[THS] !!! Cancer - The Deadly Legacy of the Invasion of Iraq

[Peter Webster]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24348.htm

Cancer - The Deadly Legacy of the Invasion of Iraq

By Jalal Ghazi

January 08, 2010 "New America Media" -- Forget about oil, occupation, terrorism or
even Al Qaeda. The real hazard for Iraqis these days is cancer.

Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with
deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth
defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.

Here are a few examples. In Falluja, which was heavily bombarded by the US in
2004, as many as 25% of new- born infants have serious abnormalities, including
congenital anomalies, brain tumors, and neural tube defects in the spinal cord.

The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from 500
diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009 according to Al Jazeera English.

In Basra there were 1885 diagnosed cases of cancer in 2005. According to Dr. Jawad
al Ali, director of the Oncology Center, the number increased to 2,302 in 2006 and
3,071 in 2007. Dr. Ali told Al Jazeera English that about 1,250-1,500 patients visit the
Oncology Center every month now.

Not everyone is ready to draw a direct correlation between allied bombing of these
areas and tumors, and the Pentagon has been skeptical of any attempts to link the
two. But Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of
depleted uranium used in U.S. and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer
rates are not unconnected.

Dr. Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health
Organization, the United Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is
scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth defects. He told Al
Jazeera English, "Children with congenital anomalies are subjected to karyotyping
and chromosomal studies with complete genetic back-grounding and clinical
assessment. Family and obstetrical histories are taken too. These international studies
have produced ample evidence to show that depleted uranium has disastrous
consequences."

Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003
invasion.

Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of "Uranium in Iraq" told Al Jazeera English that the
incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with
the spike in cancer rates in 1996-1997 and 2008-2009.

There are also similar patterns of birth defects among Iraqi and Afghan infants who
were also born in areas that were subjected to depleted uranium bombardment.

Dr. Daud Miraki, director of the Afghan Depleted Uranium and Recovery Fund, told Al
Jazeera English he found evidence of the effect of depleted uranium in infants in
eastern and southeastern Afghanistan. "Many children are born with no eyes, no
limbs, or tumors protruding from their mouths and eyes," said Dr. Miraki.

It's not just Iraqis and Afghans. Babies born to American soldiers deployed in Iraq
during the 1991 war are also showing similar defects. In 2000, Iraqi biologist Huda
saleh Mahadi pointed out that the hands of deformed American infants were directly
linked to their shoulders, a deformity seen in Iraqi infants.

Many U.S. soldiers are now referring to Gulf War Syndrome #2 and alleging they
have developed cancer because of exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.

But soldiers can end their exposure to depleted uranium when their service in Iraq
ends. Iraqi civilians have nowhere else to go. The water, soil and air in large areas of
Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with depleted uranium that has a
radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years.

Dr. Doug Rokke, former director of the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium Project during
the first Gulf War, was in charge of a project of decontaminating American tanks. He
told Al Jazeera English that "it took the U.S. Department of Defense in a multi-million
dollar facility with trained physicists and engineers, three years to decontaminate the
24 tanks that I sent back to the U.S."

And he added, "What can the average Iraqi do with thousands and thousands of
trash and destroyed vehicles spread across the desert and other areas?"

According to Al Jazeera, the Pentagon used more than 300 tons of depleted uranium
in 1991. In 2003, the United States used more than 1,000 tons.