Depleted Uranium Death Toll among US War Veterans Tops 11,000

[appleannie1]

The death toll from the highly toxic weapons component known as depleted uranium (DU) has reached 11,000 soldiers and the growing scandal may be the reason behind Anthony Principi’s departure as secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department.

This view was expressed by Arthur Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, writing in Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter.

“The real reason for Mr. Principi’s departure was really never given,” Bernklau said. “However, a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted uranium as the definitive cause of ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ has fed a growing scandal about the continued use of uranium munitions by the U.S. military.”

The “malady that thousands of our military have suffered and died from has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. . . . The terrible truth is now being revealed,” Bernklau said.

Of the 580,400 soldiers who served in Gulf War I, 11,000 are now dead, he said. By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on permanent medical disability. More than a decade later, more than half (56 percent) who served in Gulf War I have permanent medical problems. The disability rate for veterans of the world wars of the last century was 5 percent, rising to 10 percent in Vietnam.

“The VA secretary was aware of this fact as far back as 2000,” Bernklau said. “He and the Bush administration have been hiding these facts, but now, thanks to Moret’s report, it is far too big to hide or to cover up.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=TUC20061029&articleId=3620 10% in Nam, mainly due to Agent Orange. 56% from the Gulf War, mainly due to DU. What will the final figures be after this fiasco with more soldiers and longer deployment?

[Selatius]

1. So, I guess we can say the Persian Gulf War killed 11,000+ Americans

I heard over 500,000 Americans have served in Iraq by now. I wonder what the true death toll will be when DU has exacted its final pound of flesh.

By the 2020s, I bet the death toll for the US will be in the low 20,000 range, when you add in the number who will die from uranium poisoning. Hell, it may be in the 50,000s range given the length of this fucking war. Maybe 250,000+ disabled as a result of poisoning. Nevermind those who died as a result of combat or were injured during combat, some grievously. If they didn't die from the IEDs and the ambushes, they died from being poisoned by their own weapons. The Iraqis will be worst off out of all with their land poisoned by the stuff.

[demobabe]

2. 56%!! And that was only from Gulf War I

Over half of the Gulf War I vets disabled - this is beyond tragic.

What is worse, is that Gulf War I was just a few months long... How many have gone to the current Iraq War? And I know over half have gone for two tours of duty... how many will die from this war? 100%?

I'm sick over this...

[Erika]

3. And just think of the Iraqis

You think God believes war is not the answer?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. this is getting old

why is it still taking 2 years or more to get out the info? We've known about du here at least that long.


While this important story appeared in a Washington newspaper and the wire services, it did not receive national exposure—a compelling sign that the American public is being kept in the dark about the terrible effects of this toxic weapon. (Veterans for Constitutional Law can be reached at [phone].)

http://www.veteranstoday.com/article1677.html

on edit:
Veterans for Consititional Law?

I'm trying to find references to these numbers to verify that this has been vetted... no luck so far.

edit again:

Heads Roll At The Veterans Administration: Mushrooming Depleted Uranium (DU) Scandal Blamed
January 24, 2005
http://www.axisoflogic.com/cgi-bin/exec/view.pl?archive=137&num=15334&printer=1


again: this doesn't help the arguement at all

Her qualifications as an expert on nuclear issues are questioned by many mainstream experts. She has never contributed to peer reviewed literature on the issues in which she claims expertise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuren_Moret

[sce56]

5. Well We need to get our people working on it Pelosi to start who can get the ball rolling?

Seriously we need to make a forum that shows the most important things we the people feel our congress needs to look into and if they dont we will let them know about it!
October 17, 2006,Will be remembered as the Enabling day of the 21st Century!
"The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures..."
~Adolf Hitler, March 23, 1933, before the German Parliament (Reichstag) as he urged them to pass his "Enabling Act"

Got Fascism Yet?


http://www.georgewalkerbush.net/bush-nazilinkconfirmed.htm



Fascism Accomplished!

[MGD]

6. DU is perfectly safe... so long as you don't breathe it in, which is inevitable

...The pyrophoric effect of depleted uranium, which spontaneously burns when heated to 170 C (once it is fired) and on impact, effectively forms very large numbers of extremely fine (0.1 micron) and submicroscopic particles as small as 0.001 micron or 10 Ångstroms (see Attach. 3 - Chart "Characteristics of Particles and Particle Dispersoids") as described in the memo. Particles in this size range behave like a gas when inhaled, disperse in the lungs to the blood lung barrier where the white blood cells (greater than 7microns in diameter) engulf the tiny particles of depleted uranium and carry them throughout the body. Once these particles have been engulfed by blood cells or lodged in tissues, they may not be detectable in the urine. Contaminated personnel will take the depleted uranium home, deposited in tissues throughout their bodies. There is no known treatment for exposure...

...It will permeate a gas mask filter: particles in the 0.1 micron range will penetrate even a HEPA filter (High Efficiency Particulate Airfilter - see Attach. 4 - HEPA chart) in large numbers. The filters in gas masks issued to military personnel are much less efficient than HEPA filters...

...The gas masks issued to military personnel now deployed to the Gulf Region are defective and do not provide even a minimum of protection to personnel...

...Air filters in gas masks also fail as they are wetted by moisture from breathing or are used in the rain...

...There is no possible protection from exposure to very fine particles of depleted uranium through filtering of air...

...Small particles less than 1 micron in diameter do not settle from the air (see Attach. 3 - Chart "Characteristics of Particles and Particle Dispersoids") but become incorporated into atmospheric dust...

http://www.peacecourier.com/depleted_uranium.htm

[AJ9000]

7. The doc "Battleground" shows how DU was used in 2003 in Iraq and is a problem.

The full name is "Battleground: 21 days on the Empires' Edge." It's a pretty good show.

[maddezmom]

8. locking

Article is date 10/29 and globalresearch is not an acceptable source for LBN.