Has a generation in Afghanistan been poisoned by America's use of depleted uranium in bombs? See the evidence for yourself, here and here. Be warned: These are the most disturbing photographs you will ever see.
Between 800 and 1200 metric tons of uranium munitions were used in this country. Since medical facilities are so primitive, we cannot know the percentage of pregnancies affected by DU. But: "In the month of May 2005, in one maternity ward in Kabul, 150 babies were born deformed."
Here's another disturbing fact: The people who justify the use of DU shells tend to be the same type of folk who argue that abortion is murder.
6 comments:
I sure would like to see some evidence, but Rense and this inflamatory stuff is not evidence. That DU munitions are harmful and an abomination is something that I believe deserves serious consideration, however mixing it in with unbelievable and clear propaganda about US soldiers kidnapping and raping whole villages for sport tends to diminish the importance of the DU issue. I wish some journalist would actually report on DU so that we wouldn't have to look at this kind of garbage.
I hesitated linking to the Rense site. I should have advised readers to look at the photos and ignore the text. I probably should have searched the net for another page with those photographs, but frankly, I haven't the stomach for the task. For what seems to be better information -- accompanied, alas, by more disturbing images -- go to the Afghan DU & Recovery site, to which I also linked.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/236934p-203326c.html
Here is a link to an article from the New York Daily News about a vet who came back from Iraq and fathered a child with a similar, but milder form of a similar birth defect (no fingers on one hand).
Originally published on September 29, 2004
In early September 2003, Army National Guard Spec. Gerard Darren Matthew was sent home from Iraq, stricken by a sudden illness.
One side of Matthew's face would swell up each morning. He had constant migraine headaches, blurred vision, blackouts and a burning sensation whenever he urinated.
The Army transferred him to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for further tests, but doctors there could not explain what was wrong.
Shortly after his return, his wife, Janice, became pregnant. On June 29, she gave birth to a baby girl, Victoria Claudette.
The baby was missing three fingers and most of her right hand.
Matthew and his wife believe Victoria's shocking deformity has something to do with her father's illness and the war - especially since there is no history of birth defects in either of their families.
They have seen photos of Iraqi babies born with deformities that are eerily similar.
In June, Matthew contacted the Daily News and asked us to arrange independent laboratory screening for his urine. This was after The News had reported that four of seven soldiers from another National Guard unit, the 442nd Military Police, had tested positive for depleted uranium (DU).
The independent test of Matthew's urine found him positive for DU - low-level radioactive waste produced in nuclear plants during the enrichment of natural uranium.
Because it is twice as heavy as lead, DU has been used by the Pentagon since the Persian Gulf War in certain types of "tank-buster" shells, as well as for armor-plating in Abrams tanks.
Exposure to radioactivity has been associated in some studies with birth defects in the children of exposed parents.
"My husband went to Iraq to fight for his country," Janice Matthew said. "I feel the Army should take responsibility for what's happened."
The couple first learned of the baby's missing fingers during a routine sonogram of the fetus last April at Lenox Hill Hospital.
John, trust me on this -- I know better than you EVER will how difficult it is to put together a truly convincing piece of photoshopping, one that would display no "tells" when scrutinized by expert eyes.
I also know how much I would charge to do a job like that.
So who's going to lay out that kind of money for this purpose?
From what I understand, DU wreaks havoc by altering the exposed person's DNA, creating the potential for infinite deformities (mutations) in his or her offspring. Now imagine that BOTH parents are thoroughly contaminated. There is so much DU in Afghanistan it must be sort of like household dust, permeating the soil and other aspects of the Afghanis' daily habitat.
Appalling as they are, these photos appear genuine to me - and heartbreaking. After all, it would take a certain twisted genius to come up with all the horrible variations on the human-newborn theme. And I thank you, Joseph, for giving us a heads up on this crime against nature.
considering that most of us have never witnessed a war first-hand, along with the government's tight hold on the media, it is highly likely that things 'over there' are far worse than any one of us could conjure up with a slick photoshop job.
DU is serious stuff.
get your head out of the sand.
there's just no way around this reality....
war crimes.
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