weapons of mass destruction wmd
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| Eröffnet am: | 30.03.03 17:16 | von: stiller teilhab. | Anzahl Beiträge: | 9 |
| Neuester Beitrag: | 15.04.03 08:58 | von: Apfelbaumpf. | Leser gesamt: | 1.009 |
| Forum: | Talk | Leser heute: | 1 | |
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......BRITISH and American coalition forces are using depleted uranium (DU) shells in the war against Iraq and deliberately flouting a United Nations resolution which classifies the munitions as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
......Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's depleted uranium project -- a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel who was tasked by the US department of defense with the post-first Gulf war depleted uranium desert clean-up -- said use of DU was a 'war crime'.
......DU has been blamed for the effects of Gulf war syndrome -- typified by chronic muscle and joint pain, fatigue and memory loss -- among 200,000 US soldiers after the 1991 conflict.
.... http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm
Siehe http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/
Grüße
Apfelbaumpflanzer
allerdings scheint es trotz allem
a) dazu(auch unter 'experten') noch ziemliche sichtweisen unterschiede zu geben
b) ist eben noch nicht geklärt, woher die erhöhten krebsraten, bzw. geburtsschäden (für die von einigen eben du verantwortlich gemacht wird) nun tatsächlich ??? kommen
siehe auch http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1114246.stm
Vor kurzem stand noch bei der WHO, dass diesen März das Ergebnis einer neuen Studie kommen soll.
Bisher habe ich noch nichts davon gesehen...komisch...
Mal schauen.
Grüße
Apfelbaumpflanzer
und wenn das stimmt:
Arnett erhielt den Pulitzerpreis für seine Berichterstattung über den Vietnamkrieg und wurde weltberühmt als CNN-Reporter im Golfkrieg von 1991. Schon damals hatte sich Arnett, der heute für den US-Sender NBC in Bagdad ist, mit seinen Berichten über den Golfkrieg bei der ersten Regierung Bush nachhaltig unbeliebt gemacht. Er hatte unter anderem über einen alliierten Bombenangriff auf eine Fabrik berichtet, die nach seiner Darstellung Babymilch, nach der Version des Pentagon jedoch biologische Waffen herstellte. Die Regierung von George Bush senior beschuldigte Arnett daraufhin, Saddam Husseins Propaganda zu verbreiten.
Auch Arnetts Abschied von CNN erfolgte nicht in Frieden. 1998 moderierte er einen Beitrag, der die US-Streitkräfte beschuldigte, gegen ein Dorf im südostasiatischen Staat Laos Saringas eingesetzt zu haben, um amerikanische Deserteure zu töten. CNN feuerte wenig später zwei Mitarbeiter und zog den Beitrag zurück. Arnett verließ den Sender daraufhin.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,242773,00.html
(arnett wurde heute von cnn gefeuert und mußte sich für seinen 'fehltritt' öffentlich beim amerikanischen volk entschuldigen)
dann muß man sich wirklich langsam fragen, wer die größere bedrohung für die WELT ! und den weltfrieden ist :-(
Uranium Warheads May Leave Both Sides a Legacy of Death for Decades
by Susanna Hecht
Although the potential human cost of the war with Iraq is obvious, not many people are aware of a hidden risk that may haunt us for years.
Of the 504,047 eligible veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, about 29% are now considered disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the highest rate of disability for any modern war. And most are not disabled because of wounds.
These guys were rough, tough, buff 20-year-olds a decade ago. The vast majority are ill because of a complex of debilities known as the Gulf War syndrome.
These vets were exposed to toxic material from both sides, including numerous chemicals, fumes and weird experimental vaccines. But the largest number of the more than half a million troops eligible for VA benefits -- 436,000 -- lived for months in areas of the Middle Eastern desert that had been contaminated with depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium, or DU, is a highly toxic heavy metal that continues to emit low levels of alpha radiation. It is a byproduct of nuclear power plants and various military activities.
The United States has hundreds of thousands of tons of DU lying around, and for the Gulf War it developed a new use for the stuff: load it into warheads.
Though not technically "nuclear," because the material is not really fissionable, uranium is a heavy metal ideal for lethally effective "warhead penetrators" that can pierce through armored tanks and fortified positions. When the munitions explode, the area is bathed in a fine dust of DU that can be easily inhaled. These aerosols also taint soil and water and pollute ground water.
If the penetrators do not explode, their casings gradually oxidize, releasing DU into the environment.
DU warheads are essentially dirty bombs -- not very radioactive, but poisonous, and this is why there is an increasing global outcry against using DU in combat as tips for armor-piercing rounds as well as in artillery shells and Tomahawk missiles, among others.
Such warheads were used very successfully by the U.S. in the Gulf War, when more than 350 tons of depleted uranium were dropped on Iraq, and later in Kosovo when about 13 tons of DU were exploded in the conflict there.
The "Balkan syndrome" that emerged among the military and civilians after the U.S. bombing there bears a similarity to the Gulf War syndrome.
Though the findings are controversial, many scientists now see these afflictions as the result of heavy metal poisoning and possibly exposure to very low levels radiation.
DU is implicated in respiratory and kidney problems, rashes and, longer-term, bone cancer, as well as damaged reproductive and neurological systems.
Iraqi civilians -- many more than the 100,000 who died in the conflict or as a result of the war -- also suffer from a range of similar health problems.
Families of soldiers should be very worried.
A huge amount of ordnance has already been unleashed in Iraq, and there is no way of knowing how many thousands of tons of depleted uranium will find "permanent storage" in the rubble of Iraq, its soil and the bodies of its people and U.S. occupying forces.
It is certain, however, that the legacy of contamination will add billions to the cost of reconstruction -- and our lack of generosity in Afghanistan is instructive about the sincerity of our pledges in this area. The stingy benefit package the Gulf vets got, even during boom times, is yet another cautionary tale.
The rosy fantasies of a democratized Arab world might make for good sound bites. But the reality of widespread DU use brings to mind the epitaph for the Punic Wars: "They made a desolation and called it Peace."
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0330-02.htm
+ Published on Sunday, March 30, 2003 by The Sunday Herald (Scotland)
US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal'
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0330-02.htm
http://www.vbs.admin.ch/acls/d/h_info/du/
Grüße
Apfelbaumpflanzer