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Global Terrorism? Look In The Mirror!

excerpts from a column by Robert C. Koehler

We’re waging war-plus in Afghanistan and Iraq — in effect, nuclear war, with our widespread use of depleted-uranium shells and missiles. This is no secret. DU, with its extraordinary penetrating power and explode-on-impact capability, helps assure our military dominance everywhere we go. But the people of Afghanistan and Iraq reap its toxic legacy. So, of course, do our own troops.

Depleted uranium turns into an infinitesimally fine dust after it explodes; individual particles are smaller than a virus or bacteria. DU dust is everywhere. A minimum of 500 or 600 tons now litter Afghanistan, and several times that amount are spread across Iraq. In terms of global atmospheric pollution, we’ve already released the equivalent of 400,000 Nagasaki bombs.

The numbers are overwhelming, but the potential horrors only get worse. DU dust does more than wreak havoc on the immune systems of those who breathe or touch it; the substance also alters one’s genetic code.

Thus, birth defects are way up in Afghanistan since the invasion. Listen to Jooma Khan, a grandfather who lives in northeastern Afghanistan:

“After the Americans destroyed our village and killed many of us, we also lost our houses and have nothing to eat. However, we would have endured these miseries and even accepted them, if the Americans had not sentenced us all to death. When I saw my deformed grandson, I realized that my hopes of the future have vanished for good. We are part of the invisible genocide brought on us by America, a silent death from which I know we will not escape.”

Global terrorism? Listen to Jooma Khan. Then look in the mirror.


You have been reading excerpts from "Silent genocide: Depleted-uranium munitions are contaminating the world" by Robert C. Koehler. You can read the entire piece here: commonwonders.com/archives/col235.htm. Many thanks to Bob Koehler for commonwonders.com. We visit often and we hope you will too.

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