Epidemic?

[Anonymous]

Gulf War veterans going crazy. Was there something in their food that we don't know? I guess long term effects of ??? are showing up now.

[Paul Stevens]

Awful big leap in logic don't you think. There are other leaps that can be made as well. That wouldn't make them valid either.

[Thomas Paul]

Then what happened to all those postal workers? Were they used to test ??? before they gave it to the gulf war veterans?

[Cindy Glass]

This obviously PROVES that Saddam Hussein was secretly poisoning the US soldiers over in Kuwait while we were stomping on him.
:roll:

[ersin eser]

Try depleted uranium
[ October 29, 2002: Message edited by: ersin eser ]

[Jason Menard]

Depleted uranium isn't particularly radioactive, hence the "depleted" part. I'm not saying it's totaly harmless, but there are many worse things. US military aircraft have depleted uranium all throughout them in many cases. Aside from munitions, it is also used as a ballast. I would think that if it were that bad, USAF and Navy aircraft maintenance people would have figured it out long before the Gulf war.

[ersin eser]

During the Gulf War, munitions and armor made with depleted uranium were used for the first time in a military action. Iraq and northern Kuwait were a virtual testing range for depleted-uranium weapons. Over 940,000 30-millimeter uranium tipped bullets and "more than 14,000 large caliber DU rounds were consumed during Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield." (U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute)
These weapons were used throughout Iraq with no concern for the health and environmental consequences of their use. Between 300 and 800 tons of DU particles and dust have been scattered over the ground and the water in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people, both civilians and soldiers, have suffered the effects of exposure to these radioactive weapons.
Of the 697,000 U.S. troops who served in the Gulf, over 90,000 have reported medical problems. Symptoms include respiratory, liver and kidney dysfunction, memory loss, headaches, fever, low blood pressure. There are birth defects among their newborn children. DU is a leading suspect for a portion of these ailments. The effects on the population living in Iraq are far greater. Under pressure, the Pentagon has been forced to acknowledge Gulf War Syndrome, but they are still stonewalling any connection to DU.
Communities near DU weapons plants, testing facilities, bases and arsenals have also been exposed to this radioactive material which has a half-life of 4.4 billion years. DU-weapons are deployed with U.S. troops in Bosnia. The spreading toxicity of depleted uranium threatens life everywhere.
DU weapons are not conventional weapons. They are highly toxic, radioactive weapons. All international law on warfare has attempted to limit violence to combatants and to prevent the use of cruel and unfocused weapons. International agreements and conventions have tried to protect civilians and non-combatants from the scourge of war and to outlaw the destruction of the environment and the food supply in order to safeguard life on earth.
Consequently, DU weapons violate international law because of their inherent cruelty and unconfined death-dealing effect. They threaten civilian populations now and for generations to come. These are precisely the weapons and uses prohibited by international law for more than a century including the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols Additional of 1977.

Drafted by Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General
http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/appeal.htm

[ October 29, 2002: Message edited by: ersin eser ]

[ersin eser]

Metal of Dishonor @ amazon.com

[Jason Menard]

The DU thing is BS. There are a million and one reasons why Gulf veterans may be showing various symptoms from their time over there, and many of them are far more plausible than depleted uranium. I would place Iraqi chemical weapons and vaccinations far above depleted uranium as possible causes of health problems.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by Jason Menard:
There are a million and one reasons why Gulf veterans may be showing various symptoms from their time over there, and many of them are far more plausible than depleted uranium. I would place Iraqi chemical weapons and vaccinations far above depleted uranium as possible causes of health problems.

I can accept that as a reasonable viewpoint.

Originally posted by Jason Menard:
The DU thing is BS.

This statement is not appropriate without conclusive evidence. Even then, it is unnecessarily rude. Why screw up a perfectly good post with an unnecessary nasty statement?

[Jason Menard]

Originally posted by <unregistered>:
This statement is not appropriate without conclusive evidence. Even then, it is unnecessarily rude. Why screw up a perfectly good post with an unnecessary nasty statement?

Get a grip. I did not say Ersin's views are BS, I stated my belief that the views expressed in the article are BS, and then pointed out some other possible causes. Next time I will post a lengthy description of my intentions so I don't accidentally offend somebody who won't even post using their normal user name. My appologies to Ersin if he mistook my statement as an attack against him.

[Thomas Paul]

So in 12 years, 90,000 people out of a group of 700,000 that fought in a war with all the psychological and physical implications of that have reported medical problems. And some of those 700,000 people had children with birth defects! Amazing! And what percentage of soldiers returning from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam reported medical problems within 12 years of returning? And what percentage of those men had children with birth defects?
Guess what? In any large population there are going to people who have children with birth defects. And after any war there are going to be people who complain of medical problems. The question is, is there any evidence that the rate after the Gulf War is any higher than after any other war?