When Bush jr. said, "we will smoke them out…" he lived up to his promise, making life an unattainable reality for the unborn and unsustainable reality for the living sentencing the Afghan people and their future generations to a predetermined death sentence.

These words were uttered by an aggrieved Afghan grandfather, who saw his own and that of others' familial extinction at the hands of the United States of America and her allies. Another Afghan, who also saw his demise, said:

The perpetuation of the perpetual death in Afghanistan continues with the passage of each day. Every day, people see the silent death striking their families and friends, hopeless and terrified at the sight of the next funeral in their minds' eyes. This indiscriminate murder of the Afghan people continues while those, whose tax money paid for the monstrous weapons and brought about this genocide pretend as though all is well. The horrific pictures of those dying--whose bodies do not correlate to their age since they have internalized so much uranium dust that it impacted the morphology of their bodies--remain in the memories of those still living who are fearfully waiting for their turn of disaster. The pregnant women are afraid from giving birth to babies--horrified to see a deformity instead of a healthy child. This is the legacy of the US "liberation", an indiscriminate murder of the weak and the unarmed that do not have any means of self-defense. In fact, there is no defensive measure against such Weapons of Mass Destruction because these deadly particles of uranium oxide--the dust formed after uranium pulverizes upon impacting a target--remain in soil, water and cover the surface of vegetation for generations to come.

When a US bomb or that of her allies landed on an Afghan village or town, the land and its people have become part of the deadly legacy of silent death. This death sentence is different from any other type because in this type death sentence all the people, their land and future generations are condemned to an inescapable genocide. The tragedy that makes this state of affairs so dreadful is the unavoidably invisible threat that targets everyone indiscriminately. Moreover, the threat has become endemic to the fiber of existence, contaminated the land, water and its inhabitants. In fact, when Bush jr. said, "we will smoke them out…" he lived up to his promise, making life an unattainable reality for the unborn and unsustainable reality for the living, hence, sentencing Afghan people and their future generations to a predetermined death sentence.

The true extent of this disaster is unfolding as time goes by. In light of the continuous revelations about the quantity and types of weapons used in Afghanistan, the worse has not fully materialized. Everyday, US AC 130 gunships, A-10s and B 52s bomb Afghan villages and towns at each turn when a unit of US troops encounter resistance. Consequently, not only, the perpetual death continues but rather, every round of depleted uranium is one additional nail in the collective coffin of the Afghan people.

The usage of great number of munitions and armaments dropped by US jets resulted in upsurge of various health problems weeks into 2002. This pattern is different from that experienced by the Iraqi after the first Gulf War where it took years for many of the birth defects, deformities and other health conditions to surface. This points to the enormity of uranium weapons used in Afghanistan, a fact, illustrated by many investigators world wide, notably Dai Williams in England, and Dr. Durakovic from the Uranium Medical Research Center in Canada, and Dr. Marc Herald in the United States among others. Furthermore, various international newspapers and media outlets notably Le Monde Diplomatique, Guardian, Frontier Post, BBC, CBC, Al Jazeera among others have reported the types of weapon systems used against Afghan targets--villages, towns--and mountain cave complexes. According to the BBC (April 10, 2002), more than 6600 J-dam bombs were dropped on Afghanistan. On October 2002, Boston Globe also reported:

By October 2002, the first anniversary of US invasion of Afghanistan, more than 10000 tons of bombs landed on Afghan soil. (Socialist Worker Online, October 11, 2002) Imagine the magnitude of carnage and contamination caused by such barbarism. While another report by Kate Randall on December 2001, put the number of US bombed dropped at 12000:

In another report, a year after September 11, 2001, Matt Kelley of the Associated Press put the US munitions statistics as follows:

Similarly the Guardian reported on April 10, 2002:

The new generations of hard target weapons whose warheads are made of dense metal have contributed to the heavy contamination of land, water and general population.

The following munitions have been deployed in bombing the poorest country of the world, Afghanistan:

Y = reported use P = prototype testing expected

The patent information of many of these munitions point to the usage of dense metal--depleted uranium, non-depleted uranium, or Tungsten, the latter is not likely since it costs more and is difficult to manufacture. Tungsten is more expensive than depleted uranium, which is in abundance. The world uranium industry has over one million tons of depleted uranium to dispose of. Tungsten is also difficult to manufacture because is 1.75 times harder than uranium and tungsten has a much higher melting point, (U = 1132 Celsius, W = 3422 Celsius). Moreover, depleted uranium is also effective as incendiary device since it burns fiercely in air. As incendiary weapon, it could ignite munitions inside tanks and burn underground weapon and fuel storage facilities and would serve effective in destroying chemical and biological agents in underground facilities. The suitability of uranium whether depleted or non-depleted is further reinforced by the claims of the Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC):

Based on these favorable military characteristics including low cost, it is logical to use uranium than tungsten. With this mind, the following patent information would further shed light on the composition of these DU based munitions: These extracts are from the works of renowned independent DU researcher Dai Williams http://www.eoslifework.co.uk

In light of the advantages of uranium over tungsten, exploring the following US patent table should further put to rest any doubts about the deadly composition of those weapons that turned Afghanistan uninhabitable wasteland.

The extracts in the following table are presented by Dai Williams and could be on the following web-site http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/u23.htm#USpatreport

Since 1997, the US has been modifying and upgrading its munitions enhancing their penetrability by using dense metal as the following quote further exposes:

The usage of new generation weapons was also confirmed by the Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC):

It continues:

UMRC articulates the difference of these weapons with those of the first Gulf War:

In addition to the bombs and rockets, the US air force relies heavily on AC-130 flying gunships which are equipped with the 25 mm GAU-12 Gatling gun (1,800 rounds per minute) with DU ammunition further adding to the contamination of the environment and misery of the poor people of Afghanistan. Furthermore, US ground forces also rely heavily on A-10 'tank killer' that uses 30 mm rounds of depleted uranium ammunitions. These two weapon systems contribute on daily basis to the misery of the people there.

This disaster will haunt Afghan children, women and men for generations to come. Dr. Michael H. Repacholi of the World Health Organization reported:

He added further:

At the defense department briefing, Dr. Ross Anthony, from the Rand Corporation had said the following about depleted uranium:

Steve Fetter and Frank von Hippel wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (1999)

What this translates into is more deformities, diseases and deaths for the poor Afghans. As I also stated in my previous report http://www.rense.com/general35/perp.htm, it took on average 5 years for various deformities to emerge in Iraq after the first Gulf War, however, in Afghanistan, people started to complain from various health problems within weeks of the initial bombing. This means only one thing, the magnitude of uranium based weapons used in Afghanistan is much higher than that in Iraq during the first Gulf War. This fact is reinforced by the news that in the first few months of the bombing more 6,600 J-dams/smart bombs have been dropped on Afghanistan, making the size of the uranium contamination much higher than in Iraq during the first Gulf War.

The emergence of excessive health problems increased curiosity and concerns among scientists worldwide of the usage of depleted uranium. The first scientific undertaking was led by the Uranium Medical Research Center (UMRC) which consisted of two consecutive trips to JalalAbad and Kabul. The preliminary findings by the UMRC research teams concluded:

• "Radiological measurements of the uranium concentrations in Afghan civilians’ urine samples indicate abnormally high levels of non-depleted uranium. Radiological measurements of Afghan civilians’ have high concentrations of uranium in a range beginning at 4 X’s and reaching to over 20 X’s normal populations. This is 400% to 2000% higher than the study controls and normal population baselines of the concentrations of nanograms of uranium per liter of urine in a 24-hour sample."

• "The isotopic ratios of the uranium contaminant measured in Afghan civilians show that it is not Depleted Uranium (DU). The isotopes of uranium found in the Afghan civilians’ urine is Non-Depleted Uranium."

• "UMRC investigated the possible origins of this contamination. The preliminary results of the radiological urine analysis are corroborated by radiological measurements of debris and weapons’ fragment samples at OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) target sites and bomb-craters."

• "UMRC’s Field Team found several hundred civilians with acute symptoms and reportedly developing, chronic symptoms of uranium internal contamination (including congenital problems in newborns). All subjects’ on-set of symptoms are reported to coincide with the calendar dates of the bombing and were not present prior to the bombing."

• "Radiological measurements of any populations’ urine specimens identify, as a standard practice, the abundance of each of the 3 naturally occurring isotopes of uranium (U234, 235, 238). These isotopes’ abundances (quantities) are measured as a fraction of the uranium released in a 24-hour sample of urine. The isotopic ratios (proportions) of the uranium in the urine collected in Afghanistan has the unmistakable signature of Non-Depleted Uranium. It does not express the isotopic ratio of DU. Depleted Uranium and Non-depleted Uranium are both species of uranium. UMRC is reporting the isotopic signatures of the uranium found in the Afghan civilians’ urine." (UMRC Preliminary Findings from Afghanistan & Operation Enduring Freedom, http://www.umrc.net/AfghanistanOEF.asp)

The staff of UMRC communicated the following about Non-Depleted Uranium:

After collecting samples of urine, soil from blast sites and surrounding areas in Kabul and JalaAbad and other areas, UMRC carrying out detailed scientific analysis of these samples and released their findings on 21.05.2003, http://www.umrc.net/AfghanistanOEF.asp:

• UMRC’s recent findings, May 2003, reveal a wider scope of human and environmental contamination in Afghan civilians, corroborating the November 2002 Jalalabad findings.

• Jalalabad area: New reference levels based on recent collections of samples and controls have revised the Jalalabad results upward to uranium values 45 X’s normal.

• New bioassay studies identify uranium internal contamination in Spin Gar (Tora Bora) area and the City of Kabul are up to 200 X’s the Reference Level of the unexposed population.

• Surface water, rice fields and catch-basins adjacent to and surrounding the bombsites have high values of uranium, up to 27 X’s normal.

• Low but as yet inconclusive readings of U²³⁶ have been identified by the laboratory in some urine samples; further analysis is underway to determine the metallurgical origins of the uranium with a consideration of "commercial natural uranium" containing recycled reactor spent fuel products.

• Analyses of soils and debris collected inside OEF bomb craters and target sites have uranium values 3 X’s to 6 X’s normal.

• Surface soils surrounding the bombsites and downwind from ground-zero are elevated close to 3 X’s reference levels.

• Field and laboratory data show that samples with elevated uranium levels, civilian health problems, and weapons exposure histories correspond spatially and chronologically to ordnance deployed by Operation Enduring Freedom.

Along the lines of the UMRC findings, I instructed two groups of field surveyors to comb eastern and southeastern Afghanistan as well as Kabul for effects on uranium on local populations, they have found many dreadful conditions.

They targeted wide areas all over Afghanistan, however, the depth of the contamination is situated in the Pashtun dominated areas, east, southeast, south and southwestern Afghanistan. More then thousands tons of non-depleted uranium along with depleted uranium (mostly from A-10 and AC-130 Gatling guns) has been used by the US and her allies against the defenseless people of Afghanistan.

The bulk of the contamination is in ToraBora, Bagram frontline--north of Kabul, Shaikoot, Paktia, Paktika, Mazar-i-sharif, and Kundoz frontline. (Field surveyors)

My team also reported that many children are born with no limbs, no eyes, or tumors protruding out from their mouths and their eyes. The following testimonies and photos--filmed in Iraq are used here to exhibit the identical conditions of Afghan victims-- exhibit the horrific conditions from which children in Afghanistan, similar to those in Iraq, suffer from.

The father one of the children in Paktia said this about his child:

The father of one of the victims from Kundoz whose wife had given birth to a deformed child that hardly resembled an infant said this to our survey team in Kabul:

The following picture exhibits the condition Zar Ghoon baby was born with:

A man from ToraBora lost controlled of his emotions while chatting with one of the field volunteers, screamed and posed a question and continued:

Most of the people that developed various health problems have died; others suffer from conditions such as kidney disease/failure, confusion, and loss of immunity and painful joints.

I wish to conclude this paper with the following quote from one of the victims of the US bombing:

Mohammed Daud Miraki, MA, MA, PhD

Director Afghan DU & Recovery Fund

Mdmiraki@ameritech.net

Bank Account: TCF Bank

5516 N. Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60640

(773) 506-4301

Bank Account Number: 9866355842

Routing Number: 271972572