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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.