The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for March 2010

[Tony Nuspl]

Truth in Recruiting - "Don't Believe the Hype!"
March 2010

Lead Story from the past month's news: streaming audio from antiwar radio
You can't hear them scream from here. You don't smell the burning bodies.
--rare coverage of "people on the ground" caught in a war zone
--human interest story on innocent civilians suffering in the Middle East from U.S. bombing
runs

quote:
"A single bombing causes such horrific suffering.  If the mainstream media would cover just one of these stories, I think the American public would respond.  We're
not a bunch of bloody butchers!"
~Cole Miller, Founding Director of No More Victims

related news:
U.S. Military Values Dead Children's Lives in Afghanistan to Be Worth Only $1500: Pays Out Accordingly

related news:
UN Report: 346 Afghan Children Killed in 2009, Mostly by NATO
--Largest Portion of Killings Came in Air Strikes

sidebar:
NATO admits that deaths of 8 boys in 1 family were a mistake
--photos of 7 out of 8 dead schoolboys, ages 12 to 18, posted on the
net

related op/ed:  template letter to your sons and daughters before they enlist for all the wrong reasons
Things to Ponder Before You Enlist: A Letter
from A Father to His Son

featured op/ed

Was the Invasion of Iraq a Response to Terror?  Should We Teach Our Kids that it Was?

--the Oklahoma Department of Education endorses misinformation campaign, as in Orwell's 1984

quote:
"This is our chance to bend Oklahoma's high school academic standards toward a more peaceful path."
~Bill Bryant

book review:
"Mass Casualties": The Dark Underbelly of Occupation, an Army Medic's Account

file under: the militarization of civilian life
The Militarization of Sport's Biggest Spectacle: Military Recruitment Parasitic on Super Bowl
--excerpt of an interview on Democracy Now! with sportswriter Dave Zirin, author of A People's History of
U.S. Sports

quote:
"Far too often, sports is used as this idiotic metaphor for war—when in reality we know that war is very different. War is life and death. War is long periods of boredom
punctuated by horrifying terror."
~Dave Zirin

Marines in Afghan Assault Grapple With Civilian Deaths
— Twelve people — five children, five women and two men — were killed by mistake in assault on Marja, Afghanistan

One of Ten Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military:
You May Kill Others Who Do Not Deserve to Die

follow up: U.S. used weapons of mass civilian death in Iraq
Depleted Uranium in U.S. Bombs Continue to Cause Massive Suffering and Death for Iraqi Civilians

epitaph for this edition of "Truth in Recruiting"

“You know, we haven't got any business in those faraway wars.
Seven thousand miles is a long way to go to shoot somebody, especially if
you are not right sure they need shooting, and you are not sure whether
you are shooting the right side or not.”
~Will Rogers
the cowboy philosopher who poked fun at the “foreign adventurism”
that 
America was drawn into during the early twentieth century (in Panama,
Nicaragua, and elsewhere).

---

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for March 2010
lead story

"You can't hear them scream from here. You don't smell the burning bodies."

Interview with Cole Miller, from the 'No More Victims'
Scott Horton, for antiwar radio
Feb 11, 2010
streaming audio available on demand

Cole Miller, Founding Director of No More
Victims, discusses his organization’s efforts to provide
medical care for Iraqi children injured by the US military, the
mainstream media’s refusal to cover the effects of war on
individuals, the deeply rooted humanitarian instincts of Americans
for children in need and how you
can help.

excerpt from the radio interview:

"I just hope that people will recognize that this is an option. 
There is so much important work going on. People really think that
they are more limited than they are.  There's a lot that we can
do. And that sensation of powerless is a fallacy.  One thing I
haven't seen in documentaries is where community groups are actually
organizing to provide assistance to injured children as an expression
of opposition to war. I haven't seen that element, really, in any
documentary.  So we're working to put that together."
~Cole Miller, speaking on antiwar.com/radio

MP3 here. (29:28)

Hasswa, Iraq --  Salee, a nine-year-old girl, was playing outside her home with her brother, cousin and some friends. US jets circled overhead. Suddenly the jets fired three missiles, apparently
at passenger vehicles. One missile landed where the children were
playing, killing her brother and her best friend, injuring her
sister, Rusul, and taking both of Salee's legs. In November 2006,
Salee and her father arrived in Greenville, South Carolina. In 2007,
she underwent surgery and received prosthetics and rehabilitative
treatment at Shriners.  These medical services were unavailable
to her in Iraq.
    Thanks to the generosity of Shriner's Hospital and the hard work of community organizers Ann
Cothran, Selena Franks, and the Upstate
Coalition of Compassion, Salee is at last receiving the medical
care she so urgently needs. She and her father are also deeply
grateful to Robert Greenwald, producer Paris Marron, Brave
New Films and Brave
New Foundation for their generosity and support. (Read
More about Salee, or watch latest video updates on her story)

For more stories of innocent victims and the heroic work of Cole Miller, go to: http://nomorevictims.org/

related news:
UN Report: 346 Afghan Children Killed in 2009, Mostly by NATO
Largest Portion of Killings Came in Air Strikes
by Jason Ditz, February 24, 2010

According to a report released today by the United Nations, some 346 Afghan
children were killed in the fighting in 2009, around 15 percent of
the overall civilian toll. A significant majority of these children
were killed by NATO.

The report broke down 131 children killed in NATO air strikes alone, 22 others killed in nighttime raids, and
several others killed in other incidents. The Taliban were
responsible for 128 total childrens’ deaths, seven of them as
suicide bombers.

The numbers provide a stark reminder of the enormous NATO toll inflicted on children.  NATO forces are
disproportionately endangering children in their
operations.

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/02/24/un-report-346-afghan-children-ki...

sidebar:
Nato admits that deaths of 8 boys in 1 family were a mistake
From The London Times
Feb 25, 2010
Jerome Starkey, in Kabul

A night-time raid in eastern Afghanistan in which eight schoolboys from one family were killed was carried out on the basis
of faulty intelligence and should never have been authorised, a Times
investigation has found.

Farooq Abdul Ajan, who lost two sons, two brothers, three nephews and a cousin in the raid, said that the
soldiers had had no idea whom they were killing. A total of ten
children and teenagers died when troops stormed a remote mountain
compound near the border with Pakistan in December.

Western sources close to the case now agree that the victims were all aged 12
to 18 and were not involved in insurgent activity.

Nato sources say that the raid should never have been authorised. “Knowing
what we know now, it would probably not have been a justifiable
attack,” an official in Kabul told The Times.

Mohammed Afzal, Narang’s district police chief, insisted that US special
forces were
involved.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7040...

US compensates Afghans for death, damage from war
Values Human Life at Only $1500, in Case of Dead Afghan Children
By Christopher Torchia - AP
Feb. 19, 2010

BADULA QULP, Afghanistan -- The fallout of war has a price in southern Afghanistan.

U.S. Army units fighting the Taliban in Helmand province have a compensation system for any death,
injury or damage to crops and buildings caused by American forces to
Afghan civilians and their property.

The suffering of a population caught between combatants during the Afghan war is a
politically sensitive issue, and NATO troops have sought to make
amends for deadly airstrikes and other instances in which civilians
were killed.

The death of a child or adult is worth $1,500-$2,500, loss of limb and other injuries $600-$1,500, a damaged
or destroyed vehicle $500-$2,500, and damage to a farmer's fields
$50-$250.

http://www.thestate.com/world/story/1165153.html

featured op/ed: template you can use in writing your gung-ho sons and
daughters
Things to Ponder Before You Enlist:
A Letter from A Father to His Son
by Don Robertson, Feb 22, 2010

Dear Tayler,

First I want to say how much I enjoyed seeing you and Bayley and your mom when I
visited last week. Aunt Bonnie did a wonderful thing bringing us all
together again for Great Grandpa’s 90th birthday.

In particular, I am writing to you because of something that happened at
Great Grandpa’s home on Saturday night. We were all sitting around
talking, and Aunt Bonnie talked to you about maybe going to the Air
Force Academy. You then mentioned that you might consider going to
VMI, where your Dad graduated.

You may be a little young to be considering military service, but I believe you are very mature for
your age. So, I would like to present this letter to you. It is an
adult letter, with important adult issues for you to consider. I
believe that you can handle it now, and maybe you will keep this
letter and read it in the next few years. It is my desire that when
you reach the time to decide to go in the military, or not, you will
be prepared. To get prepared, you need to decide why you would want
to serve in the military, and whether it is the right thing for
you.

I will ask some questions below. After each question I will give you my comments and some advice. I strongly recommend that
you get advice from other people too. Maybe talk to Bonnie some more,
talk to your Dad and your Mom, or anyone else whom you respect to
give you good judgment. Then I ask you to decide the answers for
yourself, based on what your conscience tells you, what you know to
be right and wrong, and whether going into the military service meets
your needs as well as the needs of the United States.

Before I start, I want you to know that I am not a pacifist (someone who does
not believe in war). I served proudly in the U.S. Army Special
Forces, and received my honorable discharge. I will defend myself and
my loved ones if they are ever threatened, even if it means killing
someone. But taking lives is something that we should do only when
there is very clear danger, and only after all other solutions are
gone.

There are many people who are far wiser and more experienced than I am about the U.S. military. There is one man in
particular who had valuable experience in military and civilian
service to the United States. Dwight Eisenhower was a brave general
during World War II, and then he served for eight years as president.
Why am I telling you this? Attached to this letter is his "Farewell
Speech" to the American people as he left office. You may not
want to read the entire speech, but I have highlighted parts that I
feel are very important for you to read and understand. Please take a
few moments and read it.

When you join the U.S. military, you must be prepared to kill or be killed. You only have one life. All
other humans only have one life. Will you be prepared to take the
life of a man or woman who you do not even know? Think about why you
would go to another part of the world and put a bullet in the head of
a total stranger. Because he is "the enemy"? Because he is
a "bad" man? Who says? How can you know he is bad if you
have never met him?

Would you be willing to give your life? If the answer is yes, then I ask "for what are you willing to die"?
If your answer is to really defend your country, then I say that is a
good reason. However, if you join the military, what are the chances
that you will kill or be killed to really defend your country? In the
example I gave above, where you are killing a man in another part of
the world, the chances are that you are in HIS homeland, and he may
actually be defending HIS country. Hmm. Something to think about. All
of the U.S. wars in my lifetime have been fought in faraway
lands.

Dwight Eisenhower warned the American people about the "military-industrial complex." He was saying that the new
industries and money that were rapidly growing to supply weapons were
(and are) influencing U.S. leaders. In other words, he was telling us
that U.S. decisions to fight wars may not be motivated just by
defense of the United States. Think about that. Can the U.S. start a
war that is NOT truly in self-defense? Has it? If the U.S. then kills
innocent people because of such a war, is it murder? What about the
brave U.S. men and women who would die fighting such a war? Did they
give their lives for nothing?

Some other questions for you to think about, please. Why does the United States have over 700
military installations around the world (and growing)? Does it have
THAT many enemies? Of course not. Then why? Why are U.S. military
expenditures year after year equal to ALL other military expenditures
of ALL other nations in the world? A very important question. Try to
get an answer that makes sense to you. Why has the United States been
the number-one arms dealer in the world for the past decades? Is it
possible that Eisenhower’s advice regarding the military-industrial
complex was more serious than anyone thought?

If you decide to join the U.S. military, you will take a solemn oath. You will then be
required to take orders from other people. Those orders may require
you to kill or be killed. Once you are in the military, it is very
difficult to get out. "If your commanding
officer orders you to blow up a house that has innocent women and
children in it, you will be under tremendous pressure to follow that
order." 

In war soldiers see and experience things that are TOTALLY against everything they have learned in life.
This is what causes so many soldiers to come back from war "changed."
Their war memories haunt them, and they are never the same. Many use
drugs or alcohol for the rest of their lives to escape from these
memories and the awful feelings that go with them. You need to be
prepared for that possibility if you join. I believe that war is the
ultimate human insanity. It causes men to do insane thing to
themselves and other people.

I think that this letter is long enough for you! If you want to ask me questions about anything in
this letter, please feel free to write an e-mail to me (your Mom can
help if you need it). Again, talk to other people that you respect. I
am giving you this letter not just as your grandfather, but as a man
talking to a man. I want you to make the right decisions in your
life, especially having to do with this very important subject.

The best advice I can ever give you is to think and question! Do not
allow yourself to be influenced by other people… ever. Question and
demand answers, and think for
yourself.

Love,

Papa

http://original.antiwar.com/don-robertson/2010/02/21/before-you-enl...



featured op/ed

Was the Invasion of Iraq a Response to Terror?

Should We Teach Our Kids that it Was?

19 Feb 2010
by Bill Bryant, in Oklahoma City

Please read this message if you care about the type of education our young people are
receiving in Oklahoma.

The State Department of Education is proposing to add a new element to Oklahoma's history curriculum for
high schoolers. Among other things, the proposed addition is aimed at
teaching Oklahoma high school students that the invasion and
occupation of Iraq was an example of an action "...of the US
Government to respond to and combat terrorism."

Skeptical Oklahomans are still trying to sort out the many stated reasons for
the invasion of Iraq. Was it a misguided attempt to enforce UN
Security Council resolutions demanding Iraq to give up its (supposed)
nuclear weapons program? Was it a bold, idealistic mission to bring
democracy, human rights, and freedom to Iraq? Or, was it a a
geo-political mission aimed at controlling access to a strategic
natural resource (oil)? None of those factors are mentioned in the
proposal from the State Department of Education. Just the "War
on Terror" angle.

The proposed new element would become part of the Priority Academic Student Skills (aka, "PASS
Skills") that are taught in Oklahoma's high school history
classes. Here's the complete text of the proposed new objective,
which is being considered for addition to the academic standards for
U.S. History and World History courses. Students would be required
to:

"(5) Describe and evaluate the ongoing globalization of the world's economic and communication systems (e.g., the
Internet), including the rise of terrorism in the United States and
around the world; the role and effects of the A. P. Murrah Federal
Building bombing in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995; the first attack
on the World Trade Center Towers in New York City in 1993; and the
attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in New York City and the
Pentagon in Washington, DC on September 11, 2001; the subway bombings
in London; the train attacks in Madrid; the attack in Mumbai, India;
airplane and ship hijackings; and the policies and actions of the US
Government to respond to and combat terrorism (e.g., PATRIOT Act,
creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq)."

The proposed new standard would serve to solidify a set of academic objectives that are heavily
skewed toward the notion that our modern world is a frightening place
to live -- in which military action is a natural response. Please
read on for more information.

To put this proposal in context, the State Department of Education has defined a set of
"PASS" skills for a variety of subject areas, from
Kindergarten to 12th grade.

There are 17 standards for World History taught in Oklahoma high schools. They cover broad
subject-matter content goals like, "The student will analyze the
historical sources and developments of the Renaissance." And,
"The student will analyze and explain the effects of the
Industrial Revolution."

Each standard has a corresponding set of academic objectives. In all, there are about 69
PASS elements for World History. There are about the same number for
U.S. History since 1850. (Source:
http://www.sde.state.ok.us/Curriculum/PASS/Subject/socstud.pdf).


You might think that Oklahoma's standards for World History courses would be similar to the national standards that are published
by the highly-regarded National Center for History in the Schools.
You might hold that thought, but you would be incorrect.

The national standards for World History include a number of objectives
that never show up in Oklahoma's list of "PASS" skills. For
example, in the national standards there is an expectation that
students will learn about broad trends that have characterized the
world since the end of World War II, including:

• How liberal democracy, market economies, and human rights movements have reshaped political and social life;
• How increasing economic interdependence has transformed human society; and
• How population explosion and environmental change have altered conditions of life around the world.

But, in Oklahoma's list of PASS elements for World History, there is no mention of the term, "human rights." The phrase "economic interdependence"
doesn't appear. "Environmental change" is a concept that is
absent from Oklahoma's definition of standards for the teaching of
World History.

Instead, Oklahoma's PASS objectives for the post-1945 era choose to emphasize conflict -- especially violent
conflict involving military forces. For example, take a look at
Oklahoma's list of PASS goals for "post-World War II global and
contemporary events." Here they are:

"(1) Describe regional military and political conflicts, such as Korea and
Vietnam.
"(2) Evaluate the creation of the modern state of Israel, and the recurring conflicts between and among Israel and the
Arab neighbors.
"(3) Examine the beginning and end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"(4) Describe the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the pro-democracy student
demonstrations at Tiananmen Square in Beijing."

To this list, the State Board of Education is proposing to add the dismal
standard described above -- including its depressing list of
terrorist attacks, and concluding with the US Government's "response"
to terrorism (e.g., the Iraq War).

It is almost as if the goal of the State Board of Education is to instill fear in our
students by emphasizing the sporadic military conflicts and terror
attacks that have marred our world over the course of the last
several decades. Such a goal goes hand-in-hand with the fear-driven
agenda of our state's most hawkish politicians.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma's academic objectives fail to prepare our high school
students to properly understand the broader themes that are described
in the national standards -- including the positive, human-centered
narrative that has informed a rising global movement for peace,
democracy, and sustainable development.

If you care about the education that our younger generation is receiving, please resolve to take action now. If you believe that
our young people should be prepared to join others in the pursuit of
"community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world,"
please speak up now.

This is our chance to bend Oklahoma's high school academic standards toward a more peaceful path.

Thanks.

Bill Bryant




"Mass Casualties": The Dark Underbelly of Occupation, an Army Medic's Account

18 Feb 2010

by: Dahr Jamail, t r u t h o u t

"It was Week 7 of basic training ... eighteen years old and I was preparing myself to die," said Michael
Anthony in "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of
Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq." The book is more than a
simple memoir about a difficult experience. It is an insider's
scathing testimony of an ongoing illegal and unethical military
action in a distant, once-sovereign state, by the US. Perhaps, this
fresh account will raise some outcry over an issue that has all but
dropped out of the American public's radar.

"Mass Casualties" is a collection of Anthony's personal journal
entries from his time in Iraq. It includes his introspections on and
insights into the inherently irrational and meaningless nature of
military life. The rawness of the narrative reveals how the
occupation broke down the young soldier's spirit and almost
desensitized him into believing "my job isn't to feel."

The late historian and Author Howard Zinn held the book in high regard.
"Michael Anthony's memoir is not about the politics of Iraq.
Instead it takes us deep inside the war, inside and outside the
operation room, the barracks, the talk of the soldiers, the feeling
of the situation ... unique and powerful," Zinn wrote.   


The young author makes no attempt to shield the reader from the reality of war. In one instance, he gives a graphic description
of working on an Iraqi patient who had received shrapnel from
proximity to a suicide bomber. The shrapnel embedded in the patient's
body happened to be bone fragments of the suicide bomber.

The author's morale, like that of his peers, plummets within weeks of his
arrival in Iraq. Nothing had prepared him for the melting of
backgrounds and personalities that the Army is. His associates in the
battle field are not easy people: "What an outfit: people in
their thirties, married with children, all of them having affairs.
One was a heroine addict; the other has slept with eleven men in the
past three months. One guy tired to kill himself and another
kidnapped a drug dealer. Alcoholics, chain smokers, compulsive
gamblers - who am I to judge?"

Matters inevitably worsen under abusive commanders.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

read the full review:
http://www.truthout.org/mass-casualties-the-dark-underbelly-occupat...




Super Bowl Fever: the Militarization of Sport's Biggest Spectacle

Friday 05 February 2010

by: Amy Goodman & Juan Gonzalez  |  Democracy NOW!

excerpt only:

Juan Gonzalez: And Dave, you’ve been involved in plans for a Super Bowl party that has an
anti-militarism theme. Could you talk about this whole issue that you
alluded to earlier of the involvement of the military in Super
Bowls?

Dave Zirin: Oh, yeah. Well, that’s the whole funny thing about, “Oh, we can’t have advocacy ads for the Super Bowl.”
But last year David Petraeus flipped the coin at the Super Bowl.
Every year, you have the fighter planes fly overhead. It’s a huge
recruitment day for the US armed forces. And particularly in
the context of the war on terror, the Super
Bowl has been an absolute center for military recruitment on a
year-in, year-out basis.

And this year I’m teaming up with the Iraq Veterans Against the War, IVAW, and we’re actually
going to have a Super Bowl party at the IVAW house here in
Washington, DC, where we’re going to watch the game, without
question, but we’re also going to speak about de-linking the fun of
football with the reality of war. Far too often, sports is used as
this idiotic metaphor for war—quarterbacks are field generals, and
they throw bullet passes or bombs—when in reality we know that war
is very different. War is life and death. War is long periods of
boredom punctuated by horrifying terror. So, if you want to just
watch the game and have fun watching the game but also speak out
against militarism, please email me, dave(at)edgeofsports.com, and
I’ll hook you up at the IVAW house here in Washington, DC to watch
the big game.

http://www.truthout.org/super-bowl-fever-new-orleans-and-militariza...

featured book/graphic novel
Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism
A History of U.S. Foreign Wars in Comic Book Format,
by Joel Andreas

ADDICTED TO WAR takes on the most active, powerful and destructive military in
the world. It tells the history of U.S. foreign wars - from the
Indian Wars to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - in a comic
book format. With 77 hard-hitting pages, this book reveals why the
U.S. has been involved in more wars in recent years than any other
country.

Packed with historical photographs and quotes from people in the military, the government, and big business, Addicted to
War explains who benefits from these military adventures, who pays,
and who dies.

Read the entire book online HERE.

Over to 200,000 copies of Addicted to War have been distributed in English with the help and support of AK Press, Veterans for Peace and many of peace
& justice organizations.

Read this book! Buy a copy for friends and family members. Give a copy to a teacher. Send one to your congressperson or senator. Use this book to
help educate yourself and others and help rid our country of its
addiction to war.

SPANISH EDITION is also available!
ADICTO A LA GUERRA ahora en español.

"Addicted to War is a rare gift to the American people.  It should be read by every person who cares about the human condition.  This book reveals truths that all Americans
need to understand if we are ever to experience peace and justice for
all the people of the earth."
~Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch)

Marines in Afghan Assault Cause a Dozen Civilian Deaths

By C. J. CHIVERS and ROD NORDLAND
Published: February 16, 2010

MARJA, Afghanistan — Twelve bodies — five children, five women and two men — were wrapped head to toe in woolen
blankets, lying in a neat row on the floor of the only room remaining
in a house that had been blasted to mud-brick rubble by at least one
and possibly two 675-pound rockets.

The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, immediately issued a
statement saying that 12 civilians had been accidentally killed, that
the rocket launcher had missed its target by 300 meters.

“The compound that was hit was not the one we were targeting,” the
commander of Company K said.

After the Marines saw children stream out of the ruined house, the company commander immediately
ordered a cease-fire. Medics rendered what first aid they
could.

They initially counted 11 dead, because one woman was still alive. Marine Corps medics worked to stabilize her condition,
although she had lost three limbs. The woman died, making the death
toll
12.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?ref=world



2010-02-16
Depleted Uranium in U.S. Bombs Suspected of Causing Massive Civilians Deaths in Iraq
Cancer – Deadly Legacy of the Invasion of Iraq

Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with
deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of
cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy
American and British bombardment, notes Jalal Ghazi.
 
Forget about oil, occupation, terrorism or even Al Qaeda. The real hazard
for Iraqis these days is cancer. Cancer is spreading like wildfire in
Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors
say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth
defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British
bombardment.

Here are a few examples. In Falluja, which was heavily bombarded by the US in 2004, as many as 25% of new- born
infants have serious abnormalities, including congenital anomalies,
brain tumors, and neural tube defects in the spinal cord.

The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from
500 diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009 according to Al Jazeera
English.

In Basra there were 1885 diagnosed cases of cancer in 2005. According to Dr. Jawad al Ali, director of the Oncology Center,
the number increased to 2,302 in 2006 and 3,071 in 2007. Dr. Ali told
Al Jazeera English that about 1,250-1,500 patients visit the Oncology
Center every month now.

Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of depleted uranium used in US
and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer rates are not
unconnected.

Dr Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health Organization, the United
Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is
scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth
defects. He told Al Jazeera English, "Children with congenital
anomalies are subjected to karyotyping and chromosomal studies with
complete genetic back-grounding and clinical assessment. Family and
obstetrical histories are taken too. These international studies have
produced ample evidence to show that depleted uranium has disastrous
consequences."

Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003 invasion.

Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of “Uranium in Iraq” told Al Jazeera English that
the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years,
which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates in 1996-1997 and
2008-2009.

There are also similar patterns of birth defects among Iraqi and Afghan infants who were also born in areas that were
subjected to depleted uranium bombardment.

Dr. Daud Miraki, director of the Afghan Depleted Uranium and Recovery Fund, told Al
Jazeera English he found evidence of the effect of depleted uranium
in infants in eastern and south- eastern Afghanistan. “Many
children are born with no eyes, no limbs, or tumors protruding from
their mouths and eyes,” said Dr. Miraki.

It’s not just Iraqis and Afghans. Babies born to American soldiers deployed in Iraq
during the 1991 war are also showing similar defects. In 2000, Iraqi
biologist Huda saleh Mahadi pointed out that the hands of deformed
American infants were directly linked to their shoulders, a deformity
seen in Iraqi infants.

Many US soldiers are now referring to Gulf War Syndrome #2 and alleging they have developed cancer because
of exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.

But soldiers can end their exposure to depleted uranium when their service in Iraq ends.
Iraqi civilians have nowhere else to go. The water, soil and air in
large areas of Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with
depleted uranium that has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion
years.

According to Al Jazeera, the Pentagon used more than 300 tons of depleted uranium in 1991. In 2003, the United States used
more than 1,000 tons.

Jalal Ghazi's article appeared in www.newamericamedia.org.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=37264

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The next regularly scheduled business meeting of the Fellowship will be
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 on Thursday, March 11th 2010 time and place TBA

The next monthly anti-war demo in Tulsa is scheduled for
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Afghanistan Now!"

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