Families in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are calling for an investigation into their claims of a rise in the number of birth defects.
Three-year-old Fatima AhmedThey have raised concerns about the weapons used by American forces in 2004 - when Fallujah suffered one of the heaviest bombardments of the entire war in Iraq.
The evidence is anecdotal because there are no records from the era of Saddam Hussein to compare their stories against.
But Hikmat Tawfeeq, deputy chairman of the Fallujah-based human rights group Alakhiyar said: "We have around 200 cases of deformities recorded by our society. Most of these cases are birth deformities which have arisen after the bombing of Fallujah."
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Campaigners say officials are reluctant to speak out publicly, but at Fallujah's children's hospital one doctor told Sky News in the past month she has seen one or two cases of birth deformities every day.
An opthalmologist said he deals with four or five cases of newborn babies every week suffering from some form of eye deformity - and that has risen in the last two years.
At one of the cemeteries in Fallujah, undertaker Mahmoud Hummadi said he usually buries four to five bodies of newborns every day and most of them are deformed.
Phosphorus over Fallujah in 2004Fallujah today still bears the scars of a time when it represented the backbone of the Sunni insurgency - a power-base America decided it had to break.
April and November 2004 saw some of the heaviest bombardments of the war in Iraq, including the controversial use of white phosphorous.
It is a highly flammable material which ignites when it comes into contact with oxygen, causing severe burns.
In a statement to Sky News the US military said it had used white phosphorus in Fallujah but primarily as a smokescreen and not as an incendiary weapon.
US troops bombed the cityThe families say doctors have raised concerns to them about what kinds of materials were used by the Americans in order to achieve their military goals.
Fatima Ahmed is three years old. Small and lifeless she barely moves, burdened by two heads on her tiny frame.
Her mother Shukriya says doctors have been unable to diagnose exactly what has caused Fatima's condition.
But her father Jassim, when asked who he held responsible for his daughter's condition, said: "It's because of the war - it's the flagrant aggression they launched against us. What they dropped in Fallujah God knows."
We showed our findings from Fallujah to Alastair Hay, a professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University.
He is currently investigating injuries caused to children during the war in Iraq. He says without an independent medical study it is impossible to say for sure what has caused the deformities and how they may be linked.
But he says there has never been a study examining if there ARE links between white phosphorus and birth deformities
I'm guessing it's from the breakdown of public services including sewage among others. The dirtier the environment the more deaths you will get.
"Korea has not been the only battle ground since the end of the Second World War. Men have fought and died in Malaya, in Greece, in the Philippines, in Algeria and Cuba, and Cyprus and almost continuously on the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. No nuclear weapons have been fired. No massive nuclear retaliation has been considered appropriate. This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin--war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him. It is a form of warfare uniquely adapted to what has been strangely called 'wars of liberation,' to undermine the efforts of new and poor countries to maintain the freedom that they have finally achieved. It preys on economic unrest and ethnic conflicts. It requires in those situations where we must counter it, and these are the kinds of challenges that will be before us in the next decade if freedom is to be saved, a whole new kind of strategy, a wholly different kind of force, and therefore a new and wholly different kind of military training."-President Kennedy's Address at Graduation Exercises of the U.S. Military Academy, 1962
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"The reason I'll be released is the same reason you think I'll be convicted. I do rub shoulders with some of the most vile, sadistic men calling themselves leaders today. But some of these men are the enemies of your enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss - the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year - sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can't be seen supplying. So. You call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil."-Yuri Orlov, Lord of War
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"Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."-Yuri Orlov, Lord of War
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When you are dropping bombs and shooting off lots of ammuntion, you are going to get lots of pulverized heavy metals into the air and water, which can cause serious problems if they are in fine particle sizes. Lots of the weapon-related chemicals are not goingto be too good for your health, and if they are in the town they are going to get into the groundwater one way or another.
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Nice post . Is that you next to plane ? I was sorry to hear about your young
friend who passed away . He looked so young . Rahmat Inshallah .
Yes it looks like the number of cancers are also increasing among Iraqi
civilians . Some say this is because of depleted Uranium shells used by the
Yanks ! I heard that cluster bombs are getting banned , but Russia and China
as well as America have refused to join the treaty !
It is the very same countries with nuclear weapons , who have veto power in
the UN ! They can ride rough shot over the " Democratic " will of the majority of nations . Yet when it comes to it , they believe in the rule of
the strongest ( the most destructive ) . This is also what they imply , when
they mention " Democracy " .
This is especially true in the case of Yanks . You know they destroyed by
bombing , a lot of Iraqi Dams and waterways . It doesn,t take too much to
kill civilians , far less than phospor bombs , far less than Uranium ....
All you need to do is to deny them water ..
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You do realize that Iran has white phosphorus and cluster bombs and is actively pursuing nukes too? And you are saying that the people(e.g. you) cannot decide for themselves. In saying that, you are deciding for yourself that you cannot decide for yourself.
I have no knowledge of Iran possessing Phosphor munitions . more importantly I know of no incident of Iran using such a weapon . If you know any better then provide your evidence ! Although Iran possess other types oweapons ,I believe it is a signatory to the ban and US is not !!As far as Nukes , the intelligence report from the Yanks has itself stated Iran has no nuke weapons programme !!
Unless you misunderstood my post , which is unlikely in view of your very
good English , I said nothing about what I believe about public participation
in politics . But said that world politics as exemplified by the major powers
is based on nuclear bullying and not Democracy , as advertised by them .
If you are asking , do I think "people" can "decide" for themselves , I would
say :they always decide for themselves , irrespective of various political sytems !! Not always correctly .
I am impressed by your use of psudo-logic : "..I am deciding that I can not
be deciding ." Does not imply a contradiction . It simply states that one
does not know of a thing .
None of this changes the FACT that American troops destroyed civilian life
in Iraq ............I believe out of sheer hatred and enjoyment of killing
them ............................................
Of course Iran has white phosphorus, everyone has white phosphorus. Its been around forever, and can be used for sabotage or anti-material due to the fact that is burns at a higher temperature than even thermite does. When it burns it also creates a cloud of tear gas or a similar substance. And if no one nows what effects WP has on infants, why would the US Army use it to cause birth defects.
On a more realistic note, Depleted Uranium (DU) does create a toxic gas when it burns, and exposure to it doubles the birth defect rate. Cancer rates remain the same. The only major use of DU in Iraq currently is in the Armor of M1 tanks, as its other use is in armor-piercing cannon ammunition. There are simply no armored vehicles to engage anymore, so those rounds are not fired.
However, it is likely that people would blame each birth defect and non-infectious disease on the Coalition offensive, as this is known to happen everywhere. People who where near Chernobyl still blame all cases of cancer on the disaster, even though animals that live in the area show no signs of increased cancer.
Undoubtedly the battle has increased problems, but this is more due to the destruction of houses and pollution of the water supply than intentional use of WP for maniacally evil purposes to destroy Iraq's youth.
It is not just the Iraqis who are suffering from DU !! Also can the use of
DU and WP and destruction of Dams be accidental ?
The first reports from soldiers returning from Iraq have come in, and they are testing positive for depleted uranium (DU) in their systems. And these are not just random soldiers many are police officers and fire fighters from New York who serve in the NY Army National Guard. These are the very symbols of what this war was supposedly about.
Yes, A side effect of using DU is the fact that it affects those people who choose to use it. We do not use DU accidentally, but because it is even stronger and denser than Tungsten. M829 DU rounds are so effective they have been nicknamed "silver bullets" DU is also in the armor of tanks for these reasons. Handling or being exposed to DU results in quantities being in your bloodstream. However, while I don't know about you, I would rather have impenetrable armor and DU in my system than vice-versa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M829_%28munition%29
We also used WP intentionally, because it creates a smokescreen and clouds of tear-gas. (unofficially it may also be used as an incendiary grenade, but this is illegal). We DID NOT use WP because it would cause birth defects in Iraqi children, that is just stupid.
Quote:There are simply no armored vehicles to engage anymore, so those rounds are not fired.
what a ridiculous statement
what about the massive amounts that were used earlier in the war, have the US-army deployed HAZ-MAT teams to localize and decontaminate, I hardly think so, that crap is burried in the ground, walls, ceilings of homes, hospitals, schools, markets, etc
And they blamed saddam for chemical weapons and other alledged WMDs, isn't that ironic
