Radioactive Wounds of War

[hiley]

Radioactive Wounds of War
Tests on returning troops suggest serious health consequences of depleted uranium use in Iraq
August 25, 2005

By Dave Lindorff

Gerard Matthew and his daughter Victoria Claudette Matthew

Gerard Matthew thought he was lucky. He returned from his Iraq tour a year and a half ago alive and in one piece. But after the New York State National Guardsman got home, he learned that a bunkmate, Sgt. Ray Ramos, and a group of N.Y. Guard members from another unit had accepted an offer by the New York Daily News and reporter Juan Gonzalez to be tested for depleted uranium (DU) contamination, and had tested positive.

Matthew, 31, decided that since he’d spent much of his time in Iraq lugging around DU-damaged equipment, he’d better get tested too. It turned out he was the most contaminated of them all.

Matthew immediately urged his wife to get an ultrasound check of their unborn baby. They discovered the fetus had a condition common to those with radioactive exposure: atypical syndactyly. The right hand had only two digits.

So far Victoria Claudette, now 13 months old, shows no other genetic disorders and is healthy, but Matthew feels guilty for causing her deformity and angry at a government that never warned him about DU’s dangers.

U.S. forces first used DU in the 1991 Gulf War, when some 300 tons of depleted uranium—the waste product of nuclear power plants and weapons facilities—were used in tank shells and shells fired by A-10 jets. A lesser amount was deployed by U.S. and NATO forces during the Balkans conflict. But in the current wars in Afghanistan and, especially, Iraq, DU has become the weapon of choice, with more than 1,000 tons used in Afghanistan and more than 3,000 tons used in Iraq. And while DU was fired mostly in the desert during the Gulf War, in the current war in Iraq, most of DU munitions are exploding in populated urban areas.
The Pentagon has expanded DU beyond tank and A-10 shells, for use in bunker-busting bombs, which can spew out more than half a ton of DU in one explosion, in anti-personnel bomblets, and even in M-16 and pistol shells. The military loves DU for its unique penetration capability—it cuts through steel or concrete like they’re butter.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2298/

[ThreeCatNight]

1. Mother of God....

what has my country become?

[whatever4]

5. You dont want to know

I sorta wish I didn't. End of days, so quiet, faling dust.

This was shocking to me when I first started reading about it, and for all the folks (not here) that thought I was a bit too worried, all I can think is, but...how do you know that? You just don't know; you can't know, NO one knows. All we have is the fed/military spin, and even THEY have had to provide warnings to the troops, on how to deal with exploded ordinance. So how safe can it be, internal radiation. They just don't know, no studies, no one is talking about it AT ALL. I feel like chicken little. All over again.

[whatever4]

2. I posted that too

Just to share, I stared a thread on that one too. I ranted a lot about it, but there were intelligent posts too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4463950

[hiley]

4. I wish that I had seen your post earlier.

going to read now, thanks.
hiley

[hiley]

3. From readers comments at the site..

‘“When we asked to be tested at Ft. Dix, they wrongly told us we didn’t have to worry unless we had DU fragments in our body,” says Matthew. His buddy, Sgt. Ramos, who exhibits symptoms resembling radiation sickness and heavy metal poisoning, adds that at Walter Reed Medical Center he was grilled for hours about why he wanted to be tested and was then branded a troublemaker by his own unit. Matthew says Walter Reed “lost” his sample.’

Nothing like supporting our troops, is there? If this constitutes support, they’d be better off with the protestors.

Posted by Kuya on August 25, 2005 at 9:10 AM

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2298/