[Peace-discuss] Iraqi Birth Defects Covered Up? or, What's a war crime between friends?

Tue Oct 8 15:40:13 UTC 2013

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:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-constitutional-rights/iraqi-birth-defects-cover_b_4046442.html

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[ufpj-activist] Iraqi Birth Defects Covered Up?
Date: 	Sun, 6 Oct 2013 13:07:18 -0700
From: 	m_eisenscher at uslaboragainstwar.org 
<m_eisenscher at uslaboragainstwar.org>
To: 	<ufpj-activist at lists.mayfirst.org>

http://www.popularresistance.org/iraqi-birth-defects-covered-up/

Iraqi Birth Defects Covered Up?

1 depleted uranium

By Jeena Shah, www.huffingtonpost.com 
<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>
October 5th, 2013

This week, one of the world's most renowned and respected medical 
journals, The Lancet, joined the chorus of epidemiologists challenging 
the credibility 
<http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2961812-7/fulltext>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.

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."

/Toxic Munitions

/Among the toxic munitions used by the U.S. military, depleted uranium, 
also known as "DU," is known 
<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> 
to lead to cancer and genetic defects from exposure to its radiation and 
carcinogenic chemical properties. Scientific studies also strongly 
suggest <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242351/>that DU 
can interfere with the pre-natal development of a fetus.

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.

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.

/Birth Defects Reported throughout Iraq

/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.

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.

/Report Inconsistencies

/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, stated that 
<http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/26/iraqis-cant-turn-backs-on-deadly-legacy> 
"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 spoke publicly 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W5TvnYaeN4> 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.

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 significant flaws 
<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/09/2013915141726303111.html> 
- enough to undermine the credibility of the report's conclusions.

As a part of the Right to Heal <http://righttoheal.org/> 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.

/Jeena Shah is cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional 
Rights, which helped to launch the Right to Heal initiative.

/

      *Related Posts:*

  * WHO Blocks Report on Depleted Uranium Cancers and Birth Defects
    <http://www.popularresistance.org/who-refuses-to-publish-report-on-cancers-and-birth-defects-in-iraq-caused-by-depleted-uranium-ammunition/>
    September 18, 2013

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