Thanks to a friend of this site named Max I have been told about a report made by an expert in DU (depleted uranium), Leuren Moret. Moret is described as:
an international radiation specialist, with a B.S. degree in geology from University of California at Davis, a M.A. degree in Near Eastern studies from University of California at Berkeley and has done post-graduate work in the geosciences at UC-Davis. She is environmental commissioner for the City of Berkeley, Calif.
The report goes on to tell of the many nasty characterizations of DU and of how:
DU weaponry violates all international treaties and agreements, Hague and Geneva war conventions, the 1925 Geneva gas protocol, U.S. laws and U.S. military law.
I wish I could say that I knew nothing of DU but alas that would be a lie. I rode up during the invasion with both infantry units and artillery units and it is no secret that DU was used during the invasion. To some it may prove our awesome might as a world power but to others it is an endless nightmare. DU is described as:
the Trojan Horse of nuclear war - it keeps giving and keeps killing. There is no way to clean it up, and no way to turn it off because it continues to decay into other radioactive isotopes in over 20 steps.
Just another present we have given the world I guess... It has been stated as well that:
Since 1991, the U.S. has released the radioactive atomicity equivalent of at least 400,000 Nagasaki bombs into the global atmosphere. That is 10 times the amount released during atmospheric testing which was the equivalent of 40,000 Hiroshima bombs. The U.S. has permanently contaminated the global atmosphere with radioactive pollution having a half-life of 2.5 billion years.
To those of you back home these are just numbers and amounts but to many this is the grim reality. Just as Moret tells of how:
In southern Iraq, scientists are reporting five times higher levels of gamma radiation in the air, which increases the radioactive body burden daily of inhabitants. In fact, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan are uninhabitable.
45 comments:
Lest anyone think DU stays in the areas Zach mentioned, don't be mistaken. The duststorms of Iraq pick up the DU and move it around the world. It has even been detected up in Northern Europe. There should be a ban on this stuff, just like there is on nuke testing.
-roamer in mich
The real irony is that Tungston penetrators work better, we only use DU because it's cheaper. When the time comes to pay for the cleanup, we'll learn to rue the phrase "false economy".
Also, the radiation is a fairly minor threat. The increased background radiation in Iraq is roughly the equivalent of taking one extra high altitude plane ride per year. The real problem with the stuff is heavy metal poisoning, which has resulted in numerous cancers and birth defects. Wonder how much that'll cost in the long run?
The effects of gamma, alpha and beta radiation, in addition to the heavy metals, would escalate cancer rates significantly. What one doesn't do, the other one will. Once the mechanisms to repair DNA are overwhelmed, cancer becomes inevitable.
No wonder there were so many birth defects in Iraq after the 1st Gulf War.
-roamer in mich
Very interesting post... and right on top of the 60yr anniversary of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings. What have we learned in 60 years?
All the technology, planning, leadership, firepower (legal or not),troop strength and several hundred billion dollars and more time than we spent in WWII, yet a few "dead enders" can damn near defeat us - certainly exact a heavy toll. Perhaps if a foreign power invaded the US, we'd resist also - in the name of God too.
How hard is it to leave the world a better place, or at least the same as it was when we came into it?
It's so depressing.
BTW Zach, here's a post from Bouphonia today about our botched destruction of chemical weapons:
http://bouphonia.blogspot.com/2005/08/fun-with-chemical-weapons.html
It's depressing too. Sorry!
Take care and stay safe --
Off topic, I know, but some of you might be interested in the following reports about Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq and who is currently camped outside Bush's ranch in Texas:
Report in UK "Guardian" newspaper
Report on US Counterpunch magazine
Taff
duh, uh gee. uh. here i am in this foreign country, helping spread this du stuff. not good for them. not good for me. uh. just following orders. duh
Even if they banned the stuff, the US would continue to use it, but hey, at least the Bush twins never have to worry about their babies being born with birth defects.
All of history is a struggle between master and slave, oppressor and oppressed, employer and employee... I suppose things will never change until we all have so much DU slipping into our DNA that none of us is capable of reproduction. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad for the planet...
Duh, uh, deep poetry sarge. Shows everyone you ARE on the right track, just a little slow. uh uh
Keep it up and even YOU might start to think. Peace and safety to you.
And don’t off any more iraqis, please, even though you're following orders.
http://counterpunch.org/
General, your tank is a powerful vehicle
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.
General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.
it is all SOOOOO depressing and you know that we will pay for all of this and it won't be pretty. sigh.....
and you know that we will pay for all of this
No "we" won't. We'll do exactly what we did after the first Gulf War and leave all this cr@p lying around. How many US/UK taxpayers are going to want to pay to clean it up? We don't even like having to pay to clean up our own countries, after all.
But "Iraqis" of all species will be paying for this - with a 2.5 billion year half-life, the affected areas will presumably be radioactive until the end of time. Our distant cockroach-descended inheritors will be puzzling over this for aeons to come.
Doh!
Taff
General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.
If anybody wants to read the article about jailed Iraq CO Sgt Kevin Benderman (which featured the above quote from Brecht), check out Vietnam veteran Stan Goff's piece on Counterpunch.
HISTORY TEST
Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test. The events are actual events from history. They actually happened!
Do you remember?
1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. a Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
Nope, ..I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winning and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling.
The Gloria Aldreds and other dunder-headed attorneys along with Federal Justices that want to thwart common sense, should feel doubly ashamed of themselves -- if they have any such sense.
Come on people lets wake up!!! Our Country and our troops need our support.
And guess who bombed London?......
Here's a good book everyone should read:
The leading expert on media bias makes the most substantive case yet for the leftward bias of America’s mainstream news organizations;
http://www.mrc.org/books/wmd.asp
Your Pal,
AnonoBob
"all the profiling in the world wouldn't have caught Tim McVeigh"
But Tim McVeigh was an anomaly and had no ties to Islam.
"We don't use the 1st Cav to go after the Triads or La Cosa Nostra do we?"
Good Point though.
"Terror can only be defeted by not being terrorised."
Like Israel, who will go after the terrorists and bring the fight to their doorstep.
Also, Israel Profiles, and they have not had an airline hijacking since.
Anonymous loser: Points for posting something that's actually half intelligent. Too bad you just cut-and-pasted it, but at least a part of you recognizes your own limitations. Now, what does racial profilling have to do with our use of chemical weapons?
Hurria,
yOu do not knoe me, i am performance of the "BOB clan. i am only a slakluster and have been tasked to deliver you a message from thye virga. message as follows: think of happy thoughts, although the clamshell hasnt digeSted yet, BOB has agreed to come and retreve you, and allow you back into his aura. EOM. although i am only a slakluster i feel I have knoen yoU forever. and jeannete wishes to thank you for the "Suplement" you sent her. she said that wardriving can be tiresome, but will kontinue in your name. she will like to know if you have receive the "device? and says konsult users manual for familiar brakeage. now that you have narfulled the garthog your name will be known. rev mainard also shills toward you at the appointed hour. dr smith has fully endorsed your campaign to battle gout, as needed 2or3 times a day when taken at the proper dosage.
until we meet again under the watchful eYe of whOlly "BOB"
YouRs,
sLaklUster peRformAnce
--------------------------------------------------------
This communication is for use by the Illuminatti recipient and contains Fillafel that may be congealed, complicated or copycatted under applicable guffaw. If you are not the intended recipe, you are hereby formally rattified that any use, copying or discombobulation of this, in whole or in fart, is partially prohibited. cease & notify the sender by 3rd party and replete this in your system. Unless sexplicitly and suspicuously designated as "Contract Amended", this does not a constitute offer, a conflict amendment, or an receptance of a contract coffer. This does not constant to the overdose of sender's contact information for dark marketing pierposes for transfers of data to third world parties.
the dialogue continues, but really beats around the bush (no pun or reference to gorge butch intended).
snag, are you gonna reenlist? and all the anon hawks, you also? there'd be more powder monkeys for the canons, but mr sang i thought you're saying this isn't the problem.
personally i've had my thoughts on sargeant zach. i want him safe and healthy and doing positive acts in the world. trouble is that in a uniform and with a weapon, he is the problem.
but now maybe he and many of his buddies have started, finally, on the right track; they're "feeling" and writing poetry about their savagery. now, if they could only begin to THINK just a bit and use all that horse shit sorry horse sense americans have been given as their birthright. whens it gonna happen zach? is it gonna happen zach?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1547587,00.html
Israel and "terror": Don't want to get too far into this one on Zach's blog, but this is something I know a bit about, having travelled in the Occupied territories and taken many years to de-program myself from the BS on Israeli/Palestinian history that saturates our media.
1. Israel knows a bit about terrorism - it was founded by terrorists.
2. Israel also creates terrorists very efficiently through its brutal and illegal occupation, as "we" are doing in Iraq, often with the same tactics.
3. Israel is now building its apartheid wall to confine Palestinians in ghettos. Even if we wanted to, we could not do this in Iraq. But we do have the Greenback Zone i.e. our ghetto.
4. Israel's situation is indeed different e.g. it has deliberately exposed some 400,000 Israelis to attack from Palestinian freedom fighters (or terrorists) by importing them into stolen land in the Occupied Territories in breach of the 4th Geneva Convention. Do we want to follow suit - who's going to volunteer to live in Tikrit?
5. Israel has been fighting Palestinian resistance to ethnic cleansing for nearly 60 years and still cannot defeat its "enemy". Do we want to stay in Iraq for 60 years?
6. The one thing Israel has never seriously tried is an end to its land-grabbing ethnic-cleansing occupation. Maybe there is a lesson in this for us?
The less we have to do with Israel, its racist occupation, its brutal Nazi-derived tactics and its relentless dedication to digging itself deeper into the sh!t, the better our chances of getting our forces out of Iraq in one piece and leaving enough of Iraq standing for the iraqis to re-build. And the fewer excuses there will be for sh!theads in our own societies to run off and join the jihadis.
And if you don't like what I say about Israel, you should read what Avraham Burg, Israeli politican and former Knesset speaker, says.
taff
Slakluster: Needs work. That didn't have nearly enough exclamation points to be a proper SubGenius rant. Ya gotta put yer SPLEEN into it, Bobbie!
It was a... Slakluster Performance indeed.
Zing! Pass the 'FropPipe, Anonybrother, Praise "Bob" before we shoot the bastard, Jesus died for your sins but "Bob" will KILL OTHER PEOPLE for them! Brother Anonymous, pass me that shotgun, I'm a-goin' Epopt Hunting. There ain't nuthin more delicious or nutricious that "Bob"ribs from a "Bob" you shot yourself. It's kind of a pain when he res-eee-rects hisself half-way through the meal, though. Yesiree, unlike SOME messiahs we could name, "Bob" rises from the dead several times per day! HE's the energizer salvationizer! That salvation could be _yours_, friends! Send $30 dollars to the Subgenius Foundation, today, and you are GUERANTEED Eternal Salvation! And we are the only church so confident that we offer "triple-your-money-back" if Salvation is not yours! If you find yourself in Hell after dying, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs HIMSELF will be there, with 90 dollars in cold, hard cash for you! Go to www.subgenius.com today. OR KILL ME!
snag, its not about right wars or wrong wars. you be so dang intelligent you just dont get it do you? ask hurria about war.
best thing zach and his buddies could do is go home, wherever it is and start planting garden.
Simply Bobalicious, Now in the new economy size!
Instead of taking lessons from Israel on how to solve the terrorist problem, maybe it's time we looked at Ireland. There, they had the same problem -- ongoing sectarian violence -- until the Protestants actually TALKED with the IRA/Sein Finn. The IRA's argument was almost exactly the same one the Palestinians are using -- that their homeland was being occupied. Like the situation in Palestine, both sides actually LIVE there and have for quite some time, so they really had no choice but negotiate.
Guess what? It took time, but it worked. They aren't killing each other now. That should be tried anywhere the terrorists are homegrown.
Of course, the situation in Iraq is different. Our forces don't live there and don't want to. Any negotiations would have to be between the Iraqi government and the jihadists (if anybody even considers the gov't worth talking to and not just a US tool for continuing occupation after we're gone.) We've dug ourselves into a deep hole that will take decades(?) to get out of, although that process might be faster if we arrest Bush & several other "leaders" and turn them over to the UN's war crimes tribunal for the trials they so richly deserve.
Oh, and it's so like BushCo to use DU because it's cheaper in the short term, without regard to the long term consequences. That makes DU a great symbol for this administration's entire domestic and foreign policy -- toxic, invasive, carcinogenic, long-lasting and driven by profit.
Oh, by the way, after reading this, I looked up a few things re: DU...
Did you know DU's not only used in the projectiles, it's also in the armor of some of our combat vehicles, esp. Abrams tanks?
According to the DOD's own Capstone report, occupants of DU-armored vehicles that get hit by DU projectiles inhale more uranium aerosol than those w/o DU armor. Such folks inhale 10 mg in the first minute (if the vehicle's ventilation system works; 250 mg without ventilation) and up to 1,000 mg over the course of 2 hrs. The report says that would result in a total radiation exposure of under 10 rems and is "not expected to cause adverse health effects."
Of course, they don't mention that such exposure would occur under situations of very high stress, which tends to depress immune system functions.
Given the source, I'm not sure I believe them, but I also don't believe Leuren Moret's contention that DU use has released "at least 400,000 Nagasaki bombs" into the atmosphere. That much radiation would sterilize everything. Many of her other statements strike me as true, but that figure seems way too excessive. Where'd it come from???
Just thought I'd toss this out for your consideration.
snag said: Yes to any of these makes one as guilty of promoting the fear and hatred that leads to war.
Until we learn this, there will be more Iraqs. There will be more Darfurs. There will be more Tibets.
No disrespect for your fine message, snag, but you're talking a very long-term solution to problems faced by people who are dying of short-term causes. Yes, it is ultimately counterproductive to see oneself as exclusively "right" and the Other as "wrong", but that's what human beings do. And some things just are wrong e.g. Holocausts, ethnic cleansing, torture and all the rest of the crap we humans spread around the world. Preaching universal enlightenment and nirvana might save lives a generation from now (which would be great) but it won't save lives today when your opponents don't give a shit about their own karma because they're too busy making millions (or beheading "infidels") in this life. I have a relative who's a born-again psychotherapist and believes the world would be a better place if everyone was in therapy. Well, maybe, but until then we need to be able to deal with the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be.
And I disagree with the (to me) lazy tactic of suggesting that we're all responsible. Not that we shouldn't take responsibility for our actions, but it is an easy way to say "we're all responsible - so I don't have to look at my own actions as a individual". There are degrees of responsibility for every action - are we "all responsible" for the crimes of the Nazis, for example? Even (self-?)righteous anger can be a powerful tool for right action in this life, though like any power-tool it can be dangerous to its user too!
In the meantime what can your fine words do for the Iraqis like Hurria who've seen their country trashed in "our" war, Palestinians living under grinding brutal oppression because of "our" betrayals, and the millions of others around the world who can't afford to wait for us to see the truths you're telling? Not trying to suggest I have any better answers than you, but if I were an Iraqi I'd probably find the long-term suggestions a little patronising in the short term.
Peace.
taff
Snag,
Thanks for your intelligent and thoughtful reply - even if I don't entirely agree with you. I still think it is actions that count and this is where many of us on the left have always failed: we'll talk while the other guys act (I've seen the ruthless "facts on the ground" created by Israeli actions in Palestine while the Israeli "peace" movement and the rest of the world talked, agonised and did nothing). We both know that the war in Iraq is doing nothing to protect us from "terrorism" - just ask the 65% of Brits who think the London bombings are a consequence of our involvement in Bush's war.
You are absolutely right about the role of (often deliberate) ignorance (which creates the breeding ground for fear) in allowing the Iraq war to continue. Well, ignorance is no defence in law, and some of us happen to be just a little less ignorant in some areas at least, so it is our responsibility to share whatever understanding we have with others, in the hope of rendering them less susceptible to the propaganda of the pro-war lobby. That's how I learned what little I know about anything, after all. We need to counter the lies that got us into the war, and confront the awkward issues raised by the other side, but we also need to do whatever we can to change things now. The war is being fought in our name, so it's our damned duty to find out what's being done, and Zach's blog is a positive step in this process (thanks Zach).
But although I have a great deal of respect and sympathy for ordinary soldiers like Zach who are caught between Iraq and a hard place, in the end the responsibility for their actions is theirs alone: Only following orders is not a defence. Choosing to be part of the machine and kill (or die) in an unjust war, or to refuse and risk jail, is a decision for which each individual is responsible. Hurria is right to emphasise this, even if her understandable anger at our war makes that message hard for the rest of us to hear.
But so many of us seem to agree on so much of this, that I guess we just have to hope we can get the message across and help to create some new "facts on the ground" in Iraq, London and Washington. They're already cooking up a new war on Iran, so we don't have much time. Blogs are great for communication, but they are no substitute for engaging in this process in the real world, eh?
Cheers,
Taff
What do you think about this:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200508\SPE20050815a.html
Does anyone think this is a travesty?
AnonoBob
"Hurria said...
there is simply no way I can hope to satisfy you"
What Are You Wearing?
Anonyloser: The Serbs in Kosovo aren't being persecuted because they're Christians, they're being persecuted because they're Serbs. It's "Revenge" for all the enthic cleansing that the Serb government inflicted on the Kosovars during Milosevic's reign of terror. The fact that the Kosovan Serb civilians had little to do with those atrocities, and that the number of Serb civilians who have been exiled, raped, or murdered has now outstripped the number of Kosovars who were purged, is one of those cute little ironies of life. The real travesty is that the Nato mission there (of which our troops are part) has done almost nothing to stop this genocide, while the politicians (including our President) insist it isn't happening.
What about this???
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=\SpecialReports\archive\200508\SPE20050817a.html
Mike Cry-A-Thon,
Did you even read the story?
It highlights the destruction of christian churches at the hands of the Albanian Muslims. And the funding by Saudi Arabia for the building of over 200 mosques.
We should pull out of there too! While we are at it we should bring all the troops home, immediately stop the financial giveaways to places like Africa, Put the troops on the borders and close them for good. Then we can be the Isolationists that the Democrats were crying, and complaining that we were in the 70's & 80's
Maybe that would make Hurria Happy!
Anonyloser: Did you even read my post? Why the hell should we care what happens to churches, when the congregants who used to worship in them are being 'cleansed'? Priorities, loser!
As for pulling out of Kosovo: Hell no. We should have more troops there. And in Afghanistan. Those are both _legitimate_ missions, not ones based on lies and politics. Alas, we've left both those countries to degenerate into warlord-ocracy, while our "Dear Leader" insists that Iraq is more important.
-Mike Crichton
Mike Cry-A-Thon,
I should have known you wouldn't care much for churches. Will you be complaining the next time we have to target a mosque because some "Congregants" are hiding in it?
Legitimate missions? After all the talk of staying out of the world? Priorities Indeed!
Mike Cry-A-Thon,
Poser!
While we are at it we should bring all the troops home, immediately stop the financial giveaways to places like Africa, Put the troops on the borders and close them for good
Please do. But make sure they're closed in both directions.
By the way, Anonyloser, I'm gonna be gone for the next few weeks. My happy ass is going on leave tomorrow, and I'll be too busy back in the States to bother blogging.
A wonderful leave it will be, too: I will spoil my nieces and nephews rotton, go drinking with my big brother, pick up strippers with "No shit, there I was..." stories, take DragonCon by storm, and taunt "Young Republicans" by dangling my dogtags in front of their faces while wearing an Operation Yellow Elephant tee-shirt. It's gonna be fuuuuuun!
I hope you have fun too; I recommend getting out of your Mother's basement and into some fresh air. Some exercise will do you good. Maybe you can even go visit your friendly local recruiter! Ta ta, now.
-Mike Crichton
P.S.: Everyone, visit here: http://operationyellowelephant.blogspot.com
and http://patriotboy.blogspot.com
Anonyloser:
Poser? Au contrair, I am a proud member of the greatest military that this world has ever seen. Proud enough that I do not want to see our blood spilled and our honor soiled for lies.
For good or ill, my actions matter to the world. Yours do not, and as long as you keep typing away in your mom's basement, they never will. You want to do something _real_, get your flabby ass to a recruiter. Maybe then, I won't get stoplossed a second time.
Mike Cry-A-Thon,
Try Grenada, Colombia, Central America, And Desert Storm.
Been There Done That! Probably while you were still in Grade School.
Enjoy your time off,
Live to Spend It!
Too old, waiting for MedScience to catch up. Then I'll be Back.
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