Weapons of Mass Destruction

The U.S. government and corporate media exhibit a lot of arrogance and duplicity in continually complaining about Iraq's possible possession of weapons of mass destruction. The United States has used four weapons of mass destruction against Iraq.

The first weapon of mass destruction was the massive bombing of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed and there was no way of fighting back, since they don't have an air force capable of protecting their cities or causing American losses. Political activist Helen Caldicott called it a massacre and not a war, since Iraq was so inferior in power to the United States.

The second weapon of mass destruction was the embargo, which according to the United Nation's own figures has caused the deaths of over one million Iraqi people, including 500,000 children. When asked about the deaths of Iraqi children on 60 Minutes, Madeleine Albright replied: " We think the price is worth it."

The third weapon of mass destruction was the bombing of the water purification and sewage systems and the hold placed by the embargo on parts to repair these systems. The drinking of impure water has led to outbreaks of infectious diseases in Iraq. This is a form of biological warfare. Researcher Thomas Nagy has discovered Defense Intelligence Agency documents that prove that the bombing of the water and sewage systems and denial of repair parts was a deliberate strategy by the United States to cause disease in Iraq.

The fourth weapon of mass destruction was the use of depleted uranium or uranium 238. I prefer calling it uranium 238 because it is not depleted. The more radioactive uranium 235 has been removed, but it is still radioactive and emits gamma, beta and alpha radiation. The cancer rate in Basra in southern Iraq, where most uranium 238 was used, is six times normal, and children are being born with the most appalling birth defects like hands growing directly from the shoulders, noses above the eyes, no fully developed brains, etc. These birth defects are similar to those seen after Hiroshima and Nagasaki and have also occurred in the children of Persian Gulf war veterans.

The cowardice of the corporate media in reporting on this situation is truly disgusting. Only journalists like Jeremy Scahill of Pacifica Radio and British journalist John Pilger have told this story. The medicines to treat the cancers are under embargo as is the morphine to treat the pain. Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and former U.N. humanitarian co-ordinater for Iraq Denis Halliday brought in medicine against the embargo to treat a little Iraqi girl named Saffa. She recovered, but thousands of children die.

The use of radioactive weapons is a very pernicious form of terrorism. The effects can be passed from generation to generation and will disappear only after billions of years. The half-life of uranium 238 is 4.5 billion years. To even consider using more uranium 238 on the suffering Iraqi people is pure insanity. President George W. Bush talks a lot about evil in the world. This is a perfect description of another attack on Iraq- EVIL!