Depleted Uranium is a War Crime!

The Hidden Wars in the Middle East to me are the ones we as Americans never hear of because the government doesn’t want us to hear of them. Not only are these combat, or conventional wars, they are also wars being carried out against innocent civilians of the Middle Eastern population. Much of this lies in the use of depleted uranium, which I will address later in this essay. The Hidden Wars can also be a reference to the Gulf War. Though the American public had knowledge that a war was occurring in the area surrounding Iraq, they had no idea to what extent it was occurring, who the major players were and for why this war was being fought in the first place. Since the media was kept out, there wasn’t much information being spread to the American people about the war. The only information getting to the public was government released statements, which were unreliable at best.
These statements released by the government were riddled with lies. The government lied to get into the war, they lied during the war, and they’re still lying to this day. Most of the lies the U.S. government told were not flat out lies, they were exaggerations of the truth, and the most damaging examples of U.S. deceit is the information they withheld from the public. The exaggerations as to the extent of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait is suspect. The untold amount of forces said to be occupying Kuwait was a myth. Evidence is leant to this conclusion with the satellite photos taken of the region at the time of the invasion. There are no tank tracks in the sand, no military equipment at the borders, but perhaps the most glaring void in this is the absence of Iraqi soldiers. The U.S. government tried to cover this up by saying the tank tracks would have been covered up within a matter of days by winds and other natural elements, this is another lie. There are still tank tracks in northern Africa left over from World War II, northern Africa has extremely high winds at times and unforgiving natural elements. These tank tracks have lasted over sixty years. The exaggeration to get a coalition together to get into Iraq was entirely uncalled for.
The coalition was, unfortunately put together, through diplomatic bullying and lobbying and the air strikes over Iraq commenced. While it was said this was to be a bombing of surgical precision, it was nothing of that sort. The government told its citizens they were targeting and destroying Iraqi military targets and the population of Iraq would be largely unharmed, this could not be further from the truth. The bombing was more reminiscent of the blanket bombing of Berlin in World War II and estimates have risen to over 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians, not terrorists, innocent people. Then came the marines, marching through Kuwait with virtually no opposition. One soldier stated the flies and mosquitoes gave up a better fight than the Iraqi “military” that was largely plain-clothes civilians protecting their own country. The U.S. marines took Kuwait in a day. On their way to Baghdad they were met with a greater opposition, one that they could not defeat, their own government. The U.S. marines had taken control of southern Iraq within 24 hours and were marching to Baghdad when the Bush administration called the war off. What they didn’t let the American public know was why. With the arrival of U.S. forces, the people of Iraq risen up against Saddam Hussein and started demonstrating in the streets of Iraq, they were poised to overthrow him. The U.S. needed Saddam in the Middle East. He was someone they could bully, not to mention he retained his power with CIA support, the Hussein regime was not toppled as it should have been, that was never the U.S.’s goal, they needed him around to secure the oil fields and remove the embargos. Simple as that. It was all about oil. Henry Kissinger put the United State’s priorities best when he stated, “oil is too important to be left to the Arabs.” They needed Saddam in power to hammer out the treaties that would give the U.S. control of the Iraqi oil fields.
The soldiers were met with a hero’s welcome and they went on to live happily ever after. Or did they? Within months of returning home, several soldiers began complaining of medical effects, anything from rashes to fatigue to constantly being sick. When looked upon more closely the answers became clear. In making the shells to fire during the Iraqi war the U.S. wanted to be frugal in its budget. They set their sights on different types of metal they could use to make the shells out of. There was a type of metal that had just been lying around, and the U.S. had literally tons of the stuff, uranium. They began recycling this uranium and using it to build military ammunition. What was unknown at the time were the effects this would have on the unfortunate souls who came in contact with it. Depleted uranium can burst through any armor with relative ease, whether it be a tank or a bunker, it doesn’t matter. These structures and vehicles were annihilated after taking a hit from a shell made of depleted uranium. This was an efficient way for the U.S. to build its shells, what was kept from the public was the fact that uranium stays radioactive for millions of years after it’s created. Not only were U.S. soldiers feeling the effects of this substance, the Iraqi civilians are still suffering the effects today. Numbers have risen upward of two babies born per day, per hospital in Iraq with birth defects as a direct result of depleted uranium. Many do not survive. In fact, when a child is born, more likely the question is not asked is it a boy or a girl? The more common question is; is it normal? Depleted uranium is a war crime!
This casts the U.S. government in a very negative light throughout the world. It’s no wonder that public opinion of this country is a negative one. It makes me feel sad, research had been done prior to the use of the depleted uranium, it was common knowledge among officials of the government that the radioactive waste was deadly. There is hatred for the United States in the Middle East and it is not unwarranted. These are the kinds of things that have to come to light. It is essential for the American people to know of these atrocities. We have to make sure this never happens again. Funny, we’ve heard that before haven’t we? World War II, the atrocities carried out by the Nazis, Never Again, wonder if we can take a page out of our own playbook.