US war of Occupation Kills Iraqi Kids with Radioactivity
For the first time, independent
researchers have found that the
bodies of Iraqi children born with
congenital disabilities, such as
heart disease and malformed
limbs, near a former United States
air base in southern Iraq are
contaminated with high levels of
radioactive
heavy
metals
associated with toxic depleted
uranium pollution leftover from the
2003 U.S.-led invasion.
In 2016, researchers tested
the hair and teeth of children from
villages in proximity to the Talil Air
Base, a former U.S. air base,
located south of Baghdad and near
the city Nasiriyah. They found
elevated levels of uranium and of
thorium, two slightly radioactive
heavy metals linked to cancer and
used to make nuclear fuel.
Thorium is a direct decay
product of depleted uranium, a
chemically toxic byproduct of the
nuclear power industry that was
added to weapons used during the
first year of the war in Iraq. Thanks
to its high density, depleted
uranium can reinforce tank armor
and allow bullets and other
munitions to penetrate armored
vehicles and other heavy defenses.
Depleted uranium was also
released into the environment from
trash dumps and burn pits outside
U.S. military bases.
Using statistical analysis, the
researchers also determined that
living near the air base was
associated with an increased risk
of giving birth to a child with
congenital disabilities, including
congenital heart disease, spinal
deformations, cleft lip and missing
or malformed and paralyzed limbs.
The results of the study will soon
8
be published in the journal
Environamental Pollution, where
the authors argue more research
is needed to determine the extent
that toxins left behind after the U.S.-
led war and occupation are
continuing to contaminate and
sicken the Iraqi population.
For years following the 2003
U.S-led invasion, Iraqi doctors
raised alarms about increasing
numbers of babies being born with
congenital disabilities in areas of
heavy fighting. Other peer-
reviewed studies found dramatic
increases in child cancer, leukemia,
miscarriages and infant mortality in
cities such as Fallujah, which saw
the largest battles of the war.
Scientists, Iraqi physicians and
international observers have long
suspected depleted uranium to be
the culprit.
Up to 2,000 metric tons of
depleted uranium entered the Iraqi
environment in 2003, mostly from
thousands of rounds fired by the
U.S., according to United Nations
estimates. Depleted uranium
munitions were also fired by U.S.
forces in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia during the Persian Gulf War
in 1993.
The U.S. has also
imported thousands of tons of
military equipment into Iraq,
including tanks, trucks, bombers,
armored vehicles, infantry
weapons, antiaircraft systems,
artillery and mortars – some of
which were coated with depleted
uranium. Much of this equipment
eventually found its way into military
junkyards, dozens of which remain
scattered near former U.S. military
bases and other installations
across country.
Depleted uranium was also
stored at U.S. military bases and
was known to leak into the
environment. The Talil Air Base,
which served as a focal point for
the new study, is only one of
dozens of sites across Iraq where
the U.S. military is believed to have
left a highly toxic legacy.
In
2013,
international
observers reported that between
300 and 365 sites with depleted
uranium contamination were
identified by Iraqi authorities in the
years following the 2003 U.S.
invasion, with an estimated
cleanup cost of $30 million to $45
million.
Savabieasfahani, who has
researched military pollution
across Iraq, said the violence of
war continues through pollution
long after the carnage ends and
the troops come home. Dropping
tons of bombs and releasing
millions of bullets leaves toxic
residues in the air, water and soil
of the “targeted population,”
poisoning the landscape – and the
people — for generations. Of
course, U.S. war making in Iraq has
not ended. The U.S. military
continues to train Iraqi security
forces and lead a coalition that
carried out airstrikes against ISIS
(also known as Daesh) insurgents
in Iraq as recently as last week.
“The U.S. must be held
responsible and forced to clean up
all the sites which it has polluted.
Technology exists for the cleanup
of radiation contamination,” Sava-
bieasfahani said. “The removal
and disposal of U.S.-created
military junkyards would go a long
way toward cleaning toxic releases
out of the Iraqi environment.”
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