| It has been three years on since the invasion of | | | | ambulances (on the pretext that they contain |
| Iraq, and there appears no end to the conflict. U.S. | | | | communications equipment), chlorinators, and even |
| launched its massive so-called "Operation Iraqi | | | | pencils (on the pretext that they contain graphite, |
| Freedom" on March 20, 2003.The worst victim of | | | | which has military uses). |
| the invasion is children. Reports indicate an | | | | Between 1991 and 2000 US and UK fighter planes |
| alarming growth in birth deformities and cancer | | | | flew more than 280,000 sorties in 'no-fly-zones' to |
| rates among Iraqis' children. | | | | spy and enforce sanctions strictly. However Iraqi |
| US, emboldened with initial success in Afghanistan, | | | | planes were prohibited to fly over the zone. After |
| invaded Baghdad to disarm Iraq of alleged | | | | the withdrawal of UN weapons inspectors in 1998, |
| Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). The | | | | the average monthly release of bombs by UK |
| massive invading force comprised of 214,000 | | | | and US planes rose dramatically from seven and |
| Americans (including Naval, Logistics, intelligence | | | | 14 tons per month-reaching a pre-war peak of |
| and air force personnel), 45,000 British, 2,000 | | | | 54.6 tons in September 2002. Some 100 air force |
| Australian and 2,400 Polish troops, adequately | | | | bombers were deployed bombs on 5thh |
| backed by hundreds of war planes. | | | | September 2002.These widespread bombings |
| The medical crisis is being directly blamed on the | | | | reportedly "hit civilians and essential civilian |
| widespread use of depleted uranium (DU) | | | | infrastructure, as well as livestock", cites Anthony |
| munitions by the US and British forces in Iraq | | | | Arnove in his book: "Iraq Under Siege: Ten Years |
| during Gulf War of 1991 and 2003's illegal invasion. | | | | On", Monthly Review, December 2000). |
| The U.S. is believed to have used 320,000 tons of | | | | Even the Economist (London), an eager supporter |
| depleted uranium during the Gulf War alone. Also | | | | of American policies towards Iraq, described |
| British Armed Forces used depleted uranium in | | | | conditions in the besieged country by the year |
| some of its ammunition. | | | | 2000 as: "Sanctions impinge on the lives of all |
| Up till now, the battlefield in Iraq remains a | | | | Iraqis every moment of the day. The tap-water |
| radioactive toxic wasteland -- and depleted | | | | causes diarrhoea, but few can afford the bottled |
| uranium munitions remain a mystery. Many | | | | sort. Because the sewers have broken down, |
| scientists sought to investigate the events but | | | | pools of stinking muck have leached through the |
| Washington is reportedly blocking any attempt to | | | | surface all over town. |
| inspect the aftermath of war. Rather ignoring the | | | | That effluent, combined with pollution upstream, |
| proven telling impact on civilians' lives and health, | | | | has killed most of the fish in the Shatt al-Arab |
| the US and UK forces continue DU's use even | | | | river and has left the remainder unsafe to eat. |
| today. And this nightmare for Iraqi is unlikely to | | | | The government can no longer spray for |
| end soon as US and UK plan to prolong Baghdad's | | | | sand-flies or mosquitoes, so insects have |
| occupation for many years to come. President | | | | proliferated, along with the diseases they carry". |
| George W.Bush on many occasions has reiterated | | | | The Sydney Morning Herald in its recent issue has |
| troops will not be withdrawn until his designed | | | | quoted Dr. Amar, the deputy head of the Al-Sadr |
| mission is completed. | | | | Teaching Hospital in Basra, one of the main |
| Cancer and birth defects rate in war-ravaged Iraq | | | | hospitals treating Iraqi cancer patients, saying "We |
| has increased tenfold. The increase is believed to | | | | don't have drugs to treat tumours. I have a |
| be caused by intensive use of DU in populated | | | | patient with tumours who is unconscious and I |
| and nearby areas. The rate of birth defects | | | | don't have drugs or a bed in which to treat him. I |
| increased from 11 per 100,000 births in 1989 to | | | | have two women with advanced ovarian cancer |
| 116 per 100,000 in 2001.It is soaring further. | | | | but I can give them only minimum doses of only |
| Children are falling ill with cancer at the rate of 10; | | | | some of the drugs they need". |
| one per 100,000. In districts where the use of DU | | | | "Two or three days ago we had to cancel all |
| concentrated most, the rate rose to 13.2 per | | | | surgery because we had no gauze and no |
| 100,000. | | | | anaesthetics. Our wards are like stables for |
| UN's Integrated Regional Information Networks | | | | horses, not humans. We can't properly isolate |
| (IRIN) quotes Dr Nawar Ali, a medical researcher | | | | patients or manage their diets. We don't have |
| into birth deformities at Baghdad University saying: | | | | proper laboratory facilities.... "If you are sick don't |
| "A total of 650 cases [birth deformities] since | | | | come to this hospital for treatment. It is collapsing |
| August 2003 have been reported in government | | | | around us. We're going down in a heap", Dr Amar |
| hospitals. That is a 20 percent increase from the | | | | added. |
| previous regime. Private hospitals were not | | | | During the 1970s and 1980s Iraq was generally |
| included in the study, so the number could be | | | | regarded as having good nutrition, but health |
| higher." | | | | problems only emerged when the Security Council |
| His colleague, Dr Ibrahim al-Jabouri, reported: "In | | | | imposed widespread sanctions. Iraqi children |
| my experiments we have found some cases | | | | malnutrition has doubled since the U.S-led invasion |
| where the mother and father were suffering | | | | in 2003. In reporting the 7.7 percent malnutrition |
| from pollution from weapons used ----- and we | | | | rate for Iraqi youngsters, the Norwegian-based |
| believe that it is affecting newborn babies in the | | | | Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science said last |
| country." The rise in birth defects is matched by a | | | | November that the figure was similar to the levels |
| continuing increase in the incidence of childhood | | | | witnessed in some African countries. |
| cancers. Seven years ago, the College of Medicine | | | | Last year, Carol Bellamy, head of UNICEF, said |
| at Basra University carried out a study from 1976 | | | | the violence hampers the delivery of adequate |
| to 1999 into the rate of cancer among children | | | | supplies of food. This is also endorsed by aid |
| under the age of 15.It revealed a horrific change | | | | groups active there. A U.S study in October 2004 |
| between 1990 and 1999. In the province of Basra | | | | estimated as many as 100,000 more Iraqis, most |
| alone, the incidence of cancer of all types rose by | | | | of whom are women and children, have died since |
| 242 percent, while the rate of leukemia among | | | | the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The number is higher |
| children rose 100 percent. | | | | than those who would have normally have died, |
| The results were cited at the time in campaigns | | | | based on the death rate before the war was |
| to end the UN-imposed and US-enforced sanctions | | | | launched in search of so-called Nuke. |
| against Iraq, which were held responsible for the | | | | The initial justification offered by invading US-UK |
| death of as many as 500,000 Iraqi children from | | | | for the invasion was alleged Iraq possessing |
| malnutrition and inadequate medical treatment. | | | | weapons of mass destruction. The extensive |
| Terrible as these results were, the last few years | | | | investigations carried by UN and US weapons |
| have witnessed a further rise in the number of | | | | inspectors proved the allegation simply "hoax". |
| children under 15 falling ill with cancer and the rate | | | | Then the world was told that Saddam Hussein's |
| has now reached 22.4 per 100,000 compared to | | | | regime had links with Al-Qaeda. This was also a |
| rate of 3.98 per 100,000 in 1990. Iraq holds US | | | | complete fallacy. |
| and UK responsible for the devastating impact on | | | | After this the so-called champion of democracy |
| civilians 'health caused by illegal widespread use of | | | | and human rights UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and |
| DU. | | | | U.S. President George W. Bush cited Saddam's |
| The study noted: "Most doctors and scientists | | | | human rights abuses, but the world knows those |
| agree that even mild radiation is dangerous and | | | | in Iraq today are far more worse. |
| increases the risk of cancer. The health risk | | | | By now the world is convinced that, the real |
| becomes much greater once the [DU] projectile | | | | reason for war was to secure direct control of |
| has been fired. After they have been fired, the | | | | the vast supply of oil in Iraq. Iraq is endowed with |
| broken shells release uranium particles. The | | | | the world's second largest reserves at present |
| airborne particles enter the body easily. The | | | | 115 billion(b) barrels. And it is estimated that long |
| uranium then deposits itself in bones, organs and | | | | delayed exploration may take the figure to |
| cells. | | | | 220-250 billion barrels. |
| Many reports and political experts confirmed that | | | | Another reason widely reported in the American |
| more than 940,000 DU (depleted uranium) | | | | press is that the United States plans to use the |
| projectiles were fired during the war to evacuate | | | | invasion of Iraq as a launching pad for a drastic |
| Kuwait from Sadam Hussain's hold. The war cost | | | | re-shaping of West Asia, apparently to ensure |
| oil producing Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other | | | | hegemony of nuke-equipped Israel to protect US |
| countries in the region more than $34 billion (b) | | | | interests in the region in the long term. |
| which they paid to US. The war mandated by UN | | | | Israel is reported to possess between 400--600 |
| was backed by 34 western and other regional | | | | weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) but the |
| countries. | | | | west is little concerned over the huge WMDs |
| Children are especially vulnerable because their | | | | presence in the neighborhood of Muslim states. |
| cells divide rapidly as they grow. In pregnant | | | | Israel backed militarily and financially by its |
| women, absorbed uranium can cross the placenta | | | | creators-US and UK-- has waged series of bloody |
| into the bloodstream of the foetus. A report said: | | | | wars against Muslim beighbours and occupied vast |
| "In addition to its radioactive dangers, uranium is | | | | tracts of lands since 1948. Israel made |
| chemically toxic, like lead, and can damage the | | | | widespread use of US supplied depleted uranium |
| kidneys and lungs. Perhaps, the fatal epidemic of | | | | shells in southern Lebanon in its nearly five-week |
| swollen abdomens among Iraqi children is caused | | | | long conflict with Hezbollah this summer. |
| by kidney failure resulting from uranium poisoning. | | | | The US-led invasion of Iraq is widely described in |
| Whatever the effect of the DU shells, it is made | | | | Middle East streets as Israel's proxy. The |
| worse by malnutrition and poor health conditions...." | | | | perception gains ground as Israeli Prime Minister |
| Dr Janan Hassan of the Basra Maternity and | | | | Ehud Olmert has defended the US invasion if Iraq |
| Children's Hospital told IRIN in November 2004 | | | | and called it" a boon for Israel's security". "I stand |
| that as many as 56 percent of all cancer patients | | | | with the president (Bush) because I know that |
| in Iraq were now children under 5, compared with | | | | Iraq without Saddam Hussein is so much better |
| just 13 percent 15 years earlier. "Also," he said, "it | | | | for the security and safety of Israel, and all of |
| is notable that the number of babies born with | | | | the neighbours of Israel without any significance |
| defects is rising astonishingly. In 1990, there were | | | | to us," Reuter reported Olmert as telling visiting |
| seven cases of babies born with multiple | | | | American Jews in Occupied Jerusalem on |
| congenital anomalies. This has gone up to as high | | | | Wednesday last. |
| as 224 cases in the past three years." | | | | The mid-term election losses of US President |
| The statistics point to the long-term | | | | Bush's Republican Party in November this year |
| consequences of depleted uranium contamination. | | | | were widely considered a repudiation of his |
| Munitions containing an estimated 300 tonnes of | | | | decision to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein as part |
| DU were unleashed by coalition forces in southern | | | | of a so-called vision of democratising the region |
| Iraq alone in 1991. A decade after the war, DU | | | | and bolstering allies like Israel. Iraq remains mired |
| shell holes are still 1,000 times more radioactive | | | | in a cycle of intense violence claiming average |
| than the normal level of background radiation. The | | | | more than 200 lives a day. |
| surrounding areas are still 100 times more | | | | This has shattered US mirage of creating |
| radioactive. Experts surmise that fine uranium | | | | democracy there, analysts said and quipped |
| dust has been spread by the wind, contaminating | | | | reports pouring in from across Iraq affirm that |
| swathes of the surrounding region, including Basra, | | | | Iraqis irrespective of their sectarian divide "yearn" |
| which is some 200 kilo-meters away from sites | | | | for a strongman to contain the escalating violent |
| where large numbers of DU shells were fired. | | | | situation. |
| A 1997 study into the cancer rate among Iraqi | | | | Inter-Shiite-Sunni violence was virtually |
| soldiers who fought in the Basra area during the | | | | non-existent during Saddam's time, but within |
| Gulf War found a statistically significant increase in | | | | seven months of the illegal invasion the Iraqis |
| the rate at which they were stricken with | | | | were faced with a total breakdown of society: no |
| lymphomas, leukemia, and lung, brain, | | | | food, 70% unemployed, hardly any electricity, |
| gastro-intestinal, bone and liver cancers, as | | | | polluted drinking water, hospitals without adequate |
| compared to personnel who had not fought. | | | | drug supplies, crime increasing. In fact the US-led |
| Somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 tonnes of | | | | ongoing war has tore apart the socio-economic |
| DU was expended during the three-week war in | | | | and environmental life of the people, once |
| 2003. Unlike 1991, when most of the fighting took | | | | prosperous under Sadam Hussain. Independent |
| place outside major population centres, the 2003 | | | | medical journal the Lancet estimates more than |
| invasion saw the wholesale bombardment of | | | | 650,000 Iraqis have been killed and many more |
| targets inside densely-populated cities with DU | | | | seriously injured since globally condemned illegal |
| shells. | | | | 2003 invasion. However, the invading Coalition |
| Christian Science Monitor journalist Scott Peterson | | | | played down the death toll at around 50,000 while |
| has registered radiation on a simple Geiger | | | | their foisted Nouri-al Maliki cabinet health minister |
| counter at levels some 1,900 times the normal | | | | has admitted the toll between100,000-150,000! |
| background rate in parts of Baghdad in May 2003. | | | | Iraq or in Greek Mesopotamia flanked by two |
| The city has a population of six million. | | | | rivers- Tigris and Euphrates- once known as the |
| Ever since 1991 war, cancer and birth defect | | | | cradle of human civilisation has widely been |
| rates began to rise dramatically and the medical | | | | bombed and rampaged by the occupation |
| specialists fear that Iraq will continue to face an | | | | forces.The destruction of 5,000 year old |
| epidemic of cancers, under conditions where the | | | | archaeological heritage in Iraq's small town Babylon |
| medical system, devastated by years of | | | | is a tragic loss to humanity and brightly smears |
| sanctions and war, is unable to cope with the | | | | the face of invaders with rage and lust. |
| existing crisis. | | | | The head of the British Army, General Sir Richard |
| The widespread military debris, i.e. 8-12 million | | | | Dannatt maintains our presence in Iraq is making |
| unexploded shells and grenades, contaminating | | | | the situation worse. In fact, Iraq under occupation |
| water and soil will continue to cause an increase in | | | | has become a breeding ground for unabated |
| cancer and birth defects in the newborn for at | | | | violence and terrorism with no end in sight. |
| least another century, medical analysts say. | | | | But both UK and US leaders even amidst their |
| The prolonged sanction, imposed on Iraq at the | | | | ever-sagging popularity at home continue to boast |
| behest of UK and US, has accentuated the | | | | that they are not going out of Iraqi as they do |
| agonies of Iraqis manifold. The sanctions wreaked | | | | not believe in what Bush called " cut and run". |
| unparalleled devastation in Iraq's economic life. A | | | | Perhaps, they will commit more troops to raise |
| senior UN official reportedly termed the sanctions | | | | the strength beyond 1,40,000 troops level and |
| as "genocide" by systematically starving the | | | | bolster 14 expensive US bases, each the size of a |
| country of elementary needs. Sanction crunches | | | | small town, to ensure complete hold on vast oil |
| killed an estimated 1.5 million Iraqis. | | | | reserves for many years to come. |
| Yet, US alone, as a powerful member of the U.N. | | | | Of recent the US government has started giving |
| Iraqi Sanctions Committee had all along opposed | | | | the impression that their continued occupation of |
| the calls for a lifting of sanctions and vetoed over | | | | Iraq is necessary to stop inter-sect violence, but |
| 5,000 quite genuine and legitimate food or | | | | there's evidence to suggest that the inter-sect |
| medicine contracts. They placed " hold" on the | | | | violence in Iraq is in fact the deliberate result of |
| import of $ 5.3 billion (b) worth of essential goods | | | | American policy that started in October 2003, |
| in early 2002. | | | | many analysts point out. Major American and |
| By1993 the Iraqi economy under sanctions shrank | | | | British media corporations instead of reporting |
| to one-fifth of its size in 1979 and UN under the | | | | objectively have joined the campaign as" |
| oil-for-food programme fixed the annual ceiling at | | | | foot-soldiers" or embedded journalists in American |
| $ 170 per Iraqi. Out of this sum a further $51 | | | | cliché. This is amply demonstrated in Fox News, |
| was deducted and diverted to the UN | | | | CNN, BBC and other so-called global networks |
| Compensation Commission to pay any | | | | heavily slanted broadcasts round the clock daily. |
| government, outfit or individual who claimed to | | | | To get rid of illegal occupation and overcome |
| have suffered in Iraq's attack on Kuwait. | | | | deep wounds and unending agonies, political |
| Under "humanitarian goods" only food and | | | | experts urge Iraqis to calm down their |
| medicine's import was allowed. But the import of | | | | charged-emotion and understand the game-plan of |
| items needed to restore water supply, sanitation, | | | | the occupying forces. Iraqis must revert to their |
| electrical power, even medical facilities was | | | | centuries old bond and cohesion and adopt a |
| prohibited. | | | | strong nationalist movement patterned on |
| Among the items kept out by American veto, on | | | | Vietnamese style to drive away the invaders. |
| the grounds that they might have a military | | | | Current destruction of each other on sectarian-line |
| application, were chemicals, laboratory equipment, | | | | simply suits to the agenda of occupying forces. |
| generators, communications equipment, | | | | |