Forward from Benny Zable :-)

Depleted Uranium - A Hidden Looming Worldwide Calamity

by Stephen Lendman
January 19, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context==viewArticle&code==LEN20060119&ar\
ticleId=54

Forget about Avian (bird) flu. The threat of it becoming a pandemic is more
a political scare tactic and potential bonanza for drug company profits and
its major shareholders' net worth (including Gilead Sciences, the developer
of the
Tamiflu drug and its former Chairman and major shareholder Donald Rumsfeld)
than a likely public health crisis - unless you live around infected
chickens or take an unproven safe immunization shot. There are much more
other likely killer bacterial and viral threats than Avian that get little
attention. Don't
worry about possible or unlikely threats. Worry about real ones. Bacteria
and viruses untreatable by anti-biotics are good examples. So is global
warming and many others. But, there's possibly one threat that tops all
others both in gravity
and because it's been deliberately concealed from the public - never
discussed, explained or had any action taken to remediate it. It's the
global threat from the toxic effects of depleted uranium (DU), and like
global warming, DU has the potential to destroy all planetary life. How can
something so potentially
destructive be hidden and ignored and why?

THE ARROGANCE OF DOMINANCE

There's little dispute that the U.S. today is the preeminent world power and
unlike any that ever preceded it. It now admits to being an empire. In fact,
it's the first ever world global empire. To expand its reach and influence,
it now spends nearly as much on its military as all other nations combined
and has
built and maintains a military capacity no other nation dare challenge. It
also reserves for itself the sole right to develop and use the most
dangerous and destructive weapons, even those banned from use by
international law or custom.

Some of those now in charge at the highest levels believe they have a divine
right to use them, even a duty. George Bush may be one of them. A
self-proclaimed and so-called born-again Christian, he says he gets his
direction from the Almighty.

That's real arrogance, the supreme kind only an unchallengeable power and
its leaders dare arrogate to itself.

Up to now, the U.S. has effectively used its power to dominate other nations
either by persuasion, economic isolation or conquest. We claim to be a model
democracy, but our policies and actions prove otherwise. At home we're a
democracy for the few - the privileged and powerful. It's they who govern
and
run our institutions including the most dominant one of all - the giant
transnational corporations whose interests all administrations serve
including waging war for their benefit. Wars are good for business - as long
as they're easily winnable, the public supports them, and they don't cause
undo economic
stresses that may disrupt the economy, in which case they're bad for
business.

There's a striking term often used in the plural and in a business context
that's also appropriate more broadly. The term is "externalities." In
business it refers to the unfortunate side effects or consequences of a
company's action
that may have a detrimental affect on others. A typical example is an
industrial plant that produces a dangerous substance as an unsalable
byproduct from its production process. To avoid the cost of disposal,
storage or treatment, the plant dumps it into waterways, unused land areas
or through smokestacks. In
so doing it harms the environment. Wars also have "externalities" - with far
greater consequences. Overall, death, disease and destruction are the best
examples. But so are the dangerous residues and their side effects from the
use of weapons like toxic chemicals, biological agents and all types of
nuclear munitions. We're all aware of the danger from the first two
categories, although when used they only affect small areas and are not
"weapons of mass destruction." We've also seen the destructive capability of
a nuclear bomb
and have heard of DU. But, the public has little or no knowledge about the
real danger and threat from the use of any nuclear device or substance. That
information has been willfully and deliberately suppressed because the
potential harm is so great and irreversible. Even when there's clear
evidence of widespread problems as there was in the case of the Agent Orange
effects on Vietnam veterans and "Gulf war syndrome" on the military from
that conflict, our
government has denied any connection and stonewalled efforts to help those
in need - until they no longer could hide the truth and had to act.

Depleted uranium (DU) is a "dense metal" that increases its ability as a
weapon to penetrate a target, thus enhancing its destructive capability.
Pentagon propaganda and disinformation falsely describe all DU weapons as
only being coated. In fact, they are solid missiles, bombs, shells and
bullets weighing
up to 5,000 pounds in a single "bunker buster" bomb. All these weapons have
solid DU projectiles or warheads in them, and their use in combat as the
U.S. military has done in 4 wars and is now doing every day in Iraq is the
"de facto" use of
nuclear bombs. From Nagasaki in 1945 until the 1991 Gulf War, these weapons
were effectively banned by common consent (and common sense) and never used
(except
for one time in the 1973 Yom Kippur war). No longer.

Above I asked why are these weapons used if they're so deadly and dangerous
well beyond the areas they target? The answer's simple - because they work
so well, and the enemy forces attacked don't have them and can't retaliate
against us
with them. The fact that we understand the danger from their use and the
"externalities" left in their wake is someone else's problem to deal with.

Just like a public corporation worries only about meeting Wall Street
estimates of next quarter's earnings, our government and the military only
worry about winning the next battle and next war - too bad if in the process
we irradiate the planet and threaten all future life on it. That's someone
else's problem
later on. That's how big business thinks and also how our political and
military leaders do as well.

OUR PRECIOUS PLANET AND HOW BADLY WE TREAT IT

Today we're threatened by many natural and "man-made" disasters we could act
to prevent but don't. To the ones mentioned above add polluted air, water
and soil.
Include the unsafe food we eat from the chemical and other contaminants and
unsafe additives in them. Don't ignore ozone layer damage, deforestation,
the destruction of precious natural habits and endangered species, the
reckless ways
we develop and use our natural resources including wasteful overuse of a
finite supply of fresh water that could run out and is irreplaceable. And
don't forget wars that get more recklessly destructive as new technologies
and weapons are
developed to fight them and powerful nations having them show no restraint
in their use.

In November, 2005 this nation lost a great man unfortunately unknown to most
of the public. His name was Vine Deloria, Jr, a renowned Native American
intellect, historian, author, scholar and activist. With great eloquence
Deloria spoke and
wrote about how for all its existence the planet was well preserved by those
who lived on it - until about 200 years ago when western technological
development began and changed everything. It was then transformed from being
pristine to
poisoned. He expressed such great wisdom in his writings and talks, it's
worth quoting. Below are some examples:

"Progress is the absolute destruction of the real world in favor of a
technology that creates a comfortable way of life for a few fortunately
situated people.
Within our lifetime the differences between the Indian use of the land and
the white use of the land will become crystal clear. The Indian lived with
his land. The white destroyed his land, he destroyed the planet earth."

Deloria once said that Christian missionaries had "fallen on their knees and
prayed for the Indians" before rising to "fall on the Indians and prey on
their land." He also claimed the destruction wrought by corporate values and
its
technology was so damaged that a return to Native American tribal standards
and culture could be viewed as salvation.

He viewed a corporate run predatory society, like the U.S., as an "Adolph
Eichmann of the plains", whose soldiers were tools "not defending
civilization; they were crushing another society."

Deloria wrote 20 books, edited others, and published his memoirs and a
two-volume set of U.S. - Native American treaties, all of which are
devastating accounts of U.S. duplicity. Every treaty made was broken or
ignored to this day,
and the rights of our Native Indians willfully violated and trampled over
through lies, deception and deceit. Just the latest example of this is in
one of the accusations in the ongoing Jack Abramoff political and financial
corruption scandal now making daily headlines. Abramoff, his partner, and
other
well-known Republicans are accused of bilking Indian casino gambling
interests out of an estimated $85 million. Further, in his now disclosed
emails, he referred to Native Americans as "monkeys, troglodites (people
with a sub-human like
nature), and idiots."

Deloria also wrote that unlike African Americans, Native Indians did not
want to be equals in U.S. society. They wanted no part of it. Vine Victor
Deloria, Jr.,historian, scholar, activist and much more was born March 26,
1933 and died November 13, 2005. He will be missed.

The Industrial Revolution and its single-minded pursuit of profit (what
Veblen called "the maximization of pecuniary interests") was Deloria's
point. It produced along with it a vast array of toxins that have done
untold ecological
damage. The alarm was prominently sounded in Rachel Carson's landmark book
"Silent Spring" published in 1962 that forced the banning of DDT, influenced
President Jack Kennedy and led to legislation affecting our air, water and
soil.
It also launched an environmental movement that's grown into many and
diverse advocacy groups that lobby and fight for environmental sanity and
justice.

Since Carson's time we know much more about the dangers we face, and we have
many more of them. But despite our knowledge and the influence of many
concerned
scientists and a public supporting the need for a healthy environment, our
political leaders from both parties, in service to the dominant corporate
interests they serve, pay little more than lip service to this most
important of issues along with war and peace. Although the Congress passed
more than a
dozen major environmental statutes and laws since the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 including the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, CERCLA
establishing the Superfund to pay for toxic cleanups, the Endangered Species
Act and
more, those statutes have since been weakened or ignored. As a result,
conditions today are much worse than 40 years ago and the dangers from them
threaten our survival.

In his 2003 published book - "Hegemony or Survival" - Noam Chomsky cited the
reflections of eminent biologist Ernst Mayr. Mayr observed that other
species were better able to survive than humans and that the average life of
a species is about 100,000 years. It's generally believed the human species
has now about reached that limit and may be near becoming extinct. If so,
and in light of our more recent behavior, we may, as Chomsky notes, turn out
to be the only species
ever to destroy ourselves and much else along with us.

THE NUCLEAR AGE CHANGED EVERYTHING

Since the atom was first split in a Berlin laboratory in 1938, the world has
never been the same. The great scientist Albert Einstein's Special Theory of
Relativity was instrumental in the nuclear development that followed
creating the atom bomb. But his greatest influence was the letter he sent to
Franklin
Roosevelt in 1939 urging him to build it. Einstein feared the Nazis might do
it first with disastrous consequences. He later regretted his action and
said: "I made one great mistake in my life....when I signed the letter to
President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made...." He also said
"our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing the power
to make great decisions for good and evil. The unleashed power of the atom
has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward
unparalleled catastrophe."

If he were alive today, what might Einstein say about the
threat from depleted uranium (DU) which when weaponized is possibly the
ultimate weapon of mass destruction. But even if he said it, would the
public be allowed to hear him? And most important, would his words change
anything?

DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) - WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT'S USED

To use uranium as a fuel for commercial reactors or for nuclear weapons it
must be enriched. The enrichment process is then followed by gaseous
diffusion in two streams - one is enriched and the other depleted. Before a
use was found for it,
DU was just stored in vast amounts as a byproduct. However, when it was
discovered that solid "dense metal" DU projectiles in all forms
(missiles,bombs, shells and bullets) greatly increased their ability to
penetrate and destroy a target, the Pentagon had a new technology it hoped
to use in combat
and now has for the past 15 years.

The first DU weapon system was developed for the Navy in 1968, and DU
weapons were first given to Israel for use in the 1973 Yom Kippur war under
U.S.supervision. These weapons were later sold to 29 countries but never
used until
the 1991 Gulf War when the U.S. broke an international taboo prohibiting
them.

Since then the U.S. has fought wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and again in
Iraq. In all these conflicts, thousands of tons of solid DU weapons have
been used causing far more devastation thus far from its radiation and
chemical toxins than from the targets destroyed and those killed in target
areas.

Worst of all, the lingering and spreading affects from DU contamination
never end, resulting in all those exposed to it and their loved ones with
whom they have intimate contact and their offspring the likelihood of having
one or more of virtually any illness, disease or disability imaginable often
leading to
early death or at the least a lifetime of pain, suffering and great expense.
In Orwellian language, DU is the (deadly and unwelcome) gift that keeps on
giving - and killing.

USING DU AS A WEAPON IS ILLEGAL UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

Poison gas in various forms was first used as a weapon in WW I by both
sides.
It's effects were deadly causing well over 1 million total casualties and
nearly 100,000 deaths. After the war, the revulsion over their use led to
the 1925 Geneva Protocol and other succeeding Geneva Weapons Conventions
that
specifically outlawed the use of chemical and biological agents in any form
for any reason in war. The 1925 Geneva Convention Gas Protocol specifically
prohibits the use of poison gas weapons.

Although no Geneva Convention or other treaty bans the use of radioactive
uranium weapons, including DU weapons,
these weapons are, in fact, illegal de facto and de jure when judged by the
standard of the Hague Convention of 1907 which prohibits use of any "poison
or poisoned weapons." DU weapons in all their forms and uses are radioactive
and
chemically toxic, and thus clearly fit the definition of poisonous weapons
banned under the Hague Convention. The U.S. is a signatory to the Hague and
Geneva Conventions
(which are binding treaties under international law). In using DU weapons in
combat or for any purpose, the U.S. has violated its sacred treaty
obligations and is guilty of a war crime. Further, all DU weapons also meet
the U.S.
federal code definition of "weapons of mass destruction" (WMD) in 2 out of 3
categories:

[The US CODE, TITLE 50, CHAPTER 40, SECTION 2302 defines a Weapon of Mass
Destruction as follows: "The term 'weapon of mass destruction' means any
weapon or device that is intended, or has the capability, to cause death or
serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through the release,
dissemination, or impact of (A) toxic or poisonous chemicals or their
precursors, (B) a disease organism, or (C) radiation or radioactivity."

Because the U.S. is a signatory to the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the
U.S. military is violating its own military code. By using depleted uranium
(which is clearly
a WMD and thus illegal) in combat in 4 wars, the U.S. is clearly guilty of
the very crime we claimed our right to go to war against Iraq to prevent.

In addition, under various UN Conventions and Covenants that are binding
international law for its signatories, the use of any weapons that cause
harm after the battle including away from the battlefield, harm the
environment, or kill, wound or cause harm inhumanely are illegal and banned.
DU weapons are
poisonous under international law and violate all the above conditions. Even
the seminal Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is legally
non-binding to its signatories, implies a moral duty never to use any
weapons as potentially
harmful as DU.

KNOWN EFFECTS FROM DU USE THUS FAR - AND THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING, THE
WORST IS YET TO COME

I'm very indebted to Leuren Moret for the data discussed through this
article and below.

Leuren is an independent scientist and internationally recognized expert on
radiation, DU and public health. She's done extensive research on the
environmental and public health effects of low level radiation from
atmospheric testing fallout, nuclear power plants and DU weapons radiation
in 42 countries, has written detailed reports and articles on her important
findings, given testimony on the harmful affects of DU poisoning and is an
outspoken critic of DU use.

In an article she authored in July, 2004 she wrote: "The use of depleted
uranium weaponry by the United States, defying all international treaties,
will slowly annihilate all species on earth including the human species, and
yet this country continues to do so with full knowledge of its destructive
potential."

Leuren's work has revealed some shocking facts. Since the U.S. military
first used DU weapons in the 1991 Gulf War, it has released the radioactive
atomicity equivalent of
400,000
Nagasaki nuclear bombs into the global atmosphere (that's
no misprint) causing permanent contamination with a half-life of 4.5 billion
years. Furthermore, that DU radiation is 10 times the amount released by all
atmospheric testing which in total equaled
40,000 Hiroshima bombs (again, no misprint). The 2 atom bombs used against
the Japanese killed a likely 300,000 or
more people from the initial blasts and subsequent radiation and chemical
poisoning deaths. To this day, there are still reported deaths attributed to
the bombings. Now imagine the potential threat to all planetary life from
all the DU weapons used since 1991 and their continued use in Iraq and
Afghanistan -
the equivalent of 400,000 Nagasaki bombings and increasing daily as U.S.
forces now are conducting 4 to 6 daily bombings of target sites in Iraq
alone using DU bombs.

Leuren calls DU "The Trojan Horse of nuclear war - it keeps giving and keeps
killing. There's no way to clean it up, and no way to turn it off because it
continues to decay into other radioactive isotopes..." As it decays, it
continues to release more radiation. DU when used as a weapon in war, as the
U.S. has now done 4 times and continues to do so in Iraq and Afghanistan and
intends to continue using, is Stanley Kubrick's fictional Doomsday Machine
for real (from his 1964 film Dr. Strangelove). DU may be the ultimate weapon
of mass
annihilation. Unless there's a mass worldwide public awakening to this
threat to demand an immediate end to its use for any purpose, we're left
with little more than the message from the subtitle of the Kubrick film -
stop worrying and love
the bomb--and likely prepare to die.

The greatest damage from DU comes from the radiation residue after its use.

When a DU weapon strikes a target, it penetrates deeply and aerosolizes into
a fine spray which then contaminates the air and soil around the target
area.

The residue is permanent, and its microscopic and submicroscopic particles
remain suspended in air or are swept into the air from the tainted soil and
are carried by winds around the earth as a radioactive component of
atmospheric dust. That dust falls to earth indiscriminately everywhere
causing radiation contamination that affects every living thing and cannot
be remediated.

The contamination causes virtually every known illness and disease from
severe headaches, muscle pain and general fatigue, to major birth defects,
infection, depression, cardiovascular disease, many types of cancer and
brain tumors. It also causes permanent disability and death.

In June, 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO), without specific
reference to DU, announced in a press release that global cancer rates will
increase by 50% by 2020. WHO is usually conservative in its estimates.
Might they believe things are potentially far worse? And are they closely
examining the effects of DU to those in combat areas where these weapons are
and have been used?

Those individuals (military and civilian) at or near target areas are most
immediately affected by DU contamination, especially if they remain there
for an extended time. During the 6 week 1991 Gulf war only 467 U.S.
personnel were wounded and about 150 killed. Out of the 580,000 military
personnel who
served in that war, 325,000 were reported to be on permanent medical
disability by the year 2000. It was also reported then the number was
increasing by 43,000 each year. In fact, the annual increases were even
greater, and by 2004 the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA) reported over 518,000 Gulf-era
veterans to be on medical disability. It also reported over 500,000 veterans
were homeless. Studies were also done on veterans whose wives had normal
babies
before the war. It reported two-thirds of post-war births of those studied
had severe birth defects, such as missing brains, eyes, legs and arms and
blood diseases.

There are already scattered early reports of DU caused health problems from
the current Iraq conflict (and probably Afghanistan) as well as an above
normal rate of still active duty military and veteran suicide and family
violence. As deployments in the current conflict are much longer than the
short Gulf war and most serving go back for a second or even third tour of
duty, it's easy to imagine a literal holocaust that will eventually
devastate all military and other personnel who have or are now serving or
will serve in Iraq and the region. And it likely will have a similar effect
on the wives and husbands of veterans and their post-service offspring. Once
again it must be emphasized. The U.S. government prior to 1991 had full
knowledge of the devastating effects
DU would cause and still used it, still does and still intends to keep using
it.

Beyond belief? You bet. If someone wrote this as a work of fiction or
science fiction, no one would believe it, and probably no one would publish
it.

DU USED AS WEAPONS - A WILLFUL ACT OF GENOCIDE

From its use already in 4 wars, the use of DU weapons is an act of insanity
as well as possibly the greatest ever crime against humanity (and all other
living species) and a war crime. Those responsible include 3 presidents,
scores of high government officials and the Pentagon high command to include
a lot of
generals and admirals. These people are criminals. They're guilty of mass
murder without end. They all should be made to answer for their crimes
through indictment and trials both in our federal courts and at the
International Criminal Court
(ICC) at the Hague which was established in 2002 to try individuals for war
crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. These people, or at least most
of them,
are guilty of all three crimes and should pay the highest price for them
with no leniency. Their convictions should once and for all serve as a
reminder to all future leaders that this type reckless behavior will never
again be tolerated.

Nobel laureate Harold Pinter, a distinguished author and man of great honor,
passion and eloquence, in his 2005 acceptance speech made these comments
about the current Iraq war. Too ill with cancer, he was unable to travel to
Oslo for the award ceremony and instead read his comments on videotape.
Pinter is a sharp critic of the Iraq war and the U.S. and his U.K.
government's role in it. In his Nobel award address he called the invasion
of Iraq a "bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating
absolute contempt for the concept of
international law." He stressed "the United States no longer bothers about
low intensity conflict. It no longer sees any point in being reticent or
even devious......It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United
Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent
and irrelevant."

Pinter is right, and he said much more in his 46 minute acceptance speech.
He also could have added the Bush administration since 9/11/01 has governed
recklessly and arrogantly. With obsessive secrecy and contempt for the
Constitution, the Congress, the courts and the U.S. public, George Bush has
governed by Executive Order or Decree, a tool of tyrants when used to excess
as this president has. He's done it to pursue a policy of permanent imperial
war for U.S. global domination. The tragedy of 9/11 aside, the Bush
administration created a fear-induced sham world terrorist threat to fight a
so-called "global war on terrorism" for decades to come. It also created a
near police state at home with baseless mass roundups, illegal detentions
and deportations as
part of a racist war against dark-skinned immigrants, illegal warrantless
domestic spying and systemic use of torture of those detained and those held
in offshore prisons and "renditioned" to mostly unnamed countries tolerating
this
practice.

The Bush administration did all this based on a foundation of willful
deception,deceit, and endless web of lies, and an utter contempt for
political, economic and social justice at home and abroad and the rule of
law.

Until recent months, Bush has gotten away with it all. Now with his poll
numbers plummeting, the Iraq war a hopeless quagmire (despite the
disinformation to the contrary), the possibility of further high level
administration officials
being indicted beside Lewis Libby along with the potentially huge political
and financial Jack Abramoff corruption scandal, and the Democrats and some
Republicans finally stirring and expressing their ire, the administration
may be nearing its Waterloo. Like many other regimes in the past guilty of
imperial arrogance and overreach (like the last one that tried - the Nazis -
and thought they'd rule for 1000 years but only lasted 12) this
administration and its reckless and heartless agenda may meet a similar
fate.

Great thinkers and perceptive observers have ventured to guess what our fate
may be as a result of our actions. Without predicting it, Noam Chomsky in a
recent talk cited the worst of all possible outcomes - a nuclear holocaust,
environmental destruction or the end of even nominal democracy.

Yale Senior Research Scholar Immanuel Wallerstein in his important 2003
book, The Decline of American Power, believes the U.S. "has been a fading
global power since the 1970s, and the U.S. response to the (9/11) terrorist
attacks has
merely accelerated this decline." He goes on to say "the economic, political
and military factors that contributed to U.S. hegemony are the same factors
that will inexorably produce the coming U.S. decline." He later wrote he
can't predict the outcome of "this chaotic crisis of our capitalist world
system",
but the U.S. attempt to stop it will fail. At best, they'll only delay it as
they've been trying to do. Wallerstein sees a future that will go one of two
ways (if we survive) - either one based on progressive values or something
that's quite the opposite.

Retired professor Chalmers Johnson, in his important 2004 book, The Sorrows
of Empire, also predicts the dissolution of the U.S. empire if its present
path continues. Unlike imperial Rome that took hundreds of years before it
fell, he sees U.S. sorrows arriving "with the speed of FedEx." He predicts 4
sorrows if the present trend continues that will create an ugly alternative
to our present constitutional form of government: imperial overreach with a
"state of perpetual war" leading to more terrorist retaliation against us; a
loss of democracy
and our constitutional rights; the end of truthfulness "replaced by a system
of propaganda, disinformation, and glorification of war, power, and the
military legions"; finally, he sees the nation going bankrupt from its
inability to maintain ever more "grandiose military projects." The U.S.
national debt now
exceeds $8.2 trillion. It's growing unsustainably by over $400 billion
annually as is the current account deficit that in 2006 may reach $1
trillion. Both deficits rely "on the kindness of strangers" (foreign
governments and investors willing to keep buying our treasury securities and
invest in our equity and
fixed income markets) to sustain us. They'll do it only as long as they
believe they're making sound investments. Johnson doesn't believe the
present trend is irreversible. There's still time to change it, but so far
he says we're not even trying. He thus believes the only hope for us and the
planet is for the world
community of nations to act together to "checkmate" us. If they don't or
won't or can't, nuclear war may eventually ensue and "civilization will
disappear."

To prevent the above scenarios from happening, the world community of
nations must coalesce soon and go for "checkmate." And united they should
demand that
this kind of behavior will never again be tolerated by any nation. They
should strengthen the international laws now in place enough to insure it,
require every nation to be a signatory and force all nations to abide by
these binding laws with the severest consequences for those who don't. But
even if all this
were to happen, the damage already done is overwhelming and spreading. It
may already be too late. In the U.S. alone, 42 states are now contaminated
with DU from its manufacture, testing and deployment. Also, the manufacture
of millions
of DU bombs and their deployment to U.S. military bases around the world
continues.

Leuren Moret just learned from a declassified document a Hawaii based Quaker
group obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that the
U.S. military has 2.7 million DU bombs in U.S. still occupied South Korea
(over
50 years after the end of the Korean War). She says it's little wonder North
Korea wants nuclear weapons. She believes these bombs were moved there in
the 1990s from U.S. still occupied (Japanese) Okinawa (60 years after WW II)
because the
Japanese (who abhor nuclear weapons) refused to domicile them any longer.

And she speculates further that we very likely have many millions more DU
bombs deployed in other countries where we have bases. That could include a
great many
more according to Chalmers Johnson. In The Sorrows of Empire, Johnson
mentioned the existence of at least 725 known U.S. bases in 153 countries,
besides hundreds more in this country. He also believes we have secret bases
so the
real total could be much higher and now likely is with all the new bases
we're building in Iraq, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and
plans for Africa. Even without these weapons being used, imagine the
potential danger we're placing the people of these countries in (and our own
citizens as
well) just because the weapons are there (and here). There could be
accidents, the military engages in exercises where they likely test and use
these weapons, and, of course, they could be stolen or even sold by rogue
military or other personnel looking for a quick buck.

Imagine for a moment a reverse scenario. What if the U.K, France, Russia or
China had bases in this country (bad enough) and additionally stored
millions of DU bombs or other nuclear weapons on our soil. Would we citizens
tolerate just the bases, let alone with DU bombs? Unlikely. Also imagine if
the public
here knew thousands or millions of these weapons were being stored on U.S.
bases here, near where they lived.

They might also consider the 104 current operating commercial nuclear power
plants in the U.S. They're all dangerous, but especially the aging ones.
Every one is a potential unstable nuclear bomb and possible disaster waiting
to happen, either from an inevitable accident or from sabotage. Responsible
experts believe it's just a matter of time before a major nuclear disaster
occurs somewhere in the world, possibly or even likely a full nuclear core
meltdown -
the worst possible kind of nuclear catastrophe other than a nuclear or
thermonuclear explosion or widespread use of DU weapons.

If a core meltdown happened (or more likely when one happens), a vast area
would be contaminated and made uninhabitable forever. Where I live in
Chicago I'm
surrounded by 11 nuclear power plants, many of them aging and all of them
with histories of safety violations caused by aging and shoddy maintenance.
Even without an accident, these facilities (and all others everywhere)
discharge enough radiation daily in their normal operations to contaminate
the food we
eat (even organic food), the water we drink and the air we breathe into our
lungs.

If one of these plants had a core meltdown and metropolitan Chicago was
downwind from the fallout, the city and suburbs alone would become
uninhabitable forever and would have to be evacuated quickly with all
possessions left behind and
lost (including our homes) except for what we could carry in suitcases or in
the trunks of our cars. Everyone should thus ask the obvious question - is
this kind of insane "nuclear Russian roulette" risk worth taking? There are
much cleaner,
safer alternatives available or that can be developed, if we'd just be
willing to invest heavily in alternative energy sources other than the
nuclear option and fossil fuels. There are also common sense ways to
practice conservation, without significantly impeding our western lifestyle.

Up to now, our leaders have been irresponsible and derelict in their duty to
inform us of the risk and act responsibly to remove it to protect us from
potential harm. They've also shown no restraint in their actions or respect
for the people in countries we seek to dominate. Those countries are never
the developed ones in the Global North with the power to respond. They're
always weak, less developed and overexploited ones, usually with darker
skinned people and a non Judeo-Christian faith. In this country, especially
without a draft and with few good career opportunities for the poor and
underprivileged,
military service with the promise of education and other benefits (that most
inductees never get) becomes the temporary career choice of expedience. The
rich and well-off only wage the wars but don't fight in them. Instead they
send the
poor to fight and die for them to make them richer. When our Vietnam era
military came home sick and dying from the toxic effects of Agent Orange
(highly toxic dioxin), Henry Kissinger, a Nobel Peace prize recipient and
accused war criminal, arrogantly insulted them all when he called them "just
dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." Used, abused and
discarded like worn out shoes. Kissinger's past has come back to haunt him.
Before travelling abroad now, he must check with the State Department to be
sure there are no
warrants out for his arrest.

The world today is closer to the tipping point than ever before. We may, in
fact, have passed it and it's already too late. The price we've paid for our
technological advances has been an equal growth in the threat to our
survival.

Up to now we've found no way to end this destructive path. We're fast
running out of time, and unless we do it and soon, we may not get another
chance.

The U.S. today is like a giant Gulliver Agonistes and the rest of the world
like the Lilliputians - in Jonathan Swift's classic satire. Despite the
mismatch, the Lilliputans (who stood 6 inches high) were able to tie down
this giant and
prevent him from wrecking their homes. In the end, they got Gulliver to
leave and were able to go on with their lives. The lesson is clear. People
everywhere need to understand the great peril we all face - our survival.
Then, like the Lilliputians, we need to hog-tie this out-of-control
predatory Gulliver to
save ourselves.

Two final thoughts to consider - the first one from Dr. Helen Caldicott,
president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, an expert on the medical
hazards of nuclear energy, author, activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee
from her 1978 book Nuclear Madness (updated in 1994): "As a physician, I
contend
nuclear technology (military and commercial) threatens life on our planet
with extinction. If present trends continue (and they have and have gotten
worse), the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink will
soon be contaminated with enough radioactive pollutants to pose a potential
health
hazard far greater than any plague humanity has ever experienced."

The second is from the great British journalist, Robert Fisk from his year
end London Independent column entitled War Without End: "Only justice, not
bombs, can make our dangerous world a safer place."

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@...

----------------------------------------------------------------
Warm regards
Anne

If you can't do it with love and cheerfulness, don't do it at all, go home.
Mother Teresa

Endorse the campaign to halt the new reactor
http://www.reactnow.org/pdfs/endorsement.pdf
Send an email for the forests:
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/tasmania/

"One by one the walls come tumbling down,
Brick by brick, row by row, stone by stone.
Relics of fear and bigotry who've long outlived their time,
They crumble into ruin, foundations undermined.
And not by weapons or machines,
But by people armed with nothing more than dreams."
-Eric Bogle, "The Colour of Dreams"

http://www.attractinggenuinelove.com/peace

?. The fate of the earth is in our hands .?