Dear Friends,
The White House has publicaly dismissed humanitarian and environmental concerns raised about the use of Depleted Uranium weapons. In its statement (see below), Bush operatives claim that the UN and the WHO have found no health problems associated with DU weapons.
Regarding the 320 tons used against Iraq in 1991 the White House statement says, "But scientists working for the World Health Organization, the UN Environmental Program, and the European Union could find no health effects linked to exposure to depleted uranium."
However, the UN environment Program has found severe radiation contamination in the places it has investigated in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the U.S. bombed for 78 days in 1999.
What follows is the White House position, and two reports from the latest report by the Manchester, England-based Campaign Against Depleted Uranium.
(CADU NEWS, ISSUE 13 -Spring 2003, Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, Bridge 5 Mill, 22a Beswick St, Ancoats, Manchester M47HS, Tel/Fax: +44 (0)161 273 8293; email: info@cadu.org.uk; website http//: www.cadu.org.uk)
The two stories put the lie to the White House's propaganda on DU. Even the Pentagon has acknowledged that DU is a hazard to troops and civilians. (See attached Word.doc)
Yours,
John LaForge for Nukewatch
FROM: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ogc/apparatus/index.html
During the Gulf War, coalition forces used armor-piercing ammunition made from depleted uranium, which is ideal for the purpose because of its great density. In recent years, the Iraqi regime has made substantial efforts to promote the false claim that the depleted uranium rounds fired by coalition forces have caused cancers and birth defects in Iraq. Iraq has distributed horrifying pictures of children with birth defects and linked them to depleted uranium. The campaign has two major propaganda assets:
The truth has not deterred the Iraqi disinformation campaign. On November 15, 2000, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported that Iraq had set up an organization called the "Central Committee for the Follow-up of the Consequences of Pollution" under the direct supervision of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, to pursue this issue.
It also reported that Iraqi Major General Abd-al-Wahhab Muhammad al-Juburi headed a working team of military personnel, scientists, and others to generate data and organize tours for the international media. Iraq has hosted international conferences on the alleged ill effects of depleted uranium and sent "experts" abroad to speak on the subject, including Iraqi professor Mona Kammas, a member of Iraq's "Committee of Pollution Impact by Aggressive Bombing."
A team of experts fielded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has investigated 15 sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina targeted with weapons containing depleted uranium (DU) during the mid-1990s. The UNEP team used highly sensitive instruments to measure surface radioactivity at 14 sites (one they could not enter due to nearby mines) These measurements revealed the presence of radioactive "hot spots" and pieces of DU weapons at three sites - the Hadzici tank repair facility, the Hadzici ammunition storage area and the Han Pijesak barracks.
"Following a request by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, UNEP is carrying out this scientific assessment", said Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP. "Seven years after the conflict, DU still remains an environmental concern and, therefore, it is vital that we have the scientific facts, based upon which we can give clear recommendations how to minimize any risk."
"We are concerned about the situation at the Hadzici tank repair facility and the Han Pijesak barracks", said Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of UNEP DU projects. "The UNEP team detected DU-related materials and DU dust inside buildings that are currently used by local businesses or, in the case of Han Pijesak, by troops as storage facilities."
"Before using any DU-targeted building there should always be proper clean-up. When people are working in buildings that have not been decontaminated, unnecessary risks are being taken, and, therefore, we will discuss with the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities the need for decontamination inside the buildings currently in use as a first precautionary step. Such a job should be carried out by experts", said Mr. Haavisto.
The UNEP team found that the general public is not aware of what DU ammunition looks like and the dangers it can pose. UNEP will discuss with the national civil protection authorities the possibility of offering de- mining personnel, other local authorities involved in DU work, and interested members of the public an easy-to-read flyer on the issue of DU ammunition in the environment.
The two recommended precautionary measures of decontaminating the targeted buildings and educating the public are consistent with those proposed in UNEP's earlier DU studies in Serbia & Montenegro and Kosovo.
A medical sub-team composed of the experts from WHO and the US Army Center (USACHPPM) visited three hospitals and examined medical data and statistics in the Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation and in the Republika Srpska.
The UNEP DU assessment is funded by the Governments of Italy and Switzerland. The final results will be published in a UNEP report in March 2003.
For more information, please contact: Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of UNEP DU Projects, pekka.haavisto@unep.ch, See also http://postconflict.unep.ch or http://www.unep.org
In a message to the international community on the occasion of the International day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, (Nov 6th 2002) UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan specifically referred to Depleted Uranium stating that it was damaging to the environment.
In his speech, Kofi Annan stated that "While environmental damage is a common consequence of war, it should never be a deliberate aim. Although international conventions govern nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, new technologies, such as depleted uranium ammunition, threaten the environment".
The UNEP statement in relation to the International Day, concludes: "The course for the future must be charted with a deeper respect for the environment. Member States must take stock of the guidelines drawn up to protect all victims of war. It is vital that maps be prepared and kept to facilitate clean-up activities when former belligerents come to the table to talk peace. The innocent should not be made to suffer long after theweapons of war have been silenced.
For more info contact: N Nuttall, UNEP email: nick.nuttall@unep.org