These children in Iraq appear to be healthy, but 15% of all new babies born in Fallujah have birth defects.
Green Prophet writer Arwa has been hot on the trail of the war’s devastating environmental impact on Iraq. She created a profile of environmental problems caused in part by the war and talked to conservationists Nature Iraq about the requisite steps to restore Iraq’s marshlands.
But the true extent of one of the war’s most horrifying legacies has been kept from the international public’s view. In an excerpt taken from The American Conservative, UTNE describes how the American army has left behind untold (but high) quantities of depleted uranium (DU) that is the most probable cause of babies being born with three heads and other devastating defects.
UTNE lists a variety of cases of Fallujah babies in particular that born with defects. Some reported defects include:
- Babies born with only one eye
- Babies born with missing limbs or too many limbs
- A higher than normal incidence of babies with brain damage or tumors
- Cardiac defects
- Missing genitalia
John Simpson, a world-renowned journalist, was presented with a photograph of a newborn with three heads when he toured a Fallujah hospital in March, 2010. And Ayman Qais, director of Fallujah’s general hospital, told the Guardian that “Most [deformities] are in the head and spinal cord, but there are also many deficiencies in lower limbs.”
Authorities have gone so far as to advise women to not have babies at all, at least for now.
Depleted Uranium
Everyone – scientists, doctors, and aid workers – is pointing to the war and the bevy of weaponry, waste, rubble, burn pits, and oil fires left behind as the culprit of this travesty. Some are calling depleted uranium (DU) this war’s agent orange (an herbicide that caused similar deformations in Viet Nam).
“DU is a dense, highly toxic, radioactive heavy metal that the military uses for its shielding and penetrative capabilities,” according to UTNE, that will not be completely eradicated for 4.5 billion years.
The U.S. left behind 320 metric tons of DU after the first Gulf War, but there’s no real sense yet of how much will be left behind this time. One journalist traveled through Iraq with a Geiger counter that detects radioactivity and found plenty of it, including where children play among the rubble.
The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health verifies the notion that congenital malformations can be attributed to war-associated long-term exposure to contamination, but the U.S. Department of Defense denies responsibility.
The consequence of George W. Bush’s decision wage war on Iraq, for all the wrong reasons, are immediately felt by 15% of all new babies born in Fallujah. And they will continue to be felt for literally billions of years.
:: UTNE
More on Iraq’s environmental problems:
A Profile of Iraq’s Environmental Woes
Nature Iraq’s Wildlife Conservation in a Combat Zone
Mining, Silt, and Transformer Waste in Iraq
image via James Gordon
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
I find it bizarre, here I sit at my desk lknioog out the window at the ridgeside woods on a cool New England early spring morning when only the white pines show any hint of green, and you men of goodwill are out in the barren wastelands of the world, creating order, exemplfying duty, attempting humanity, and shedding light and communication. It just goes to show the mind numbing work of the trenches, is still where the money talks and the bullshit walks. Good fortune on your journey and thanks for the posts
This too:
Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi. “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009.” The International Journal of Environmental Studies and Public Health. 7 July 2010.
and this:
Samira Alaani, Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, Mohammad Tafash and Paola Manduca. “Four Polygamous Families with Congenital Birth Defects from Fallujah, Iraq.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2 January 2011.
this too:
Cockburn, Patrick. “Toxic legacy of US assault on Fallujah ‘worse than Hiroshima.’” The Independent. 24 July 2010. .
so yeah… I don’t think you’re right Richard,
Thought you may find this report useful : http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/docs/163.pdf
There is absolutely no evidence of any DU being found in, or around, Fallujah. There is no evidence because no DU weapons were ever used by the Americans in the vicinity of Fallujah.
Here is a more likely cause: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/05/world/main4235028.shtml