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- Copyright 1997 © Shanti Communications news
agency. All rights reserved. The following feature may not be republished
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- LONDON-UK (SRTV-SC) - Millions of defenceless children and women
civilians, including Western funded Kurds and Shias in Iraq were nuked
during the Gulf assault by the Western "Allies", one Western
intelligence source told Shanti RTV news agency.
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- And according to former US attorney-general,
Ramsey Clark, "350 tons of depleted uranium poisoned Iraq. I have
seen the impact of this new poison [DU] when I visited hospital wards for
young children in Iraq. Amidst the overwhelming horrors of the bombings
and the starvation caused by US-UK imposed sanctions, the doctors at first
did not notice the huge rise in the numbers of childhood cancers, such
as leukemia, Hodgkin's disease and lymphomas," he told Shanti RTV
news agency. "There has also been a significant rise in the rate of
congenital diseases and deformities in fetuses: an increase startlingly
similar to the increase of these conditions among babies of Gulf assault
vets," Clark explained.
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- In the wake of the 1990 Iraqi invasion
of Kuwait, the US and its "allies" pushed through the UN Security
Council a series of resolutions imposing barbaric sanctions against millions
of civilians in Iraq. These sanctions, which remain in place today, six
years after the eviction of the Iraqi forces from Kuwait, have inflicted
barbaric hardship and suffering on the innocent civilian population of
Iraq.
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- In his 1997 book, "The Scourging
of Iraq: Sanctions, Law and Natural Justice", Geoff Simons accuses
the US of committing war crimes under the 1977 Protocol 1 Addition to the
1949 Geneva Convention. The Protocol states 'that the starvation of civilians
as a method of warfare is illegal and ethically indefensible' (p. xiii).
Simons's book is effective in revealing the appalling effects the sanctions
are visiting upon the civilian population of Iraq. The author makes a
compelling case that the US is violating several international agreements
as well as acting inhumanely towad an innocent civilian population. Above
all, he imparts to his readers the wisdom that, as human civilization stands
poised to enter the twentyfirst century, the international community should
no longer accept genocide as a viable form of a superpower's foreign policy.
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- "The United States has conducted
two nuclear wars. The first against Japan in 1945, the second in Kuwait
and Iraq in 1991. The first nuclear war fissioned a plutonium bomb and
one made made of uranium. The second nuclear war utilized depleted-uranium
weapons...," according to another 1997 book entitled 'Metal of Dishonor'.
"Let's talk about the Gulf massacre, which lasted six weeks. During
that time, 940,000 small DU shells were fired from U.S. planes, 14,000
larger DU shells from tanks, and many of these shells spontaneously ignited
when they hit their tanks".
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- And according to an article in The Nation
US (21 October 1996) by Bill Mesler, "The Pentagon's Radioactive Bullet,"
Iraq presented a study to the United Nations in August 1995 demonstrating
a sharp increase in leukemia and cancer incidence in the Basra region,
and a secret British Atomic Energy Authority report estimated that there
was enough depleted uranium in the form of empty shells in the area to
account for five hundred thousand (500,000) potential deaths. But their
calculations were unrealistically based upon forty tons, not the three
hundred tons of uranium left behind after the United States military [allegedly]
vacated the region".
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- August 1997 was the 7th anniversary of
the continuing US-led blockade on the Iraqi people and the 52nd anniversary
of the atomic bombings on Japan. The similarities between the final attacks
on Japan and the continuing US war against Iraq are chilling. The armed,
remote onslaught on a defenseless people included the first-time use of
more than 300 tons of depleted uranium shells plus a frightening array
of other internationally banned radiological, biological, and chemical
weapons. All in all, over 140,000 tons of explosives, equivalent to 7 nuclear
bombs, were used against the Iraqi society in destroying their environment
and infrastructure. The war against the Iraqi people did not end with the
cessation of military attacks in 1991, but continues to this very day with
a suffocating blockade that has already claimed over one million civilian
lives. More than 750,000 children have died in Iraq as a result of a critical
shortage of food and medicine. More than two and a half million children
are suffering from severe malnutrition because of this blockade. These
figures are confirmed by various UN agencies.
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- Gulf assault veteran nurse Carol Picou
retraces her steps back to Iraq with her husband Anthony to try to prove
her serious health problems stem from exposure to depleted uranium (DU)
weapons in the assault. She is the first US soldier to return to Iraq.
In her 45 minutes long factual documentary, US military admit proper precautions
were not taken and that troops were exposed to risk. However. the British
army - the only others to use DU weapons against millions of Iraqi civilian
children and women as well as soldiers - has refused point blank to admit
any mistakes were made. They also repeatedly refused to co-operate in the
making of the documentary and continue to do so, despite a change of British
government.
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- [The documentary is to be televised on
Channel Four (C4) TV in the UK on Thursday 11 September 1997, from 9pm
UK time]
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- Described as the most significant development
in "battlefield" weapons since the machine gun and as the Western
army's "miracle" weapon to kill millions of defenceless civilians
in the Middle East remotely, these new and devastating artillery shells
are made from a highly toxic radioactive waste product from the nuclear
industry. First used against millions of Iraqi civilians in the Gulf assault,
DU is the heaviest metal on earth.
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- DU 'penetrators', fly much faster and
further than coventional armour piercing shells. The Western weapons of
mass, barbaric destruction blasted their way through thousands of life
support systems and facilities in Iraq as well as tanks and vehicles. The
heat generated by the weapons is so high, that victims inside civilian
and military targets were literally burnt alive in a fireball of fuel,
exploding weapons and gases.
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- Dr Michio Kaku, a nuclear physics professor,
explains how the hot gases "literally fry people inside tanks, almost
like chickens". Carol Picou is a 15-year veteran of the US Army Medical
Service. She served in Asia, Africa and Europe before being sent to "Operation
Desert Storm". Her unit was the front-line medical team during the
ground assault, as fast action response unit that moved at the head of
the attack. Carol and her colleagues were the first women to ever serve
as front-line troops in the US army.
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- Until the Gulf assault, Carol had been
in excellent health. But today, like more than 350,000 Gulf assault veterans
and nine million defenceless Iraqi civilians, she is seriously ill with
a range of debilitating sickness. [Adding to the vets sickness mystery
is the inexplicable disappearance of as many as 700,000 service-related
immunisation records from the Pentagon and the CIA offices]. Carol spent
just two weeks inside Iraq during the Gulf assault. She witnessed the full
ferocity of the new DU weapons, often arriving less than 30 minutes after
attacks. She remembers how different it was to anything she had seen in
her 15 year of serving in the US army. "It just wasn't normal. To
me it looked like we must have nuked them .... The bodies were as black
as can be and some of the bodies just melted ..."
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- They had never witnessed such a destructive
force. Yet they did not fully understand what it was they were using and
what precautions should have been taken. They had no idea they were working
right in the middle of a uranium 'battlefield'. No one told them they should
avoid the smouldering wrecks of Iraqi vehicles or surrendering soldiers.
No one told them the after-effects of DU could be highly dangerous. Anthony
Picou says: "We, along with the Pentagon know DU creates a dust cloud
that can travel for 20 miles. How many solders were in its path? Let's
face it, even the air was contaminated. My wife Carol breathed that air
and also dealt with injured Iraqi troops. Their clothes and gear all contaminated.
Thousands of soldiers are sick. I truly believe that the army is totally
aware of the consequences of inhalation and ingestion of depleted uranium".
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- The US and Britain used so much DU in
weapons during the Gulf assault that 350 tons of residue permeate the ground
and water, and will contaminate the entire region for generations. One
particle of DU in the lungs, for example, radiates 800 times the accepted
annual level of radiation. US forces in the Gulf encountered DU in a variety
of ways. Some were exposed during combat. Some were exposed during the
recovery of contaminated US vehicles that had been hit in 'friendly-fire'
incidents. Some were exposed when they explored the after the "cease-fire".
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- On returning to Iraq, the Picous discovered
that officials there believe DU to be responsible for an alarming rise
in the number of birth defects amongst Iraqi children. UN reports have
confirmed that DU presents serious health risks to Iraq but under barbaric
and ihhumane US-UK imposed UN sanctions, nothing has been done to assist
them in cleaning up an estimated 200 tonnes of uranium used by the Western
"Allies" (read US and UK).
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- Carol explains how she received what
she describes as a 'secrect document' which lists dust from DU weapons
as hazard which may be responsible for causing symptoms identical to hers.
Her husband Anthony said the report confirms the existence of a previous
army report written four years before the Gulf assault. The report said
that DU hit tanks should only be approached while wearing breathing equipment
and protective clothing. Anthony asks: "so if they know of the danger
of potential exposure, why aren't they trying to find out what happened
to those who were exposed?"
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- Carol describes how they received a series
of threatening phone calls and how one night their car was destroyed in
a mass of flames. She is convinced some sort of cover up is taking place.
She meets veteran Mike Flores, who was exposed to DU penetrator rods. His
twin sons were born with an arm deformity identical to that of the child
born around the same time to another veteran exposed to DU rods in the
Gulf.
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- "Deformed babies born in San Antonio
in our support group of 125 veterans look like the babies born in Iraq,"
Carol said. "I had depleted-uranium poisoning. My results came back
positive on 10 September 1994". Anthony believes "it's because
they realised that the depleted uranium penetrator is such an awesome weapon
that they don't want to jeopardise its use in the next war". Carol
is determined to continue her quest for proof. "This is my life, trying
to figure out whar's wrong with me and try to figure out how to help myself,
because I'm not getting any help from the (US) military doctors so I may
as well keep researching to help myself get better and stronger".
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- "US is guilty of biological warfare
and genocide of civilians in Iraq. Many US and UK veterans know too much.
They have big mouths. They expose US and UK governments. They expose Western
politicians and the leading infant-killers. They expose US president George
Bush and Norman Schwarzkopf as leading liars and mass infant-killers. They
incriminate British ministers, including Margaret Thatcher, John Major,
Tony Blair etc. They expose Western media lies and coverups. The veterans
must be silenced and banned," a Western intelligence source told Shanti
RTV news agency.
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- During the making of the C4TV documentary,
Carol and Anthony were given open access to high-ranking Iraqi officials
and were able to travel extensively in restricted and contaminated areas.
"This was better access than many sick veterans receive in the UK
and US," Anothony commented.
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- "The damage to children today and
to unborn generations caused by nuclear testing and by Agent Orange was
exposed by grassroots movements," Clark said. "We must act now
to confront this new danger of depleted uranium. We must heighten public
awareness. We have to end the government cover-ups of the spreading poison".
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- "We now shoot nuclear wastes into
other people's backyards. We're talking about laying the groundwork for
an investigation into war crimes against ordinary people. There's one thing
more powerful than a hydrogen bomb. That's the power of a people united,
the power of a people educated, the power of a people enraged that this
obscenity is committed against other people," Michio Kaku said. "I
believe this battle is winnable. When the American people realize that
we are shooting nuclear wastes into other people's backyard, poisoning
our very own, inflicting innumerable casualties on other people, then I
think the American people will rise, and we will see the day when nations
beat our DU swords into plowshares".
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- "Although the military war against
Iraq allegedly ended in 1991, the destruction caused by the war continues
until today. Contrary to what was reported in the mass media, the military
war against Iraq was not a 'clean' war, but was a vicious massacre, in
which toxic, radioactive, and numerous banned weaponry were utilised against
civilian populations! The British and American armies used banned weapons
such as cluster bombs, napalm, and fuel air explosives in their destruction
of Iraq. In addition, they used, for the first time, more than 350 tons
of depleted Uranium (DU), a radioactive waste product from the nuclear
industry. In the six years since its initial use against the Iraqi people,
this radioactive poison has become standard material in US weaponry all
the while, the people in Iraq continue to suffer from the consequences
of this poison," a caring Iraqi campaigner Rania Masri told Shanti
RTV.
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- "There is only one thing the Pentagon
fears - an informed people, mobilised and angry. Information is power.
When mobilised it can actually undergo a chemical transformation and become
outrage," according to Sara Flounders of the International Action
Center. "The United Nations and the Clinton administration prefer
to starve millions of men, women and children. The children of Iraq do
not cry out in silence - they cry out to us! We hear their pain, and we
must give strength to their voices so that the conscience of the world
will awaken to their cries," Masri said. "Come together and fight
for your sons, daughters, your mothers and fathers, for the people over
there now, and for the people of Iraq that are suffering from the contaminants
left behind in their land," Carol concluded. "The US sprays a
crop-destroying insect on Iraqi crops, contaminating water and southern
Iraqi marshes every year," the Western intelligence source told Shanti
RTV news agency.
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- FACT SHEET 1990-1997
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- The US-UN sanctions have caused the death
of more than 1,000,000 Iraqis; at least 750,000 of them have been children;
an additional 4,500 Iraqi infants under five years of age die every month;
more than 25 per cent of living children now suffer from malnutrition (UNICEF-WFP);
a full 20 per cent of the Iraqi population is living in dire poverty; collective
punishment is prohibited by international law; punishment of innocent people
violates universal principles of human rights.
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- "Blind, deaf and dumb world"
A moving poem by: Shaon Sabah
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- Sabah describes her thoughts and feelings
about the sufferings of her fellow Iraqis under the US-UN imposed blockade
of food, medicine and spares for life support facilities, denouncing the
hypocrisy of the West, and hoping for a time when the world will wake up,
open its eyes, ears, brain and move to help end the senseless killing of
Iraqi infants since 1991.
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- I sit and wait for the time to pass For
the world to wake up and open its eyes I scream and shout at the top of
my lungs But my voice goes on unheard I cry and weep until my eyes dry
out Until the emptiness fills my heart With a bitter sadness impossible
to describe
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- But the world is deaf and blind Any my
voice and tears are bloated out By the most ugliest sounds of all
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- The sound of weeping mothers And starving
children Of horror and destruction Of torture and seffering Of a child
crying out for help and salvation Begging to be noticed and heard
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- And so I sit and watch the screen filled
with blood and terror While my heart grows with a vicious hatred Impossible
to scrape away
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- I see a woman holding a dead child in
her arms While the tears swim in her eyes And the happiness in her heart
fades away Into eternal emptiness and despair
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- I see innocent people on the ground Covered
with a blanket of death Their blood forming a red sea Which would flow
forever in their sleep
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- I see barefooted children on the streets
Searching for the truth Wondering why they have been denied Their childhood
and rights
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- I see a tiny baby lying on his grave
A little creature in the wilderness Who was born in the world that was
falling apart And died in its arms not knowing why and how
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- I see the ramaining ruins of a building
That once stood beautiful and erect And wonder why the world is blind And
still insists to pretend
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- The blood and suffering I see is real
But life still goes on And I sit and watch the screen While the leaders
try to rule the world And take away the only precious thing I possess My
family and friends
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- I hope and dream and the years go by
But still I'm lost and without a home I laugh and talk and eat and drink
While inside I cry out for the one thing That will make me whole
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- I am a stranger in an unknown land An
alien in a different world A confused child in the body of a man
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- Where is the justice the West is on about?
Why are our children starving? And why are my people been set aside to
hurt and to die? And why is the world so silent
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- We have the right to be raised in our
own Lands Without a single threat So go away and let us live our lives
Without suffering and fear
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- Take away all the money and all the riches
You have carved for But don't you dare snatch a newborn From its mother's
womb Or pluck a blooming flower from its roots
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- You have tried tim and time again To
change the course of History To abuse the Lands of civilisation, wisdom
and knowledge But one thing you have struggled but failed to achieve Is
stab the American flag in its heart of hearts
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- I guarantee you that One day we shall
return We will build and grow and learn While you will be looking from
outside Tearing your hair apart from the crimes you have committed That
will place you down in History As a coward and a fool
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- Presented by: Shanti RTV (c) 27 August
1997
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