From Iraq, a Tragic Reminder to Prosecute the War Criminals

[Drett]

Studies show almost half of Iraq's population in areas around where the United States and Britain dropped some 300 tons of depleted uranium will get cancer. These crimes await prosecution. But who will demand it?, asks Pilger.


From Iraq, a Tragic Reminder to Prosecute the War Criminals


'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. 'Depleted' sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production.


Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by 2-6 times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and leukemia since 1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in 1998 said that as many as 500 children a day are dying from these sequels to war and sanctions and that the death rate for Iraqi children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per 1000 in 1989 to 166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an alarming rate.' In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach cancers showed the highest increase. In women, the highest increases were in breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The Lancet volume 351, issue 9103, 28 February 1998.

 

[Anonimous]

Studies show almost half of Iraq's population in areas around where the United States and Britain dropped some 300 tons of depleted uranium will get cancer. These crimes await prosecution. But who will demand it?, asks Pilger.


From Iraq, a Tragic Reminder to Prosecute the War Criminals


'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. 'Depleted' sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production.


Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by 2-6 times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and leukemia since 1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in 1998 said that as many as 500 children a day are dying from these sequels to war and sanctions and that the death rate for Iraqi children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per 1000 in 1989 to 166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an alarming rate.' In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach cancers showed the highest increase. In women, the highest increases were in breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The Lancet volume 351, issue 9103, 28 February 1998.

It's a shame these experts were not over there as I was when Saddam invaded Kuwait. It's also a shame they did not see the 10 foot high piles of dead Saudi and Kuwaiti civilians that were stacked up along the roads and in parking lots. Or the hundreds of oil fires that were still burning when I left a year later. Not to mention the water sources that were coated with not only oil but the pleasant acid rain that would rain down on the country.

 

[Drett]

It's a shame these experts were not over there as I was when Saddam invaded Kuwait. It's also a shame they did not see the 10 foot high piles of dead Saudi and Kuwaiti civilians that were stacked up along the roads and in parking lots. Or the hundreds of oil fires that were still burning when I left a year later. Not to mention the water sources that were coated with not only oil but the pleasant acid rain that would rain down on the country.

If people are not held to account for their crimes, they will continue to occur. Saddam failed to invade Iran, even with the chemical weapons and training supplied to it by the West. So he was cut loose.

 

[zone]

drett - western leaders (including ours in Kanada) are not war criminals.

they are just spreading DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM.

one teenaged patsy on the run in a certain western city brings out the full force of justice (10,000 armed-to-the-teeth coppers)

did the kid do any damage remotely like the above pic of Iraq?