Depleted Uranium Conference Report, or DU you want to save the world or not?

We just returned from possibly the most disturbing conference we have ever attended. It was called DU: from Appalachia to Afghanistan to Iraq. For those of you unfamiliar with, and honestly we were in that group until just a few hours ago, what DU is, we'll give you the short version now. DU is short for Depleted Uranium. Though in reality, there is no real difference between depleted uranium and regular uranium because they both contain radioactive elements that will give you diseases (like cancer), cause serious birth defects, or just kill you out right.

Pre-current war on Iraq DU map.

Certain ordinance made for the US military are coated with DU, or they are made out of DU entirely, though we are no experts on all the hows of how they make all the DU bombs. We do know that they do put it in penetration bombs, those are missiles they shoot at tanks and the like. It is also used in what are known as bunker busters, these are super heavy bombs that weigh up to 5000 pounds and are dropped on buildings and on inground bunkers. And finally they also use DU in cluster bombs, which are dropped on areas that have a high population density. The conference was held here in Johnson City, TN because one of the manufacturers of DU ordinance, AeroJet, is located a few miles from here in Jonesborough, TN.

The depleted uranium is used in the manufacture of ordinance for mainly two reasons. The first because uranium is a very heavy metal, much heavier than lead or other metals they used to make bombs out of and the second, as we stated before, is because the uranium contains radioactive particles.

When the DU infected bombs are dropped on targets the uranium explodes and is transformed into a dust that is spread everywhere. The DU dust goes into the air, the topsoil, the soil under the topsoil, into the ground water, and into people, plants, and animals. It causes an incredible amount of damage to anything it comes into contact with.

Perhaps you may have heard of the 'Gulf War Syndrome.' This is the name given to the many illnesses of the troops who fought in the first Gulf War. The syndrome covers everything from respiratory problems, to skin diseases, to cancers, to the children of some veterans siring children with severe birth defects. What has become clear is that all of the illness that make up 'Gulf War Syndrome' can be traced back to excessive uranium exposure from bombs that were made out of DU or coated with DU.

During the first Gulf War the United States military dropped 320 tons of DU infected ordinance on Iraq and Kuwait. Now as bad as that is, what they have done to us here at home is even more frightening. Since 1945 the Department of Defense has dropped over 457 tons of DU infected ordinance on US soil. They claim they had to do it in order to see if the bombs worked, in other words they bombed us first to make sure that the bombs would work when it came time to bomb someone else.

When a DU infected bomb is dropped and the dust that results from the explosion infects the soil nothing can ever be grown in that soil again, ever, never ever. When that soil is picked up by the wind and spread around, the uranium is spread around as well. So what that means is that bombs infected with DU that are dropped on Iraq will spread their radioactive pollutants ultimately where ever the wind takes the infected soil. And that could be to places like Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Togo, Spain, Ireland, Canada, the USA, and right to your back yard.

In the current war of terror on Iraq and Afghanistan these DU infected bombs are being used like they are going out of style. The DU penetrator missiles, the cluster bombs, and the bunker busters are all being used with brutal frequency. Now, bear in mind that anywhere one of these DU infected bombs is being dropped the land on which it was dropped is totally useless for growing food, raising livestock, or building homes. Bear that in mind and then remember how little arable land there is in Iraq and Afghanistan. What we, and I use we with a heavy simian heart knowing that it is my government that is dropping the DU infected bombs on Iraq and Afghanistan, are doing then is destroying the very land of the people that we are supposed to be saving and bringing democracy to.

Not only are we destroying their land forever, we are inflicting upon them all the cancers, the birth defects, and the radiation related diseases that come with the use of atomic weapons. And let's be honest here, DU infected bombs are atomic weapons. We are destroying the land forever, we are killing a generation of people with these bombs, and to top it off we are destroying future generations of Iraqi's and Afghani's by fouling their soil forever.

(The following photos are of babies born with birth defects caused by DU weapons. We apologize if they are gruesome but trust us when we say that there are far more gruesome photos of children with DU birth defects online.)

(These children and others like them who suffer with birth defects caused by DU infected weaponry live brief pain filled lives, in some cases those children who are born with their internal organs on the outside of their bodies only live for seconds before dying.)

Of course all that is taking place a half a world away so it really doesn't concern us does it? Well since the uranium infected dust is spread in the wind, then hell yes it does concern us. We breathe in dust that contains that uranium and so do your kids and your pets. Our troops over there breathe it in in much higher concentrations, as do the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are suffering from the same respiratory and health related problems as did the soldiers who fought the first Gulf War. And the children born to our troops are suffering with the same defects that are plaguing the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The speakers at the conference included a US Army whistleblower who was forced into retirement and has been hounded beyond belief since he chose to courageously speak out about the effects of DU bombs, Major Douglas Rokke. Major Rokke has been smeared by people in the Army for doing his duty as a citizen by speaking out about DU, has been stripped of certain benefits, been called a 'kook,' been shot at, and yet he has not wavered in his attempts to bring the horrors of DU to light. He can produce signed orders warning about the downside of using DU, as well as orders that state quite clearly that the Army must pay for the medical bills of anyone infected by a sickness caused by a DU infected bomb.

Also speaking at the conference was a courageous woman named Cathy Garger who has done mountains of research into the world of DU. She also has been smeared and labeled as a nut by people in the US military, yet she chooses to continue to speak out and to warn others of the idiocy of using these types of weapons.

Finally one of the most moving speakers at the conference was Dr. Mohammed Daud Miraki. Dr. Miraki is a native of Afghanistan who has written a book entitled Afghanistan After "Democracy" which can be purchased here. Proceeds from his self published book will go to rebuilding his native country and not to the NGO's that are raping Afghanistan.

We'll post more about Dr. Miraki's talk tomorrow, but right now we want to leave you with this thought, if you care about your fellow man, your family, your kids, your planet, then get off your asses and demand that the US military stop using depleted uranium weapons, work to end the war, and work to dump anyone from public office who opposes those two things.