The word is getting out Troops deseve study of Depleted Uranium

[Monkeyman]

This is a Edtorial I will post the whole thing hope mods don't mind this one.
You might have read-in Sundays paper ,among other places-about eight members of an Army Nation Guard unit who are suing the Army because they've become ill through ,they contend ,exposure to depleted uranium.

You probsably haven't read about Amry Spc. Dustin Brim ,a 22 year old from Florida who died of an array of cancers in 2004 after serving in Iraq. His mother has come to suspect depleted uranium in her son's death,according to the Dayona Beach News Journal.

But you probably are least vaguely aware of Gulf War Syndrome, the name given to explain medical problems encountered by Gulf War veterans who were generally stymied by the U.S. military in their efforts to have their illnesses addressed or, at times, even acknowledged. Depleted uranium is one suspected causes of Gulf War.

The Defence Department has minimized the danger that depleted uranium poses. It says that,because of training troops recieve on how to handle it,it should be safe. But based on the illnesses some of these soldiers are developing,its time to take a closer look at it.

BECAUSE OF ITS DENSITY,DEPLETED URANIUM IS USED TO PROVIDE AN ARMORED COATING FOR TANKS as a stronger defence against attack.Its also used to coat shells our troops fire, making them more powerful in penetrating enemy armor.

Depleted uranium is also radioactive and leaves behind a dust that lasts a very long time.

Does breathing in that dust cause the types of illesses being seen in these veterans? Thats the important question. But not enough has been done to answer it,even after the controversy over Gulf War Syndrome.

Now in the last four months after Democrats said they would make this a issue. The House and Senate have passed separate bills that call for a study on the effects of depleted uranium exposure. Those pieces of legislation are in the Committess to be reconciled but they will not be acted on until 2007.Democrats in the Committess are angry.

The troops who are risking their lives in support of our nation deserve to know. But the Republican Chairs of these Committees do not want the public to know how bad this is until after the 2006 run.

My reasons for posting this is to show us that Veterans issues can crush the Republicans if the public would hear the truth.

[Greeby]

1. Jim McDermott has been on this for a long time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McDermott
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/newsprint.cgi?file=/news2006/0321-14.htm

Jim with the political band Anti-Flag

[JohnnyLib]

2. thanks, MM

we have to get this out, over and over.

[Monkeyman]

3. Before Lane Evans illness he was given them hell on this one

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Check out the experience of this Canadian soldier after GW 1.

The Canadian military bureaucracy gave him the run around just like the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs does to US vets.

Terry went to the Persian Gulf in December 26, 1990 with honor, dignity and pride - serving his country as Captain J. Terry Riordon of the Canadian Armed Forces. Terry left Canada a very fit man who did cross-country skiing and ran in marathons. On his return only two months later he could barely walk.

He returned to Canada in February 1991 with documented loss of motor control, chronic fatigue, respiratory difficulties, chest pain, difficulty breathing, sleep problems, short-term memory loss, testicle pain, body pains, aching bones, diarrhea, and depression. After his death depleted uranium (DU) contamination was discovered in his lungs and bones.

For eight years he suffered his innumerable ailments and struggled with the military bureaucracy and the system to get proper diagnosis and treatment. His wife, Susan Riordon, speaks most eloquently of the nightmare of physical, mental and emotional hardship endured not just by Terry but his entire family.

He was ultimately unsuccessful it getting the answers or help he needed in his lifetime. His final wish was to donate his body to independent research on DU. That was Terry's gift to all who served in the Persian Gulf. He wanted his body to supply the answers to years of suffering and frustration. Through his gift UMRC was able to have obtain conclusive evidence of internal DU contamination in his lungs and bones. Even after death Terry continues to contribute to his country and his fellow veterans.

http://www.umrc.net/riordon.aspx

[Monkeyman]

5. Reports are coming in from all the counties who where in GW1

The reports are showing bad news. Lets see replugs here cut brain injury research you wanta bet Research for DU will be cut if they stay in office

[postulater]

6. Anyone know Sensenbrenner's stand on DU?

[low_phreaq]

8. He pretends not to know anything about it and hides behind the DoD

There's a guy who's been on Sensenbrenner's case about DU. Here's a recounting of a recent Town Hall meeting:

I’ve also asked you on at least seven separate occasions to investigate the use of Depleted Uranium munitions on the part of the U.S. military, and get them to stop using it because of the overwhelming scientific evidence from experts around the world who have publicly testified to the toxic effects and the dangers to anyone exposed to it. In initial discussions, you’ve either claimed that

1) “the question is why Saddam Hussein had possession of Depleted Uranium munitions.” Anyone who knows anything about DU weapons knows that they were developed by the United States and Britain and that Saddam Hussein didn’t have them.

2) You claimed you didn’t know anything about it and would look into it, or hadn’t had enough time to get the information because you’d only had a couple of months to work on it (this was in late 2004 and early 2005 when I had first brought this to your attention. But in fact, you already were aware of it by that time because Congressman Jim McDermott (D – Washington), had by that time already submitted two bills in the House starting in March of 2003, with HR 1483, which was delayed in committee, and then had to be resubmitted again in May of 2005 HR 2410, and he had contacted every member of Congress to let them know about this bill. Yet you acted like you didn’t know anything about it. It was again submitted as HR 5122, section 716, which finally passed on May 11th of this year.

3) You’ve also claimed on various occasions that DU was classified as a matter of National Security, yet there is plenty of documentation on it that has been released by various scientific and medical groups who have been studying DU for over 15 years now, and is freely available over the internet through groups like Physicians for Social Responsibility (Dr. Helen Caldicott’s group), miltoxproj.org , http://traprockpeace.org/depleteduranium.html , Leuren Moret, a geoscientist who worked at two U.S. Nuclear Weapons laboratories and turned whistleblower, and Dr. Doug Rokke, the Pentagon’s top expert on Depleted Uranium munitions who had been interviewed and testified on numerous occasions as to the hazards of Depleted Uranium which has caused 250,000 soldiers from the first Gulf war to become completely and permanently disabled, 15,000 soldiers to die, and over 425,000 soldiers to become ill, out of the 697,000 who served for three weeks in Iraq and were exposed to anywhere from 350-800 Tons of DU.

We now have over 1,000,000 soldiers and 24,000,000 Iraqi civilians who have been exposed to more than 2200 tons of DU during this war, and they have served for as long as three tours of duty and some are entering their fourth tour. Over a year each tour, with no protection.

You claimed that “the Department of Defense claimed that DU saves lives and is safe”, and that that was your “final word on the matter” so I ask the members of this audience to look at these pictures and tell you whether they believe that DU is safe and whether or not you and the Department of Defense are telling them the truth. Genocide and Mass Murder of not only millions of Iraqis, but of our own military being put on the ground, and their spouses and children, are being affected by this, and yet you do nothing. (At this point, I take out pictures that have been posted online by doctors who have been treating the victims of Depleted Uranium radiation poisoning. I hold them up and show them to the audience and at Sensenbrenner and ask them if they believe that these children have not been affected by DU and ask them again if they really believe Sensenbrenner and the Department of Defense when they tell them that DU is safe. Gasps from the crowd. Sensenbrenner doesn’t say a word. I pass them to members of the audience and ask them to pass them along so everyone can see them. You can see them at: http://www.barremore.net/depleted-uranium-kills.html )

(Jim Ott, the former weatherman who is running for Curt Gielow’s seat as a Republican, is sitting behind me. I find out later, that Jim Ott, with the assistance of the other Republican plants in the audience, has gathered up the pictures, and placed them face down underneath his seat so that no one further away from me has an opportunity to view the pictures!!! What does he hope to gain by covering up the fact that this government is hiding the fact that DU is killing children, not just Iraqis, but U.S. Military children because of the damage to their DNA!!!??? Would a moral, God fearing Christian person who cares about children, intentionally hide evidence of a crime against them? Ask him yourself, the next time you have a chance, why he hid the pictures from the view of the rest of the people in the audience.)

http://watchdogmilwaukee.com/blog/lnakamoto/2006/my-statement-and-questions-for-sensenbrenner-at-thiensville-village-hall-june-26-2006/

(emphasis added)

http://bk2006.org/

[JohnyCanuck]

7. Wasn't Agent Orange supposed to be safe too?

The Defence Department has minimized the danger that depleted uranium poses. It says that,because of training troops recieve on how to handle it,it should be safe. But based on the illnesses some of these soldiers are developing,its time to take a closer look at it.

Dr. Keith Baverstock, The World Health Organization's chief expert on radiation and health for 11 years and author of an unpublished study has charged that his report " on the cancer risk to civilians in Iraq from breathing uranium contaminated dust " was also deliberately suppressed.

The information released by the U.S. Dept. of Defense is not reliable, according to some sources even within the military.

In 1997, while citing experiments, by others, in which 84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer of the lungs, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, then Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington was quoted as saying,

"The (US government's) Veterans Administration asked me to lie about the risks of incorporating depleted uranium in the human body."

At that time Dr. Durakovic was a colonel in the U.S. Army. He has since left the military, to found the Uranium Medical Research Center, a privately funded organization with headquarters in Canada.

SNIP

Doug Rokke, U.S. Army contractor who headed a clean-up of depleted uranium after the first Gulf War states:,

"Depleted uranium is a crime against God and humanity."

Rokke's own crew, a hundred employees, was devastated by exposure to the fine dust. He stated:

"When we went to the Gulf, we were all really healthy,"

After performing clean-up operations in the desert (mistakenly without protective gear), 30 members of his staff died, and most others"including Rokke himself"developed serious health problems. Rokke now has reactive airway disease, neurological damage, cataracts, and kidney problems.

"We warned the Department of Defense in 1991 after the Gulf War. Their arrogance is beyond comprehension.


Yet the D.O.D still insists such ingestion is "not sufficient to make troops seriously ill in most cases."

Then why did it make the clean up crew seriously or terminally ill in nearly all cases?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12903.htm

U.S. Colonel Admits 500 Tons of D.U. Were Used in Iraq

By Jay Shaft
Coalition For Free Thought In Media
5 May 2003

snip

U.S.C.: Well����� (long pause, followed by heavy profanity)�. Okay, I�ll give you some dirt if that�s what you�re looking for. The Pentagon knows there are huge health risks associated with D.U. They know from years of monitoring our own test ranges and manufacturing facilities.

There were parts of Iraq designated as high contamination areas before we ever placed any troops on the ground. The areas around Basra, Jalibah, Talil, most of the southern desert, and various other hot spots were all identified as contaminated before the war. Some of the areas in the southern desert region along the Kuwaiti border are especially radioactive on scans and tests.

One of our test ranges in Saudi Arabia shows over 1000 times the normal background level for radiation. We have test ranges in the U.S. that are extremely contaminated, hell they have been since the 80�s and nothing is ever said publicly. Don�t ask don�t tell is not only applied to gays, it is applied to this matter very heavily.

I know at one time the theory was developed that any soldier exposed to D.U. shells should have to wear full MOP gear (the chemical protective suit). But they realized that just wouldn�t be practical and it was never openly discussed again.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0305/S00050.htm

[low_phreaq]

9. Here's what really torques me

In this article:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2452950&mesg_id=2452950

First we have this:
"The Department of Defense says depleted uranium is powerful and safe, and not that worrisome."

Later comes this:
"According to military guidelines, he should have heard the words depleted uranium long before he ended up at Walter Reed. He should have been trained about its dangers, and how to avoid prolonged exposure to its toxicity and radioactivity."

Let's see now, the DoD says it's "safe" and "not that worrisome." The military, which, last I checked, is also the DoD, says it has "dangers, toxicity, and radioactivity." The DoD is frickin' talking out of their ass and mouth at the same time!

:grr:

[formercia]

10. as data from the first Gulf War trickles-in:

http://pnews.org/ArT/TrU/DepletedUraniumDeath.shtml

--snip--

This evidence shows that of the three effects which DU has on biological systems - radiation, chemical and particulate - the particulate effect from nano-size particles is the most dominant one immediately after exposure and targets the Master Code in the DNA. This is bad news, but it explains why DU causes a myriad of diseases which are difficult to define.

In simple words, DU "trashes the body." When asked if the main purpose for using it was for destroying things and killing people, Fulk was more specific: "I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people."

Soldiers developing malignancies so quickly since 2003 can be expected to develop multiple cancers from independent causes. This phenomenon has been reported by doctors in hospitals treating civilians following NATO bombing with DU in Yugoslavia in 1998-1999 and the U.S. military invasion of Iraq using DU for the first time in 1991. Medical experts report that this phenomenon of multiple malignancies from unrelated causes has been unknown until now and is a new syndrome associated with internal DU exposure.

Just 467 U.S. personnel were wounded in the three-week Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991. Out of 580,400 soldiers who served in Gulf War I, 11,000 are dead, and by 2000 there were 325,000 on permanent medical disability. This astounding number of disabled vets means that a decade later, 56 percent of those soldiers who served now have medical problems.

--snip--

[hootinholler]

11. I have a friend who is a GW-1 vet...

He's a lucky one, he's only sterile, no cancer yet. He said DU dust was unavoidable.

-Hoot