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.
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 2009 according to Al Jazeera English....
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....
Many US 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.
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=80e260b3839daf2084fdeb0965ad31abIf the Government is serious about ending terroism, we need to stop using Depleted Uranium now, end these wars and send doctors,nurses and supplies over to help alleviate some of the problems we have created. Iraqi contractors can then be paid to help clean up the Depleted Uranium.
Where is MoveOn? Where is True Majority? Where is Code Pink?(who now supports the war in Afghanistan because it 'helps' women) How can they sleep at night knowing they took million of donations from progressives and now are doing nothing to help end these atrocities?
How can a group be forming to protest teabaggers? As if that is all progressives have to do?
The only one I know still organizing useful protests is Cindy Sheehan. Apparently as many Duers have been bashing her all to hell, she is the only one that actually believed in what she was doing. The rest were just collecting donations. If anyone is still interested in ending these wars, there is a protest of the CIA using drones in January"
CIA Drone Protest in Langley, Virginia, scheduled for Jan. 16, 2010
and another beginning in March- stay as long as it takes to make the politicians listen to us!
Camp-In Protest Begins in DC March 13