No Protection from Bush's Uranium Crossing U.S.to Kansas
Where Do You Bring
A 140,000 Pound Chicken to Roost?
Nolan K. Anderson
"George Bush has started an ill-timed and disastrous war under false
pretenses by lying to the American people and to the Congress; he has
run a budget surplus into a severe deficit; he has consistently and
unconscionably favored the wealthy and corporations over the rights and
needs of the population; he has destroyed trust and confidence in, and
good will toward, the United States around the globe; he has ignored
global warming to the world's detriment; he has wantonly broken our
treaty obligations; he has condoned torture of prisoners; he has
attempted to create a theocracy in the United States; he has appointed
incompetent cronies to positions of vital national importance.
Now, would someone please give him a blow job so we can impeach him?"
. . . Anonymous
The Pentagon is bringing some of its chickens home to roost. These 70-ton, battlefield damaged Abrams tanks are being brought home - some to Kansas - for (repair? - disposal?). Who knows? Do the good people of Kansas even know that they have been selected for the honor of getting a really close look at these possibly radioactive relics of war? The people of Kansas should be aware that many of the damages to our Abrams tanks in Iraq have been the result of "friendly fire". "Friendly fire" is especially dangerous because of the possibility of radioactive contamination. Since the enemy does not have DU weaponry, a badly damaged tank could well be the result of radioactive contamination by our own troops. Since few case studies of this type contamination have been released by the Pentagon because of the possibility of setting a precedence for medical claims by our veterans, there is probably little chance for civilians to identify the "hit" these returning "chickens" took. These returning relics need a radioactivity scan from an independent, highly regarded civilian agency for the safety of the people of Kansas and those who have been involved with the transport of these monsters across the United States. What a shock it would be to learn that Senator Pat Robertson of Kansas, who provides regular coverage for the President's often exposed ass, doesn't know about this dubious honor being bestowed upon his state. Even worse, suppose he does know but hasn't warned his constituents about the possible infinite radioactive contamination hazard posed by these killing machines.
We Americans have successfully closed our eyes to the environmental catastrophe being visited upon Iraq by the United States through the use of depleted uranium (DU) in Iraq. The use of these weapons in and of itself is certainly grounds for prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has been estimated that the United States has already used the contamination equivalent of 43,000 Nagasaki sized bombs on Iraq during George's War. It has been estimated that 25 million Iraqis could fall victim to cancer in the next several years. In a country of only 26 million, genocide is hardly too harsh a word to describe the very distinct possibility of contaminating more than 90 percent of the inhabitants of a whole country. This contamination has been spread from such sources as artillery rounds, tank canon rounds, anti-tank weapons, aerial antitank canon rounds and bombs. The dust residue from these sources spreads over the land to contaminate soil, water, crops and when windborne, invades every facet of life in Iraq.
Dust is not a completely true description of this contamination. When DU weapons strike a target, the uranium burns giving a residue so fine that it assumes the characteristics of a gas. But the danger doesn't stop in Iraq. When this dust/gas contamination reaches the upper atmospheric air currents, this Chernobyl-like danger becomes worldwide in scope. This contamination of course is linked to several forms of cancer, but its dangers are far deeper than just killing those contaminated. This weaponized ceramic uranium oxide attacks and alters the DNA structure of its victims so that congenital birth defects are an inherent byproduct of this monstrous weapon. Remember, this weapon is nondiscriminatory - it attacks friend and foe alike. Our soldiers, when contaminated, are just as prone to fathering horribly deformed children, as are Iraqis. And, depleted uranium contamination is a gift that keeps on giving - forever (well, not really forever, but with a 4.5 billion year half life, one is well on the way to forever). Depleted uranium is a monstrous weapon. "There is no possible protection from exposure to very fine particles of depleted uranium through filtering of air".
Questions. If one calls the wartime use of depleted uranium weapons a war crime and a crime against humanity, what does one call the unannounced, unprotected transport across the United States and the storage of possible radioactive contaminated weapons in an unsuspecting American community? Is impeachment enough for a monster who is capable of allowing his Pentagon to commit such a crime against a country that has sacrificed 2,000 of its younger generation to be killed in a hideous war based on lies? If one calls the use of these weapons war crimes and crimes against humanity, could one logically describe their use as genocidal in nature because of the nature of the long-term humanitarian consequences of the contamination? If such widespread usage may be described as genocide, is it a mere coincidence that genocide has possibly been practiced for the last 14 years on a country controlling such a large portion of the world's oil supply? Is it mere coincidence that both Syria and Iran with their oil resources are presently in the sights of George's radioactive military machine?
And here we are worrying about impeaching George for merely manipulating intelligence and invading a country that has never posed a threat to the United States. At this point there isn't even a whisper about Rumsfeld's and Cheney's complicity in crimes against humanity - let alone genocide. No, it's probably all coincidence. Probably nothing there; and, if there is, I am sure there are plenty of low level Pentagon officials to be sacrificed for the greater good of Donald, Dick and George.
Conclusion:
Is there any end to the global ramifications of the weapons and tactics we have created to protect ourselves? Is there any good to be derived from using "Willy Pete" and napalm and DU and cluster bombs on civilian targets? Is there any good to be found in using Sadaam-type tortures on ones foes? Where is the moral high ground in using extraordinary rendition for suspected enemies?
Notes:
SF Bayview.com
November 16, 2005
Radioactive Tank No. 9 Comes Limping Home
by Bob Nickols
Letter from Leuren Moret to Congressman McDermott
with
Declassified Memo to General L. R. Groves - 1943 A Blueprint for DU
by Leuren Moret
February 21, 2003
Nolan K. Anderson is a retired engineer and a veteran of Korea who was once a “conservative” until he found there was nothing left to conserve (He may be reached at nkanders@bellsouth.net ).
