-Caveat Lector-
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 2:11 PM
Subject: America killing its own soldiers
America killing its own soldiers
Depleted uranium making all wars nuclear
By John Kaminski
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the United States would be detonating
nuclear shells to poison its own soldiers and the surrounding civilian populations with
radioactive isotopes.
- Dr. Helen Caldicott, Metal of Dishonor
No one with any brains should ever consider enlisting in the U.S. armed forces because
the people in charge of America's
defenses have clearly demonstrated they have absolutely no regard for the health and
welfare of their troops. A study of the irresponsible and continuing use of depleted
uranium ammunition proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt.
For the past decade, America's leaders have fought to prevent depleted uranium (DU)
ammunition from being declared a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations,
despite knowing that exposure to this poisonous substance guarantees cancer, birth
defects and a host of other lethal health hazards. Despite tens of thousands of Gulf
War
veterans in bad health that many have blamed on DU and many veterans of the conflict in
Yugoslavia now urinating uranium, the politicians and generals have refused to ban this
deadly substance because it is simply too effective a weapon. And they continue to deny
appropriate health care to U.S. military veterans who have suffered because of it.
Now a new invasion is set to unfold in the one place in the world where depleted
uranium
contamination is worst - southern Iraq. American soldiers will be sent into battle with
inadequate protections against a proven health hazard that will almost certainly doom
them to lives diminished by a variety of cancers caused by uranium 238, which means
they
may transmit these illnesses to their family and friends - and birth defects to their
children - when and if they return home.
In recent days, an evocative fourplex of stories has been posted on the rense.com
website
that vividly portrays the danger and depravity of the depleted uranium issue. This is
not
an attempt to steal the thunder from those writers (especially the great profile by
Travis Dunn of Disaster News.net), but is a recommendation to all to read these four
pieces (the URLs are listed at the bottom), Or, for those who don't have the two hours
to
read all four stories, this is simply a briefer synopsis. In addition, the web is full
of
stories about the dangers of depleted uranium and the coverup of those dangers by U.S.
authorities.
When you read them, it will become clear that American officials far more interested in
taking lives than saving them are jeopardizing the lives and futures of all personnel
now
serving in the U.S. military.
Dr. Doug Rokke is the man the U.S. government put in charge of trying to clean up and
assess certain aspects of contamination after the first Gulf War. When he finally
reached
his conclusions, the Army ignored them, hid his medical records from him, and
insisted he didn't get sick as a result of his work. A later examination revealed Rokke
had 5000 times the normal amount of
radiation in his body.
Rokke ran the U.S. Army's depleted uranium project in the mid-90s, and he was in charge
of the Army's effort to clean up DU after the Persian Gulf War. He also directed the
Edwin R. Bradley Radiological Laboratories at Fort McClellan, Ala.
What Rokke found after the Persian Gulf massacre terrified him. "'Oh my God' is the
only
way to describe it," Rokke said. "Contamination was all over." And it still is, and
will
be for 4.5 million years.
Rokke and his crew were measuring significant levels of radiation up to 50 meters away
from affected tanks: up to 300
millirems an hour in beta and gamma radiation, and alpha radiation from the thousands
to
the millions in counts per minute
(CPM) on a Geiger counter. "That whole area is still trashed," he said. "It's hotter
than
heck over there still. This stuff
doesn't go away."
This is the situation new U.S. troops now face as George W. Bush masses American troops
for another invasion of Iraq, this attack having even less moral justification than the
first Gulf War in 1990.
Rokke's team took three months to clean up 24 tanks for transport back to the U.S. The
Army, Rokke said, took another three
years to fully decontaminate the same 24 tanks. But the contaminated tanks weren't the
only problem. Within 72 hours of
their inspections, Rokke and his crew started getting sick. In the past decade, Rokke
said 30 men out of 100 who were closely involved in these operations dropped dead.
Rokke's lungs and kidneys are damaged. He believes that uranium oxide dust is
permanently
trapped inside his lungs. He
has lesions on his brain, pustules on his skin. He suffers from chronic fatigue
syndrome.
He has reactive airway disease,
which means he can't stop wheezing and coughing, and experiences a loss of breath when
he
exercises. He also has
fibromyalgia, a condition that causes chronic pain in his muscles, ligaments and
tendons.
The VA tested Rokke for uranium levels in his body in 1994. He got the results back two
and a half years later. His urine
had 5000 times the amount of permissible uranium. After years of fighting with the VA,
Rokke said he managed to get a 40 percent disability, but there is no official
acknowledgement that his illnesses were caused by his work with DU.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Army and the Pentagon continue to
insist that DU is safe. U.S. authorities continue to cover up the DU scandal for two
reasons: first, because DU coated shells are far more powerful than ordinary ordnance,
and second, because the policy of making DU weaponry provides the beleaguered U.S.
nuclear industry with a handy and lucrative way to dispose of its waste material.
The problem with DU, Rokke points out, is the dust that's given off when a round is
fired. The projectile begins burning immediately, and up to 70 percent of it oxidizes.
"This aerosolized power - uranium oxide- is the really dangerous stuff," Rokke said,
"particularly when it is inhaled."
Dr. Helen Caldicott, probably the world's foremost critic of nuclear power, agrees: "
...
depleted uranium spontaneously burns on impact, creating tiny aerosolized particles
less
than five microns in diameter, small enough to be inhaled. At least seventy
percent of the uranium in these weapons is released in this form on impact, and these
tiny particles travel long distances
when airborne."
About one quarter of the 700,000 troops sent to the Persian Gulf War have reported some
sort of Gulf War-related illness,
and Rokke is convinced that DU has something to do with it, along with the host of
other
chemicals to which troops were
exposed, including low levels of sarin gas, smoke from oil fires, countless pesticides
as
well as anti-nerve gas tablets
which troops were required to ingest.
Rokke: "Today, at least one decade after thousands and maybe millions of individuals
were
exposed to DU contamination and who should have received medical care per our original
1991 recommendations and as specified in the October 14, 1993
directive, less than 500 individuals have ever been provided the required
radio-bioassay
testing and consequent medical
care. We must note that if United States personnel should receive medical care then all
exposed individuals also must
receive medical care."
Just imagine the top brass in Washington actually caring about what their Dr.
Strangelove
contraptions have done to the million or so sick people in the Persian Gulf.
But the problem is not just in faraway Iraq. Similar health effects also have been
documented in uranium processing facility employees of and residents living near
Paducah,
Kentucky; Portsmouth, Ohio; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Hanford,
Washington, where the DU weaponry was made. Employees at uranium manufacturing or
processing facilities in New York, Tennessee, Iowa, Massachusetts, and the four corners
area of southwest Colorado also have repeatedly reported health effects similar to
those
reported by verified Gulf War DU casualties. Iraqi and other humanitarian agency
physicians are reporting the same health effects in exposed populations. Scottish
scientists recently verified that residents of the Balkans were excreting uranium in
their urine.
Recently, the U.S. Navy willfully used DU munitions during peacetime exercises on the
Puerto Rican Island of Vieques in
violation of laws and regulations, jeopardizing U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico. Still
there
is no accountability for these actions that spread radioactive waste that causes
indiscriminate harm to all that are exposed for 4.5 billion years unless contamination
is
cleaned up.
Depleted uranium was only one of the verified exposures in the Persian Gulf theater
which
also included chemical warfare agents, biological warfare agents, pesticides,
industrial
chemicals, endemic diseases, sand (El Eskan disease), food borne illnesses, water borne
illness, organic and inorganic byproduct compounds from oil well fires, airborne
particulates, asbestos, cleaning compounds, low level radioactive materials, and then
the
deliberate immunizations and drugs designed to protect individuals from verified
threats.
If your son or daughter is in the military today, opposition from the hapless Iraqi
army
is not the greatest threat.
Apart from DU, Rokke listed other hazards facing America's military personnel.
"Today, we know that the anthrax manufacturing process was never inspected and approved
by the FDA before 1993 and today the FDA still has not approved the facility. We also
know that there are adverse short term and probably long-term effects. The anthrax
vaccine that we administered was licensed for prevention of cutaneous and not
respiratory
anthrax. Then just within the last month, Department of Defense officials finally
admitted after continued denials that an illegal adjuvant, squalene was used instead of
alum in some vaccine batches. Consequently, we probably reduced the ability of the
immune
system to fight off the multitude of exposures that occurred.
"Troops were also immunized against a whole host of diseases and biological warfare
toxins such as anthrax and botulism. If immunizations been maintained rather than
giving
individuals 4 or 5 or even more simultaneous immunizations we could have reduced
adverse
effects on the immune system. But we did not; we gave individuals numerous shots at the
same time and then did not keep track of what was given or what adverse reactions
occurred. We messed up immune systems before deployment. Basically, after we declared
war
we had to immunize everyone. As I administered hundreds of anthrax and botulinum shots
in
Saudi Arabia, I could only wonder why we were ordered not to record any information.
Once
more, our actions to protect individuals against a verified threat ignored common
sense."
This is the way America's military leaders protect the welfare of their troops. And
there's more.
Rokke: "The confirmed nerve agent threat resulted in the use of PB, which is actually a
reversible bond nerve agent, in an attempt to reduce the effects of chemical warfare
nerve agents such as Sarin, VX, Soman, Novachuks, and Multiple 7. PB can be compared to
spraying gumdrops with Raid or Black Flag and then eating them. We expected adverse
reactions from consumption of PB because it is a carbamate pesticide compound.
Therefore,
we made sure that NBC operations and medical personnel knew of potential adverse
effects.
"Again, we knew there would be health effects and yet commanders decided to ignore our
warnings and force individuals to eat PB tablets. As part of our discussions we also
identified and warned about the anticipated interactions between pesticides, nerve
agents, and drugs such as PB (pyridiostigmine bromide / mestinon). Official Department
of
Army medical records confirm that over 50 % of the individuals who took the PB got sick
with nerve agent effects. American officials ignored the problem.
"Today, many of us; including scientists, physicians, pastors, and others; who decided
to
speak up about what occurred, why it occurred, what should have been done years ago,
and
what should be done now have lost jobs, experienced retaliation, and been threatened by
Department of Defense, Department of the Army, and Department of Veterans Affairs
officials. The direct and indirect threats, warnings, and attacks also have been
directed
to our family members to bring pressure on us to stop demanding accountability. This is
all about liability! Therefore the truth must be suppressed! If what happened is
acknowledged, then specific individuals within our government and other governments
will
be required to accept responsibility for the consequences of deliberate actions.
"The health and environmental problems are not limited to Iraq or surrounding areas.
Similar adverse health and environmental effects have been identified within and around
U.S. military installations or Department of Energy facilities in Alabama, Washington,
California, Alaska, Tennessee, Korea, Panama, Germany, Philippines, Maryland, Nevada,
Florida, California, and especially surrounding the U.S. Navy range on the Vieques,
Puerto Rico. I recently had the father of a warrior stationed in California come up to
me
while I was eating supper in a restaurant outside Chicago to ask for help in obtaining
medical care for his family who was sick from exposures.
"Another dangerous location is Calhoun County (Fort McClellan) Alabama. Extensive PCB
contamination mixed with contamination from DOD activities and the potential release of
nerve and mustard agents during weapons incineration without any effective emergency
response threatens the residents and the environment. DOD and Army representatives have
told the residents of Calhoun County to just close their doors and windows and hold
their
breath in the event of releases. OH MY GOD!!!!!"
Why is DU such a good weapon? Because it hardens the tank shells and makes them more
effective. Also, the material is readily available from America's vast stockpiles of
nuclear waste. As an alternative, Germany uses tungsten to coat its shells, eliminating
the radioactivity but having a far great cost because tungsten has to be mined while
uranium waste is lying around everywhere.
A majority of international experts agrees that DU is already a banned weapon because
it
is incompatible with existing humanitarian law and qualifies as a weapon of mass
destruction.
In 1996 this issue was brought before the Human Rights Tribunal in Geneva and the
Tribunal condemned it as warfare. They actually called depleted uranium a weapon of
mass
destruction, one that destroys the user as well as the used, the abuser and well as the
abused.
The top brass in Washington continue to say our soldiers - your children, or husbands
and
wives - are perfectly safe.
Information for this story was culled from:
http://www.rense.com/general33/terr.htm
http://www.rense.com/general33/donot.htm
http://www.rense.com/general33/depl.htm
http://www.rense.com/general33/du.htm
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/after_e/000711.html
and other websites
John Kaminski is a writer who lives on the coast of Florida.
------- End of forwarded message -------
--------------------------------------
Steve Wingate
ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES
http://www.anomalous-images.com
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
