Reply #5: Depleted Uranium Controversy Grows

[Dancing_Dave]

I just got this from a Yahoo groups environmental activist newsgroup called sprayno. I haven't found an open-to-all www link for it yet. I'll just exerpt some crucial points off the top and try to find you all a link soon!

IRAQI CITIES "HOT" WITH DEPLETED URANIUM -- Baghdad 1,000+ times normal
radiation levels

Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 21, 2003 issue
of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

ANOTHER WAR CRIME?

By Sara Flounders

Has U.S. use of depleted-uranium weapons turned Iraq into a radioactive
danger area for both Iraqis and occupation troops?

This question has already had serious consequences. In hot spots in
downtown Baghdad, reporters have measured radiation levels that are 1,000
to 1,900 times higher than normal background radiation levels.

It has also opened a debate in the Netherlands parliament and media as
1,100 Dutch troops in Kuwait prepare to enter Iraq as part of the
U.S./British-led occupation forces. The Dutch are concerned about the
danger of radioactive poisoning and radiation sickness in Iraq.

Washington has assured the Dutch government that it used no DU weapons near
Al-Samawah, the town where Dutch troops will be stationed. But Dutch
journalists and anti-war forces have already found holes in the U.S.
stories, according to an article on the Radio Free Europe website.

DU-caused radiation had already raised alarms in Europe after studies
showed increased rates of cancers, respiratory ailments and other
disabilities of occupation troops from NATO countries stationed in Bosnia,
Kosovo and Afghanistan.