‘Israel used depleted uranium shells in air strike’ – Syrian source
Published time: May 05, 2013 19:08
RT
Israel used “a new type of weapon”, a senior official at the Syrian military facility that came under attack from the Israeli Air Force told RT.
“When the explosion happened it felt like an earthquake,” said the source, who was present near the attack site on the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday morning.
“Then a giant golden mushroom of fire appeared. This tells us that Israel used depleted uranium shells.”
Depleted uranium is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process that creates nuclear weapons, and was first used by the US in the Gulf conflict of 1991. Unlike the radioactive materials used in nuclear weapons, depleted uranium is not valued for its explosiveness, but for its toughness – it is 2.5 times as dense as steel – which allows it to penetrate heavy protection.
Countries using depleted uranium weapons insist that the material is toxic, but not dangerously radioactive, as long as it remains outside the body.
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‘Toxic chemicals in US drone strikes’
Experts revealed that those Pakistani civilians who have come under the unauthorized drone airstrike in Pakistan’s troubled northwest have been afflicted with complicated skin, eye and respiratory diseases due to the deadly chemical materials used in the missiles, the Press TV correspondent in Peshawar reported on Thursday.
According to journalists and experts from Waziristan that is a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan which has often been the focal point of US drone attacks, they have received numerous reports from several people and local doctors pointing at the hazardous effects of the ongoing drone attacks on the entire population.
“Since these drone strikes have been carried out, we have witnessed several peculiar disease cases, and our press club have been frequently visited by those complainants, who have developed skin and bronchial diseases in the aftermath of drone airstrikes. I’d like to add further that the agriculture and the livestock are also showing pitiable condition,” journalist Safdar Dawar told Press TV.
An expert from Waziristan says his daughter died of blood cancer soon after she had developed a skin disease, which was no more than the toxic effect of chemical substances used in the non-UN-sanctioned drone strikes.
“I myself lost my daughter, who was just 28 months old, she developed a skin disease and later on she was diagnosed, within a month, with blood cancer. At that time people were talking about the chemical bombings being carried out. The same is the case now that wherever the drone attacks are carried out, people in that area are complaining about skin diseases, lung infections, throat infections and various kinds of other diseases,” Pakistani political expert Safiullah Gul said.
The report strikes at the heart of growing tension between the United States and Pakistan over the US aerial attacks on Pakistani soil.
Washington claims the airstrikes target militants. However, the attacks have killed hundreds of civilians in Pakistan since 2008, local reports say.
HA/AGB/MGH
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Published on Apr 18, 2013
On the next episode of VICE, premiering on HBO this Friday, April 19th at 11 PM, we interview Congressman Jim McDermott of the Seventh District of Washington State. Congressman McDermott has been one of the only experts and advocates in the US government on the issue of depleted uranium in Iraq. We sit down with him to get a firsthand account of the military’s history of using depleted uranium munitions, the legacy it has left behind in Iraq, and why the US government refuses to do anything about it.
#VICEonHBO
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Toxic Fallout in Fallujah
Since the assaults on Fallujah in 2004, the city has seen an astronomical rise in birth defects and abnormalities, including some too new to even have a proper medical name. VICE went back to Iraq to investigate.
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IRAQ WAR: Birth Defects And Cancer -
PLAGUE: Birth Defects Plague Iraq -
PROJECT: Justice For Fallujah Project We are a group of veterans, students, and working people dedicated to raising awareness about the suffering of the people of Fallujah, promoting solidarity with the victims of U.S. war crimes, and ultimately ending all U.S. wars and occupations.
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Uploaded on Oct 6, 2010
The Justice For Fallujah Project Fundraiser, 9/16/2010
Paulist Center, Boston, MA
http://www.thefallujahproject.org
Recorded and edited by
Charngchi Way
Additional audio by
Jason Pramas
The entire list of videos from Justice for Fallujah can be found here
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Related articles
- MoD drops depleted uranium shell tests (morningstaronline.co.uk)
- New from TacniTion: Depleted Uranium Anti-Drone Loads (thetruthaboutguns.com)
- Israel says it will stop using white phosphorous (occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com)
- Serbia: NATO’s Uranium Embrace (1389blog.com)
- America’s Terrible History of Depleted Uranium (motherboard.vice.com)
