Destroying the Village to Save
Weapons
Manufacturers
by Heather Wokusch
Dissident Voice
January 25, 2003
One of the legacies
of the Vietnam War is the now infamous quote from an American military press
officer, "we had to destroy the village in order to save it." Rings
some bells these days. In the name of "fighting terror," countries
with secret weapons programs are poised to pulverize Iraq because of its secret
weapons programs. And Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) are being used against
civilians in order to prevent WMD from being used against civilians.
Case in point:
the American military's ongoing use of depleted uranium (DU), despite numerous
independent studies warning of DU's toxic-radioactive effects. Research
conducted six months before the Gulf War found that short-term high doses of DU
could result in death, and long-term low doses could lead to cancer. Regardless,
American forces used DU weapons in the 1991 Gulf war, the 1999 Balkan conflict,
and the recent hostilities in Afghanistan. It can be assumed that DU weaponry
will be used in any upcoming attack on Iraq as well.
The implications are staggering. The Geneva Conventions clearly ban weapons that continue to kill or cause genetic effects after the fighting ends, not to mention weapons that unduly damage the natural environment. DU fails miserably on each count. And DU makes no distinction between friend and foe - its victims include local civilians as well as service members sent abroad to fight.
Hundreds of
thousands of US and allied troops entered areas heavily contaminated by DU dust
and debris in the Gulf War, and at least 11 tons of DU was used by NATO forces
in the Balkans. In Afghan cities subjected to allied bombing, uranium
concentrations were recorded at 400% to 200% above normal, with birth defects
sharply on the rise.
Stats like these
would indicate an urgent push to unravel DU's deadly legacy and prevent further
harm; instead, there seems to have been an urgent push to cover up the facts.
In an ominous
1991 memo, US Lt. Col. Ziehmn said that despite concerns over their toxic
effects, if DU weapons "proved their worth during our recent combat
activities, then we should assure their future existence ... I believe we
should keep this sensitive issue at mind when after-action reports are
written." This institutionalized denial could explain why governmental
studies into the health effects of DU on Gulf war veterans have included flaws
and omissions, such as lengthy delays ensuring that many DU acute exposure
victims have been dead too long for autopsies to be adequately performed. It
may also explain why the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) took a full
18 months after the Balkan conflict to begin investigating post-war uranium
contamination, and why, even as late as last year, the US and UK governments
vetoed a proposed World Health Organization (WHO) study into the health effects
of DU on Iraqi civilians.
DU's ability to penetrate hard targets is desirable
militarily, but alternatives such as Tungsten can achieve similar results
without the radiation hazards. What then justifies the continued use of DU?
One answer might
lie in a powerful corporate lobby: 99% of nuclear industry uranium waste is DU.
In other words, by providing DU for weaponry, the nuclear industry not only
makes a tidy profit but avoids the expensive hassle of disposing nuclear waste
as well. Pretty sweet deal.
Bush has been a
friend to the nuclear industry from the start, by opposing the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty and thumbing his nose at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
With 2002's Nuclear
Posture Review (NPR), however, the Bush administration raised the nuclear
ante to critical heights. Among other proposals, NPR says the US could use
nuclear weapons in the vaguely worded "event of surprising military developments,"
and lists such cases as a China-Taiwan conflict, an attack by Iraq on one of
its neighbors, or an Arab-Israeli war.
In tandem with
NPR, the Bush administration has publicly euphemized nuclear weapons as
"low-yield," "tactical," and "user-friendly."
(How significant that one of the brains behind current US nuclear policy, Dr.
Keith Payne, is best known for his 1980's essay "Victory is
Possible," an optimistic approach to all-out nuclear war.)
Meanwhile,
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld continually warns of rogue states holding
"America hostage to nuclear blackmail," but fails to mention his own
contribution: Rumsfeld
was on the board of ABB, a company that sold hundreds of millions of
dollars of equipment and services to North Korean nuclear plants. It's another
intriguing coincidence that despite his administration's slamming "axis of
evil" nukes, Bush
recently requested $3.5 million in funding for a consortium currently building
nuclear reactors in North Korea.
Double speak?
Denial? Impending danger? And don't forget that India and Pakistan are still
rattling nuclear sabers, Israel has a complete nuclear arsenal, and Britain's
Tony Blair has publicly declared the possibility of using nuclear weapons in an
attack on Iraq.
Yet every day we're told the important issue is that "time is running out for Saddam," a message ludicrous at best: Iraq's army is weak, its population vanquished by years of inhumane sanctions and as Secretary of State Colin Powell recently admitted, even he has not seen the supposed evidence linking Iraq with al-Qaeda or ongoing development of weapons of mass destruction.
But it's true that
time is running out - for the planet and its people. DU/nuclear weapons are
just symptoms of a larger world completely out of balance. Billions upon
billions are poured into weapons of mass annihilation when the focus should be
on mutual survival.
If we don't
change our focus to protecting the village, it may soon be too late to save it.
Heather Wokusch is a free-lance writer with a background
in clinical psychology. Her work as been featured in publications and websites
internationally. Heather can be contacted via her website: http://www.heatherwokusch.com