Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
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Date: 01-31-03
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9:00-9:01 Billboard:
Part 2 of our discussion on depleted uranium: we talk to
Scientific Secretary with the European Committee on Radiation
Risk Dr. Chris Busby, and U.N. human rights lawyer Karen Parker
A new U.N. report finds Afghanistan's environment ravaged
by war
A judge fines a women's center $500 a day for refusing
to hand over a 16-year-old rape victim's counseling records;
over 2,500 people offer to spend time in jail in lieu of the
fine
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:20 PART 2 OF OUR DISCUSSION ON DEPLETED URANIUM,
WITH THE SCIENTIFIC SECRETARY WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE
ON RADIATION RISK, AND A U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER
Today we continue with Part 2 of our special coverage on
depleted uranium. Yesterday, we spoke in a rare interview,
with Dr. Asaf Durakovic, the VA doctor who first discovered
DU contamination in veterans after the Persian Gulf War.
Today, we will look at recent findings on the risks of radiation
contamination and discuss more about the legality of Depleted
Uranium weapons.
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
³hot.² 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.
Last Friday, a group of more than 100 legal experts and
NGO's led by the Center for Constitutional Rights here
in New York, warned President Bush that he and other senior
government officials could be prosecuted for war crimes if
military tactics in the upcoming attack on Iraq violated international
humanitarian law.
"Our primary concern ... is the large number of civilian
casualties that may result should U.S. and coalition forces
fail to comply with international humanitarian law in using
force against Iraq," the group said in a letter to Bush
and War Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
According to a Reuters news report, the letter, which had
more than 100 signatories, said the rules had been broken
in other recent wars.
It said air strikes on populated cities, carpet bombing
and the use of fuel-air explosives were examples of inappropriate
military action taken during the 1991 Gulf War, the 1999 Kosovo
campaign and the 2001 Afghan conflict that led to civilian
casualties and might be used again in Iraq.
Ironically, Bush on Wednesday advised Iraqi officers and
soldiers to disobey any orders to use weapons of mass destruction
in the event of a conflict."If you choose to do so, when
Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried and persecuted
as a war criminal," he said.
We will be joined today, by Karen Parker, an attorney in
Humanitarian law, to talk about the legal implications of
using depleted uranium weapons. We will also be joined by
Pekka Haavisto, of the United Nations Environmental Program.
The UNEP just completed an environmental study on the after-effects
of war in Afghanistan.
But first, we go to Dr Chris Busby, Scientific secretary
with the European Committee on Radiation Risk, who has been
researching the health risks of low-level radiation exposure
to human populations. The ECRR has just published a report
which you presented in Brussels a couple of days ago. Your
report has determined that previous risk-models for depleted
uranium exposure are incorrect. Can you explain?
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 riskof 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.
Links: Dr. Chris Busby's website for Low level Radiation Campaign:
www.llrc.org
European Committee on Radiation Risk: www.euradcom.org
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 international law.
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:40 Depleted Uranium cont'd
Guest: Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of the UN Environmental
Program's Afghanistan Task Force. They published a report
on Wednesday which assessed the environmental damage to Afghanistan
as a result of war. Says Afghan govt. didn't ask them
to do any testing for uranium.
Links: UNEP Afghanistan Report: postconflict.unep.ch/high1.htm
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:58 JUDGE FINES A WOMEN'S CENTER $500 A DAY FOR
REFUSING TO HAND OVER A 16-YEAR-OLD RAPE VICTIM'S COUNSELING
RECORDS; OVER 2,500 PEOPLE OFFER TO SPEND TIME IN JAIL IN
LIEU OF THE FINE
Crime is at an all time low in the country. You wouldn't
know that from media coverage. In New York, the number of
crimes committed from murders to robberies to auto-theft is
the lowest its been in 40 years. But there is one crime that
is skyrocketing: it is rape - up more than 30% in New York
alone.
Today, we go north to Massachusetts where a major standoff
is taking place over the privacy of a teenage rape victim.
A state court has ordered the Women's Resource Center
in the city of Lawrence to hand over counseling records of
a 16-year-old girl to the defense team of the man she says
raped her.
The Center is saying no. A judge has imposed a fine of $500
fine for every day the center refuses to hand over the records.
The Center appealed that ruling and is expected to hear today
whether it must pay the fine or not.
People from across the country have taken great interest
in the case. Some 2,500 people have volunteered to go to jail
for a night to help protect the girl's privacy and to
fend off the Center from paying the $500 per day fine.
Guest: Wendy Murphy, visiting scholar at Harvard Law School.
She is representing the Women's Resource Center in Lawrence,
Massachusetts in the privacy case.
Guest: Irene Weiser, founder of the StopFamilyViolence.org,
a website through which she helped recruit 2500 volunteers
who have offered to spend a night in jail to help the Women's
Resource Center protect the privacy of it clients.
For a copy of today's program, call 1 (800) 881 2359. Our
website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Ana Nogiera and Alex Wolfe. Mike Di Filippo is our
engineer and webmaster.
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