The Horror of Depleted Uranium
By: Daniel R. Burke
When discussing 9-11 with people for the first time and trying to explore the idea that the attacks were an inside job, I come across the most basic of self-defense mechanisms and most obvious of all arguments. That mechanism, or argument is based on the concept that the United States Government is here to protect us and keep us safe and is not capable of massacring 3000 of its own citizens for whatever the reasons.
Well ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to what the United States government is not only doing to the people all across the world, but directly to the brave men and women serving in our armed forces. Men and women who volunteer to put their lives on the line in order to do what they feel is right, and protect this country. Let me introduce you to depleted uranium or DU.
Below is an excerpt from the Jeff Rense radio show interviewing Leuren Moret, an expert on DU. According to her bio in Wikipedia, "Leuren Moret is a female scientist who has gained popularity due to her reports on the health and environmental effects of depleted uranium. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Geology at University of California, Davis in 1968, and her Master of Arts in Near Eastern Studies from University of California, Berkeley in 1978. In 1991, after working two years at the Livermore nuclear weapons lab, she became a whistle blower, and since then has worked as an independent citizen scientist and radiation specialist in communities around the world understanding the actual health effects of radiation exposure." This interview will help you understand DU in laymen's terms.
"These very, very tiny particles look like little round hollow Christmas tree balls, because when the depleted uranium burns, it vaporizes, it reaches temperatures that are as hot as the sun, over 3000 C. After the vapor cools it condenses into these little, round, hollow Christmas tree balls, and they're deadly. The size makes them the most deadly biological toxin of all because they are smaller than a tenth of a micron." - LM
"Now a virus will often range in the 1 to maybe 3 micron in diameter size, so this is a tenth of one micron, these are on the order of ten times smaller than a one micron virus; they are so small it is ridiculous. And how many of these little empty Christmas tree ornaments does one have to inhale before one faces an increased risk of diabetes, of cancer, of any number of catastrophic illnesses?" - JR
"Just one, just one alpha particle from one atom of uranium can cause cancer under the right conditions." - LM
"I hope all of you heard that very clearly. This is not paranoia, this is not alarmism. Leuren Moret is a brilliant geo-scientist, who knows as much about DU and radiation as probably anybody on the planet. And that's what we're talking about here; one tiny, nano-size particle can, if the conditions are proper, trigger cancer, depending on your immune system and all kinds of things. Now if you´re in a battle theatre, and the dust is flowing and blowing and dropping all over you, you are breathing tens if not hundreds of millions of these little particulates, sometimes everyday. So when these folks of ours come home, and god help those who stay behind in Iraq because they live there, you're going to see levels of catastrophic illness which is not confined to the person infected either." - JR
So we have a branch of criminals inside this government exposing our courageous men and women to the most deadly known toxin in existence, how nice. They are dousing our service-men and service-women in uranium getting them sick, their spouses sick, and getting their children sick. Is this any way to treat people who leave behind their families in order to defend this country? Is this anyway to treat individuals who are willing to sacrifice their own lives to defend freedom? I for one do not think so. This is no way to support our troops. Nor is sticking a plastic flag on your car, made by a bunch of slaves in China earning $.22 / hour, supporting them either. Exposing these lies and these horrifying criminal acts is how to truly support them.
So what exactly is depleted uranium? Where does it come from? And if it so deadly and toxic, why does the military use it? All good questions and all with extremely important answers that will help show the level of depravity that exists inside this government and a small look into the mind set of the global elite. We must first start understanding exactly what DU is.
"Depleted uranium is what is left over when most of the highly radioactive types (isotopes) of uranium are removed for use as nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. The depleted uranium used in armor-piercing munitions and in enhanced armor protection for some Abrams tanks is also used in civilian industry, primarily for stabilizers in airplanes and boats." http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm
In other words, after the uranium is enriched to make fuel or nuclear weapons, the spent fuel rods are taken and molded into ammunition. "Depleted Uranium is a very dense metal, about 1.7 times as dense as lead." http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library/what.shtml
The extreme density of DU makes it highly more effective against armor than lead, which is which is why since 1991, has become the weapon of choice for military personnel. But what makes DU so deadly and radioactive?
When fine particles (0.1 micron range to nanoparticles) are inhaled and pass into the blood they are carried throughout the body. Larger particles (2.5-10 microns) are removed from the lung and are coughed out or swallowed. But 70% of the finer particles (0.1 micron range) pass into the blood at the blood-lung barrier and are engulfed by white blood cells (about 10 microns) which may be 1000 or more times larger than DU particles. The tiny particles of DU are carried to all parts of the body - the brain, heart, bones, organs, muscles, nerves, and germ cells (ovum and sperm). Because depleted uranium oxides which form on the battlefield at high temperatures are very insoluble, they do not dissolve easily in body fluids which prevents excretion by the body. After exposure, the effects can be felt almost immediately depending on exposure levels. Soldiers on the battlefield and testing grounds have reported illnesses within 72 hours or less of exposure.
Gulf War Illness Symptoms & Illnesses
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-ICT13dec03.htm
In a speech Leuren gave in Los Altos, California on April 21, 2003 she said:
"Uranium decays in four steps. The half-life of depleted uranium - of uranium 238, which is more than 99% of DU - is 4.5 billion years, the age of the earth. That uranium 238, when it decays, decays into more radioactive isotopes that are more radioactive by millions and billions of times.
So, slowly over time, the areas that have been bombed will become more and more radioactive.
I'd just like to emphasize that depleted uranium is illegal under international law, under the Geneva Conventions, and under all treaties.
Four tests to determine the legality of a weapon:
Temporal - A weapons must not continue to act after the battle is over. I think that 10 times 4.5 billion years is quite a lot longer than after the battle is over.
Territorial - It must not leave the boundary of the battlefield. That's the territorial test. Depleted uranium is carried in the winds, in the atmospheric dust around and around and around the world. Indeed, lower orbital space is contaminated with uranium and uranium decay products from atmospheric testing, from nuclear batteries on spacecraft, and from the nuclear reactors some countries have put on spacecraft.
Humanitarian - It must not kill inhumanely. The suffering of the civilian population and of the soldiers is horrendous
Environmental - The weapons must not unduly damage the environment. In all of the General Groves memo, in the research papers conducted for the military, it's clear that it has a terrible, terrible environmental impact. And it's forever."
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Leuren-Moret21apr03.htm
Depleted Uranium fails all four tests. So what have we established so far? DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years or the life of the earth. It has been declared a weapon of mass destruction. One tiny particle of this stuff breathed in can give you cancer. And our troops along with the inhabitants of the Middle East are breathing tens if not hundreds of millions upon billions of these particulates every day. Now we must also understand that DU is not confined to the battle field.
"They are creating billions and billions and billions of superfine particles. These did not settle out by gravity. Gravitational forces do not pull them out of the air. They stay suspended. They act like a radioactive gas."
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Leuren-Moret21apr03.htm
What this means is that they are salting the entire earth with DU. These superfine particles are grabbed by the jet stream and carried to all corners of the earth. In fact "The Sunday Times Online, February 19, 2006, reported on a shocking scientific study authored by British scientists Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan: "Did the use of Uranium weapons in Gulf War 2 result in contamination of Europe? Evidence from the measurements of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK". The highest levels of depleted uranium ever measured in the atmosphere in Britain, were transported on air currents from the Middle East and Central Asia; of special significance were those from the Tora Bora bombing in Afghanistan in 2001, and the "Shock & Awe" bombing during Gulf War II in Iraq in 2003."
http://www.rense.com/general69/deathstar.htm
So we see here that bombing the Middle East will end up contaminating many other parts of the world. How can we not believe that these murderers are capable of massacring 3000 of our fellow citizens when the use of depleted uranium weapons is giving untold millions of people death sentences?
Cumulative effect of chronic exposure in contaminated areas, dust particles in the air, contaminated water and food, will increase the levels of DU in the bodies of individuals and affected populations. Chronic internal exposure to increasing levels internally will have a cumulative effect. Predictably over time, this will increase the severity and the rate of disease in those living in contaminated areas. The long-term increased burden will result in increases in genetic effects, both in the number of babies affected and the severity of the deformations, exactly what is being reported now for southern Iraq in just one decade17,18. Babies born with deformities, due to damaged germ cells, may also have additional in vivo exposure during the pregnancy of the mother, radiation the mother is exposed to from contaminated air, water and food. After birth, the baby will be chronically exposed to yet more, the accumulation of DU from environmental contamination. In addition, and the reason DU is called the "Trojan Horse of Nuclear War", is that the uranium isotopes will naturally decay and transform into daughter isotopes2 which have much higher levels of radioactivity and are chemically changed by decay2. Clearly the environmental contamination which cannot be cleaned up puts each future generation at greater and greater risk.
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-ICT13dec03.htm
So now have an understanding of what DU and why it is so deadly. We see how it indiscriminately kills and will continue to kill for billions upon billions of years. But let us get back to the original topic. How is DU effecting the troops of the United States Armed Forces and what are the effects that have forced upon them by the individuals who have knowingly and purposefully chosen to use DU?
Major Doug Rokke is a forensic scientist who served in the Vietnam War. In preparation for the first Gulf War, he was assigned to prepare soldiers for exposure to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. After the war he was appointed by Norman Schwarzkopf as head of a team to investigate the cleaning up of depleted uranium used. He has become a prominent critic of the use of depleted uranium, after seeing first hand many of the consequences of its use. He asserts that the radiological protective suits provided by the US military were inadequate due to the fact that radioactive uranium munitions aerosol into submicron size particles with a half life of 4.5 billion years. There are no known filters capable of blocking the particles. Many of his colleagues have already died from exposure to radiological or biological exposure as work of his cleanup team. He became sick in 1991 on his return to United States, and in 1994 was radiobioassayed by US Department of Energy, confirming serious expose to radiation. In spite of his sickness, he continues to study the health effects of depleted uranium, give interviews for films such as Beyond Treason and tour widely as a peace activist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Rokke
During the Gulf War between 1990 and 1991 the United States military incurred: 467 individuals wounded in action, 148 killed in battle, and 145
killed in other than battle (i.e. accidents). Therefore, the total number of US Gulf War casualties was 760 at the time of redeployment.
http://www.rense.com/general29/gulf.htm
Gulf War I, Desert Storm lasted 100 hours, 100 hours of real active combat, from April - May of 1990 thru fall of 1991. The US Dept of Veteran affairs and their compensation and pension statistics report, the most recent one a summary of data 8-30-2006, has thoroughly acknowledged out of 696,842 served in GWI, only 613,526 left alive, 80,000 have died. 271,192 have applied for permanently disability with US Dept of Vet Affairs, 40+ % of troops. Most combat deaths were friendly fire.
-interview with Doug Rokke on the Alex Jones radio show
When discussing 9-11 with people for the first time and trying to explore the idea that the attacks were an inside job, I come across the most basic of self-defense mechanisms and most obvious of all arguments. That mechanism, or argument is based on the concept that the United States Government is here to protect us and keep us safe and is not capable of massacring 3000 of its own citizens for whatever the reasons.
Well ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to what the United States government is not only doing to the people all across the world, but directly to the brave men and women serving in our armed forces. Men and women who volunteer to put their lives on the line in order to do what they feel is right, and protect this country. Let me introduce you to depleted uranium or DU.
Below is an excerpt from the Jeff Rense radio show interviewing Leuren Moret, an expert on DU. According to her bio in Wikipedia, "Leuren Moret is a female scientist who has gained popularity due to her reports on the health and environmental effects of depleted uranium. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Geology at University of California, Davis in 1968, and her Master of Arts in Near Eastern Studies from University of California, Berkeley in 1978. In 1991, after working two years at the Livermore nuclear weapons lab, she became a whistle blower, and since then has worked as an independent citizen scientist and radiation specialist in communities around the world understanding the actual health effects of radiation exposure." This interview will help you understand DU in laymen's terms.
"These very, very tiny particles look like little round hollow Christmas tree balls, because when the depleted uranium burns, it vaporizes, it reaches temperatures that are as hot as the sun, over 3000 C. After the vapor cools it condenses into these little, round, hollow Christmas tree balls, and they're deadly. The size makes them the most deadly biological toxin of all because they are smaller than a tenth of a micron." - LM
"Now a virus will often range in the 1 to maybe 3 micron in diameter size, so this is a tenth of one micron, these are on the order of ten times smaller than a one micron virus; they are so small it is ridiculous. And how many of these little empty Christmas tree ornaments does one have to inhale before one faces an increased risk of diabetes, of cancer, of any number of catastrophic illnesses?" - JR
"Just one, just one alpha particle from one atom of uranium can cause cancer under the right conditions." - LM
"I hope all of you heard that very clearly. This is not paranoia, this is not alarmism. Leuren Moret is a brilliant geo-scientist, who knows as much about DU and radiation as probably anybody on the planet. And that's what we're talking about here; one tiny, nano-size particle can, if the conditions are proper, trigger cancer, depending on your immune system and all kinds of things. Now if you´re in a battle theatre, and the dust is flowing and blowing and dropping all over you, you are breathing tens if not hundreds of millions of these little particulates, sometimes everyday. So when these folks of ours come home, and god help those who stay behind in Iraq because they live there, you're going to see levels of catastrophic illness which is not confined to the person infected either." - JR
So we have a branch of criminals inside this government exposing our courageous men and women to the most deadly known toxin in existence, how nice. They are dousing our service-men and service-women in uranium getting them sick, their spouses sick, and getting their children sick. Is this any way to treat people who leave behind their families in order to defend this country? Is this anyway to treat individuals who are willing to sacrifice their own lives to defend freedom? I for one do not think so. This is no way to support our troops. Nor is sticking a plastic flag on your car, made by a bunch of slaves in China earning $.22 / hour, supporting them either. Exposing these lies and these horrifying criminal acts is how to truly support them.
So what exactly is depleted uranium? Where does it come from? And if it so deadly and toxic, why does the military use it? All good questions and all with extremely important answers that will help show the level of depravity that exists inside this government and a small look into the mind set of the global elite. We must first start understanding exactly what DU is.
"Depleted uranium is what is left over when most of the highly radioactive types (isotopes) of uranium are removed for use as nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. The depleted uranium used in armor-piercing munitions and in enhanced armor protection for some Abrams tanks is also used in civilian industry, primarily for stabilizers in airplanes and boats." http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm
In other words, after the uranium is enriched to make fuel or nuclear weapons, the spent fuel rods are taken and molded into ammunition. "Depleted Uranium is a very dense metal, about 1.7 times as dense as lead." http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library/what.shtml
The extreme density of DU makes it highly more effective against armor than lead, which is which is why since 1991, has become the weapon of choice for military personnel. But what makes DU so deadly and radioactive?
When fine particles (0.1 micron range to nanoparticles) are inhaled and pass into the blood they are carried throughout the body. Larger particles (2.5-10 microns) are removed from the lung and are coughed out or swallowed. But 70% of the finer particles (0.1 micron range) pass into the blood at the blood-lung barrier and are engulfed by white blood cells (about 10 microns) which may be 1000 or more times larger than DU particles. The tiny particles of DU are carried to all parts of the body - the brain, heart, bones, organs, muscles, nerves, and germ cells (ovum and sperm). Because depleted uranium oxides which form on the battlefield at high temperatures are very insoluble, they do not dissolve easily in body fluids which prevents excretion by the body. After exposure, the effects can be felt almost immediately depending on exposure levels. Soldiers on the battlefield and testing grounds have reported illnesses within 72 hours or less of exposure.
|
|
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-ICT13dec03.htm
In a speech Leuren gave in Los Altos, California on April 21, 2003 she said:
"Uranium decays in four steps. The half-life of depleted uranium - of uranium 238, which is more than 99% of DU - is 4.5 billion years, the age of the earth. That uranium 238, when it decays, decays into more radioactive isotopes that are more radioactive by millions and billions of times.
So, slowly over time, the areas that have been bombed will become more and more radioactive.
I'd just like to emphasize that depleted uranium is illegal under international law, under the Geneva Conventions, and under all treaties.
Four tests to determine the legality of a weapon:
Temporal - A weapons must not continue to act after the battle is over. I think that 10 times 4.5 billion years is quite a lot longer than after the battle is over.
Territorial - It must not leave the boundary of the battlefield. That's the territorial test. Depleted uranium is carried in the winds, in the atmospheric dust around and around and around the world. Indeed, lower orbital space is contaminated with uranium and uranium decay products from atmospheric testing, from nuclear batteries on spacecraft, and from the nuclear reactors some countries have put on spacecraft.
Humanitarian - It must not kill inhumanely. The suffering of the civilian population and of the soldiers is horrendous
Environmental - The weapons must not unduly damage the environment. In all of the General Groves memo, in the research papers conducted for the military, it's clear that it has a terrible, terrible environmental impact. And it's forever."
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Leuren-Moret21apr03.htm
Depleted Uranium fails all four tests. So what have we established so far? DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years or the life of the earth. It has been declared a weapon of mass destruction. One tiny particle of this stuff breathed in can give you cancer. And our troops along with the inhabitants of the Middle East are breathing tens if not hundreds of millions upon billions of these particulates every day. Now we must also understand that DU is not confined to the battle field.
"They are creating billions and billions and billions of superfine particles. These did not settle out by gravity. Gravitational forces do not pull them out of the air. They stay suspended. They act like a radioactive gas."
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Leuren-Moret21apr03.htm
What this means is that they are salting the entire earth with DU. These superfine particles are grabbed by the jet stream and carried to all corners of the earth. In fact "The Sunday Times Online, February 19, 2006, reported on a shocking scientific study authored by British scientists Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan: "Did the use of Uranium weapons in Gulf War 2 result in contamination of Europe? Evidence from the measurements of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK". The highest levels of depleted uranium ever measured in the atmosphere in Britain, were transported on air currents from the Middle East and Central Asia; of special significance were those from the Tora Bora bombing in Afghanistan in 2001, and the "Shock & Awe" bombing during Gulf War II in Iraq in 2003."
http://www.rense.com/general69/deathstar.htm
So we see here that bombing the Middle East will end up contaminating many other parts of the world. How can we not believe that these murderers are capable of massacring 3000 of our fellow citizens when the use of depleted uranium weapons is giving untold millions of people death sentences?
Cumulative effect of chronic exposure in contaminated areas, dust particles in the air, contaminated water and food, will increase the levels of DU in the bodies of individuals and affected populations. Chronic internal exposure to increasing levels internally will have a cumulative effect. Predictably over time, this will increase the severity and the rate of disease in those living in contaminated areas. The long-term increased burden will result in increases in genetic effects, both in the number of babies affected and the severity of the deformations, exactly what is being reported now for southern Iraq in just one decade17,18. Babies born with deformities, due to damaged germ cells, may also have additional in vivo exposure during the pregnancy of the mother, radiation the mother is exposed to from contaminated air, water and food. After birth, the baby will be chronically exposed to yet more, the accumulation of DU from environmental contamination. In addition, and the reason DU is called the "Trojan Horse of Nuclear War", is that the uranium isotopes will naturally decay and transform into daughter isotopes2 which have much higher levels of radioactivity and are chemically changed by decay2. Clearly the environmental contamination which cannot be cleaned up puts each future generation at greater and greater risk.
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-ICT13dec03.htm
So now have an understanding of what DU and why it is so deadly. We see how it indiscriminately kills and will continue to kill for billions upon billions of years. But let us get back to the original topic. How is DU effecting the troops of the United States Armed Forces and what are the effects that have forced upon them by the individuals who have knowingly and purposefully chosen to use DU?
Major Doug Rokke is a forensic scientist who served in the Vietnam War. In preparation for the first Gulf War, he was assigned to prepare soldiers for exposure to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. After the war he was appointed by Norman Schwarzkopf as head of a team to investigate the cleaning up of depleted uranium used. He has become a prominent critic of the use of depleted uranium, after seeing first hand many of the consequences of its use. He asserts that the radiological protective suits provided by the US military were inadequate due to the fact that radioactive uranium munitions aerosol into submicron size particles with a half life of 4.5 billion years. There are no known filters capable of blocking the particles. Many of his colleagues have already died from exposure to radiological or biological exposure as work of his cleanup team. He became sick in 1991 on his return to United States, and in 1994 was radiobioassayed by US Department of Energy, confirming serious expose to radiation. In spite of his sickness, he continues to study the health effects of depleted uranium, give interviews for films such as Beyond Treason and tour widely as a peace activist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Rokke
During the Gulf War between 1990 and 1991 the United States military incurred: 467 individuals wounded in action, 148 killed in battle, and 145
killed in other than battle (i.e. accidents). Therefore, the total number of US Gulf War casualties was 760 at the time of redeployment.
http://www.rense.com/general29/gulf.htm
Gulf War I, Desert Storm lasted 100 hours, 100 hours of real active combat, from April - May of 1990 thru fall of 1991. The US Dept of Veteran affairs and their compensation and pension statistics report, the most recent one a summary of data 8-30-2006, has thoroughly acknowledged out of 696,842 served in GWI, only 613,526 left alive, 80,000 have died. 271,192 have applied for permanently disability with US Dept of Vet Affairs, 40+ % of troops. Most combat deaths were friendly fire.
-interview with Doug Rokke on the Alex Jones radio show
Labels: Depleted Uranium 911
