UN warns on Iraq environment fate

[JesterCS]

Derelict factories, military scrapyards and battle sites across Iraq pose a threat to the environment and to public health, the United Nations has said.

The UN Environment Program has trained Iraqi specialists in detoxification, but says any clean-up could cost up to $40m (£23m).

Chemical spills, unsecured hazardous material and widespread pollution by depleted uranium are among the issues.

Without clean-up, heavy metals can poison ground water, causing illness.

The Unep has examined five sites as part of its training efforts, and is concerned by the results.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4425562.stm


Amazed they even mention it

[Village Idiot]

1. This is just as disgusting as the use of WP and MK-77...

The TRUTH:

"Depleted uranium is more of a problem than we thought when it was developed. But it was developed according to standards and was thought through very carefully. It turned out, perhaps, to be wrong."
-- Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to President George Bush in 1991 Gulf War .

and the LIES:

Q: General, how much of your weaponry -- Michael Kearns, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. How much of your weaponry uses depleted uranium? And what are your concerns about the effects of that on Iraqi civilians?

GEN. BROOKS: There's a very small portion of our munitions that use depleted uranium. And there have been lots of studies on what the actual hazards are from depleted uranium. When depleted uranium hits something, it's the residue from that that has any possible hazard at all, and that requires close personal ingestion in order to have an effect.
We believe that the way we do our operations is as safe as can be done for combat action and does not create the kind of hazard that may have been thought about in the past.

- CENTCOM Operation Iraqi Freedom Briefing ~ 26 March 2003
http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Transcripts/20030326.htm


The fact that some US Army Units have orders to destroy hospitals and loot / burn / destroy hospital data only serves to show how despicable the USA has become in its desire for Empire...

More Reading:

Depleted Uranium Education Project
http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm

Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (CADU)
http://www.cadu.org.uk/

WISE Uranium Project
http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/

Depleted Uranuim: A FAQ compiled by the Office of the Special Assistantfor Gulf War Illnesses http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm

Gulf War Syndrome, Depleted Uranium and the Dangers of Low-Level Radiation
http://www.ccnr.org/bertell_book.html

Gulf War Veterans and Depleted Uranium
http://ccnr.org/du_hague.html

Depleted Uranium's Effect on Veterans, Iraqis
http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/2002/msg02142.html

National Gulf War Resource Center
http://www.ngwrc.org

A Ravaged Land
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2003/16/we_351_01.html

US to use depleted uranium
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/2860759.stm

Military Toxics Project
http://www.miltoxproj.org/

You all have NO IDEA how much this disgusts me. It disgusted me to read about Hitler and to watch historical films showing chemical weapons use in WWII - It scikens me more to read that 60 years later, the same USA that pushed so hard for war crimes trials for the Nazis has opted out of the ICCJ so they cannot be prosecuted for the crimes they commit against humanity on a daily basis.

[johnnyburma]

2. Seems awful low

$40,000,000? We spend more than that here to clean up one industrial dump site. Must be closer to 40 BILLION than 40 million.