Radiation Contamination of Iraq by American Depleted Uranium

http://abutamam.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/radiation-contamination-of-iraq-by.html?view=timeslide

“Hegel remarks upon the appearance of “concrete evil” in history, the intermittent eruption of human malevolence on a colossal scale capable of destroying entire societies. Perpetrators of world-historical crimes are propelled solely by passion—by self-regard, greed and hatred—and pay no heed, Hegel noted, to “order and moderation, justice and morality.” {my emphasis} The imperialist assault on Iraq—which began with the First Gulf War, reached a peak with “shock and awe” attacks launched by U.S./U.K military forces in 2003, and continues today, nearly twenty years later—offers a horrendous example of unrestrained evil spread across a titanic canvas.

Abdul-Haq Al-Ani’s and Joanne Baker’s indispensable book spotlights the appalling criminal enterprise now working itself out in Iraq: Deliberate contamination of the Iraqi nation, its peoples, and natural environment with radiation from previously unheard of weapons of mass destruction—deadly implements of war fashioned from a practically inexhaustible global garbage dump of depleted uranium (DU)."

Uranium in Iraq: the Poisonous Legacy of the Iraq Wars, 

Review of Abdul-Haq Al-Ani and Joanne Baker's book

15 November 2009

For those privileged American “heroes” who pulled the triggers: 

"How Veterans may have been exposed (U.S. Department of  Veterans Affairs)

 When a projectile made with DU penetrates a vehicle, small pieces of DU can scatter and become embedded in muscle and soft tissue. In addition to DU in wounds, Service members exposed to DU in struck vehicles may inhale or swallow small airborne DU particles. Some Gulf War, Bosnia, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation New Dawn (OND) Veterans who may have been exposed to DU are those who were: on, in or near vehicles hit with friendly fire; entering or near burning vehicles; near fires involving DU munitions; or salvaging damaged vehicles.

They get these:

Compensation benefits for health problems

Veterans may file a claim for disability compensation for health problems they believe are related to exposure to depleted uranium during service. VA decides these claims on a case-by-case basis. File a claim online."

But for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians impacted by the American spread DU, they get no compensation nor even "humanitarian" international care and attention; e.g. from the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO).

(PS: WHO established REMPAN in 1987, shortly after the Chernobyl accident, with the objective of meeting its requirements under the Conventions on Early Notification and Assistance in the case of nuclear and radiation accidents. However,the extensive contamination of Iraq and many of its citizens by American DU is not considered by WHO to be an accident).

URANIUM IN IRAQ: THE POISONOUS LEGACY OF THE IRAQ WARS

June 16, 2009

Video - Fallujah : A Lost Generation?

Feurat Alani

March 22, 2012 Fallujah a lost generation - part 1 Fallujah a lost generation - part 2 Fallujah: A Lost Generation? by Iraqi filmmaker Furat Alani investigates the dramatic increase in cancers, birth defects, and infant mortality since the second siege of Fallujah, Iraq,in 2004 and its human rights implications. Mr. Alani interviews Fallujah residents, doctors, veterans, and weapons experts to shed light on the cause of this health crisis. More specifically, he explores the possibility that weapons used by the U.S. in 2004 are the cause, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and anti-personel theromobaric weapons. Prof. Chris Busby on Furat Alani's Film Fallujah: A Lost Generation?

لكي لا تتحول المؤتمرات العلمية البيئية بالعراق الى صابون اعلامي

2010-10-22

القدس العربي

هيفاء زنكنة
... ان حجم الكارثة البيئية في العراق هائلة بكل المقاييس. وهذه الكارثة وما تثيره من مخاوف حقيقية، سواء على حياة الناس، حاليا، او على الاجيال المقبلة، باتت نقطة اختبار لمدى انسانية وضمير ووعي كل من هو موجود في موقع المسؤولية من العراقيين، على اختلاف الطائفة والدين والقومية ودرجة الليبرالية او العلمانية. وفي الوقت الذي يبذل فيه ا'المسؤولوناا'جل وقتهم في الركض وراء محاصصة المناصب، يتفرغ عدد من الناشطين والعلماء والباحثين العراقيين والاجانب لمتابعة تطورات الماساة ومحاولة ايجاد الحلول فضلا عن ابقاء القضية حية في الاذهان وغير قابلة للطمر المتعمد، مع تحديد من هو المسؤول بشكل واضح وصريح سواء داخل العراق او في المؤتمرات والملتقيات الدولية خارجه.

See More

لكي لا تتحول المؤتمرات العلمية البيئية بالعراق الى صابون اعلامي

www.alquds.co.uk

US use of uranium causing environment disaster in Gulf

‘US use of uranium causing environment disaster in Gulf’ Qatar becomes largest munitions store: GLEG

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 8: The US military’s use of uranium enriched bombs has caused an environment disaster in the region and the damage caused is almost equivalent to damage that may occur in case of a radiation leak from Iran’s nuclear reactors, said the Green Line Environmental Group (GLEG) during a press conference on Saturday.
Chairman of the group and environmental activist Khalid Al-Hajri said the United States acts very selfishly while dealing with after effects of environmental disasters. “The White House gave so much attention and importance to the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, but it conveniently ignores the fact that the US Army has caused the greatest damage to the environment around the world and especially in the Gulf region,” he added.
Al-Hajri said he was surprised on reading the human rights report issued by the US administration and its claim about protecting human rights, especially because it is the biggest violator of environment regulations.

Radioactive
“The US military in Iraq decided to transfer and store radioactive waste, consisting of iron scrap and remnants of destroyed military vehicles contaminated with radioactive particles, to Qatar, making it the biggest store of radioactive waste in the Gulf region.
However, thanks to the help of environmental activists in the region, we received official information that the waste will be transferred from there during the month of Ramadan,” he added.
“Qatar today has become the largest store of munitions outside the US and it is storing items with depleted uranium besides the radioactive waste, which makes the issue extremely dangerous. Green Line has notified environmental authorities in Qatar to take measures to prevent the US military from storing radioactive waste in Qatar and called on Gulf states to review security and military agreements with the US military and include clauses prohibiting it from causing environmental pollution and obliging it to bear the expenses of waste treatment,” he added.

Al-Hajri called on the Gulf governments to take a strict environmental position to ensure an end to the US military’s human rights violations and environmental destruction due to use of internationally prohibited weapons in its military operations.
He also called on environmental authorities in the Gulf States to conduct a comprehensive environmental survey of all US military bases, especially after the scandal caused by hazardous waste in Iraq came to light.
Al-Hajeri also warned of the consequences of not tightening environmental control on the US military as it has caused massive damage to environment and public health in Iraq.
Hajri revealed that the US military in Iraq recently refused officials of the Department of Environmental Protection at Thi Qar area from entering the US base near the airport to conduct an environmental survey following the high rate of radioactive contaminants in the areas surrounding it.

Scrap
He also mentioned that waste from the US military in Kuwait is being leaked to scrap markets such as Amghara where Green Line activists found a variety of military waste more than once. The Green Line also did a survey of the desert north of Kuwait and found remnants of many US military equipment that were left behind after entering Iraq.
“The US administration need not deny or confirm the information obtained by Green Line, but it should collect the radiation contaminated waste and ship it from Iraq to the United States and deal with it there under the control and supervision of international environmental organizations, especially because it used internationally banned weapons.”
Al-Hajri warned that the Gulf region could be exposed to nuclear disasters if the region’s governments do not take necessary precautions and measures, especially in the face of deepening radioactive waste crisis in Kuwait and Iraq, and the presence of warships, carriers and nuclear-powered aircrafts, besides the prospects of getting atomic reactors in the region.

---

By: Rena Sadeghi

Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009

"Falluja Worse Than Hiroshima"

Press release

Genetic damage and health in Fallujah Iraq worse than Hiroshima

Results of a population-based epidemiological study organized by Malak Hamdan and Chris Busby are published tomorrow in the International Journal of Environmental Studies and Public Health (IJERPH) based in Basle, Switzerland. They show increases in cancer, leukemia and infant mortality and perturbations of the normal human population birth sex ratio significantly greater than those reported for the survivors of the A-Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Results of a survey in Jan/Feb 2010 of 711 houses and more than 4000 individuals in Fallujah show that in the five years following the 2004 attacks by USA-led forces there has been a 4-fold increase in all cancer. Interestingly, the spectrum of cancer is similar to that in the Hiroshima survivors who were exposed to ionizing radiation from the bomb and uranium in the fallout. By comparing the sample population rates to the cancer rates in Egypt and Jordan, researchers found there has been a 38-fold increase in leukemia (20 cases) almost a 10-fold increase in female breast cancer (12 cases) and significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults.

Based on 16 cases in the 5-year period, the 12-fold increases in childhood cancer in those aged 0-14 were particularly marked. The cancer and leukemia increases were all in younger people than would normally be expected. Infant mortality was found to be 80 per 1000 births which compares with a value of 19 in Egypt, 17 in Jordan and 9.7 in Kuwait. An important result is that the sex-ratio, which in normal populations is always 1050 boys born per 1000 girls was seriously reduced in the group born immediately after 2005, one year after the conflict: in this group the sex ratio was 860.

Birth sex ratio is a well known indicator of genetic damage, the reduction in boy births being due to the fact that girls have a redundant X-chromosome and can therefore afford to lose one though genetic damage; boys do not. Sex ratio was similarly reduced in the Hiroshima survivors children. “This is an extraordinary and alarming result” said Dr Busby, who is visiting Professor in the University of Ulster and Scientific Director of Green Audit, an independent environmental research organization. He added: “To produce an effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in 2004 when the attacks happened. We need urgently to find out what the agent was. Although many suspect Uranium, we cannot be certain without further research and independent analysis of samples from the area.” Malak Hamdan, who organized the project said: “ I am so glad that we have been able to obtain proper scientific confirmation of all the anecdotal evidence of cancer and congenital birth defects. Maybe now the international community will wake up”.

Contact: Chris Busby (France) +44 7989 428833

Malak Hamdan (London) +44 7903 153163

Richard Bramhall: +44 1597 825771

Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009 Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2010, 7, 1-x; doi:10.3390/ijerph707000x

Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi

Click on title in order to access the detailed study

Depleted Uranium Weapons – a BBC investigation by Angus Stickler –November 2006

A BBC investigation can reveal that the US and UK military have continued to use depleted uranium weapons despite warnings from scientists that it poses a potential long-term cancer risk to civilians. A former senior scientist with the United Nations has told the BBC that studies showing that it was carcinogenic were suppressed from a seminal World Health Organisation report. The US has refused to fund major research and has been criticised for failing to cooperate with UN attempts to conduct a post conflict assessment in Iraq.
Angus Stickler reports:

When depleted uranium bullets are fired, the rounds can rip through the tank armour. And once inside - on contact with air they combust exploding into a 10,000 degrees centigrade ball of fire.

Both the US and UK used depleted uranium in Iraq. The US fired 320 tons in Gulf War I – and possibly as much as 2,000 tonnes in Gulf War II. But its use is highly controversial - blamed as one of the possible causes of cancer and birth defects. It’s this that prompted the Untied Nations’ World Health Organisation to conduct a major assessment of the post conflict hazards. The findings were published in 2001. Dr Mike Repacholi retired as the Coordinator of the W.H.O. Radiation and Environmental Health Unit in June of this year. He oversaw the project.

He says, “Depleted uranium is basically safe - you can touch depleted uranium for hours and not cause and radiation damage you can ingest it and it’s excreted through the body - 99 per cent of it goes within about a day - you would have to ingest a huge amount of depleted uranium dust to cause any adverse health effect.”

The W.H.O. assessment warns that children should be restricted from going into post conflict areas. The monograph - as it is called – is now used by some as the definitive document on the potential health hazards of depleted uranium. But now this BBC investigation has been told - its findings may skewed.

Dr Keith Baverstock – now retired - was a senior radiation advisor with 12 years experience at the W.H.O - part of Dr Repacholi's editorial team at the time. He came across research indicating that depleted uranium is a potentially dangerous carcinogen:

“When you breathe in the dust the deeper it goes into the lung the more difficult it is to clear. The particles that dissolve pose a risk - part radioactive - and part from the chemical toxicity in the lung - and then later as that material diffuses into the rest of the body, and into the blood stream a potential risk at sites like the bone marrow for leukaemia, the lymphatic system and the kidney” according to Dr Baverstock.


Health warnings suppressed

This is called genotoxicicty says Dr Baverstock, it could take decades before evidence of cancer starts to emerge. As part of the W.H.O. team he submitted these findings - based on peer reviewed research conducted by the United States Department of Defense - for inclusion into the monograph. It received short shrift. Dr Repacholi says this was with good reason.

It was the committee's general conclusion that this data did not substantiate that there was a health effect at this stage. Was the science that was in that report - which was research that came effectively from the US Department of Defense - was it wrong?

DR REPACHOLI: We want a comprehensive report - we want to include everything that we can - but we don't want fairytale stuff - it wasn't collaborated by other reports - that was felt to the level that science would say this was established.

ANGUS STICKLER: My understanding is that at the time that there were eight published peer reviewed research studies - attesting to the genotoxic nature of uranium - all of which could have been included in the monograph?

REPACHOLI: Yep - these - er - papers were speculative at the time and W.H.O. will only publish data that they know is established.

STICKLER: Shouldn't the World Health Organisation err on the side of caution?

REPACHOLI: W.H.O is a conservative organisation there's no doubt - it's not a leader in this sort of thing - it's not out there saying wow we should be concerned about this, this and this - it's not there to do that.

Dr Baverstock disagrees. He says the W.H.O stance that this is inconclusive science is not safe science. He attempted to take the issue further.

DR BAVERSTOCK: When it wasn't included in the monograph - I with two other colleagues prepared a paper for the open literature and the W.H.O did not permit me to submit that paper for publication.
ANGUS STICKLER: Why not - what reasons were you given?
BAVERSTOCK: Well ha - I still have not had a reason as to why that paper was not allowed to be published.
STICKLER: Could it be the case that the science you're talking about is unsafe - in that you're - as a scientist - a bit miffed that they didn't include what you wanted them to include?
BAVERSTOCK: No I'm not miffed about it at all - we use this kind of laboratory testing in many systems to screen chemicals and to know whether things are going to be dangerous or not.
STICKLER: Why do you think your study was - as you say - suppressed?
BAVERSTOCK: It is naive to think that in institutions like the United Nations one is free from political influences - the member states have their own agendas.
STICKLER: What you seem to be saying there is that the W.H.O. was pressurised by the likes of the United States to come to the right conclusion?
BAVERSTOCK: I think that could be the case - yes.

It’s ironic that the major player that Dr Baverstock believes was behind the decision block publication of his study – was the nation state that conducted the research he was citing: The United States' Department of Defence Armed Forces Radiobiological Research Institute: a credible State laboratory. A point I put to Dr Repacholi.

DR REPACHOLI: The problem that W.H.O had and it went right up to the Director General's office that it was finally disapproved at that level was that on the basis of the evidence that we have - we can't conclude that it is harmful - and to have a paper from another W.H.O staff member that says we absolutely think it's harmful - makes W.H.O look a bit odd.
STICKLER: With the greatest respect - that's going to have very little truck with someone who may get seriously ill because of depleted uranium the fact that the W.H.O. may look a bit odd?
REPACHOLI: No the odd part is that it looks like W.H.O. is not in control of its shop.

There is undoubtedly a massive gulf between the views of these two scientists. Dr Repacholi - however - denies that pressure was brought to bear on the W.H.O.

The findings of the US Department of Defense research - are now in the public domain: depleted uranium is genotoxic - it chemically alters DNA and could be a precursor to tumour growth. Since 2001, there have been numerous studies supporting the findings.

We asked for an interview with the scientist who conducted these studies - Dr Alexandra Miller – the US Department of Defense refused. The BBC has been told that she applied to the US Army Research Programme to do further work on the effects of depleted uranium in 2004, five and six. All the applications were turned down.

Iraqi cancer increase

This is the Isotope Geo-science laboratory at the British Geological Survey. Its equipment has been used by the British Government to conduct the most extensive research so far - into depleted uranium contamination of UK troops. Professor Randall Parrish says there are worrying signals coming from Iraq – from civilian populations.

“I’ve been to several international conferences where I’ve heard Iraqi medical physicians summarise health statistics on the occurrence of birth defects and non Hodgkin’s Lymphomas and the rise in incidents in these kind of effects especially in the area of southern Iraq and the Basra area appears quite alarming on the basis of the figures that I’ve seen – significant data – that would suggest that we should be erring on the side of caution here – and it ought to be investigated” Professor Parrish told us.

Professor Parrish has recently completed another research study – as yet unpublished – but it shows that if inhaled – depleted uranium remains in high concentrations in the body - a potential hazard - for decades. The priority now, he says, is to ascertain whether it poses a real risk to humans – the people of Iraq.

PROFESSOR PARRISH: If we want to get to bottom of this issue as to whether populations and people are really suffering – we have to conduct environmental and health assessments – in places where people are exposed and we can I think solve this problem if sufficient resources and the will is there to actually address the problem.
AHGUS STICKLER: Do you think the will is there on the part of the politicians?
PARRISH: Unless we can conduct additional work – this issue of DU and the politics of it will continue to hang over many governments for years and years and years to come.

Professor Parrish is prepared to undertake research on behalf of any member state that wishes to fund him.

In the meantime the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP has trained a team of Iraqi scientists ready to carry out a detailed assessment. But despite having political allies in Washington Henrik Slotte chief of the UNEP post conflict branch – says his work can’t progress further without co-operation from the US.

HENRIK SLOTTE: Without the coordinates and clear information about what was used and when - it is impossible to start working on depleted uranium in the field - it's like looking for a needle in the haystack.
ANGUS STICKLER: Are they providing you with all the information you've requested?
SLOTTE: In the case of Iraq we have requested and the reply has been that this is an issue that concerns many parts of that administration and it will take some time for them to come back in writing.
STICKLER: You do now have a team of Iraqis now ready to go in - wouldn't it be helpful for them to have this information now?
SLOTTE: Yes it would.
STICKLER: Are there any indications that they are going to get this information shortly?
SLOTTE: There are no indications.

Depleted Uranium according to a growing body of scientists is carcinogenic – a health hazard not just to Saddam Husain’s republican guard – but Iraqi civilians for generations to come. It’s been used in other theatres of conflict too – Afghanistan and Lebanon – and calls for action are now gaining ground. Not just with fervent campaigners – but eminent scientists, academics, and lawyers too - depleted uranium munitions they say should be banned under international law as potential weapons of indiscriminate effect.

From Dr. Imad Khadduri's blog

How peace loving can you get?

"On March 1 each year, the Marshall Islands mark Nuclear Victims Day, a national holiday on the anniversary of the 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test.
When the 15-megaton Bravo was detonated at Bikini Atoll there was no warning for the people on Rongelap and other islands downwind of the blast.
A snowstorm of radioactivity exposed the unsuspecting islanders to a near lethal dose of radiation, causing vomiting, skin burns and their hair to fall out -- classic symptoms of high-level radiation exposure.
The majority of islanders have had thyroid tumors and cancers and many of their children were stillborn or with defects and other health problems.
They were evacuated 48 hours after the Bravo test but returned three years later and remained at Rongelap until 1985, when they evacuated the atoll.
Now, they are being told by the United States to go home for good."

Nuclear survivors fearful of US demand to return home, March 4, 2010

"Doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are reporting a high level of birth defects, with some blaming weapons used by the US after the Iraq invasion.
The city witnessed fierce fighting in 2004 as US forces carried out a major offensive against insurgents.
Now, the level of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than in Europe.
The US military says it is not aware of any official reports showing an increase in birth defects in the area.

..... officials in Fallujah had warned women that they should not have children."

Fallujah doctors report rise in birth defects, March 4, 2010 (See two BBC videos)

.
Here we are, 20 years after the "end of the Cold War", and (see below) the Average American is still happily willing to drop hydrogen bombs, first, against enemies real or imagined.
.
Double click to enlarge or see original posting.

--
Imad Khadduri
http://abutamam.blogspot.com

Baghdad TV Satellite Channel report

Uranium and Radio Active Contamination in Iraq

Iraqi Doctors demand cancer probe

Al Jazeerah- Inside Iraq

Dr Muntaha on Birth defects in Fallujah 23rd Jan 2010

Legacy of War: Iraq Littered With High Levels of Nuclear and Dioxin Contamination, Study Finds

• Greater rates of cancer and birth defects near sites • Depleted uranium among poisons revealed in report

by Martin Chulov in Baghdad

More than 40 sites across Iraq are contaminated with high levels or radiation and dioxins, with three decades of war and neglect having left environmental ruin in large parts of the country, an official Iraqi study has found.

Areas in and near Iraq's largest towns and cities, including Najaf, Basra and ­Falluja, account for around 25% of the contaminated sites, which appear to coincide with communities that have seen increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years. The joint study by the environment, health and science ministries found that scrap metal yards in and around Baghdad and Basra contain high levels of ionising radiation, which is thought to be a legacy of depleted uranium used in munitions during the first Gulf war and since the 2003 invasion.

The environment minister, Narmin Othman, said high levels of dioxins on agricultural lands in southern Iraq, in particular, were increasingly thought to be a key factor in a general decline in the health of people living in the poorest parts of the country.

"If we look at Basra, there are some heavily polluted areas there and there are many factors contributing to it," ­she told the Guardian. "First, it has been a battlefield for two wars, the Gulf war and the Iran-Iraq war, where many kinds of bombs were used. Also, oil pipelines were bombed and most of the contamination settled in and around Basra.

"The soil has ended up in people's lungs and has been on food that people have eaten. Dioxins have been very high in those areas. All of this has caused systemic problems on a very large scale for both ecology and overall health."

Government study groups have recently focused on the war-ravaged city of ­Falluja, west of ­Baghdad, where the unstable security situation had kept scientists away ever since fierce fighting between militants and US forces in 2004.

"We have only found one area so far in Falluja," Othman said. "But there are other areas that we will try to explore soon with international help."

The Guardian reported in November claims by local doctors of a massive rise in birth defects in the city, particularly neural tube defects, which afflict the spinal cords and brains of newborns. "We are aware of the reports, but we must be cautious in reaching conclusions about causes," Othman said. "The general health of the city is not good. There is no sewerage system there and there is a lot of stagnant household waste, creating sickness that is directly affecting genetics. We do know, however, that a lot of depleted uranium was used there.

"We have been regulating and monitoring this and we have been urgently trying to assemble a database. We have had co-operation from the United Nations environment programme and have given our reports in Geneva. We have studied 500 sites for chemicals and depleted uranium. Until now we have found 42 places that have been declared as [high risk] both from uranium and toxins."

Ten of those areas have been classified by Iraq's nuclear decommissioning body as having high levels of radiation. They include the sites of three former nuclear reactors at the Tuwaitha facility – once the pride of Saddam ­Hussein's regime on the south-eastern outskirts of Baghdad – as well as former research centres around the capital that were either bombed or dismantled between the two Gulf wars.

The head of the decommissioning body, Adnan Jarjies, said that when inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived to "visit these sites, I tell them that even if we have all the best science in the world to help us, none of them could be considered to be clean before 2020."

Bushra Ali Ahmed, director of the Radiation Protection Centre in Baghdad, said only 80% of Iraq had so far been surveyed. "We have focused so far on the sites that have been contaminated by the wars," he said. "We have further plans to swab sites that have been destroyed by war.

"A big problem for us is when say a tank has been destroyed and then moved, we are finding a clear radiation trail. It takes a while to decontaminate these sites."

Scrap sites remain a prime concern. Wastelands of rusting cars and war damage dot Baghdad and other cities between the capital and Basra, offering unchecked access to both children and scavengers.

Othman said Iraq's environmental degradation is being intensified by an acute drought and water shortage across the country that has seen a 70% decrease in the volume of water flowing through the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

"We can no longer in good conscience call ourselves the land between the rivers," she said. "A lot of the water we are getting has first been used by Turkey and Syria for power generation. When it reaches us it is poor quality. That water which is used for agriculture is often contaminated. We are in the midst of an unmatched environmental disaster."

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Cancer - The Deadly Legacy Of The Invasion Of Iraq

By Jalal Ghazi

COUNTER CURRENTS

09 January, 2009
New America Media

Forget about oil, occupation, terrorism or even Al Qaeda. The real hazard for Iraqis these days is cancer.

Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.

Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.

Here are a few examples. In Falluja, which was heavily bombarded by the US in 2004, as many as 25% of new- born infants have serious abnormalities, including congenital anomalies, brain tumors, and neural tube defects in the spinal cord.

The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from 500 diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009according to Al Jazeera English.

In Basra there were 1885 diagnosed cases of cancer in 2005. According to Dr. Jawad al Ali, director of the Oncology Center, the number increased to 2,302 in 2006 and 3,071 in 2007. Dr. Ali told Al Jazeera English that about 1,250-1,500 patients visit the Oncology Center every month now.

Not everyone is ready to draw a direct correlation between allied bombing of these areas and tumors, and the Pentagon has been skeptical of any attempts to link the two. But Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of depleted uranium used in U.S. and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer rates are not unconnected.

Dr. Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth defects. He told Al Jazeera English, "Children with congenital anomalies are subjected to karyotyping and chromosomal studies with complete genetic back-grounding and clinical assessment. Family and obstetrical histories are taken too. These international studies have produced ample evidence to show that depleted uranium has disastrous consequences."

Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003 invasion.

Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of "Uranium in Iraq" told Al Jazeera English that the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates in 1996-1997 and 2008-2009.

There are also similar patterns of birth defects among Iraqi and Afghan infants who were also born in areas that were subjected to depleted uranium bombardment.

Dr. Daud Miraki, director of the Afghan Depleted Uranium and Recovery Fund, told Al Jazeera English he found evidence of the effect of depleted uranium in infants in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan. "Many children are born with no eyes, no limbs, or tumors protruding from their mouths and eyes," said Dr. Miraki.

It's not just Iraqis and Afghans. Babies born to American soldiers deployed in Iraq during the 1991 war are also showing similar defects. In 2000, Iraqi biologist Huda saleh Mahadi pointed out that the hands of deformed American infants were directly linked to their shoulders, a deformity seen in Iraqi infants.

Many U.S. soldiers are now referring to Gulf War Syndrome #2 and alleging they have developed cancer because of exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.

But soldiers can end their exposure to depleted uranium when their service in Iraq ends. Iraqi civilians have nowhere else to go. The water, soil and air in large areas of Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with depleted uranium that has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years.

Dr. Doug Rokke, former director of the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium Project during the first Gulf War, was in charge of a project of decontaminating American tanks. He told Al Jazeera English that "it took the U.S. Department of Defense in a multi-million dollar facility with trained physicists and engineers, three years to decontaminate the 24 tanks that I sent back to the U.S."

And he added, "What can the average Iraqi do with thousands and thousands of trash and destroyed vehicles spread across the desert and other areas?"

According to Al Jazeera, the Pentagon used more than 300 tons of depleted uranium in 1991. In 2003, the United States used more than 1,000 tons.

Martin Chulov in Falluja

guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 November 2009 19.24 GMT

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Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja

Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities

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• Martin Chulov in Falluja
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 November 2009 19.24 GMT
• Article history

The children of Falluja Link to this video

Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.

Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects – which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.

A group of Iraqi and British officials, including the former Iraqi minister for women's affairs, Dr Nawal Majeed a-Sammarai, and the British doctors David Halpin and Chris Burns-Cox, have petitioned the UN general assembly to ask that an independent committee fully investigate the defects and help clean up toxic materials left over decades of war – including the six years since Saddam Hussein was ousted.

"We are seeing a very significant increase in central nervous system anomalies," said Falluja general hospital's director and senior specialist, Dr Ayman Qais. "Before 2003 [the start of the war] I was seeing sporadic numbers of deformities in babies. Now the frequency of deformities has increased dramatically."

The rise in frequency is stark – from two admissions a fortnight a year ago to two a day now. "Most are in the head and spinal cord, but there are also many deficiencies in lower limbs," he said. "There is also a very marked increase in the number of cases of less than two years [old] with brain tumours. This is now a focus area of multiple tumours."

After several years of speculation and anecdotal evidence, a picture of a highly disturbing phenomenon in one of Iraq's most battered areas has now taken shape. Previously all miscarried babies, including those with birth defects or infants who were not given ongoing care, were not listed as abnormal cases.

The Guardian asked a paediatrician, Samira Abdul Ghani, to keep precise records over a three-week period. Her records reveal that 37 babies with anomalies, many of them neural tube defects, were born during that period at Falluja general hospital alone.

Dr Bassam Allah, the head of the hospital's children's ward, this week urged international experts to take soil samples across Falluja and for scientists to mount an investigation into the causes of so many ailments, most of which he said had been "acquired" by mothers before or during pregnancy.

Other health officials are also starting to focus on possible reasons, chief among them potential chemical or radiation poisonings. Abnormal clusters of infant tumours have also been repeatedly cited in Basra and Najaf – areas that have in the past also been intense battle zones where modern munitions have been heavily used.

Falluja's frontline doctors are reluctant to draw a direct link with the fighting. They instead cite multiple factors that could be contributors.

"These include air pollution, radiation, chemicals, drug use during pregnancy, malnutrition, or the psychological status of the mother," said Dr Qais. "We simply don't have the answers yet."

The anomalies are evident all through Falluja's newly opened general hospital and in centres for disabled people across the city. On 2 November alone, there were four cases of neuro-tube defects in the neo-natal ward and several more were in the intensive care ward and an outpatient clinic.

Falluja was the scene of the only two setpiece battles that followed the US-led invasion. Twice in 2004, US marines and infantry units were engaged in heavy fighting with Sunni militia groups who had aligned with former Ba'athists and Iraqi army elements.

The first battle was fought to find those responsible for the deaths of four Blackwater private security contractors working for the US. The city was bombarded heavily by American artillery and fighter jets. Controversial weaponry was used, including white phosphorus, which the US government admitted deploying.

Statistics on infant tumours are not considered as reliable as new data about nervous system anomalies, which are usually evident immediately after birth. Dr Abdul Wahid Salah, a neurosurgeon, said: "With neuro-tube defects, their heads are often larger than normal, they can have deficiencies in hearts and eyes and their lower limbs are often listless. There has been no orderly registration here in the period after the war and we have suffered from that. But [in relation to the rise in tumours] I can say with certainty that we have noticed a sharp rise in malignancy of the blood and this is not a congenital anomaly – it is an acquired disease."

Despite fully funding the construction of the new hospital, a well-equipped facility that opened in August, Iraq's health ministry remains largely disfunctional and unable to co-ordinate a response to the city's pressing needs.

The government's lack of capacity has led Falluja officials, who have historically been wary of foreign intervention, to ask for help from the international community. "Even in the scientific field, there has been a reluctance to reach out to the exterior countries," said Dr Salah. "But we have passed that point now. I am doing multiple surgeries every day. I have one assistant and I am obliged to do everything myself."

Additional reporting: Enas Ibrahim.

سكاي نيوز - نتائج القصف الاميركي للفلوجة: ولادات مشوهة وأعمار أقصر

MiddleEastOnline
2/9/09 كشفت شبكة "سكاي نيوز" التلفزيونية البريطانية الثلاثاء أن عدد الأطفال الذين يُولدون مشوهين آخذ في التزايد في مدينة الفلوجة العراقية التي تعرضت لقصف ثقيل من قبل القوات الأميركية.وقالت الشبكة إن القلق من ارتفاع عدد الأطفال المشوهين قد يكون على علاقة باستخدام القوات الأميركية الأسلحة الكيميائية لدى اجتياحها مدينة الفلوجة عام 2004.
واضافت "سكاي نيوز" أن تحقيقاً اجرته قبل خمسة عشر شهراً اظهر تزايد عدد الأطفال الذين يُولدون مشوهين في الفلوجة، وقامت باعداد ملف عن حالات الأطفال المشوّهين الذين وُلدوا في المدينة العراقية خلال الأشهر الثمانية الماضية. واشارت إلى أن حالات التشوه عند الأطفال العراقيين تشمل مشاكل عديدة من بينها تشوهات في البطن وتشوهات في الوجه تسببت في وفاة الكثير منهم قبل بلوغهم سن الخامسة من العمر.وقالت المحطة التلفزيونية الاخبارية البريطانية إن الأدلة التي جمعتها استندت إلى رويات الناس والذين يعتقدون أن تشوهات الأطفال مرتبطة بالقصف الثقيل التي تعرضت له الفلوجة التي كانت معقلاً للمسلحين السنة من قبل القوات الأميركية قبل نحو خمس سنوات.
واضافت أن سكان الفلوجة يريدون فتح تحقيق مستقل حول الأضرار التي سببها استخدام الأسلحة الكيميائية ومن بينها الفوسفور الأبيض.
ونسبت "سكاي" إلى الطبيب العراقي أحمد عريبي قوله "إن عدد الأطفال الذي يولدون مشوهين ارتفع بشكل بارز خلال العام الماضي، ويريد سكان الفلوجة أن يعرفوا كم من الأطفال المشوهين سيولدون قبل أن يتم الإلتفات إلى هذه المشكلة".

Tiba pictured after she had her growth removed by doctors in Jordan

The Truth Of Iraq's City Of Deformed Babies

8:48am UK, Tuesday September 01, 2009

Lisa Holland, foreign affairs correspondent

An Iraqi doctor has told Sky News the number of babies born with deformities in the heavily-bombed area of Fallujah is still on the increase

Fifteen months ago a Sky News investigation revealed growing numbers of children being born with defects in Fallujah

Concerns were that the rise in deformities may have been linked to the use of chemical weapons by US forces.

We recently returned to find out the current situation and what has happened to some of the children we featured.

In May last year we told the story of a three-year-old girl called Fatima Ahmed who was born with two heads.

When we filmed her she seemed like a listless bundle - she lay there barely able to breathe and unable to move.

Even now and having seen the pictures many times since I still feel shocked and saddened when I look at her.

But the prognosis for Fatima never looked good and, as feared, she never made it to her fourth birthday.

Her mother Shukriya told us about the night her daughter died.

Fatima died after our first report

Wiping away her tears, Shukriya said she had put her daughter to bed as normal one night but woke with the dreadful sense that something was wrong.

She told us she felt it was her daughter's moment to die, but of course that does not make the pain any easier.

Fatima's father had taken his little girl's hand but it was cold.

"She is gone," he had said to his distraught wife.

Another girl we met last year was Tiba Aftan who was born with a huge growth across her face.

Now she is a toddler her future is looking brighter having gone to neighbouring Jordan to have it removed.

The growth had covered half of Tiba's forehead and was invading one of her eyes - and it was getting bigger as she got older.

Although the operation was a success Tiba will need more surgery and the last trip cost her family almost every penny they have.

But since our original investigation, we have built up a new dossier of cases of deformed children in Fallujah born in the last eight months.

There are a wide range of problems - from abnormalities of the abdomen to facial disfigurements.

We have also seen pictures of all kinds of deformed foetuses which have not survived.

Fallujah was heavily bombed in 2004

There is no precise explanation as to what has caused the deformities and there are no figures to compare cases with those a decade or more ago as records were not kept during the time of Saddam Hussein.

All of our evidence is anecdotal, but repeatedly people tell us they believe the deformities must be linked to the heavy bombardment of Fallujah - a Sunni insurgent stronghold - by America in 2004.

People want an independent investigation into the impact of the kinds of weapons used - including controversial white phosphorus.

Yet even since we first started to give a voice to the calls for help from the people of Fallujah things seem to have got worse.

Dr Ahmed Uraibi, a specialist paediatrician in Fallujah, told us that the number of deformities he has dealt with has increased in the last year.

The people of Fallujah want to know how many more deformed babies there will be before someone sits up and takes notice of them.

Click here for a photograph of Tiba before and after her operation:

Iraqi activist praises brotherly ties between peoples of Iraq and Kuwait

Society 3/12/2009 5:04:00 PM

GENEVA, March 12 (KUNA) -- Talking on behalf of a London based non-governmental-organization (NGO) Women's Solidarity for an Independent and Unified Iraq, Malak Hamdan said Thursday that the Iraqi and the Kuwaiti people have strong brotherly ties.On the sidelines of the Human Rights Council convening in Geneva Hamdan called upon the Kuwaiti people to come to the help of the Iraqi people.In a panel discussion on "the Security Council and Human Rights" sponsored by the Union of Arab Jurists and more than other 10 NGOs, Hamdan said that the cancer patient figures in Iraq for 2007 show that there are more than 140,000 cases of cancer, 8,000 new every year.

According to a study by Dr. Jawad Al Ali of Basra Teaching Hospital, she said that in some parts of Iraq cancer cases have gone up by 242 percent since 1990."56 percent of cancer patients are children under the age of 5 and that 70 percent of cancer cases could be treated but they are not because of lack of equipment and medical supplies," she said.
She confirmed that 304 journalists were killed in Iraq since March 2003 and that the perpetrators were not brought to justice up to date.The eminent Arab jurist, expert and professor of International Law Dr. George Abi-Saab told the same panel that the absence of a body to bring accountability to the Security-Council was a major problem for Human Rights.He added that in order to bring Israel accountable on its Gaza, Lebanon invasions and other acts must search for alternative fora.Abi-Saab noted that the famous ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that says that the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, and its associated regime, are contrary to international law; was overshadowed by a second wall created by the Western countries and Western media. (end)
hn.tg KUNA 121704 Mar 09NNNN

Depleted Uranuim

Doug Weir of the Campaign against Depleted Uranium speaking about the latest development of the campaign at London Region CND Public Forum
Information about Depleted Uranium

Health and Environmental Catastrophe in Iraq

What can be done?
By Tahrir Swift
“Iraqi women giving birth in Basra, no longer ask, if it is a boy or a girl, they ask, is it normal?” This is the assertion made by an Iraqi doctor in Basra’s main hospital on the film ‘Deadly Dust’.

An extract of the hour and half documentary regarding the effects of Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions on Iraq used in 1991 and 2003 US wars on Iraq was shown at the Brunei Gallery on the 3rd March 2008.
The public meeting at SOAS, organised by Solidarity for an Independent and Unified Iraq (SIUI), was attended by 150 people.

It is widely believed that the US forces used 350 tons of Depleted Uranium munitions on Iraq in 1991 and 1000-2000 tons in 2003.
In a report in Arabic dated 25th Feb 2008 Dr Jawad al Ali of Basra teaching hospital who has been studying and monitoring the effects of DU on public health, said that the rate of cancer in Basra has witnessed a dramatic increase compared to 10 years ago. Today it stands at 70 cases for every 100 000 people.
Dr Al Ali had also revealed in a report published in Asharq Al Awast London based newspaper last November, that 70% of cancer cases could be helped but are not, because of lack of equipment and medical supplies. The patients end up dead, even if their cancers were detected early and the prognosis of their case is good.

The successive occupation Iraqi governments have kept silent about this subject, but recently Nermin Othman, the Environment minister in the current government, broke the silence, by stating "there are 350 contaminated locations in Iraq due to US bombing." However she also stated on Al Alam TV last month, that her ministry’s function is ‘purely educational and has no authority’!
Information about Depleted Uranium, the scientific evidence of its effects, recent cases and debates can be found here.

Nicholas Wood an Architect by profession, who has written a book on Iraq and has a great deal of knowledge and interest in the issue of DU, said “I am satisfied that at last a London audience has managed to see part of this very important documentary about the consequences of these deadly weapons. The officials in the British and US government are in denial about the issue of DU. Depleted Uranium particles will continue to make civilians fall sick and die for thousands of years to come unless something is done about it. The sooner we break this denial barrier the sooner we can do something to save the future generations of Iraq.”

Dr. Doug Rokke, a US Army Health Physicist and a Nuclear Medicine Sciences Officer, has little doubt about the harm done by Depleted Uranium munitions. Click here to see his testimony on the subject.

The European Parliament voted on a moratorium on the use of DU munitions in the wake of successful cases of compensation in Scotland and Italy.

This film showing and discussion was part of the programme of an event entitled ‘The Heath and Environmental catastrophe in Iraq, what can be done?’ organised by SIUI.

Mundher Adhami an Iraqi academic, who spoke about possible interim solutions in order to contain the problem, said “This is a catastrophe of immense dimensions.
The Deadly Dust documentary shows that areas around Baghdad, Arbil and according to Dr Kadhum al Muqdadi even parts of Najaf, are now contaminated by radio active materials. These are areas that apparently did not get direct hits by DU weapons in 2003 war”.

This can only mean that we now have the possibility of radio active particles are being carried in the dust storms from one part of Iraq to the other. These minute particles can be breathed in, ingested or they could contaminate the soil and water table and enter the food chain, spreading about sickness and death all over Iraq.

“Urgent action is therefore vital, to contain the contaminated areas and prevent the continuation of the spread of radio active pollution with all its deadly consequences.” said Haifa Zangana who chaired the panel addressing the SIUI meeting at SOAS.

“The onus is on the user of DU to prove that it is safe and it is their responsibility to contain and clear up the contamination”, said Marion Birch of MEDACT

Lubna Samara an activist with Arab Media Watch spoke about Israel’s use of unconventional weapons on Palestine and Lebanon.
Lubna’s report started with the Israeli deliberate poisoning of the water wells of Acre with Typhus germs in 1948 to the use of White Phosphorus on the civilians in the 1982 Israeli war on Lebanon, to the use of DU munitions and cluster bombs in the summer of 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon.
Not forgetting the Israeli use of biological agents in confrontations with Palestinian civilians taking part in peaceful demonstrations.
Lubna’s very well researched report can be found here
The parallels between Israel’s and the US’s strategy of using weapons of mass destruction that violates international humanitarian law in the region are glaringly obvious for all to see.

Marion Birch the executive Director of MEDACT, a charitable organisation concerned with the effects of wars and conflict on the ‘Right to Health’ for the civilian population in the affected areas. ‘The Right to Health’ is enshrined in international law as an inalienable right for every man, woman and child all over the world.

In 2002, MEDACT warned against the dire consequences for the Iraqi people if the war on Iraq was to go ahead. Iraq’s health infrastructure was already in a fragile state because of sanctions and a previous conflict.

MEDACT is critical of the CPA’s management of the health system, sending experts with insufficient prior knowledge of the region but with an agenda for privatisation, failing to protect and re-establish health facilities, failing to set a good precedent and set good standards, by allowing the looting the hospitals and clinics.

MEDACT’s report Rehabilitation under Fire launched on the 16th January, paints a grim picture for the civilian population of Iraq. It states that up to 75% of Iraqi health professionals have left their jobs since 2003.

Ms Birch expressed concerns that the terms of the Geneva Convention have not been adhered to and the neutral space for health workers and health care services have not been/ar'nt respected.
She called for the protection of Iraqi health professionals, health facilities and provisions.

She also called for the protection of the personnel collecting data for the sake of an overall and continuing assessment of the health sector in Iraq. Without a system that collects this information on a regular basis, it is very difficult to determine the immediate needs and to plan and put in place strategic policies for the health sector in Iraq.

One factor that can undermine a fair assessment of the situation of the health sector is the politicisation of health information.
“Surveys based on random cluster samples, have long been accepted by governments the world over. It is therefore puzzling to see the initial rejection of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s mortality surveys (Roberts et al & Burnham et al) published in the Lancet”.

Alternative surveys in order to ascertain the number of casualties in Iraq could have been used constructively together with these to reach the most accurate picture.

MEDACT believes the Iraqis should be assisted in rebuilding their health system while being given the space to decide what sort of health system they want.

A recent report released by the Iraqi government quoted by IRIN states: “Since the US-led invasion in 2003, 618 medical employees, including 132 doctors, as well as medics and other health care workers, have been killed nationwide, according to figures from the Iraqi Health Ministry released earlier this year.”

The above mentioned report quoted by IRIN, states “Baghdad a city of 5 million people, has no neurosurgeons”.

Activists in the Brussel’s Tribunal have meticulously documented what can only be described as a deliberate effort to empty Iraq of its doctors and health professionals, through a campaign of assassinations, arrests and threats of violence.

According to Iraqi government sources and also the Oxfam report released on 30th July 2007, bureaucracy and rife corruption cripple health authorities and medicine distribution.

“KEMADIA, the state-owned medical supply company, is unable to provide for the hospitals and primary health-care centres. Of the 180 hospitals countrywide, 90 per cent lack key resources including basic medical and surgical supplies.
Like many government institutions, KEMADIA has been crippled by bureaucratic, centralised management and a lack of distribution capacity, while accusations of corruption and sectarian influence have eroded people’s confidence in its ability to deliver.”(Oxfam, page 11, Rising to the humanitarian challenge in Iraq).

During 2006 and 2007, under the watch of ex Health minister Ali Al Shumari, now an asylum seeker in the US, Iraqi hospitals became arenas for the sectarian score settling. Despite the overwhelming evidence against minister’s aides for orchestrating the violence, they walked out of court free men due to witnesses intimidation and the Iraqi government’s failure to guarantee their protection.

This meeting did not just highlight problems but it also offered possible ways forwards. In the case of the health service crisis, Nicholas Wood illustrated in a short film how easy it is to get hold of medical supplies, such as oxygen masks, baby incubators and even a mobile hospital!


Nicholas has been campaigning since he had seen a channel4 Dispatches TV documentary called ‘Iraq’s missing Billions’ on the hospital of Diwaniya , where two days old twins died because of the lack of Vitamin K, a £0.95 canola and a £1.50 infant’s oxygen mask that could have assisted the baby’s breathing.

Mr. Wood has been instrumental in organising the open letter to Tony Blair signed by 100 senior British health professionals calling on the British government to rise up to its legal and moral obligations under the Geneva Convention.

On the subject of Depleted Uranium contamination in Iraq, both Nicholas and Mundher Adhami referred to the UN Environmental Department’s suggestions to deal with the DU contamination in Bosnia, as an interim measure.

A short film was shown :"DU Crisis in Iraq spraying a possible solution? . "
This illustrates how an old oil spill from a pipeline in America left the sand still compacted to 60 cm deep after a twenty five year period, and that the sand remained water repelent. The film suggests that, in Iraq, if oil was sprayed on purpose on the highly contaminated sand round abandoned tanks, it would stop some of the radioactive sand blowing about in dust storms , and reduce to some extent the projected resulting cancers and birth defects ( projected at up to 7 million cases in ten years) .

It also showed how bitumen spray is used today to protect sea walls in the Thames Estuary, and how this technique could be used to cap dumps of bulldozed contaminated sand, and throw rain water off the mound preventing it soaking DU into the ground water run off. (Bricks stuck together in Babylonian times still have intact bitumen joints) Sticky bitumen sprayed on tank hulks would also prevent children playing in them and contracting radiation damage and Leukaemia.
(Copies of this film can be obtained on request ( £7pp) from saranickwood@btinternet.com)

Mr Adhami’s contribution to the discussion can be found here.

Haifa spoke briefly about the systematic deforestation, cutting down of orchards and burning down of vegetation in Iraq, a practice comparable to the uprooting of citrus and olive groves in Palestine. Haifa said “the official US army websites and military blogs, mentions so called 'Controlled Burn', as if it is a great service to the people of Iraq! It is done with relish, one marine, describes the sound of burning as if it is ‘an orchestra playing a piece of music’.
No mention of the environmental damage and devastation caused to the farmers tending these groves and orchards.

A fact sheet with all up-to-date statistics and information on the situation in Iraq was given out to members of the public attending the meeting, this fact sheet can be found here.

After all the contributions from the speakers on the issue of health and environment, there was a lively discussion about raising the public awareness on the dire health situation in Iraq and the importance of organising similar meetings in universities up and down the UK. An online petition was suggested as one of the ways forward.

Amongst those present at the meeting are Iraqis and non Iraqis who were friends of the well known Iraqi woman artist, Nuha Al Radhi. Nuha died of cancer in August 2004, she was convinced her illness was linked to Depleted Uranium.

The final speaker was Jonathan Stevenson of Iraq Occupation Focus (IOF) on the important campaign of ‘Justice for Iraq’.
The UK government talks about withdrawing British troops, though the word ALL is never mentioned.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, pretending to distance himself from the Blair era and putting himself forwards as the leader who will slowly but quietly withdraw from Iraq and that will be the end of the matter!

IOF has formed a working group for the campaign: Justice for Iraq and has put together
a document detailing the obligations and responsibilities of the protagonists of this illegal war and the reparations they have to pay the Iraqi people. Withdrawing the troops and all the private security personnel (mercenaries) should only be the beginning. An end to this hated occupation and the eradications of all its manifestations must follow, the rule of International law must be restored.