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Gulf
War Continues By
Arnoldo García
In 1991, only 148 U.S. soldiers were killed during the war against Iraq, but weeks later unexpected casualties appeared. Dozens and then hundreds of Gulf War veterans started getting sick and soon were dying from leukemia and other cancers. The Iraqi civilian population also experienced skyrocketing cancer rates, particularly in areas that witnessed heavy military action. The National Gulf War Resource Center reports that the bombs enriched with depleted uranium (DU) are the likely culprit, although there was exposure to a variety of biological and chemical weapons. U.S.-led ground forces fired some 10,000 rounds of advanced DU armor-piercing shells against Iraqi tanks and soldiers, while aircraft launched another 50,000 DU rockets and missiles. DU increases explosive power, while spewing deadly radiation into the air and ground. More than 300 metric tons of radioactive uranium now litters wide areas of southern Iraq and Kuwait. “DU is the stuff of nightmares,” says Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon’s Depleted Uranium Project. “It is toxic, radioactive and pollutes for 4,500 million years.” After the Gulf War ended, Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the London Independent, reported that epidemics of leukemia and stomach cancer were killing thousands of Iraqi civilians. Cancers and birth defects, especially in southern Iraq, increased by 300 percent. STILL SUFFERING According to Dr. Karol Sikora of the World Health Organization’s Cancer Program, “Iraq is one of the few countries where stomach cancer is increasing. Breast cancer is rising inexorably.” Economic sanctions imposed after the war have devastated the Iraqi health system and exacerbated the effects of depleted uranium on the Iraqi population, she notes. Among U.S. Gulf War veterans, nearly 8,000 Desert Storm vets have died and nearly 200,000 (28 percent) have filed claims for medical and compensation benefits. Thousands of veterans suffer memory loss, dizziness, blurred vision, speech difficulties, nerve disorders, chronic skin disorders and muscle weakness—attributed to DU exposure. There is a high rate of birth defects among their children. “We’re now 11-plus years after the last Gulf War,” says Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resources Center. “I get calls every day from veterans who can’t work anymore because they’re so ill, their families are falling apart, they’re losing their homes and they can’t get access to the VA. Is that what we want with this next generation?” Arnoldo García is a War Times editor. Rania Masri, Ph.D., contributed to this article. She is an environmental scientist and director of the Southern Peace Research and Education Center. |
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