What is 'Depleted Uranium'
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World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org   WSWS : News & Analysis : Middle East : Iraq Thousands of US troops evacuated from Iraq  for unexplained medical reasons By James Conachy 9 September 2003 Email the author Citing the US military Central Command as its source, the Washington Post reported on September 2 that “more than 6,000 service members” had been medically evacuated from Iraq since the launch of the war. At the time,  the number of combat wounded stood at 1,124. A further 301 personnel had been injured in non-combat incidents such as vehicle accidents. The figure of “more than 6,000” supplied to the Post therefore implies that over 4,500 US troops have required evacuation from Iraq for medical reasons other than combat or non-combat injuries. The Washington Post article did not include any further information on what is a staggering admission by the military. At no point in the last six months have the American people been told that for every soldier who has been killed in Iraq, at least another 15 have fallen so ill that they had to be flown back to the United States. The Post described the unexplained evacuations simply as the “thousands who became physically or mentally ill”. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12096-2003Sep1.html The obvious questions that must be answered are: what were they diagnosed with; what units are they from; what duties were they were performing; what long-term effects have they suffered; and what treatment are they receiving? While large numbers of the evacuations may well be for routine medical reasons, such a detailed breakdown is essential. Apart from providing an insight into the true impact of the war on the American troops, it may provide evidence that supports the concerns among military personnel and their families that service in Iraq is exposing them to long-term and potentially fatal medical problems. In particular, there are fears that soldiers have already died or are falling ill due to their exposure to depleted uranium (DU) or the anthrax vaccine they have been compelled to take. On July 31, the Army Surgeon General announced an investigation into the deaths of two soldiers, Michael Tosta and Josh Neusche, and the hospitalisation of another 100, diagnosed with severe pneumonia. It has been established that inhaling large concentrations of DU-contaminated particles damages the lungs and kidneys and can cause respiratory illness. There are also recorded medical suspicions that the US military’s anthrax vaccine can trigger pneumonia. In August 2002, three military doctors noted in the Cardiopulmonary and Critical Care Journal that a case of pneumonia in a healthy 39-year-old soldier “may be due to the anthrax vaccine”. The US Department of Defense has only made public one progress report on the pneumonia investigation. On August 22 it announced that it was “making significant progress” in eliminating SARS and vaccines as a possible cause. It revealed that 10 alleged pneumonia cases showed a higher than normal number of the white blood cell eosinophils. It also reported that none of the 19 most severe cases belonged to the same units, that 13 had fallen ill in Iraq and that the remaining six fell ill in Kuwait, Qatar, Uzbekistan, and Djibouti. The Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner was reportedly investigating the “specific cause or causes of death” of Tosta and Neusche. Since July 31, however, another soldier, Zeferino Colunga, has died allegedly from pneumonia while Sergeant Richard Eaton has died from a pulmonary edema or fluid in the lungs. Two other soldiers have been found dead in their beds for as yet unexplained reasons. Such is the distrust of the military that the families of both Josh Neusche and Colunga have demanded access to their loved ones’ medical records, personal effects and blood and tissue samples, so that independent medical opinions can be sought on the cause of death. The families sent letters on August 12 to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stating: “We as a family are concerned that we are not being told the truth.” Stephanie Tosta, the 22-year-old widow of Michael Tosta, has publicly speculated the military is lying about the cause of her husband’s death. She told United Press International last month: “More and more I think it was the [anthrax] shots. I think they [the Army] might be lying about this stuff. I really feel like it. Nobody can tell  me anything. If it is the shots, then of course they are lying. We just want to know what happened and we have a right to know. But the Army is acting like they are trying to hide something, and that just makes it harder.” The family of Rachael Lacy, a young soldier who died in the US on April 4 from a “pneumonia-like illness” but whose death is not included in the military investigation, is also alleging her death was due to the anthrax vaccine. Connecticut congressman Chris Shays, who chaired hearings last year on the possible side-effects of the anthrax vaccination program, is reportedly monitoring the investigation into the death of Sergeant Richard Eaton. The website of “Bring Them Home Now”—an organisation of military families demanding the immediate withdrawal of US forces from the Middle East—bluntly warns soldiers that the only guaranteed way to limit the medical consequences from exposure to DU is to “get out of Iraq or Afghanistan”. The groups’ statement of purpose declares: “Not one more troop killed in action. Not one more troop wounded in action. Not one more troop psychologically damaged by the act of terrifying, humiliating, injuring or killing innocent people. Not one more troop spending one more day inhaling depleted uranium. Not one more troop separated from spouse and children. This is the only way to truly support these troops, and the families who are just as much part of the military as they are.” (http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/) The National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC), an advocacy organisation for veterans of the first 1991 US war on Iraq, is assisting the military families who believe they are being lied to. Among the suspected causes of a range of illnesses commonly referred to as “Gulf War syndrome” are DU exposure and complications triggered by vaccinations. By 1999, as many as 110,000 Gulf War veterans had reported health problems that they believe are due to their service in Iraq. The sensitivity of the military hierarchy to the suspicions among rank-and-file troops, families and veterans is demonstrated by the reassurances on the official Army medical website that neither DU nor the anthrax vaccine pose a health risk. (http://www.armymedicine.army.mil/default2.htm) The US government also rejects any link between “Gulf War syndrome”, DU and vaccines. In 1998 however, the US military did finally admit that at least 436,000 American troops entered into areas during the first Gulf War that were contaminated to some extent by DU radioactive dust.

Reporter, Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, B-H     March 27, 2001 BALKANS  SYNDROME ACQUITTAL WITHOUT INVESTIGATION   To the question regarding his views about the most recent UN expert reports Dr. Zdrale answers that those experts did not deign to come to the Kasindol hospital, examine the patients and check the data collected by the local medical staff by Zoran Zuza A few weeks ago NATO greeted with relief the reports of the United Nations experts and several independent laboratories in Switzerland regarding the use of depleted uranium ammunition during the military interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo. Regardless of contradictory and partly even political qualifications contained in these reports, NATO welcomed the analyses according to which the risk posed by the use of such ammunition for the Alliance soldiers and the local population is "insignificant" and put the whole affair, as expected, in the "closed case" file with the decision to continue to use that type of ammunition in future military actions. In the general trouble caused by the Albanians in the south of Serbia and now in western Macedonia the news about the victims of the Balkans syndrome have disappeared from the news, while absolutely no one remembered to ask the United Nations expert to explain the meaning of formulations such as "from the scientific point of view uncertainty remains" regarding the long-term effects of the depleted uranium ammunition. Perhaps the said experts will use exactly this sentence as cover in some future court cases against those who ordered the use of depleted uranium ammunition in Bosnia and Kosovo, as the most recent data about the number of registered cases of cancer and death rate among Sarajevo Serbs given to Reporter in Kasin Dol hospital, indicate that without doubt a crime against civilian population and soldiers of the Army of Srpska was committed in this region. What is crime: Director of the clinical-hospital center in Serb Sarajevo Dr. Slavko Zdrale presented data that leave one dumbfounded. In that hospital, in the last three years, all together 639 patients with malignant tumors have been registered. Out of them, 211 died in the same period! "We in the hospital tried to find an answer to the question what could cause such an increase in malignant tumors in the population in the last five years, but we failed to prove any causal link with any of the considered possible causes. The only possible cause of these cancers is the depleted uranium ammunition, since almost all the diseased were either present or lived in the territory exposed to NATO bombing. It is important to mention that the number of cancerous diseases has significantly increased in the last three years and that it hasn't dropped in the January and February of this year," says Dr. Zdrale, a surgeon with 25 years of experience. He emphasizes that a large group of specialists from Kasin Dol hospital has prepared two scientific studies about the effects of uranium and plutonium on human health and about malignant diseases in the Sarajevo-Romanija region. Besides horrific statistics, the studies describe "medical rarities", unprecedented in the medical practice. Several patients had double, even triple malignant tumors in different types of tissue, tumors that were independent of each other. "I have never seen such cases in my entire life and all these years of medical work," emphasizes Dr. Zdrale and again stresses that all those patients come from the territory bombed by the depleted uranium ammunition. Chimneys in the ground: Zeljko Samardzic (1967) had cancer of the large intestine removed in December 1999. In February 2000 he started losing balance and had to resort to a wheel chair. In April 2000 a malignant tumor size of an apple was removed from his adrenal gland. In may 2000, fingers of his left hand started to deform. Skin was pealing off, nails fell off, and doctors diagnosed gangrene and amputated the small finger on his left hand. The Samardzic family has been living near Sarajevo for more than a hundred years. They mostly died from natural causes and no one in the family has ever had a malignant tumor. Zaljko's father and mother are in their 70's. He has a wife and three children. He says that before the war he did not have any serious sickness and explains that by the fact that as a forester he spent a lot of time in the wilderness and walked 20 to 30 kilometers daily. He continued with the same work during the war but, depending on the situation, he had to spend some time in the trenches, where he was during the NATO bombardment. "There were about fifteen of us, some 50 to 100 meters from the spot where the bombs hit. At that time we had no idea what sort of weapon that was, and some of us even picked up pieces of shrapnel as souvenirs," says Samardzic and adds that two other soldiers from that unit have already died from cancer - Desimir Divljan and Dorde Jokic. Jovan Jeftic (1930), whose house was near the bombed spot, also recently died form cancer. Now, after everything he's been through, Samardzic feels well. He realizes that he is a victim of the "Balkans Syndrome", and when he read the story about Sladjana Sarenac, the girl from Hadzici who played with the soil on the edges of a crater made by a depleted uranium bomb, whose nails also fell off, he recalled that he and his comrades dug soil in craters with their bare hands. Provocation from Brussels: As a striking example of the effect of the "Balkans Syndrome", in early March Samardzic traveled to Brussels together with two doctors from Srpska. They were invited to a gathering dedicated to the victims of the depleted uranium ammunition by a Belgian non-governmental organization led by a pacifist and publicist Michel Colon. Dr. Dragutin Ilic and Dr. Trifko Guzina, as well as Snezana Pavlovic from the [Nuclear Physics] Institute in Vinca [near Belgrade] were also in Brussels. "There were invited experts and victims of the 'Balkans syndrome' at the gathering, but there were no NATO representatives. As far as I understood, Colon and his organization are not exactly favorites of the Alliance officials. Besides me there were sick soldiers from different countries, an Englishman who was in the Gulf War, a Frenchman and two Belgians who served in Bosnia-Hercegovina and a journalist from Spain whose fiance died from cancer. During the gathering they said that NATO is making sure that they have all sorts of assistance and that their families are taken care of, but on the condition that they keep quiet. According to what they said, if any member of the family publicly complains or files a suit for damages, they immediately lose all their benefits. That is how NATO is trying to suppress the information about the 'Balkans syndrome'," says Samardzic. He adds that already on the first day of the gathering a German journalist, whose name he does not recall, tried to provoke him by asking him whether the Serb Army used depleted uranium in Srebrenica during, as she said, genocide of Muslims. "A similar commentary came at the end of an article of an Independent, London, journalist who interviewed me and who wrote that it should be kept in mind that I was a member of an aggressor army that carried out genocide in Srebrenica. All of that upset me immensely and I decided to stop giving statements for newspapers. I have never seen Srebrenica, except on a map, in my whole life. My comrades from the unit and I defended our houses and land." "NATO keeps denying the existence of the 'Balkans syndrome'. It should be proven what they did here, and thereby the use of such ammunition elsewhere in the world should be prevented." Dr. Trifko Guzina, a pre-war director of the kidney disease clinic in Sarajevo and a surgeon who operated on 25,000 patients before the war, also claims that Samardzija is a victim of the depleted uranium ammunition. "Such cases are simply unknown in medical literature; that patient is overwhelmed by illness in such a manner, in good health and without a hereditary factor..." He warns that one of the conclusions of the gathering was that decontamination of the soil and water should be urgently carried out in this region because, as Dr. Guzina stresses, everyone is in danger, including the inhabitants of the Sarajevo canton. The Association for the Prevention of Use of Depleted Uranium in War has also been founded and immediately demanded that investigation of the effects of that matter on human body be unified. To the question regarding his views about the most recent UN expert reports Dr. Zdrale answers that those experts did not deign to come to Kasin Dol hospital, examine the patients and check the data collected by the local medical staff. Dr. Nemanja Veljkov, specialist for diseases of blood and liver, facing in the Kasin Dol hospital numerous cases of acute leukemia, especially among children, at a press conference a month ago said that the truth about the "Balkans syndrome" is hidden exactly in that hospital and in the territory of Serb Sarajevo. All those who for whatever reason are now trying to suppress that truth should be reminded that crimes do not disappear, and when justice catches up with the culprits, someone will also remember their accomplices. Data about number of malignant cancers in Kasindol Hospital 1995 - 43 patients - 22 died 1996 - 93 patients - 36 died 1997 - 95 patients - 37 died 1998 - 175 patients - 94 died 1999 - 216 patients - 44 died 2000 - 240 patients - 73 died Leukemia Between 1996 and 2000 there were 18 deaths caused by acute leukemia in Kasindol hospital. The illness was not picky so that the dead include a four-year-old boy, a girl aged 15, a boy aged 16 and a young male aged 23. Since 1998 another 40 patients with illnesses of blood and lymph nodes have been treated in the hospital. 19 of them suffer from leukemia, two from its acute form. The latter two are children from Pale, aged eight and eleven.

Subject[du-list] USUK DU-Genocide forever    ----- Original Message -----         Subject: GULF WAR ILLNESS SYMPTOMS  3 corrections  DU-Genocide forever        Date:    Thu, 4 Sep 2003 18:56:10 +0530       From:    "Rajan M Alexander" <rajanalex@now-india.net.in>         To:      "Hans de Jonge" <hansdejonge@xs4all.nl>  IRAQ: IT’S NOT BOMBS, RPGS AND MINES THAT KILLS ALONE  Depleted Uranium – The Invisible Killer  by Rajan Alexander, Development Consultancy Group, Bangalore  (Gulf War I  =  Irak-Iran 1982 - 1989) GULF WAR ILLNESS SYMPTOMS Chronic fatigue syndrome- that's the mitochondria; severe headaches;  rashes; joint pain; muscle pain; nerve damage; neurological damage;  kidney damage; long damage; cardiovascular signs or symptoms; thyroid disease; multiple cancers; autoimmune deficiencies; unusual  fevers and night sweats; fluid buildups; sleep disturbances;  gastrointestinal signs or symptoms; abnormal births and defects;  menstrual problems; reduced IQ; confusion; memory loss; blood in stools and urine; fibromyalgia; Epstein-Barr syndrome; genetic  alterations; sinus diseases; mycoplasma fermentans incognitus;  infections; unusual hair loss; loss of smell; chemical sensitivities;  asthma; vision problems. And that is just a short list. Leuren-Moret, Environmental Commissioner  of Berkeley, and president for the Scientists of Indigenous People The BBC recently carried the moving story of Stephen Child  who recently succumbed from cancer of the pancreas. Child  left behind an apparently bizarre will in which he directed his wife to investigate his death to exposure to depleted uranium  (DU) in Iraq. A veteran of Gulf War II, Child received multiple inoculations before  and during his stint in Iraq. Nonetheless, his wife told the inquest that  her husband returned from the Gulf looking thinner, perpetually tired,  smelling of latex and sweating a lot. By the time cancer was diagnosed,  a series of chemotherapy failed to stem the advance of his disease.  50 of his colleagues, who served in the Gulf, had demonstrated similar symptoms and died much before he did. In all these cases, the  coroner’s verdict was death to natural causes. Yet Child, like many  other Gulf Veterans in Britain, describes these symptoms simply as  the Gulf Syndrome. Their belief resulted in the formation of the  Gulf Veteran’s Association, whose meetings usually center on a  single issue - DU! DU-Genocide forever         Meanwhile in the US, a lawsuit filed on behalf of 100,000 Gulf War 1 veterans, sent shock waves down the Bush administration, 11 corporate establishments and 33 banks who allegedly helped Saddam Hussein amass Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the eighties, despite open knowledge that he used these same weapons against the Iranians and the Kurdish minority in Iraq. The lawyer for the plaintiff quoted by Associated Press (AP) said "These companies have to be held accountable or they'll do this same thing in the future with some other tyrant." It is estimated that up to half the 697,000 Gulf War 1 veterans are demonstrating signs of “Gulf Syndrome”.  As in the UK, the Department of Defense (DoD) in the US has been in the center of a raging storm for mishandling health issues of Gulf War 1 veterans, often resorting to bureaucratic technicalities to withhold treatment and compensation. This lawsuit is just an expression of this growing resentment.  According to the Guardian, at least 100 Coalition troops from the USUK attack on Iraq are demonstrating mystery pneumonia-like symptoms. It is a matter of speculation how many more have died due to such ailments, particularly when only half the reported US casualties (over 145) suffered since May 1st 2003 is officially categorized as being killed in action. Families of troops are demanding immediate answers. Take the case of Josh Neusche, a former track star from Missouri, now serving in Iraq. He wrote home that he was chosen to do some secret hauling mission on June 26th. Five days later, Josh was in coma with the military authorities medically retiring him, depriving him of any salary entitlements or health compensation. By July 12th, Josh died unsung. Another case is Zeferino E. Colungo, a 20-year-old from Texas. Colungo died after battling an unexplained pneumonia-like illness. His family wrote angrily to Ronald Rumsfeld “"We deserve to know why a healthy young man who was supposedly screened and determined fit for deployment would suddenly die. It is our right to receive honest answers."   Era of Mini-Nuke Wars  Dr. Leuren Moret takes great pride to flaunt his credentials as a whistleblower on the nuclear establishment. Moret who previously worked with the Lawrence Berkeley Lab considers it significant that soon after the 2003 USUK attack the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that cancer incidences would increase by 50% by 2020. This comes as no surprise to Moret since huge amounts of DU had been used in Iraq – “Radiation has no borders, respects no races or socio-economic classes…it’s going to get all of us”. Moret should know best. Her specialty study is atmospheric dust and their capability to free float from one part of the world to another. Moret quotes official US military memos, which describe the need to develop weaponry that uses radioactive materials, including DU to be deployed in the battlefield. These memos include evidence of long-term test results on human beings, plants and animals. According to Moret, once these materials are grinded to 0.1µ [1/10 of micron], these (alpha) particles are smaller than bacteria and behave almost as a gas – diffusing in the lungs and bloodstream. Their size makes it difficult to protect victims even if gas masks are used – at least 70% of these alpha particles will penetrate the state-of-art HEPA filters distributed to coalition troops in Gulf War II. She describes what happens when these particles enter the bloodstream: “After uranium metal burns...and depleted uranium is pyrophoric-burns when it heats to 170° C. So, as soon as they shoot them, and the surface of the weapon heats up to 170° C, it starts burning. And you can see them. They look like tracers going through the air on the battlefield. 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. And we know-I work with 8 independent scientists-we've measured depleted uranium, which after it burns, is very very insoluble. It forms oxides that will almost not dissolve. And because they will not dissolve, they will not dissolve and body fluids. And so, the body cannot excrete them through the kidneys in the urine. These particles are like fairy dust. They go everywhere that is red blood cell or a white blood cell will go. And they stay in the body-millions and billions of them. These alpha particles tear through the cell. They tear through the membrane, which damages the immune system. They tear through the mitochondria, which is your energy system. They tear through the DNA, causing mutations.”  99.8% of DU is constituted by Uranium 238, whose half-life is 4.5 billon years – equivalent to those estimated as the age of earth. As DU decays, it gradually assumes a ten-fold increase in radioactivity by the end of a million years, when it reaches a state of equilibrium. Accordingly, the bombed sites will not decrease but increase in radioactive potency over time. In short, DU facilitates weaponry that continues in its lethalness even after the war is over. The people of Iraq may bear much of the brunt of its lethality. However, the impact of DU through atmospheric free-floats can reach any corner of the world. More over, the signature effect of its lethality is that it can kill most inhumanely and indiscriminately. It is for these reasons why peace activists all over the world has cried for its unequivocal ban and for prosecution of Bush, Blair and Howard for crimes against humanity for using such weaponry. Since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Gulf War 1 saw the first break of war convention of not using nuclear weapons. After that followed the Balkans, Afghanistan and Gulf War II. It is estimated that the US used 340 or more tons of DU during Gulf War 1, under 100 tons in Bosnia and Kosovo and over 1000 tons in Afghanistan. Estimates of DU used for Gulf War II are over 5000 tons. Moret considers these mini-nukes as similar to the fourth generation nuclear weapons being currently developed by the US. These weaponry needed to be used so that the effects of DU on health and environment can be studied.  The Idaho Statesman reported that soon after September 11th the U.S. announced it would stockpile tactical nuclear weapons, including small neutron bombs, nuclear mines and shells suited to conduct warfare. Commenting on the bunker buster bombs, George Smith writes in the Village Voice, "Built ram tough, with a heavy metal casing for smashing through the earth and concrete, the B61-11 explodes with a force of an estimated 340,000 tons of TNT. It is lots of bang for the buck, literally two apocalypse bombs in one-a boosted plutonium firecracker, call the primary, and a heavy hydrogen secondary for the good old fashioned H-bomb fireball."  If any more corroboration is needed, the Uranium Medical Research Center reports that urine samples of Afghanis show the highest level of uranium in the world. Afghanis are reported to be dying, demonstrating similar symptoms as the Gulf Syndrome. Dead birds, still perched in trees, are found partially melted, with blood oozing from their mouths. Such scenario is now repeated in Iraq, albeit on a wider scale. As in Afghanistan, the genetic future of Iraqis is destroyed. What if some of their ire was expressed through retaliatory bombings of the Jordanian Embassy, UN Office or the Najaf Mosque? Surely, all these acts of “terrorism” simply pale into insignificance the most heinous crime committed against the Iraqi nation. A Japanese journalist wrote about the fallout of DU in a book entitled Discounted Casualities. In it are tragic cases of such as Gulf War 1 veterans returning home only to find that intercourse with their wives leave their vaginal areas burning and without sensation and their semen contaminated with DU. In a study conducted of 251 Gulf War 1 veterans who prior to Iraq had normal children, 67% of their children born after their return were found physical, psychologically and/or mentally abnormal. The Veterans Administration – a unit of the US military conducted this study. Despite the existence of such studies, the causal linkages of DU to Gulf Syndrome are still officially denied. Many among the coalition forces now serving in Iraq are simply not aware of the plight of Gulf War 1 veterans. Some, who knew, took the precaution of depositing their sperm with a sperm bank before departing to Iraq.    Beating US Pressure to Send Troops  Four months after Bush Jnr. declared cessation of hostilities, it is apparent that USUK forces are trapped in a quagmire in Iraq, increasingly being described as a Mecca for terrorists. Iraq has proved ungovernable by the occupiers, with rampant crime, making security a nightmare for occupying forces. The Guardian last month brought out an article entitled "'Bring us home': GIs flood US with war-weary emails." The article quoted a soldier named Kindblade – “‘the rules of engagement are crippling. We are outnumbered. We are exhausted. We are in over our heads. The President says, "Bring 'em on." The generals say we don't need more troops. Well, they're not over here'." Their desperation gets even more pathetic as many troops in Iraq are now learning that their wives and girl friends are planning to leave them on the fear that they will come home, (assuming they survive their posting), significantly disabled due to DU overexposure and consequently jobless. Costs of the occupation of Iraq are cascading with the coalition forces unable to pump out Iraqi oil into the global markets to generate revenue to offset the costs of occupation and reconstruction. Reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts have themselves come to a halt with aid agency and contracting personnel taking to their heels. Recent opinion polls indicate that only one of out five British trust Tony Blair. Approval ratings of Bush have plunged with the latest Zogby poll suggesting that he trails a generic democrat presidential challenger 45-48%.  With realization of defeat, the US now proposes to introduce a new UN resolution to permit countries that opposed the war like India, Pakistan, Germany, France, Russia and China to join a multi-national force led by the US. India is expected to contribute a force as large as 18,000 troops and as such viewed as a jewel in their eyes. We can never tell what turn diplomacy can take. It is possible that India’s ruling NDA coalition may succumb to US pressures, and using such a new UN resolution as a fig leaf, condemn more troops to a fate worse than death by serving in Iraq.  If this is to be avoided than a concerted campaign has to be initiated now. Articles on this subject need to be circulated as widely as possible so that a media debate is enabled. We need to ensure that this information reaches our forces and their immediate families and those retired members of our armed forces, particularly those represented in parliament. If at all the sacrifice of our people is unavoidable, let us ensure that the fate of USUK DU victims do not befall our troops and that USUK are held responsible for compensating them and their heirs for any symptoms resembling the Gulf Syndrome.  If we fail even in this attempt, can it be ensured that all troops to be posted in Iraq be at least permitted to deposit their sperm in a sperm bank to protect their genetic inheritance and the right to normal procreation? We can always dump our political leaders, but this is the very least we owe our troops, who for no fault of their own, could end up being reduced to cannon fodder just to ensure that Bush Jnr. is at last elected legally and the Bush cartel profits from its oil/arms business!  http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Leuren-Moret21apr03.htm

Contact info:
Leuren Moret
President, Scientists for Indigenous People
City of Berkeley Environmental Commissioner
Past President, Association for Women Geoscientists
2233 Grant Street Apt. 1
Berkeley, CA 94703
Phone/FAX (510) 845-3139
leurenmoret@yahoo.com

Left to right: Staff Sergeant Dennis Kyne, Leuren Moret,
and Major Douglas Rokke in Los Altos CA 21apr03