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The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 214
The memo also described that inhaled particles behave like a gas in the
lungs, go directly into the blood and are dispersed thoughout the tissues of the
body. The gut would also be exposed by ingesting contaminated foods, and areas
of the gut where the food sat for longer periods would have more radiation
exposure and increased damage.
822
Specific statistics on contamination in Iraq as a direct result of the use of these DU
munitions on a wide-spread basis is not available. After the first GW, Saddam resisted wide
spread testing from outside sources and it was never completed. Since the fall of the regime of
Saddam Hussein, the US government has forbidden the UN Environmental Program from
completing this task.
823
Some sample radiation levels were obtained by a Christian Science
Monitor correspondent using a Geiger counter. Sampling areas of “Baghdad that had been
subjected to heavy shelling by US troops. He found radiation levels 1,000 to 1,900 times higher
than normal in residential areas where children were playing nearby.”
824
The effects of the DU left behind from the war can clearly be seen in the horrible health
consequences suffered by the US soldiers who were responsible for DU cleanup of coalition
vehicles and equipment hit by friendly fire. Army Health Physicist, Dr. Doug Rokke (Army
Reserves Major) was recalled to active duty and put in charge of the cleanup operation. Prior to
being recalled, he was conducting research for the University of Illinois Physics Department. Dr.
Rokke says his team of 100 were given the job of cleanup without any specialized training or
protective equipment. He reports that 30 percent of his cleanup team has died and most of the
remaining, including himself, have serious health problems. Dr. Rokke receives a disability
check.
825
In 2003 he was only one of 476,000 GW era veterans receiving disability according to
US Department of Veterans Affairs statistics.
826
The statistics don't state how many of these
veterans actually served in the GW but it is assumed that the majority of them did.
David Ike reports that within three years of the completion of the 1991 GW, the rate of
cancer in Iraq had increased 700 percent.
827
According to the Visie Foundation, which is based in
the Netherlands, the incidence of children suffering from leukemia has risen 600 percent in areas
of Iraq.
828
Two doctors and their colleagues in Iraq have tracked and reported extremely
significant increases in both birth defects and cancer deaths in the Saddam Teaching Hospital in
Basra, Iraq since the 1991 GW. They attribute these to DU. These doctors are Dr. Alim Yacoub
of the Mastansirayah School of Medicine in Baghdad, Iraq and Dr. Genan Hassan of the
University of Basra. The reported incidence of birth defects went from 11 per 100,000 births
in1989 to 116 per 100,000 births in 2001—a 954 percent increase. The reported number of
cancer deaths in the Basra hospital went from 34 in 1988 to 450 in 1998 and 603 in 2001—a
1,670 percent increase. In 2002, Iraqi sources admitted that “[t]he cause of all of these cancers
and deformities remains theoretical because we can't confirm the presence of uranium in tissue or
urine with the equipment we have... and because of the sanctions, we can't get the equipment we
need.”
829
There are also reports of extremely high rates of birth defects among the children of
GW veterans.
830
The US military has continued to deny that DU has any significant health risks. Ed
Erickson comments on this in Environmental Magazine, he writes: “the Pentagon has struggled
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