Du Gulf W Syn

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Evidence Mounts that Gulf War Syndrome is Related to the Use of Depleted Uranium Shells by NATO January 7,2000 According to The Sunday Hearald, a Glasgow, Scotland newspaper, Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's Depleted Uranium Project and a former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University, claims that the U.S. and U.K. have concealed the hazards of depleted uranium used in explosives in the Gulf War and the War Against the Serbian People. Rokke says that he briefed US officials and military personnel as early as 1991 that inhalation or ingestion of particles from shells could lead to cancer, mental illness and birth defects. Rokke, who is himself suffering from reactive airway disease, neurological damage and kidney problems, stated that U.S. and British statements that the consequences of depleted uranium were unknown is a lie, and that the U.S. and Britain were thoroughly apprised of the dangers. Rokke was assigned the task of cleaning up depleted uranium in Saudia Arabia and Kuwait after the Gulf War. In Saudi Arabia, they buried vehicles and contaminated body parts and shipped other equipment back to a nuclear decontamination facility in the U.S. Out of the 50-person team, at least 10 persons died, and the only man in the team not to fall ill wore full radioactive protective clothing. The Herald quoted Rokke as saying that DU is the stuff of nightmares, and that it is toxic, radioactive and pollutes for 4500 million years. It causes lymphoma , neuro-psychotic disorders and short-term memory damage. In semen, it causes birth defects and trashes the immune system. There is already intense concern in Europe over the exposure of NATO personnel to DU particles. According to the New York Times, symptoms resembling Gulf War Syndrome first were noticed in Belgium, where nine Balkan veterans have fallen ill with cancer, five having since died. Other veterans have contracted leukemia in the Netherlands, Spain

and France. In Italy, 30 veterans contracted serious illnesses, 12 of whom developed cancer. Six of the cancer patients have already died of leukemia. The Jackson Progressive first picked up the story in January, 2000 from an article in the Independent (UK) by Robert Fisk which reported that the hospitals in Basra, Iraq, were experiencing a virtual epidemic in cancers occurring among residents of areas where U.S. Forces used depleted uranium ordinance during the Gulf War. This would not be the first time our leaders have denied hazards associated with our nuclear weapons program. The writer can remember as a child that south Mississippi had the highest rate of radioactive fallout from the Nevada atomic tests of any place in the country, although Mississippians were assured that the amounts were so small as to be harmless. Thirty years later, researchers determined that southern Mississippi showed extraordinary increases in illnesses related to radioactive fallout, including cancers among the residents. We know that military personnel were deliberately exposed to radiation and fallout at the Nevada test site. We also know that government personnel at the Hanford nuclear facility in Washington State deliberately released radioactive materials into the atmosphere to test the effect upon the local population. This kind of behaviour is criminal, irrespective of the national security needs of the U.S. during the cold war. Nothing justifies dumping dangerous radioactive materials into the atmosphere to test their impact on unsuspecting and non-consenting civilians or military personnel. Not only do we need more information made public about the hazards to the population created by our military and security apparatus, but we need a ruthlessly honest study on how unlimited power can destroy the ethical and moral faculties of persons in whom we place a great deal of trust and in whom we vest a great deal of responsibility. Copyright 2001 by Thomas Lowe. Reproduction for non-commercial purposes is hereby authorized as long as credit is given and this notice is preserved. This article appeared in The Jackson Progressive, http://www.jacksonprogressive.com.