Iraq’s environment minister blamed Monday the use of depleted uranium weapons by U.S. forces during the 2003 Operation Shock and Awe for the current surge in cancer cases across the country.
As a result of “at least 350 sites in Iraq being contaminated during bombing” with depleted uranium (DU) weapons, Nermin Othman said, the nation is facing about 140,000 cases of cancer, with 7,000 to 8,000 new ones registered each year.
Speaking at a ministerial meeting of the Arab League, she also complained that many chemical plants and oil facilities had been destroyed during the two military campaigns since the 1990s, but the ecological consequences remain unclear.
As a result of “at least 350 sites in Iraq being contaminated during bombing” with depleted uranium (DU) weapons, Nermin Othman said, the nation is facing about 140,000 cases of cancer, with 7,000 to 8,000 new ones registered each year.
Speaking at a ministerial meeting of the Arab League, she also complained that many chemical plants and oil facilities had been destroyed during the two military campaigns since the 1990s, but the ecological consequences remain unclear.
Do we not feel the fiery archangel's eyes
when tumors grow from our touch?
So black, so deadened... Numb is this hollowness
as the world watches our march upon graves
and hears the sand shriek in dismay!
O! Our time calls out for more than this from us;
it begs a reflection upon tenderness
with hunger's pleading gaze.
We must enter into a season of grand marvels,
like a child upon seeing his mother’s smile;
a world free of brutality and madness and war.
© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman
