual wheezing and painful fibromyalgia. He is not just an expert on depleted uranium, he is also living through the horror of DU poisoning….
Dr. Doug Rokke DEPLETED URANIUM
[NEW LINK FOR MENTIONED VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-VkpR-wka8 , "Talk - Dr. Doug Rokke - Depleted Uranium (DU)" ]
The stories of U.S. military veterans who have had their lives destroyed by depleted uranium exposure could literally fill a phone book. We have turned Iraq, Afghanistan and a number of other areas across the globe (including Puerto Rico) into environmental wastelands.
And yet the U.S. military continues to use depleted uranium and continues to insist that there is nothing wrong with it.
Depleted uranium needs to become one of the top priorities for every environmental advocacy organizations in the entire world. The environmental damage that is being caused by these weapons is of an unprecedented magnitude and it will never be able to be cleaned up.
It is time to wake up and start making this an issue. Now that you know the truth, you can be part of the solution.
BUT WILL YOU?
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WHAT IF THEY HAD BEEN WARNED?
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