Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown
Date: 01-30-03
PRSS Channel: A67.7
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
The US is thinking the unthinkable: it is preparing for
the possible use of nuclear weapons against Iraq. We’ll
talk to military analyst William Arkin.
Dr. Asaf Durakovic gives a rare interview about depleted
uranium in Iraq: he was the first military doctor to test
Gulf War veterans for radiation exposure and was terminated
for his work.
We go to Baghdad to speak with former U.N. humanitarian
coordinator Hans Von Sponeck about a new report on the health
affects of war.
9:01-9:06 Headlines: FORMER U.N. HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR
HANS VON SPONECK TALKS TO US FROM BAGHDAD ABOUT A NEW REPORT
ON THE HEALTH AFFECTS OF WAR
In Baghdad today the Center for Economic and Social Rights
released a major report highlighting the human costs of a
war against Iraq. The report warns that United States military
forces may commit war crimes by deliberately destroying essential
civilian life support systems
According to the Pentagon, one of the air campaign's first
targets will be Iraq's national electricity grid. The resulting
damage to water, sanitation, public health, and food distribution
systems will claim an enormous number of civilian casualties
-- up to 500,000 according to a confidential UN document.
Such disproportionate collateral damage would violate fundamental
principles of the laws of war. For example, the Geneva conventions
prohibit attacking“objects indispensable for the survival
of the civilian population.”
Under international law, warring parties must distinguish
between military and civilian targets at all times and refrain
from any attack that will cause excessive civilian casualties.
Guest: Hans Von Sponeck, former Humanitarian Coordinator
in Iraq who resigned this position three years ago to protest
international policy toward Iraq, including sanctions He is
in Baghdad as a special envoy to the Center for Economic and
Social Rights
Link: Center for Economic and Social Rights:
www.cesr.org/
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:20 THE US IS THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE: IT IS PREPARING
FOR THE POSSIBLE USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AGAINST IRAQ
Military analyst William Arkin is reporting in the‘Los
Angeles Times’:
“One year after President Bush labeled Iraq, Iran and
North Korea the ‘axis of evil,’ the United States
is thinking about the unthinkable: It is preparing for the
possible use of nuclear weapons against Iraq.”
“At the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) in Omaha
and inside planning cells of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, target
lists are being scrutinized, options are being pondered and
procedures are being tested to give nuclear armaments a role
in the new U.S. doctrine of "preemption."
Arkin reports the Bush administration has significantly
lowered the nuclear threshold to make so-called ‘preemptive’
nuclear attacks a possibility. This may also lead to other
nations revising their own thresholds that dictate when nuclear
weapons are deployed.
Arkin concludes that to use nuclear weapons to defeat Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein has the potential to create a political
and global disaster.
Guest: William Arkin, military affairs analyst for the Los
Angeles Times. He wrote a piece in this Sunday’s LA
Times “The Nuclear Option in Iraq: The US has lowered
the bar for using the ultimate weapon” which looks at
the Bush administration’s plans to possibly use nuclear
weapons in the upcoming war on Iraq.
Links: “The Nuclear Option in Iraq: The US has lowered
the bar for using the ultimate weapon”: www.commondreams.org/views03/0126-01.htm
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:40 DR. ASAF DURAKOVIC GIVES A RARE INTERVIEW ABOUT
DEPLETED URANIUM IN IRAQ: HE WAS THE FIRST MILITARY DOCTOR
TO TEST GULF WAR VETERANS FOR RADIATION EXPOSURE AND WAS TERMINATED
FOR HIS WORK
As the Pentagon weighs deploying nuclear weapons in Iraq,
we’re going to take a look now at another kind of radioactive
weapon US troops may use: depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium is the most effective anti-tank weapon
ever devised. It is made from nuclear waste left over from
making nuclear weapons and fuel. As an unwanted waste product
of the atomic energy industry, it is extremely cheap. It is
also the densest material available on the market, and can
smash through all known armor. US gunners say DU rounds save
lives on the front line.
But when DU rounds punch through tanks, they create a firestorm
of uranium dioxide dust. Those invisible particles are still
“hot.” As the Christian Science Monitor’s
Scott Peterson writes, the particles make Geiger counters
sing. They stick to the tanks, contaminate the soil and blow
in the desert wind as they will for the 4.5 billion
years it takes for the DU to lose its radioactivity.
The public first became aware the US military was using
DU weapons during the 1991 Gulf War. US gunners used 320 tons
of DU to destroy 4,000 Iraqi armored vehicles.
The Pentagon deemed those vehicles a "substantial risk"
and US forces buried them in Saudi Arabia and low-level radioactive
waste dumps in the US. Thousands of US troops became sick
after that war, afflicted with a range of mysterious symptoms
that have come to be known as Gulf War Syndrome. Many vets
believe DU is responsible. According to Reuters, some troops
are so concerned about a new Gulf War Syndrome they have begun
to bank their sperm before they head to the Middle East. The
sperm banks are now offering discounts to troops.
Iraqis say DU is a major cause of the severe health problems
such as cancer and birth defects. The director of the cancer
ward at Basra's Saddam Teaching Hospital says pre-war cancer
rates have increased eleven times.
The Pentagon and the White House deny this. Pentagon officials
refer to the latest government report on the subject, which
said: "Gulf War exposures to depleted uranium have not
to date produced any observable adverse health effects attributable
to DU's chemical toxicity or low-level radiation." Just
last week, the White House Office of Global Communications
rolled out a new propaganda document called: “Apparatus
of Lies: Saddam’s Disinformation and Propaganda 1990-2003”.
The document characterized Iraq’s claims as a campaign
of disinformation.
Despite repeated calls, the Pentagon refused to be interviewed
for this program.
In a minute we’ll be speaking with Dr. Asaf Durakovic.
In 1991, Dr. Durakovic was Chief of Nuclear Medicine at the
veterans hospital in Wilmington Delaware. There he discovered
the first gulf war veterans with symptoms of radiation exposure.
The hospital terminated him after he refused to halt his research.
He has pursued the research to this day He was also a former
US Army Colonel. He rarely gives interviews in this country.
But first we go to Steve Robinson of the National Gulf War
Resource Center.
Guest: Steve Robinson, Executive Director, National Gulf
War Resource Center. They monitor the current status of scientific
studies.
Guest: Dr. Asaf Durakovic, nuclear scientist and former
Chief of the Nuclear Sciences Division at the Armed Forces
Radiobiology Research Institute. He is currently the Medical
Director of the Uranium Medical Research Center, an independent
non-profit institute which studies the effects of Uranium
contamination. The UMRC recently sent a team to the Nargahar
province in Afghanistan to test for uranium contamination
in residents living near and around US bombing sites during
Operation Enduring Freedom.
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:58 Depleted Uranium, cont’d
Guest: Dr. Chris Busby, Scientific Secretary with the European
Committee on Radiation Risk , a group of scientists and risk
specialists within Europe who assess the risk levels of low-level
radiation exposure. The ECRR has just published a report which
determines that previous risk-models for depleted uranium
exposure are incorrect. The report determines that depleted
uranium is 100 to 1000 times more carcinogenic than the present
risk model suggests. Dr. Busby is also a member of the International
Society for Environment Epidemiology, and was invited to Iraq
and Kosovo to investigate the health effects of depleted uranium.
He has also given presentations on depleted uranium to the
Royal Society and to the European Parliament. He is a member
of the UK Ministry of Defence Oversight Committee on Depleted
Uranium.
Guest: Karen Parker, attorney specializing in humanitarian
law. She has been working with the UN Commission on Human
Rights since 1996 to expose the illegality of DU munitions
under humanitarian law.
Links:
Uranium Medical Research Center: www.umrc.net
National Gulf War Resource Center:
www.ngwrc.org/
European Committee on Radiation Risk: www.euradcom.org/
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
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