Wednesday, February 19, 2003

The Weapon We Gave Iraq
"Iraqi researchers say that the epicenter ("Ground Zero") for DU effects is around the city of Basra, in southern Iraq. It was here, in 1991, that U.S. and coalition jets ravaged the retreating Iraqi army, leaving behind the smoldering hulks of thousands of vehicles. The U.S. and British air forces expended an estimated 300 tonnes of depleted-uranium ammunition in and around this area; it has since been dubbed the "Highway of Death."

"The preponderance of birth defects among children born in the Basra region over the past decade defies explanation. Birth-deformity cases in other parts of Iraq are often traced to Basra. Geneticist Selma Taher, part of an Iraqi research team studying this phenomenon, discovered that three babies born with a similar congenital anomaly in the village of Dholuiya, about 700 kilometers from Basra, were fathered by men who served in the same regiment on the Highway of Death."

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