The Jordan Times (Amman)
January 18, 2001
Iraq demands investigation of depleted uranium arms effects
http://www.jordantimes.com/Thu/news/news5.htm

BAGHDAD (R) — Iraq demanded on Wednesday a probe into the effects of depleted uranium-tipped weapons used by US-led forces in the 1991 Gulf War and the 1999 NATO war on Yugoslavia, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

INA said Iraq urged the United Nations and concerned world bodies to investigate the use of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition to inform the world public of its health effects.

Iraq's demand comes amid growing fears of a “Balkans Syndrome” with reports of cancer among troops who served in NATO-led peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo, where depleted uranium shells were used.

A foreign ministry source, quoted by INA, said: “These reports confirm the credibility of facts presented by Iraq over previous years on the use of these weapons by American and British forces in their 1991 aggression on Iraq and their disastrous effects on people and environment.”

“The use of depleted uranium against Iraq has caused strange diseases and an abnormal rise in cases of leukaemia, and cancers of lungs, skin and digestive system, 75 per cent of which is among children.”

The source also blamed DU for the increase in congenital diseases and deformities and the spread of unknown diseases and environmental pollution.

“Despite acknowledgment by the American administration and British government of the use of depleted uranium weapons ... they are insisting on using these weapons under immoral justification and deliberately concealing their effects to mislead the public opinion,” the source said.

“This inhumane behaviour reflects the disregard of the American administration and the British government for international law and human rights principles,” the source added.

The source said Iraq reserved the right to compensation for the damage caused by allied use of these weapons, demanding that American and British officials be put on trial for “war crimes and genocide.”

Iraqi authorities have repeatedly accused Western powers of inflicting a creeping environmental disaster on the country's southern provinces by firing shells made with depleted uranium, which is used to harden them so they can pierce tank armour.

Earlier this year, a cancer conference organised by the Iraqi Health Ministry said the number of cancer cases registered in Iraq had risen from 4,341 in 1991 to 6,158 in 1997.

In 1998, Iraq sent a formal complaint to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reserving the right to compensation for the “appalling damage” caused by allied use of depleted uranium shells during the Gulf War, in which a Western-led alliance ejected invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait.



Commento: quando faranno il processo alla Albright, anche il Diavolo si costituirà parte civile.