Iraq to sue US, Britain over depleted uranium bombs

Iraq to sue US, Britain over depleted uranium bombs

www.presstv.ir

Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain and the US over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi minister says.

Iraq's Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, told Assabah newspaper that the lawsuit will be launched based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment.

According to the reports, during the first year of the US and British invasion of Iraq, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing depleted uranium.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Sure, I take reports from PressTV with a grain of salt; however I am highly inclined to believe this one.

Its a known fact the Geiger counter readings in bombed areas of Iraq are off the charts. Depleted uranium ammunition rounds are common knowledge, but now it looks like they are trying to hold the coalition forces accountable for depleted uranium shells as well.

The thing that makes no sense about this is because the official story line is that "we are at war for the Iraqi people."

Ok, I meant to say that is the official storyline after the world realized their "WMDs for a pretext for war" was a hoax. But how on earth can we say that we are at war for the people, and then use radioactive things that obviously do nothing but harm civilians, quite possibly for hundreds of years down the line?

Hopefully this law suit will prove successful.

www.presstv.ir
(visit the link for the full news article)

I just wouldn't say bombs, but also include artillary, tank and rounds from aircraft. Its everywhere, its radioactive dust blowing around. If the U.S lost this lawsuit it would have to change its entire concept of war. The whole topic of depleted uranium is huge.

Who will pay for this one should the US lose the case? Oh, that's right, John Q. Taxpayer will. The government entities who chose to use the depleted uranium weapons will essentially walk away scott free.

I'd be more apt to support investigations such as this if it wasn't my money that ultimately goes to pay the fines and judgements. As it stands now, I hope this lawsuit dies a quick death.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


So maybe a criminal case against certain individuals? Generals and the big decision makers there I suppose. Then maybe they could classify it as retrospective a war crime? Or at least an environmental one.

The arms suppliers and contractors will have deep pockets... But is was the US military who fired the things, so that prob wont help at all.

reply to post by seattletruth


star and flag, this topic i take to heart, i have brought this up in ats in different threads and have been challenged by fellow englishmen whether britain actually uses them.
Britain does, at least in tank rounds, but whether they use them in small arms rounds and bombs dropped by aircraft im not so sure.
Either way, the effects of d.u on humans is tragic, and completely avoidable.its now poisoning the children, the non-combatants and there is nothing heroic,patriotic, or honourable about that.
with a half life of four and half billion years,this has to be taken responsibly, and im glad the iraqi government have the balls to stick the finger at the us and uk.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


i disagree, whilst i would rather du rounds banned from the uk military, its not gonna happen.the least i can do is contribute to cleaning up their country.

i dont want to post pictures of iraqi babies with no face or no head, born by the dozen and with increasing frequency.same for the figures of cancers that are going sky high after the invasion.
its horrific, if i have to pay a little tax,then so be it. hopefully it will get airtime in the uk and people will realise how vile our military has become.at the very least i expect gordon brown to just £££ and realise its not worth the cost to keep these weapons if we have to clean up after ourselves.

Under what enforceable jurisdiction are they going to file this lawsuit?

I seriously doubt that this lawsuit will go anywhere.

The DU investigation is still on going. There is a debate with the Iraqi vets too. The wars on Terrorism and free people is at a very high cost for the evironment. Its radioactive and chemically toxic heavy metal in the ground water and air that threatens the world not just Iraqi.

www.globalresearch.ca...

In my opinion is it criminal


[edit on 1-2-2010 by Pretaboy925]

reply to post by jam321


i wouldnt be suprised if they went down the angle of , weapons of mass destruction and genocide, unwittingly or not. in which case the supra-national entities would be involved, i suspect united nations and the good old hague courts for international war criminals. and it would be thouroughly deserved too.

Particles remain radioactive for more than a billion years, while most optimistic estimations claim that effective pollution (active presence of radioactive particles) can last from ten to ten thousand years - depending on how the particles are spread. The bombs used by US are very deadly - if you sum all the bombs in a war like the one in Iraq, you'd be able to parallel it with the effect of multiple modern thermonuclear bombs.

In case of nuclear bombs, particles are blown all over, so the very site of explosion can actually be "cleared" while the most radiation ends up in the sky, effectively infecting the whole planet. In case of your average-joe-bombs dropped by the air force, particles land widely around the target site.

From what I know, cleaning sites from radiation was never in focus of any major study. While quite a few major studies were aimed at how to cause radiation. Governments usually just collect all the radioactive stuff, dig some irradiated earth and drop/bury it somewhere. They even put huge amounts of cement all over the place so the evil atoms remain where they are. In most cases though, nothing is done, like in Iraq.

Serbia had incredible increase of cancer rates after NATO bombings, I personally knew people with this disease which never really goes away - sadly, one of them is now dead while others struggle with chemotherapy side effects.

It would be nice if someone could do more research on this as I don't see this stuff mentioned a lot on ATS. Most people see US forces as disciplined marines who provide security to people of Iraq - but the real force is USAF which make entire cities poisonous to humans and lays waste in most gruesome manner. The civilians killed in war are nothing compared the long term effects which should at least be researched, without the "thats war suck it up" attitude.

Aside from obvious mutations and degenerated babies - most other effects are long-term and hard to link with radiation, such as lowered immunity and damaged DNA which is carried through generations. All the possible opportunist diseases will flourish among people in irradiated places.

[edit on 1/2/2010 by SassyCat]

Can we just collectively plea temporary insanity?

othewise...someone unearth Cochrain....we are going to need the chewbacca defense.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
I'd be more apt to support investigations such as this if it wasn't my money that ultimately goes to pay the fines and judgements. As it stands now, I hope this lawsuit dies a quick death.

So the issue of culpability is irrelevant? Who do you think ought to be held accountable?

The issue apparently has legs,
english.aljazeera.com...
...and I hope it goes where it needs to. Let's not forget all of the western troops that were exposed to that self-same poisonous dust. You want to take a pass on dealing with their issues as they emerge?

Or is that...different?