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Sunday, April 3rd, 2016

Irradiated Iraq The Nuclear Nightmare We Left Behind

Author:     Barbara Koeppel
Source:     The Washington Spectator
Publication Date:     March 30, 2016
Link: Irradiated Iraq The Nuclear Nightmare We Left Behind
Stephan:   This is the first time I have seen this issue about non-bomb nuclear pollution in war zones  raised in the media. I know about it because I have a friend here on the island who volunteered to work in Afghanistan to help women, in the course of which she was exposed to radioactive dust as a result of the American use of depleted uranium rounds. It so screwed up her endocrine system that she gained 150 pounds and 10 years later has chronic and systemic health issues that will probably never be resolved. And of course, as this report points out, let's not forget all the service personnel now suffering from various toxic poisons, including radioactivity, resulting from their being assigned to the "burn pits" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then there are the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children living in those countries who are also afflicted with various illnesses arising from these practices.
Radioactive ruins Credit: Shutterstock

Radioactive ruins
Credit: Shutterstock

When the United States revealed in January that it is testing a more nimble, more precise version of its B61 atom bomb, some were immediately alarmed. General James Cartwright, a former strategist for President Obama, warned that “going smaller” could make nuclear weapons “more thinkable” and “more usable.”

However, what is little known is that for the past 25 years, the Unites States and its allies have routinely used radioactive weapons in battle, in the form of warheads and explosives made with depleted, undepleted, or slightly enriched uranium. While the Department of Defense (DOD) calls these weapons “conventional” (non-nuclear), they are radioactive and chemically toxic. In Iraq, where the United States and its partners waged two wars, toxic waste covers the country and poisons the people. U.S. veterans are also sick and dying.

Scott Ritter, a former Marine Corps officer in Iraq and United Nations weapons inspector, told me, “The irony is we invaded Iraq in 2003 to destroy its non-existent WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. To do it, we […]

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1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Sunday, April 3, 2016 at 9:34 am

    The U.S.A. is worse than the Nazi’s, if we leave a country with generations of people to suffer, as well as leaving the soil so contaminated that they will never be able to plant in that soil again. These are real war crimes and a lot of people should be put in jail starting with the manufacturers, as well as those who use these extremely deadly weapons of mass destruction, as well as the Congressmen and women and Presidents who allowed it to happen. They should all be put in jail for the rest of their lives. It is despicable. I am abhorred by this whole situation.