Is Britain killing thousands?

Felicity Arbuthnot of Britain's daily socialist paper, 
Morning Star, looks into report that the British army in 
Basra is allowing deadly material to be smelted and spread.

Destroyer tanks and armoured vehicles hit by and contaminated by 
depleted uranium (DU) weapons in the March invasion of Iraq are 
being melted down in huge smelting facility near Basra, in 
southern Iraq, under the auspices of the British army, and being 
turned into "prefabricated bridges, litter bins and even pots and 
pans", believes the Independent's veteran Middle East 
correspondent Robert Fisk.

He told the Morning Star that the story in Basra is 
plausible and consistent.

"I believe it to be true, but I can't prove it", he said. Due to 
time restrictions and travel complexities in current 
circumstances, he said, "I did not get to the facility".

"Depleted uranium is a — radioactive waste and, as such, should 
be deposited in a licensed repository", states the US Army 
Environmental Policy Institute (AEPI).

After the 1991 Gulf war, tanks hit with depleted uranium were 
taken to a nuclear decontamination facility at Barnwell, North 
Carolina, built only for the purpose of dealing with vehicles 
damaged and contaminated by DU in the war.

Those which could not be decontaminated were sent to a special 
secure landfill site owned by Chem Nuclear or to the similar US 
Department of Energy Savanna River site.

The Barnwell manager at the time, Roger Johnson, talked of the 
vast amount of radioactive and toxic material affecting the 
vehicles being contaminated. "Something that takes only four days 
can produce a lot of material".

A UK Atomic Energy Authority spokesman said at the time that he 
was astonished by the use of DU in the 1991 war.

The UKAEA was so alarmed that it "self-initiated" a report, which 
it sent to the Ministry of Defence in April 1991, warning of a 
health and environmental catastrophe.

It estimated that, if a residual 50 tonnes of DU dust remained 
after the impact of weapons, there could be an excess half a 
million "potential deaths" from cancer "in the region" within 10 
years.

The Pentagon has confirmed that 320 tonnes were left behind. Some 
scientists say that the real figure could be closer to 900 
tonnes.

The most recent conflict has, cite reports, left at least a 
further 2,300 tonnes.

The UKAEA paper states that "DU can become a long-term problem if 
not dealt with and — a risk to both the military and civilian 
population". Its calculations "indicate a significant problem".

The report continues: "Localised contamination of vehicles and 
soil may exceed permissible limits and these could be hazardous 
to both clean-up teams and the local population.

"Inhalation of DU dust particles can lead to unacceptable body 
burdens (putting) the public at risk. DU can also be a danger if 
taken into the body by ingestion or through a cut.

"Furthermore, if DU gets into the food chain or water, then this 
will create potential health problems".

DU remains radioactive for four-and-a-half billion years.

Basra's cancers and birth defects, linked by experts to the use 
of DU in 1991, have reached epidemic levels.

The effects of the further use last year has yet to be assessed.

The implications for the population and, especially, for those 
working in the smelting plant and breathing in the DU dust, can 
only be imagined.

DU, if injected or inhaled, "has the potential to generate 
significant medical consequences", states the AEPI.

"Short-term effects of high doses can result in death, whilst 
long-term effects of low doss can result in cancer".

Labour Blaenau Gwent MP Llew Smith has tabled a question to the 
Defence Secretary asking: "What methods are being used to 
decontaminate Iraqi tanks and other military equipment disabled 
or destroyed by the use of depleted uranium munitions in the 
southern sector of Iraq under British military control?" A reply 
is still due on this issue.

Professor Malcolm Hooper, emeritus professor at the University of 
Sutherland and a government adviser on Gulf war illnesses, said: 
"Taiwan springs to mind, where radioactive material was used in 
building structures and deaths and illnesses were so great that 
they had to be demolished.

"I would be very unhappy about using these materials — it would 
be a disaster for workers, a disaster for those living in the 
vicinity and it would be a real toxic brew also containing 
mercury, cadmium" — and numerous other lethal pollutants.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told the Morning Star 
that it had no knowledge of tanks being melted down as a method 
of disposing, commenting: "There are illegal smelting facilities 
all over Basra".

The spokesman suggested contacting the British military's Basra 
headquarters.

Fisk comments, cynically: "It makes sense. Maybe Iraqi housewives 
who live through nights of power cuts can now spot their 
household utensils glowing quietly in the darkness of the 
kitchen".