The Dominion - Iraq war

Saskatchewan Uranium, Fallujah's Children

Moira Peters — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 05:26:37 +0000

Report on birth defects and cancers in Iraq points to Canadian uranium

REGINA—Radioactive armaments used by the US army in Iraq have been highlighted in a recent study as a probable cause for the region's increase in birth defects, infant deaths and cancer. Unavoidably, some of the uranium that made these weapons radioactive came from Saskatchewan.

"Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009," a report in the July 2010 issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, compared data gathered in Fallujah to data from the Middle East Cancer Registry. The infant death rate in Fallujah during the period of study (2005-2009) was found to be four times the rate in Egypt and Jordan and nine times the rate in Kuwait. Furthermore, the death rate in Fallujah has increased in recent years; and “the results for cancer show some alarming rates in the five-year period. Relative risk based on the Egypt and Jordan cancer rates are significantly higher for all malignancy, leukaemia lymphoma, brain tumours and female breast cancer.”

The early appearance of cancer in Fallujah is mentioned in the report to be similar to an Italian Ministry of Defence report noting the early appearance of lymphoma in Italian peacekeepers from Bosnia and Kosovo who were exposed to depleted uranium (DU) weapon contamination and the reported increase in cancer risks in Northern Sweden after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.

The authors of the report, though cautious in identifying the cause of the high rates of defects, deaths and cancers, concluded by drawing attention to the use of DU in armaments used by invading US forces. The report states their study does not identify the agent(s) causing the increased levels of illness, but they wish to draw attention to presence of DU as one potentially relevant agent.

The largest single source of uranium for the US military is Saskatchewan, according to a 2008 article by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

In fact, Saskatchewan produces more uranium than any other region or country in the world. The Athabasca Basin region of Northern Saskatchewan (with a small area of Alberta) is the world's leading source of high grade uranium.

Uranium mining in Saskatchewan grew in the 1970s as a major government enterprise when the NDP government of Allan Blakeney proclaimed the Saskatchewan Mining Development Corporation Act (SMDC-1977). Although the title of the act suggested that mining as a government Crown Corporation would include many minerals, "The major, if not the sole, interest of the government was the exploitation of uranium resources,” according to Bill Harding in "The Two Faces of Public Ownership: From the Regina Manifesto to Uranium Mining," a chapter in Jim Harding's book, Social Policy and Social Justice: The NDP Government in Saskatchewan during the Blakeney Years.

Bolstered by Saskatchewan Uranium Development in the Global Context, a government report that argued uranium energy was essential to the fate of poor countries, along with government minister Jack Messner’s pledge that there would be no uranium development until each operation was assessed as completely safe to health and the environment exploitation of the resource became a focus of the Blakeney government.

Indications during the 1970s for massive growth in the number of nuclear reactors worldwide—which would providing a bonanza for uranium mining—never materialized. The price of uranium dropped from $53 per pound in 1977 to $17.50 in 1982. Under the Progressive Conservative provincial government of Grant Devine in the 1980s and early '90s, uranium mining in Saskatchewan was privatized. The SMDC was combined with federal Crown Corporation Eldorado Nuclear Limited, and renamed Cameco.

Cameco is the world’s largest publically traded uranium company and is headquartered in the city of Saskatoon. Cameco’s McArthur River mine in Saskatchewan produces 15 per cent of the world’s uranium.

For mined uranium to be used as a fuel, it needs to undergo enrichment to separate uranium 235u from uranium 238u—the desired product: depleted uranium (DU). Depleted uranium has a useful property: it is 1.7 times more dense than lead.

Enter the arms industry.

Due to its high density DU is used in armour. Depleted uranium also ignites on impact if the temperature exceeds 600 degrees Celsius—a useful property if one wishes to destroy tanks, guns or buildings.

Depleted uranium is also radioactive. The United Nations World Health Organization has made several recommendations for when DU is used in military conflict, including monitoring food and water where DU might have entered the food chain, clean-up operations in impact zones where such projectiles remain in the ground, monitoring the activities of children because "their typical hand-to-mouth activity could lead to high DU ingestion from contaminated soil," and disposal of DU in accordance with international recommendations.

Not only was the US using Saskatchewan uranium for DU munitions during its occupation of Iraq, but as late as 1990 Canada was itself processing DU which was then being sent to a US weapons manufacturer. A section of the 1970 Treaty in the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) prohibits the sale of Canadian uranium for use in weaponry.

According to the CCPA article, “The uranium that’s going into the US for enriching becomes part of the depleted uranium stockpile, and that’s accessible for weapons."

The CCPA article further highlights that in 1993, the Inter-Church Uranium Committee released copies of a license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that followed uranium from the Key Lake mine in Saskatchewan (run by Cameco) to the US, back to the Port Hope uranium conversion plant in Ontario (run by Cameco), and finally to Aerojet in the US. Aerojet advertises itself on its webpage as a world leader in the defence and armament markets.

Cameco, like many players in the nuclear industry, has aligned itself as a partner in the health care industry. The Royal University Hospital (RUH) in Saskatoon recently named its main walkway the "Cameco Skywalk," “named in recognition of Cameco’s $1.5 million donation in 2003 to the RUH Foundation’s Royal Care Campaign to create the Cameco Chair in Aboriginal Health,” according to the hospital's press release. The company’s website boasts involvement in the Northumberland Hills Hospital, the St. Mary Wellness and Education Centre and the travelling Diabetes Resource Program in Northern Saskatchewan. The city’s acute care Saskatoon City Hospital houses the "Cameco MS [multiple sclerosis] Neuroscience Research Centre.” During her 2007 visit to Saskatchewan, physician, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and renowned proponent of a nuclear-free world, Dr. Helen Caldicott chastised the Saskatchewan medical profession for partnering with what she called the “cancer industry.”

Middle East journalist Robert Fisk presents a sickening tale of depleted uranium armaments left lying around southern Iraq after the Gulf war of 1991 and the cancers occurring among the population in his book The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East. Fisk also identifies the problem of connecting depleted uranium to cancer: “Unlike bomb fragments with their tell-tale computerized codes, DU munitions—while easy to identify because they left a penetrator ‘head’ in or near their target—could not be physically linked to the leukaemia’s afflicting thousands of Iraqis, other than by a careful analysis of the location of these cancer ‘explosions’ and interviews with dozens of patients.”

Overlooked by most Canadian media, the medical study from Fallujah adds to mounting evidence for a global ban on the production of DU munitions, and to considering their use a war crime.

In fact, last Wednesday, Irish parliament passed the Prohibition of Depleted Uranium Weapons Bill through its fifth reading. The DU bill, which drew praise from Senators and had none speak against it, is the second private member's bill ever to pass through Irish Senate.

Garson Hunter is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Regina and the sponsor of Dr. Caldicott’s speaking tour of Saskatchewan. Sarah Pedersen is a social activist in Regina.

Saskatchewan Yellow Cake

Michael Ignatieff: Master of Self-Delusion, or Simply Corrupt?

dru — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:42:24 +0000

Michael Ignatieff has published an apology for his apologia for the US invaston of Iraq.

The ultimate thermodynamic fate of all closed systems

dru — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 20:28:26 +0000

Counterpunch has good pieces about similar dynamics in two different US political movements, environmentalism and anti-war.

Jeffrey St. Clair on the green movement's disconnection from the grassroots, and the unfortunate accuracy of right wing claims that environmentalists are Washington elitists:

To quote Jospeh Heller: Something happened. Somewhere along the line, the environmental movement disconnected with the people, rejected its political roots, pulled the plug on its vibrant and militant tradition. It packed its bags, starched its shirts and jetted to DC, where it became what it once despised: a risk-aversive, depersonalized, hyper-analytical, humorless, access-driven, intolerant, centralized, technocratic, dealmaking, passionless, direct-mailing, lawyer-laden monolith to mediocrity. A monolith with feet of clay.

Peacekeeping moves

dru — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 13:52:52 +0000

According to the Times of London, the US is making a move to take over leadership of the UN's Peacekeeping forces. The report speculates that this is part of a strategy for getting US troops out of Iraq.

Grilled Cheese and War Crimes

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 13:25:46 +0000

US soldier who refuses assignment in Iraq claims refugee status in Canada

Corey Glass is hoping Canada will let him eat grilled cheese sandwhiches in peace. photo: Shasta MacNasy

Corey Glass seems like a regular 23-year-old; he likes skateboarding, grilled cheese sandwiches and Quentin Tarantino movies; he doesn't enjoy illegally occupying Middle Eastern countries.

Glass spent five months in Iraq as a sergeant with the United States National Guard, before becoming a 'war-resister.' He left the army, lived underground in the US for eight months and then came to Canada in August, claiming refugee status.

"When I joined the National Guard, they told me the only way I would be in combat is if there were troops occupying the United States," said Glass in a phone interview from Toronto, where he is searching for an apartment. "I signed up to defend people and do humanitarian work filling sandbags if there was a hurricane; I should have been in New Orleans, not Iraq."

There could be upwards of 200 American soldiers who refuse to fight in Iraq clandestinely living in Canada, according to Lee Zaslofsky, co-ordinator of War Resisters Support Campaign, the group trying to secure status for conscientious objectors.

"None of the hearings at the immigration and refugee board have gone well," says Zaslofsky, who came to Canada in the 1970s after refusing to fight in Vietnam.

The central argument being used by war resisters is that the war in Iraq is illegal and if they remain in the US, they'll be forced to fight in an illegal and immoral war or face the consequences.

"In every case, the immigration board has decided they won't listen to arguments about the legality or illegality of the war in Iraq, which obviously undermines us," says Zaslofsky.

"The US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter," said UN Chief Kofi Annan during a 2004 interview with the BBC.

Being the custodian of International law, Annan's opinion is worth noting.

If the war was and is illegal, then Canada has a moral duty to provide sanctuary for people who won't participate in criminal activities; a 'responsibility to protect', to use the rhetoric of the powerful.

Zaslofsky thinks the Supreme Court will eventually decide whether or not the resisters can stay here rather than fight, if Parliament doesn't get involved first.

"We aren't just treating this as a legal matter, but also a political matter," said Zaslofsky. "We think Canada has an obligation to protect these people who are coming north because they are taking the same position that Canada did: opposing the war." His group has gathered 35,000 signatures on petitions demanding Canada treat Iraq War objectors the same way we treated Vietnam War resisters.

Thus far, the immigration and refugee board, whose mandate is different from the courts, has ruled that rank and file soldiers are not liable for participating in an illegal war because they weren't the ones who decided to launch an invasion.

Glass never personally witnessed human rights violations during his service but he "heard stories from people coming back from duty." Recently, The Lancet, one of the world's most respected medical journals, published a study showing the death toll among Iraqis as a result of the US-led invasion has now reached an estimated 655,000 people. The figures were quickly condemned by the Bush administration for inaccuracy, although they were nevertheless compiled by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore and validated by four separate, independent experts.

"Although such death rates might be common in times of war, the combination of a long duration and tens of millions of people affected has made this the deadliest international conflict of the 21st century and should be of grave concern to everyone," write the study's authors.

In an international context, there isn't much anyone can do about the accusations of America's conduct in Iraq. The US refused to ratify the international criminal court, so the army can continue violating the law without prosecution. Humans developed law to protect the weak from the strong. When the powerful are above the law, the whole foundation of decent society collapses.

After the Second World War, at the famous Nuremberg trials for German war criminals, the four judges of the tribunal (American, British, French and Russian) wrote a famous passage declaring the crime of aggressive war to be, "the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Glass doesn't compare America to the Nazis, but an illegal war is an illegal war. According to the former sergeant, "In Germany some members of the Third Reich probably said this was a bad idea and didn't want to participate and that's what I have decided."

Chris Arsenault chats with an average 23-year-old who's hoping Canada won't send him back to the US to fight in a war he doesn't believe in.

Coup in Iraq reportedly in the making

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 21:06:21 +0000

Iraqi army officers are reportedly planning to stage a military coup with US help in order to oust the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, reports the United Press International.

"Washington is becoming increasingly impatient with the failure of Maliki's government in quelling sectarian violence threatening to plunge Iraq in an all-out civil war," reports UPI.

In response to increasing US pressure for a crackdown on Shia militias hostile to the American occupation and public criticisms of Maliki by American military commanders and politicians, the Prime Minister complained that the US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and the Bush administration were undermining the idea that he was the sovereign head of a democratic government, reports the WSWS.

"I'm a friend to the United States, but not America's man in Iraq," Maliki told Khalilzad, according to Hassan Senaid, one of Maliki's advisors.

The proposed plan, according to the UPI source, stipulates that the new Iraqi army, with the assistance of US forces, will take control of power, suspend the constitution, dissolve parliament and form a new government. The military will also take direct control of the various provinces and the administration after imposing a state of emergency.

Hillary Bain Lindsay

Thousands Protest Iraq War

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 21:08:51 +0000

On March 18, demonstrations across Canada marked the third anniversary of the Iraq war. Over 3,000 filled the streets in Vancouver, an estimated 6,000 demonstrators turned out in Toronto, and 2,000 convened in Montreal. Hundreds attended rallies in Ottawa and Halifax. An estimated 40 cities across Canada held anti-war demonstrations.

Demonstrators variously called for an end to the US occupation of Iraq, withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan, and reparations for Canada's role in "overthrowing democracy" in Haiti.

International News: December 1

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 03:43:41 +0000

Israeli Attacks Leaving Thousands Homeless: UN

The remains of the former homes of the extended family of a suicide bomber. photo: Valerie Zink/FromOccupiedPalestine.org

According to UN observers, a recent Israeli attack in Gaza left 200 homes demolished and over 2,000 people homeless. The demolitions, which occur with little warning, were a part of "Operation Root Canal", an Israeli effort to destroy tunnels that Palestinian fighters use to smuggle weapons into the Occupied Territories.

"It's a sad factor that the people of Rafah, the innocent civilians who live there, have to pay the heavy price for the mobsters and gangsters who operate these tunnels," said Sharon Feingold, the Israeli general in charge of the operation. Israeli forces has recently used military-grade bulldozers and rockets to demolish the homes of the extended families of suicide bombers, or those suspected of housing Palestinian fighters. (Jordan Times, Australian Broadcasting Corp.)

Jordan Times:

» ABC: Israeli raids leaving thousands homeless: UN

Bombing Iraq, Building Fences, Demolishing Homes

Amnesty International stated that the United States appears to be destroying the houses of those associated with guerilla attackers as a form of "collective punishment". The Pentagon said that "the idea that this is some type of collective punishment is just absolutely without merit." Amnesty pointed to one report of a family being forced to evacuate a house with five minutes notice before the structure was razed by tank and attack helicopter fire. In other instances, houses have been obliterated by 500 pound bombs dropped from F-16 fighters, attacks Amnesty has suggested were solely for retribution. Under the Geneva Convention, destruction of "real or personal property" is "prohibited" unless it is "rendered absolutely necessary by military operations."

Occupying forces have surrounded the Iraqi village of Auja, Saddam Hussein's birthplace, with a fence topped with concertina wire. Residents of Auja have been issued identification cards, and must pass a US security checkpoint to enter or leave the village. (Agence France-Presse, Al-Jazeera)

Agence France-Presse:

» Associated Press: U.S. Troops Isolate Saddam's Birthplace

» Associated Press: U.S. puts clamp on Saddam's village

» Oneworld: U.S. War Tactics Questioned by Rights Groups

» Agence France-Press: US forces demolish Iraq homes

» Al Jazeera: US continues to humiliate Iraqis

Casualties to date: 22,000 Iraqis, 10,000 Americans

A recent report by medical charity Medact estimates that the total number of Iraqis killed as a direct result of the war is between 22,000 and 55,000 people. The report, entitled "Continuing Collateral Damage: the health and environmental costs of war on Iraq", also highlighted the long term health effects of the war, including a health crisis that is disproportionately affecting the young, women, and the poor. Ongoing crises in Iraq include a sharp increase in malnutrition, high maternal mortality, and a continued increase of water-borne diseases.

Recent figures from the Pentagon show that 9,675 US soldiers have been killed, wounded, injured, or evacuated for other reasons. "We really think there's an effort to hide the true cost in life, limb and the mental health of our soldiers," said Nancy Lessin of the anti-war group Military Families Speak Out. "There's a larger picture here of really trying to hide and obfuscate what's going on, and the wounded and injured are part of it." Other commentators have noted that George W. Bush has yet to attend a funeral of US troops killed in Iraq. (BBC, Orlando Sentinel)

BBC:

» Orlando Sentinel: Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000

Starvation, AIDS on the Rise: UN Reports

Over 800 million people worldwide are not getting enough to eat, according to a recent report released by the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Association (FAO). Though the number of starving people decreased by 37 million in the early 1990s, numbers have increased by 18 million in recent years. FAO director Jacques Diouf said that starvation "goes unnoticed unless the world's compassion is momentarily captured by war or natural disaster." "The problem is not so much the lack of food but the absence of a real political will," he added.

UNAIDS, the UN agency responsible for fighting Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus (AIDS), reported that the number of people infected with AIDS worldwide grew by 5 million in 2003. The report estimates that between 34 million and 46 million people are living with the virus, 26 million of them Africans. 3 million people died from AIDS in 2003, the report said. (AP)

Al Jazeera:

» Associated Press: Global AIDS epidemic hits new levels

Allies Losing on all Fronts in Iraq

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 21:03:37 +0000

Until August 18th, 2003 the United Nations had been spared any of the hostility reserved for the armies of the US and its partners. Not any longer. The recent blast demonstrates that any foreign nation(s) that involve themselves in Iraq face potentially deadly consequences. Further, as the US has had months to assuage local concerns, international relations experts are beginning to doubt Washington's ability to save its sinking foreign policy in Iraq. Even UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stated that the bombing in Baghdad is "also a setback politically for the UN mission".

At home, Americans seem to be increasingly concerned about government forays in the Middle East. A recent poll shows that support for the military initiative has fallen off from a high of about 80% at the start of the conflict, to approximately 61% in late August. (BBC)

--MICHAEL HUNTER

International News

Sun, 18 May 2003 03:23:33 +0000

Tommy Franks Charged With War Crimes
A Belgian lawyer and 19 Iraqis are charging US General Tommy Franks with war crimes under a Belgian law that allows citizens to charge foreigners for violations of international law. "We have a very specific case, with specific evidence," said Jan Fermon, the lawyer filing the suit.

» AP: Iraqis to file war crimes case against Gen. Tommy Franks
» BBC: US anger at war crimes threat
» Daily Telegraph: America threatens to move Nato after Franks is charged

Iraq Civilian Death Toll Jumps to 3700
According to numbers compiled from press reports by the Iraq Body Count Project, the number of recorded civilian deaths in the war on Iraq has exceeded 3700. Recent reports of more than 1400 deaths from 19 different Baghdad Hospitals were responsible for the sharp increase. Other recent causes of civilian casualties have been unexploded munitions from cluster bombs, which are often mistaken for food aid packages, and the US shooting of 15 people at a recent protest in Fallujah.

The project monitors the web sites of news agencies and major newspapers, and counts only reports that appear in more than one source. When reports differ, a maximum and minimum number of reported deaths is recorded. The most recent maximum total was 4805.

» The Iraq Body Count website includes a description of methodology and a listing of all reports compiled, and their sources.

Argentinians Protest Brukman Factory Evictions
Thousands of Argentinians have been staging continuous protests following the eviction of workers who had occupied the Brukman clothing factory in Buenos Aires. The men's clothing factory had been shut down two years ago by the owners during the height of Argentina's economic collapse, but was reopened by workers who were desperate for income.

The factory, along with over 200 others in Argentina, was run collectively by the workers until police locked the factory overnight and set up a blockade.

Over 10,000 attended a May Day protest at the factory, which ended with tear gas from the police and molotov cocktails from activists. On May 7th, several of the evicted workers staged a "sew-in" in the street outside the Brukman factory, making blankets and clothing for victims of a flood disaster in southern Argentina.

» Christian Science Monitor: Frustrated Argentines take business into own hands
» Naomi Klein: Argentina's Luddite Rulers
» Indymedia Argentina has many photographs, and coverage in Spanish.
» Americas.org: Brukman Struggle Continues
» Americas.org: May Day March, Brukman Pact

US Task Force Abandons Search for Illegal Weapons
The 75th Exploitation Task Force, the group responsible for finding Weapons of Mass Destruction in post-war Iraq is preparing to discontinue their operations without having found any illegal weapons, according to sources quoted by the Washington Post. The sources partially blamed looting and burning for the lack of available evidence.

According to officials, the search will continue, but biologists, physicists, and other experts will be moved off-site until there is something for them to look at. "I don't think we'll find anything," one Army Captain commented, noting that any weapons would have disappeared in the post-war chaos by now.

» Washington Post: Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq

Stop Ignoring the Congo, Says UN Human Rights Commissioner
United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello said that the international community has been ignoring atrocities in the Congolese civil war. De Mello said that additional peacekeeping troops were necessary to prevent further tragedies.

» Reuters: UN rights chief says world ignoring Congo violence