[Fwd: [Fwd: LOW INTENSITY NUCLEAR WAR, PART TWO]]

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Low Intensity Nuclear War, Part II

DOUBLE STANDARDS

If radioactivity were confined to so-called "very limited spots", why then 
have KFOR troops been instructed by their governments "not to eat local 
produce… have drinking water flown in …and that clothes must be destroyed 
on 
departure and vehicles decontaminated."23 According to Paul Sullivan, 
executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, depleted uranium 
in Yugoslavia could affect "agricultural areas, places where livestock graze 
and where crops are grown, thereby introducing the specter of possible 
contamination of the food chain." (In November 2000, Gulf War veterans 
affected by DU launched a class action law-suit against the US government). 

CONTAMINATION OVER A LARGE GEOGRAPHICAL AREA

According to NATO sources (communicated to UNEP), some 112 sites in 
Yugoslavia (of which 72 are in Kosovo) were targeted during the war with 
depleted uranium antitank shells. Between 30,000 and 50,000 DU shells were 
fired.

Scientific evidence amply confirms that the DU radioactive aerosol spreads 
from "the point of release" over a large geographical area suggesting that 
large parts of the province of Kosovo are contaminated. "[R]adioactive 
derivatives can linger in the air for months… Just one particle in the lungs 
is enough… a single particle could travel to the lymph nodes, where the 
radioactivity would lower the body's defenses against lymphomas and 
leukemia.'' 24 

According to world renowned radiologist Dr. Rosalie Bertell: 

"When used in war, the depleted uranium (DU) bursts into flame [and] 
releasing a deadly radioactive aerosol of uranium, unlike anything seen 
before. It can kill everyone in a tank. This ceramic aerosol is much lighter 
than uranium dust. It can travel in air tens of kilometres from the point of 
release, or be stirred up in dust and re-suspended in air with wind or human 
movement. It is very small and can be breathed in by anyone: a baby, pregnant 
woman, the elderly, the sick. This radioactive ceramic can stay deep in the 
lungs for years, irradiating the tissue with powerful alpha particles within 
about a 30 micron sphere, causing emphysema and/or fibrosis. The ceramic can 
also be swallowed and do damage to the gastrointestinal tract. In time, it 
penetrates the lung tissue and enters into the blood stream. ...It can also 
initiate cancer or promote cancers which have been initiated by other 
carcinogens". 25 

Although concentrated on Kosovo's South-western border, the DU contamination 
sites are scattered throughout the province. (See NATO map at 
http://balkans.unep.ch/du/targetmap.html ) Most of Kosovo's villages and 
cities including Pristina, Prizren and Pec lie within less than 20 km. of the 
72 DU target sites confirming that the entire province is contaminated. 

NATO WAR CRIMES

The bombing of Yugoslavia is best described as a "low intensity nuclear war" 
using toxic radioactive shells and missiles. Amply documented, the 
radioactive fall-out potentially puts millions of people at risk throughout 
the Balkans. 

In March 1999, NATO launched the air raids invoking broad humanitarian 
principles and ideals. NATO had "come to the rescue" of ethnic Albanian 
Kosovars on the grounds they were being massacred by Serb forces. Subsequent 
forensic reports by the FBI and Europol confirm that the massacres did not 
occur. In a cruel irony, Albanian Kosovar civilians are among the main 
victims of DU radiation. 

To maintain the cover-up, NATO is now prepared to reveal a small fraction of 
the truth. The military Alliance -- in liaison with NATO member governments 
-- wants at all cost to focus attention on the danger to "peacekeepers" and 
keep local civilians out of the picture, because if the entire truth gets 
out, people might start asking questions such as "how is it that the Kosovar 
Albanians, the people we were supposed to rescue are now the victims?" In 
both Bosnia and Kosovo, the UN has been careful not to record cancer cases 
among civilians. The narrow focus on "peacekeepers" is part of the cover-up. 
It distracts public opinion from the broader issue of civilian victims. 

The primary victims of DU weapons are children, making their use a "war crime 
against children." 

"In 1996 this issue was brought before the Human Rights Tribunal in Geneva 
and the Tribunal condemned it as warfare. They actually called Depleted 
Uranium a weapon of mass destruction. I think it might be better called a 
weapon of indiscriminate destruction but they didn't really have a term for 
it. I say indiscriminate because it will by choice affect women and children. 

Women have tissues that are more radioactively sensitive like the breast and 
uterine tissue. Children are closer to the ground; they're growing; they'll 
incorporate more uranium into their bones when they grow and they also have a 
longer life span so that the cancers that have a longer latency can be 
expressed. So it selects out women and children." (Dr. Rosalie Bertell, 
Speech at University of Toronto Antiwar Conference, 8 May 1999 
http://www.peace.ca/depleteduranium.htm .

The use of depleted uranium munitions is only one among several NATO crimes 
against humanity committed in Iraq and the Balkans.

According to official records, some 1800 Balkans peacekeepers (Bosnia, 
Croatia and Kosovo) suffer from health ailments related to DU radiation.26. 
Assuming the same level of risk (as a percentage of population), the numbers 
of civilians throughout former Yugoslavia affected by DU radiation would be 
in the tens of thousands. British scientist Roger Coghill suggests, in this 
regard, that "throughout the Balkan region, there will be an extra 10,150 
deaths from cancer because of the use of DU. That will include local people, 
K-FOR personnel, aid workers, everyone."27 Moreover, according to a report 
published in Athens during the War, the impacts of depleted uranium are 
likely to extend beyond the Balkans. Albania, and Macedonia but also Greece, 
Italy, Austria and Hungary face a potential threat to human health as a 
result of the use of radioactive depleted uranium shells during the 1999 War. 

While no overall data on civilian deaths have been recorded, partial evidence 
confirms that a large numbers of civilians have already died as result of DU 
radiation since the war in Bosnia: 

"DU radiation and an apparent use of defoliants by US/NATO troops against 
Serbian land and population [in Bosnia], have caused many birth defects among 
babies born after the US/NATO bombing and occupation; the magnitude of this 
problem has stunned Serbian medical experts and panicked the population." 28 

A recent account points to several hundred deaths of civilians solely in one 
Bosnian village: 

"The village is empty, the cemetery full. Soon there will be no more room

for the dead. Among refugee families who moved to Bratunac from Hadzici [in 
the outskirts of Sarajevo] there is a hardly a household not cloaked in 
mourning…On them are fresh wreaths, some with flowers that have not yet 
wilted. On the crosses the years of death 1998, 1999, 2000 and the grave of a 
20 year-old woman at the end of the rows. She died a few days ago…

No one could even imagine that in only one or two years the part of the

cemetery set aside for civilians would be doubly full… It happens often that 
one of the natives of Hadzici will suddenly die. Or they will go to see the 
doctor in Belgrade and when they come back their relatives will tell us that 
they are dying of cancer… [C]hief doctor Slavica Jovanovic…conducted an 
investigation and proved that in 1998 the mortality rate far exceeded the 
birth rate. She showed that it wasn't just a question of fate but something 
far more serious… 'Zoran Stankovic, the renowned pathologist from the 
Military Medical Academy (VMA) determined that over 200 of his patients from 
this area died of cancer, most probably due to the effects of depleted 
uranium in dropped NATO bombs five years ago. But someone quickly silenced 
the public and everything was hushed up. 'You see, our cemetery is full of 
fresh graves while the people from Vinca [Nuclear Institute] claim that 
uranium isn't dangerous. What other kind of evidence do you need if people 
are dying?…' The refugees from Hadzici arrived in Bratunac in a sizeable 
number. There were almost 5,000 of them. There were 1,000 just in the 
collective centers. Now, says Zelenovic, 'there are about 600 of them left. 
And they certainly had nowhere else to go' … Someone dies of cancer every 
third day; there is no more room in the cemeteries" 29 

* * *

To see the NATO "Map Of Sites As Being Targeted By Ordnance Containing 
Depleted Uranium during the 1999 Kosovo Conflict" go to 
http://balkans.unep.ch/du/targetmap.html 

Following is a link to photographs of Iraqi children affected by DU 
radiation. * Please be forewarned that these photographs are horrifying 
beyond belief. That is why we have not actually posted them on Emperor's 
Clothes. *
http://www.web-light.nl/VISIE/extremedeformities.html . 

If you are unable to access the above Website, go first to 
http://www.web-light.nl/ and follow the link to "Depleted Uranium" and then 
to "Extreme Deformities in Iraqi Children". Some of the photographs are by 
renowned scientist and expert on DU radiation Dr. Siegfried Horst Guenther. 

* * * 

ENDNOTES

1 The Independent, London, 4 January 2001.

2 See Felicity Arbuthnot, "It Turns out that Depleted Uranium is Bad for 
NATO" Troops, Emperors Clothes, 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/arbuth/port.htm. 

11 October 2000. See also interview with F. Arbuthnot. 

3 In all, some 17 countries including Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and South 
Korea are known to have DU weapons in their arsenal. See Vladimir Zajic, 
Review of Radioactivity, Military Use, and Health Effects of Depleted 
Uranium, 1999 at http://vzajic.tripod.com/. See John Catalinotto and Sara 
Flounders, Is the Israeli Military using Depleted Uranium Weapons against the 
Palestinians? International Action Center, http://www.iacenter.org/, New 
York, 2000 

4 Agence France Presse, 4 January 20001.

5 United Press International, 5 January 2001.

6 See Felicity Arbuthnot, op cit. 

7 Piot Bein, "More on Depleted Uranium", Emperors Clothes at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/arbuth/port.htm .11 October 2000. 

8 According to Dr. Siegfried Horst Guenther, "Uran Geschosse: 
Schwergeschädigte Soldaten, missgebildete Neugeborene, sterbende Kinder, 
Ahriman Verlag, http://www.ahriman.com/guenther.htm , Freiburg, 2000. See 
also International Action Center, "Metal of Dishonor, How the Pentagon 
Radiates Soldiers and Civilians with DU Weapons", Second Edition, 
International Action Center, http://www.iacenter.org/, New York, 2000.

9 Beta News Agency, Belgrade, 13.50 GMT, 10 Jan 2001, in BBC Summary of World 
Broadcasts, 12 January 2001.

10 Ibid.

11 See Rick McDowell, "Economic Sanctions on Iraq", Z Magazine, November 
1997. 

12. Carlo Pona, "The Criminal Use of Depleted Uranium", International 
Tribunal for U.S./NATO War Crimes in Yugoslavia, International Action Center, 
http://www.iacenter.org/, New York, June 10, 2000. See also "Metal of 
Dishonor", op. cit. 

13 See UNEP/UNCHS Balkans Task Force Final Report "The Kosovo Conflict 
-Consequences for the Environment & Human Settlements" at 
http://balkans.unep.ch/fry/fry.html ; see the "desk study" on "The Potential 
Effects on Human Health and the Environment of the Possible Use of Depleted 
Uranium (DU)" at http://balkans.unep.ch/du/du.html ; see also "UN considers 
New Data on Depleted Uranium in Kosovo", UNEP, Geneva, 20 September 2000. 

14 See Michel Chossudovsky, NATO Willfully Triggered an Environmental 
Disaster, at www.emperors-clothes.com. 

15 See the 1999 UNEP "desk study", op. cit. 

16 According to a toxicologist at the International Agency for Research on 
Cancer which is a division of the WHO, Associated Press, January 5 2001.

17 According to WHO specialist, quoted in the Boston Globe, January 10, 2001.

18 Boston Globe, June 27 2000, statement of Mark Parkin, an expert with the 
International Agency for Research on Cancer. 

19 See UNEP Press Release at http://balkans.unep.ch/du/missions.html .

20 See AC Laboratorium Spiez (ACLS) Website at 
http://www.vbs.admin.ch/internet/gr/acls/e/index.htm ).

21 Ibid 

22 See UNEP Press Release at http://balkans.unep.ch/du/missions.html see also 
UNEP, "Advisory Note on Current work on DU by UNEP" at. 
http://balkans.unep.ch/press/press010111.html . 

23. Arbuthnot, op cit.

24 According to British radiologist Roger William Coghill, quoted in 
Associated Press, 5 January 2000.

25 Rosalie Bertell, Email Communication, May 1999. 

26 RTBF, Belgian French Language Television, 9 January 2001

27 Calgary Herald, 4 January 2001.

28 Tika Jankovich, "Chemical/Nuclear Warfare in Bosnia: Eyewitness To Hell"

Comments by Jared Israel, Emperors Clothes at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/tika/hell.html ., 9 January 2001. 

29 Dubravka Vujanovic "Someone Dies of Cancer every Third Day; There is no 
More Room in the Cemeteries" , Nedelni Telegraf, Belgrade, 10 January 2001. 
On the same subject see Robert Fisk, "I see 300 Graves that could bear the 
Headstone: 'Died of Depleted Uranium', The Independent, London, 13 January 
2001 

C Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa, January 2001. All rights 
reserved. Permission is granted to post this text on non-commercial community 
internet sites, provided the essay remains intact and the copyright note is 
displayed. To publish this text on commercial internet sites, in printed 
and/or other forms (including excerpts) contact the author at 
chossudovsky@videotron.ca, fax: 1-514-4256224, voice box: 1-613-5625800, ext. 
1415. 

Further reading on NATO's use of weapons of terror: 

In 'NATO Willfully Triggered Environmental Catastrophe In Pancevo, 
Yugoslavia' at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/willful.htm Prof. 
Michel Chossudovsky proves that NATO deliberately caused a catastrophic 
environmental disaster when it bombed chemical and petroleum facilities in 
Pancevo, Yugoslavia, during the 1999 air war. 
For other articles by Prof. Chossudovsky, please go the 
http://emperors-clothes.com/artbyauth.html#C

The distinguished journalist Felicity Arbuthnot has written tirelessly about 
the effects of Depleted Uranium on human beings in Iraq and Yugoslavia. The 
following articles are posted on Emperor's Clothes: 
* ''It Turns Out Depleted Uranium Is Bad For NATO Troops In Kosovo [What 
About Everyone Else?]'' at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/arbuth/port.htm 

* ''Allies 'told in 1991 of uranium cancer risks''' at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/told.htm 

* 'Allies Deliberately Poisoned Iraq Public Water Supply in Gulf War' at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/allies.htm 

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