damage to the environment: depleted uranium
from agent orange to du
Fredy Champagne
As a veteran of the Vietnam War, I have to say the trip to Iraq with the Iraq Sanctions Challenge was not pleasant, not fun, and not an adventure. The trip for me personally was horror, destruction, devastation, helplessness, depression, embarrassment, pain, and suffering. I cannot atone for the sins of my government, but that did not stop me from feeling the bitterness and overwhelming anger towards our elected leaders and their genocidal policy of exterminating third world peoples of color. I am ashamed of my government.
One of my purposes on this trip was to gather more information on the effects of the first use of depleted uranium weapons against the Iraqi people—soldiers and civilians. I am appalled at the data we are receiving.
There is a parallel to the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam. For years after the war, the Vietnam veteran was told there was no connection between exposure to Agent Orange and the health problems our veterans were experiencing. Our Vietnam vets used Agent Orange with little training and no protective gear. We were exposed and sacrificed. Those exposed were "friendly fire" casualties.
Now we find the same thing happening with depleted uranium poisoning. Our Gulf War vets were not warned or protected. In fact, those who sent them into battle knew they would be contaminated, knew that a great percentage would be permanently damaged and disabled. They were contaminated with atomic poisoning just like the atomic veterans of World War II and its aftermath.
We, the veteran community, call on our brothers and sisters to join with us in the campaign to ban the manufacture, sale, deployment, and use of all types of depleted uranium ammunitions, armor, and landmines.
We have been invited to return to Iraq in December 1998. We are inviting veterans of the Gulf War, and veterans of other wars, from any countries, to join with us in the largest delegation of veterans to visit Iraq since the Gulf War. Our purpose is to set up ongoing communications, study, and cooperation on the issues of depleted uranium, the health effects on veterans, and problems related to their exposure. As many of the Iraqi veterans were more severely wounded, and therefore have correspondingly greater health problems, we wish to learn as much as possible in Iraq.
We will also work on issues such as a post-traumatic stress disorder study of the Gulf Vets returning to the war zone and meeting with Iraqi veterans, and the consequent healing process. And we as veterans will seek ways to work together to end the sanctions in place against Iraq.
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