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Samantha Power and others were quoted on NPR this morning talking
about prospects for charging Assad for war crimes related to
chemical weapons use, whether in the ICC or in a special court to be
established just for Syria. When that comes up, it's important to
remember US actions which should also be considered war crimes, on a
much bigger scale:<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-constitutional-rights/iraqi-birth-defects-cover_b_4046442.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-constitutional-rights/iraqi-birth-defects-cover_b_4046442.html</a><br>
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-------- Original Message --------
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Subject:
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<td>[ufpj-activist] Iraqi Birth Defects Covered Up?</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Sun, 6 Oct 2013 13:07:18 -0700</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org">m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org"><m_eisenscher@uslaboragainstwar.org></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org"><ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org></a></td>
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<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/iraqi-birth-defects-covered-up/">
http://www.popularresistance.org/iraqi-birth-defects-covered-up/</a>
<br>
<br>
</font><font color="#000080" size="5">Iraqi Birth Defects Covered
Up?<br>
<br>
</font>
<img moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1-depleted-uranium.jpg"
alt="1 depleted uranium" height="314" width="580">
<font size="3"><br>
<br>
By Jeena Shah,
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-constitutional-rights/iraqi-birth-defects-cover_b_4046442.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=1314550b=facebook">www.huffingtonpost.com</a><br>
October 5th, 2013<br>
<br>
This week, one of the world’s most renowned and respected
medical
journals, The Lancet, joined the chorus of epidemiologists
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2961812-7/fulltext">challenging
the credibility </a>of a recently-released report by the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the Iraqi Health Ministry.
The report
contradicts consistent reporting of high rates of birth defects
in Iraq
following the U.S. invasion in 2003. The WHO’s defense of the
study
despite the critiques from many corners raises questions as to
the
independence of the international body tasked with monitoring
and
addressing public health crises around the globe.<br>
<br>
Doctors across Iraq report that cancer rates, birth defects, and
other
environmental health problems have skyrocketed since 2003. In
the words
of Dr. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist
based in
Michigan who has been studying the rise in congenital birth
defects in
Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion, “Iraq is poisoned.”<br>
<br>
<i>Toxic Munitions<br>
<br>
</i>Among the toxic munitions used by the U.S. military,
depleted
uranium, also known as “DU,” is
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dtic.mil%2Fcgi-bin%2FGetTRDoc%3FAD%3DADA438762&ei=PxBPUvW7BZew4APapYDQBA&usg=AFQjCNEaj3lNA54UEfmaoeNfBFOo43EyuA&sig2=r7SI9LLB8kN36rYLJL6pvQ&bvm=bv.53537100,d.dmg">known</a>
to lead to cancer and genetic defects from exposure to its
radiation and carcinogenic chemical properties. Scientific
studies also
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242351/">strongly
suggest
</a>that DU can interfere with the pre-natal development of a
fetus.<br>
<br>
The U.S. military first used DU in Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War.
Official
statistics from the Iraqi government indicate that by 1995, 800
out of
100,000 Iraqis were suffering from cancer as compared to before
the war
when the rate was 40 out of 100,000. A 2001 study by the U.S.
government
of 21,000 veterans who had served in the Gulf War found an
increased rate
of miscarriages, and of those who gave birth, two to three times
greater
likelihood of birth defects.<br>
<br>
Despite strong evidence of the lasting damage DU can cause, the
U.S. once
again used it as a weapon following its 2003 invasion and,
according to a
Pentagon spokesperson, took no responsibility to clean up
DU-impacted
areas in Iraq.<br>
<br>
<i>Birth Defects Reported throughout Iraq<br>
<br>
</i>Iraqi doctors have borne witness to the horrifying
consequences. Dr.
Samira Alani, a pediatrician at Fallujah General Hospital,
reported that
as of the end of 2011, she had personally logged 699 cases of
birth
defects since October 2009, amounting to an alarming rate of
14.7 per
cent of all babies born there. An investigation conducted by the
Federation of Workers’ Councils and Unions in Iraq found that
many of the
children born with defects die soon after birth but others
survive with
deformities so rare they have not been given a medical name.<br>
<br>
In the district of Haweeja, where it is believed that DU
munitions may
have been stored or tested by the U.S. military, surveys
undertaken by
the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq indicate that
one-quarter of
newborns are suffering from disabilities. Villages suffering
from the
highest rates of birth defects and cancer are those immediately
down-wind
of a U.S. training base.<br>
<br>
<i>Report Inconsistencies<br>
<br>
</i>Beginning in May 2012, the Iraqi Ministry of Health joined
with the
WHO to study the prevalence of birth defects in Iraq. While the
study was
completed by early October 2012, it was nearly a year before a
report was
released. Scientists, health professionals, and human rights
advocates
from across the globe questioned the delay, particularly as
disturbing
information about the study and its conclusions began leaking
out. Hans
von Sponeck, former assistant secretary general of the United
Nations and
senior UN humanitarian official in Iraq,
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/26/iraqis-cant-turn-backs-on-deadly-legacy">stated
that</a> ”The US government sought to prevent WHO from
surveying
areas in southern Iraq where depleted uranium had been used and
caused
serious health and environmental dangers.” Previously, a
high-ranking
official at the Iraqi Ministry of Health
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W5TvnYaeN4">spoke
publicly</a>
of the “damning evidence that there has been a rise in birth
defects and
cancers [in Iraq],” particularly in areas where toxic munitions,
such as
DU, were used by U.S. and U.K. forces.<br>
<br>
So when the published report instead concluded that Iraq is
facing no
unusually high rate of birth defects, epidemiologists took a
closer look
at the study’s methodology and found
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/09/2013915141726303111.html">significant
flaws</a> - enough to undermine the credibility of the
report’s conclusions.<br>
<br>
As a part of the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://righttoheal.org/">Right to Heal</a>
initiative, Iraqis and U.S. veterans exposed to some of the same
toxic
munitions have joined together to demand further study to be
funded by
the U.S. government of the environmental and health impact the
U.S. war
has had on Iraqi and U.S. veteran communities. This study is
needed in
order to remediate toxic sites and provide proper treatment to
those
still suffering, which should be an obligation of the United
States as
reparations for the lasting toll of its war on Iraq. The WHO’s
failure to
support a rigorous and honest assessment of the suffering of
Iraqi
families is a travesty and yet another injustice to the Iraqi
people. The
international community, networked together and with the
mounting
concerns of voices like The Lancet, will make sure the truth
comes to
light.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>Jeena Shah is cooperating attorney with the Center for
Constitutional
Rights, which helped to launch the Right to Heal initiative.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</i></font>
<h3><b>Related Posts:</b></h3>
<ul>
<li><font size="3">
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.popularresistance.org/who-refuses-to-publish-report-on-cancers-and-birth-defects-in-iraq-caused-by-depleted-uranium-ammunition/">WHO
Blocks Report on Depleted Uranium Cancers and Birth
Defects</a>
September 18, 2013 </font>
</li>
</ul>
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