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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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July 24th,
2010 - Toxic Legacy of US Assault on Fallujah ‘Worse than Hiroshima’ |
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Toxic Legacy of US Assault
on Fallujah ‘Worse than Hiroshima’ The shocking rates of infant mortality and cancer in Iraqi city raise
new questions about battle By Patrick Cockburn The Independent July 24, 2010 Children in Fallujah who
suffer from birth defects which are thought to be linked to weapons used in
attacks on the city by US Marines Dramatic increases in infant
mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was
bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the
atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to
a new study. Iraqi doctors in Fallujah
have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with
serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis
of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing far more cancers than
they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and insurgents. Their claims have been
supported by a survey showing a four-fold increase in all cancers and a
12-fold increase in childhood cancer in under-14s. Infant mortality in the city
is more than four times higher than in neighbouring Jordan and eight times
higher than in Kuwait. Dr Chris Busby, a visiting
professor at the University of Ulster and one of the authors of the survey of
4,800 individuals in Fallujah, said it is difficult to pin down the exact
cause of the cancers and birth defects. He added that "to produce an
effect like this, some very major mutagenic exposure must have occurred in
2004 when the attacks happened". US Marines first besieged
and bombarded Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, in April 2004 after four
employees of the American security company Blackwater were killed and their
bodies burned. After an eight-month stand-off, the Marines stormed the city
in November using artillery and aerial bombing against rebel positions. US
forces later admitted that they had employed white phosphorus as well as
other munitions. In the assault US commanders
largely treated Fallujah as a free-fire zone to try to reduce casualties
among their own troops. British officers were appalled by the lack of concern
for civilian casualties. "During preparatory operations in the November
2004 Fallujah clearance operation, on one night over 40 155mm artillery
rounds were fired into a small sector of the city," recalled Brigadier
Nigel Aylwin-Foster, a British commander serving with the American forces in
Baghdad. He added that the US
commander who ordered this devastating use of firepower did not consider it
significant enough to mention it in his daily report to the US general in
command. Dr Busby says that while he cannot identify the type of armaments
used by the Marines, the extent of genetic damage suffered by inhabitants
suggests the use of uranium in some form. He said: "My guess is that
they used a new weapon against buildings to break through walls and kill
those inside." The survey was carried out
by a team of 11 researchers in January and February this year who visited 711
houses in Fallujah. A questionnaire was filled in by householders giving
details of cancers, birth outcomes and infant mortality. Hitherto the Iraqi
government has been loath to respond to complaints from civilians about
damage to their health during military operations. Researchers were initially
regarded with some suspicion by locals, particularly after a Baghdad
television station broadcast a report saying a survey was being carried out
by terrorists and anybody conducting it or answering questions would be
arrested. Those organising the survey subsequently arranged to be accompanied
by a person of standing in the community to allay suspicions. The study, entitled
"Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq
2005-2009", is by Dr Busby, Malak Hamdan and Entesar Ariabi, and
concludes that anecdotal evidence of a sharp rise in cancer and congenital
birth defects is correct. Infant mortality was found to be 80 per 1,000
births compared to 19 in Egypt, 17 in Jordan and 9.7 in Kuwait. The report
says that the types of cancer are "similar to that in the Hiroshima
survivors who were exposed to ionising radiation from the bomb and uranium in
the fallout". Researchers found a 38-fold
increase in leukaemia, a ten-fold increase in female breast cancer and
significant increases in lymphoma and brain tumours in adults. At Hiroshima
survivors showed a 17-fold increase in leukaemia, but in Fallujah Dr Busby
says what is striking is not only the greater prevalence of cancer but the
speed with which it was affecting people. Of particular significance
was the finding that the sex ratio between newborn boys and girls had
changed. In a normal population this is 1,050 boys born to 1,000 girls, but
for those born from 2005 there was an 18 per cent drop in male births, so the
ratio was 850 males to 1,000 females. The sex-ratio is an indicator of
genetic damage that affects boys more than girls. A similar change in the
sex-ratio was discovered after Hiroshima. The US cut back on its use
of firepower in Iraq from 2007 because of the anger it provoked among
civilians. But at the same time there has been a decline in healthcare and
sanitary conditions in Iraq since 2003. The impact of war on civilians was
more severe in Fallujah than anywhere else in Iraq because the city continued
to be blockaded and cut off from the rest of the country long after 2004. War
damage was only slowly repaired and people from the city were frightened to
go to hospitals in Baghdad because of military checkpoints on the road into
the capital. External link: http://tinyurl.com/2cqbnkk |