| Tuesday, February 07, 2006 |
| NUCLEAR WAR |
NUCLEAR WAR
These people who are saying they are supporting the soldiers are at the pinnacle of ignorance because our soldiers are walking along contaminated ground...We dropped depleted uranium over there and its radiological and we have 160,000 of us that get a cheque every month for $201 for undiagnosed illnesses because if they diagnosed it that means that they would have to admit that they used radiological fucking weapons over there.
- US soldier at anti-war demonstration (in the film We Interrupt This Empire - Free download)
In case you didn't know it, we are already in a Nuclear War
 Take a look over at Snowshoe Films and watch the interview with the Deputy Director of the Uranium Medical Research Centre, Tedd Weyman (it is the second one down). He makes some startling allegations.
- Depleted and non-depleted uranium conventional weapons used by the USA, the UK and Canada have put more nuclear material in the environment than all of the nuclear weapons testing programmes put together
- Although some people classify these weapons as battlefield weapons the UN classifies them as weapons of indiscriminate effect because they remain in the environment for so long that they obviously affect civilians
- There is no instruction in any medical school anywhere in the western world researching into the effects of uranium contamination and its effects. This is because it is not allowed to be taught in any universities anywhere
- Troops are misinformed (or not informed enough) about the possible harmful effects of these weapons. The military does not acknowledge the full dangers of these weapons so why, on its terms, should it warn them?
- The methodologies used in the government testing and decontamination programmes are "not accurate, they are not correct, they are improper and they don't use the right chemistry and the right physics therefore they cannot say one way or the other whether the people they have allegedly examined have been exposed or not. It is just not possible"
- The normal masks given out do not protect against 'aerosoled' DU
- The private research groups have got in line with the governments to say that there is not that much of a problem
- One of the odd properties of uranium is that it begins to replace the calcium in your bones. From there it is released back into the blood and begins destroying other cells somewhere else in your body until more cells are eliminated or mutated. This cycle continues to your death
- There has been a clampdown on any reporting of Gulf war syndrome
- The official quantities are about the DU fired from a few different military vehicles. This does not account for the Uranium used in the bunker busters and the high altitude bombs. He estimates around 2000 tonnes of uranium was used in operation Iraqi freedom. This is four times the amount used in Gulf war 1
- There could be quadrillions of particles loose in the bombed areas and beyond (they get lifted and moved by the wind). These particles can remain airborne for months
He also says that even if you have no objection to any of this on environmental or humanitarian grounds then you should consider that the bill will have to be picked up somewhere by those who have been dropping these weapons.
The media's coverage of the use of DU has been deplorable. Danny Schechter's excellent film 'Weapons of Mass Deception' shows a UK army office and on the board behind the soldier is a list of subjects they are not to mention in the media. One of them was DU. It also shows an exceptional piece of footage where a German reporter is standing next to a tank with a Geiger counter which is buzzing away merrily. When he questions the US soldier the soldier point blank denies the information in front of him and keeps saying "this tank is not radioactive" before walking away. Make an attempt to see this film.
There is a wonderful short about it called Your tax dollars at work but be warned, it is not for those with a weak stomach. |
posted by michael the tubthumper @ 1:43 pm  |
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| 15 Comments: |
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There's been a nuclear war in Indian Country for quite some time--this, of course, is waged by the same interests.
"About 1,300 uranium mine sites remain in the 26,530 square mile Navajo Reservation [alone]. 250,000 people live on the Reservation in 110 communities. More than a third of those 110 communities are affected by radioactivity."
http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Native/civil_human_equal_rights/ture_ioweyou.asp
Also, we posted Debra White Plume's letter on our blog regarding uranium mining and Pine Ridge:
http://guerrillasinthemidst.blogspot.com/2006/01/us-uranium-mining-still-devastating.html
From one disposable population to the next, the process continues...
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I have been posting about DU, Vets benefits, and the environmental issues for a while, though not much at Lose The Noose anymore. What broke my heart and really forced me to think about this was the film "Beyond Treason" which shows the babies with chromosomal abnormalities from DU exposed parents. Du is a military matter,a civilian matter, a global matter. Yet we hardly hear about it. Lew Scannon at Unbrainwashed and LTN has posted on this quite thoroughly, and added the fact that the military is not forthcoming with the dangers to enlistees they recruit. Terrible situation indeed, tubthumper. One day we should ALL post on it. Same time.
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my dearest mr thumping, i am a chronic insomniac sleeping two to three hours a night. now i shall NEVER sleep
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William Rivers Pitt, who writes (or used to) for Truthout, and who put together a book with Scott Ritter pre-Iraq invasion, was here in The Hague a few years ago, during the '04 US presidential campaigns. At the time he supported Gen. Wesley Clark's bid for the presidency. During the Q/A I asked if he didn't consider the general a war criminal for ordering the use of weapons of mass destruction (DU) against civilian populations during the NATO bombing of Serbia. Pitt's response to me was to beware of the looney left.
That was nice of him to say that.
He later became campaign publicist (I think) for the Kucinich campaign.
So important to view war technology as an environmental issue, I think. Slightly related, there's a book by Derrick Jensen about deforestation and logging corporations called Strangely Like War.
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i will need to look up that stuff about the reservations. thanks
lily - good suggestion
Ms ravenflame (may i call you rose?) - i find beer helps
keir - another book on the list. when will i get time!
has anyone read 'we' by yevgeny zamyatin? sort of a forerunner to 1984
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I've been ranting about DU for along time now. American companies like GE (our biggest nuke polluter) needed something to do with their waste. Depleted uranium penetrates armor like a hot knife through butter. When it hits it vaporizes. This vapor is radioative. Clothing and skin protects from it effect, HOWEVER, inhaled, or ingested, and it will do it's damage.Iraqi's already are showing very high levels of cancer since the war started. WE are the users of WMD.
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its too horrible to think about sometimes but if no one goes on about it then it just gets forgotten
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i do not like beer. i like stoli! my friend owns a pub half way between my house and work. beverages are NEVER an issue with me.
please don't even ask. you may call me rose or whatever YOU like!
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I don't know the statistics, but I'm sure the US has to be the biggest producer of DU. We have also had a steady increase of cancer here, but I've never heard anyone putting the two together. And re: Indian Country ... the Tooele Res in Utah actually WANTS to become the nation's nuclear dump since Nevada is balking. They've petitioned for the "honor". Poverty is the prime motivator of course. I had one glimpse of it as a child when my mom took me to the most horrible place I've ever seen to visit her dying Great Aunt on a Nevada Paiute Res. Her comment as we left was to be glad my great-great-grandma "married" a white man or that could be my home! The only reason the state of Utah has not approved the Tooeles petition is because of all the dump trucks & RR's that would have to pass through to get there. Well, maybe that & memories of all the birth defects, spontaneous abortions & increased cancer among the "downwinders" in So Utah in the 50s & 60s. Sorry for going on so long. This is a sore issue with me. My grandfathers worked in uranium mines in Nev & Utah & used to come home covered in the dust. My mom watched an above-ground A-bomb "show" wearing only sunglasses for protection cuz that's all officials told her was necessary. The govt & military are all dirty with this. D.K.
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britain spends a lot of its time processing other countries nuclear waste because they think there is a buck or two in it.
i think at the start of the blair government there was an incident where they said this stuff was too dangerous to stay in eastern europe so they stuck it on a BUS and brought it over here.
it was 'Have I got news for you' i think - that s a tv program over here
(obviously with escort)
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Parenthetically, the Scots have more in common with American Indians than one might think! Calgacus and Tacitus' "ethnography" of him and his brethren come to mind...
At any rate there were certainly Goshutes of Skull Valley who resisted their so-called leaders (DK was referring to them). Check here:
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/sview/1,3329,250010939,00.html
It seems like it's another case of the tribal gov't (read BIA/US-sponsored "leaders") and their desperate supporters speaking on behalf of the traditional elders and the rest of the Nation.
Remember Dick Wilson and his GOONS from South Dakota. Wilson was the tribal president and spoke "on behalf" of the Oglalas. Next thing we knew, another slab of land was given to the US Army for a gunnery range...
Same shit, different arsehole. Much like voting...
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Guerrilla: thanks for fleshing out my hodge-podge. I had forgotten the tribal name is Goshutes. And apparently the rest of the tribe/clan now has a devil of a friend in Orrin Hatch! D.K.
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I hope your aware of scotland UXB on all of this?
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i had forgotten about them but i will post a link in abnother post.... and here...
http://www.scotland-uxb.org/
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Name: michael the tubthumper
Home: Glasgow, Scotland
About Me: Tub-Thumper - 1. A speaker or preacher who for emphasis thumps the pulpit; a violent or declamatory preacher or orator; a ranter. This blog will be a combination of reasoned posting somedays and an occasional rant.
28 years old, I write and research for a couple of websites and also do my own stuff.
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| Thumping The Tub Video |
I have made a few short movies. Here are links to free downloads for them all in the order that I made them (as far as I can remember). Please feel free to use, distribute, disagree with, shout at etc etc
Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition
This was a REAL song from World War 2. I was so stunned by it I had to make a movie
How Far Is It From Here to Nuremberg
This is my attempt at a video for the excellent, if worrying, David Rovics (see links) song
What You Like
I believe the word for this is "splenetic". Only 20 seconds long.
Imperial Measures
What is going on in Iraq? Some things you knew, some you didn't. A couple of bits of info are out of date now.
Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here is a 6 minute film about the unprecendted rate of animal extinction we are currently experiencing
Gorillas and us
I don't like creationism, neither did Douglas Adams
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U.S. MONETARY Cost of the War in Iraq - other people are spending too, and the human cost is much higher
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There's been a nuclear war in Indian Country for quite some time--this, of course, is waged by the same interests.
"About 1,300 uranium mine sites remain in the 26,530 square mile Navajo Reservation [alone]. 250,000 people live on the Reservation in 110 communities. More than a third of those 110 communities are affected by radioactivity."
http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Native/civil_human_equal_rights/ture_ioweyou.asp
Also, we posted Debra White Plume's letter on our blog regarding uranium mining and Pine Ridge:
http://guerrillasinthemidst.blogspot.com/2006/01/us-uranium-mining-still-devastating.html
From one disposable population to the next, the process continues...