Did US army cause Iraq birth defects?

Did US army cause Iraq birth defects?

news.sky.com

Families in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are calling for an investigation into their claims of a rise in the number of birth defects.

They have raised concerns about the weapons used by American forces in 2004 - when Fallujah suffered one of the heaviest bombardments of the entire war in Iraq.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Not a nice article to read.

I know there is still no proof that our forces caused this, but you have to admit it's a bit of a coincidence that there has been this much of a rise in defects since the war started.

There are many that will say this is just a part of war, but when innocent civillians are suffering like this, there will always be questions and i for one don't blame them for wanting an investigation.

Any opinions on this? Do you think that it's just the phosphorous that would have done this, or would there be anything else contributing to these defects?

I'm sure we'd ask the same questions if our kids started showing these defects.


news.sky.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Interesting read.

Without any background in the affects of weapons on birth defects I can postulate that large explosives, smoldering vehicles and bullet wounds are pretty bad for those carrying the baby and the unborn baby itself.

I would be interested in seeing the psychological effects of the war on expecting mothers and their children. The baby is attached (literally) to the mother and her psychological distress (anger from the war, helplessness of their situation, lack of any consistant infastructure, etc...) may affect the development of the child.

No, I am not implying the baby is 'depressed' because of this trauma. I do, however, think that the psychological stress the mother feels will adversely affect the child.

Unfortunately, this story will most likely be ignored. If it gets any mention at all I am sure it will be somberly mentioned, and then with a smile...sports.

Originally posted by spines

I would be interested in seeing the psychological effects of the war on expecting mothers and their children. The baby is attached (literally) to the mother and her psychological distress (anger from the war, helplessness of their situation, lack of any consistant infastructure, etc...) may affect the development of the child.

Interesting point.

We here all the time how stress can affect the baby even whilst it's in the womb, stressfull and traumatic births can also bring thier own problems later on for the child, and thats just in a peacefull environment.

Just imagine what it must be like carrying a child and trying to stay relaxed whilst your whole community is being bombed every day!

CX.

reply to post by CX


That's what you get when you use depleted uranium in your armaments. With all the rounds fired and bombs dropped, a lot of depleted uranium is released in Iraq.

This can also affect soldiers, later on.

[edit on 29/5/08 by enigmania]

reply to post by enigmania


Enigmania is absolutely right: the rise in birth defects in Iraq is caused by DU weapons.

DU is (all-too-freely) used for armor-piercing bombs and munitions and it is radioactive. It explodes--obviously--mixes with dust and dirt and is carried by the winds and well, there's your recipe for long-term disaster.

Its a hard story to come to a conclusion, whether or not its true.

I would agree with more psychological effects, but would blame the defects on other factors such as stress etc...

This is the quote that stood out:
"But he says there has never been a study examining if there ARE links between white phosphorus and birth deformities."

Until they do a study upon phosphorus, we can only develop therioes on the story not come to a solid conclusion.

Chris.