Military drum band

 

10:00:13:00

 

 

Dr Jinan Ghalib:

This is Iraqi propaganda!  Who tell you that!  The West?  You visit the hospital and you see what happened to the Iraqi children.  This is the truth. This is the crime of the US. 

 

Sami Araji:

It's a hot political issue.....We've heard and we have some evidence that it's being used in Kosovo.  So if this weapon continues to be used by the military establishment of the West or whoever owns it, it is dangerous and I put it at the rate of a crime against humanity.

 

 

00:15

 

 

 

 

00:35

 

Mosque domes

Carpet seller on balcony

Carpet seller seated

Lute man

 

Iraq - once a fabled land of caliphs and kings - is today a country under economic siege. 

 

International sanctions were imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990.

 The stagnant economy leaves many Iraqis with nothing to do but reminisce of

better days.

 

Yet another, possibly more sinister legacy from the Gulf War is worrying the

people.

 

01:08

 

01:15

 

 

 

01:31

Gulf War archive:

 

Iraq is claiming that allied bombs dropped during the Gulf War have contaminated the country and exposed the Iraqi population to a catastrophic health risk.In particular, bombs containing a heavy metal known as Depleted Uranium.

 

American and British forces fired over a million rounds which contained Depleted uranium - a substance which is both radioactive and chemically toxic.  

 

On this road thousands of Iraqi troops were killed as they fled Kuwait.  The bombs used are arguably the cause of a continuing death rate among Iraqi Gulf War veterans.

01:54

 

 

02:09

 

 

02:20

 

Omran Abdel-Ali:

At the tome of the withdrawal we were under heavy bombing in a convoy of tanks and trucks with a lot of equipment.  I was driving with my unit, the shelling was fierce, and I began to smell a very bad smell, a strange smell, something like bad eggs and rotten garlic.

 

02:39

Hospital check up

Men such as 27 year-old Omran Abdel-Ali are dying slow and agonising deaths from cancer which they believe is a result of being irradiated by depleted uranium

 

03:06

 

Omran Abdel-Ali:

Two of my friends have the same symptoms and same swellings.  I think that they've been cured.  From 1997 until now I've been taking various medication, I've had injections and I've taken pills.  I can't see any progress.  Day by

day the swelling is getting bigger.  At night I can't sleep and I feel I am suffocating.  It's strangling me between the left and the right side.

 

03:25

Gulf war archive

Depleted Uranium is used in military ordnance because it has a greater density than lead - making it an ideal armour-piercing weapon.  More recently it was used by American forces in the Kosovo crisis.

 

03:51

 

John Large:

The DU round comprises what's called a scarab, which effectively is a big dart.

 

This is about...depends on the type of round that is fired, between 150 - 300 mm.  It weighs several kilograms and the cone, this is the DU here, usually this is to give it extra mass.  The cone is usually covered - depending on the manufacturer - with a cadmium plating to make sure it actually penetrates the actual tank's side. 

 

What happens is this...

04:05

 

 

 

 

 

 

04:46

 

As it approaches the tank wall it gets to here it penetrates in and the tail flicks off usually this section breaks so it is this bulbous part that goes into the tank.  Of course as it goes through the tank wall, here is the tank wall, it literally seals itself in travelling through here with a thousand miles an hour, say, it's getting very hot but no oxygen can get to it.  When

it comes out the other side it is absolutely incandescently hot and of course it immediately burst into flames and creates all these particles.

04:56

 

The amount of energy, although it is quite high, the amount of energy gives you a puff of a very high temperature so what is interesting here is it doesn't detonate all ammunitions in the tank.  It is just enough to actually incinerate any diesel fuel in the tank, burn any dry skin, so it's a pretty hideous weapon in terms of what it does.  It's a flash bang sort of toaster.

05:30

 

 

 

 

Boats on river

Two boys fishing on boat

Iraq was once known as the ancient land of Mesopotamia - a Sumerian name meaning "land between two rivers". 

For thousands of years the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris have provided a fertile land for the people.

But now this ancient land has been polluted.

 

05:58

Man climbing palm tree

 

Depleted Uranium dust particles can be carried airborne and are easily inhaled.   The particles can lodge in the body organ's causing cancer as well as damage to the body's cell structure. 

The radioactive half life of Depleted Uranium is over 4000 million years.

 

06:20

Tomato seller

Fruit seller stacking fruit

 

There are also fears that depleted uranium from bomb fragments may be seeping into the water table of Iraq, polluting the agricultural soils, and even entering the food chain.

 

06:40

Dr Jinan with x-rays

 

At the Maternity Hospital in Basra in southern Iraq,  doctors are convinced that depleted uranium is behind the cases of cancers and deformities they are seeing.

 

06:53

 

Jinan Ghalib;

By the wind this DU is exposed to distant parts all over society - even the earth, the food the water is contaminated.  What happened in the future to us I don't know.  Maybe we develop malignancy.  Because everything is contaminated with DU.

 

06:07

Dr Jawad examining Ala'a

In another hospital in Basra thirteen year old Ala'a Mohamed lies dying of lymph cancer.   Dr Jawad Al-Ali has seen a fourfold increase in cancer cases, particularly among the young.

 

07:30

 

Dr Jawad Al-Ali;

We got abnormal pattern of cancer - younger age group, cancer of ovary in a 11 year old patient  Many in 20's.   Leukaemia, lymphomas, cancer of ovaries and testes is increasing because of the use of this depleted uranium.

 

07:54

c/u Ala'a face

Ala'a was four years old at the time of the Gulf War.   Just half an hour after filming,  Ala'a died.

 

08:36

Jism looking out of window and holding stomach

Jism Mohamed is about to have a baby.  Tomorrow she will undergo a caesarean section.  Her third caesarean operation - her fifth deformed baby.

 

Jism Mohamed:

I've had four babies - with the same condition - with big heads, full of water.  I don't know why they have it.  I feel confused and I don't know what to do about it. We'll see what they pull out of me this time.  I don't know what I can do. 

I'm very scared, in fact I'm petrified.

 

08:49

 

 

09:01

Doctor examining Jism

Dr Abdel Karim will perform the operation.   He believes depleted uranium is not only destroying the lives of Iraqi civilians today but is also harming the life to come.

 

Dr A-Karim:

I notice rising incidence in these congenital malformation in babies, particularly in last 4 or 5 years, with bizarre picture we didn't see in atlas of congenital malformation which is a universal atlas......We think that DU may be the cause. 

 

09:30

 

 

09:42

Sami Araji at desk

The danger posed to Iraq by depleted uranium has been taken up by Sami Araji, who is campaigning on behalf of the Iraqi government to raise awareness on the use of Depleted Uranium.

Dr Sami Araji:

By 1993 94 we had a lot of data - particularly on congenital diseases - DU conference on the use of depleted uranium in southern Iraq.  We know it was extensively in southern Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

 

10:14

 

 

10:26

Jism walks into ward sits on bed.

 

operation

 

Jism Mohamed arrives at the hospital on the day of her operation.  Her two previous babies were born with a condition known as hydrocephaly - or water in the head.   They both died shortly after birth.  Jism knows that this baby has the same condition.

The baby boy is alive, but clearly has a larger than normal head.

11:02

 

 

11:42

Baby pulled out - c/u baby.

 

 

Dr Jinan Ghalib:

The feeling of a mother - I am a mother - 9 months pregnant with all the effort and then an abnormal baby.  What's the feeling of the mother?

 

 

11:50

Jism Mohamed in bed after operation.

 

Just an hour after the operation, Jism is back in her ward.  Due to restricted medical supplies, she is given no painkillers to ease her agony. She hasn't been shown her baby yet.   Like other deformed babies, Jism's new-born child will probably be neglected and die very soon. 

 

12:08

Ministry of Defence, London.

w/s building.

C/u sign.

The view that such babies are deformed and dying because of depleted uranium is not shared by the authorities in the West.  In tests on its own soldiers the Ministry of Defence in Britain rejected the possible harm of Depleted Uranium:

 

12:34

Blue screen - MOD building in background - typed text.

"Any radiation from possible exposures arre extremely unlikely to be a contributory factor to the illnesses currently being experienced by some Gulf War veterans."

12:50

 

John Harrison:

The hazard from depleted uranium is an extremely small risk of lung cancer and the possibility of transient kidney damage if it is ingested or inhaled.

 

I believe that we at the NRPB have studied the risks from depleted uranium more than adequately.  This is also being looked at by other organisations, and so far there are no convincing evidence that uranium represents a hazard

to people.

 

13:02

 

 

13:14

 

John Large:

The studies done on Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, studies done on other groups, cohort groups that have had radiation exposure - Chernobyl for example - quite clearly, and it is established and acknowledged by the International Commission on Radiological protection which is the authority on this, that there would not only be a problem with living exposures. Humans are exposed say in their adulthood or childhood, but also in the second generations so one can get genetic defects carrying over.  So in other words, the first population exposed will likely show a higher incidence of cancers and leukaemia's and the second and third generations and successive generations are also likely to show genetic damage that will manifest itself as some sort of congenital birth defects, cancers etc.

 

13:38

Intro to Wafiq Sammarai - on computer

Iraq's own interests were dealt a blow by this man.

Wafiq Sammarai was head of Iraq's Military Intelligence before defecting to the West in 1994.He comes from a village close to Saddam's, and has personally known Saddam for over 40 years.  As former Military Intelligence chief, Sammarai provides a unique and revealing insight into the inner workings of Saddam's regime.

 

14:30

 

Wafiq Sammarai:

It's very clear that the Iraqi government is using the issue of depleted uranium for political purposes, instead of caring for its own people.  The regime wants to say that the use of uranium has caused a lot of death and illness.   The regime uses uranium for political purposes and propaganda.

 

15:06

Saddam praying picture

Swords

C/u soldiers helmet

 

 

Depleted Uranium clearly has a political value for Saddam.  He is using it to arouse international indignation against the West's treatment of Iraq.

In this way Saddam hopes to get the sanctions lifted - allowing him to sell his oil and so rebuild his economy..... and his army.  

 

But there may be other causes for the cancers and deformities which Saddam wants to pin on depleted uranium.

 

15:36

 

 

15:54

 

Wafiq Sammarai:

The whole of Iraq is a polluted land.  Probably the result of the use of  chemical weapons in the first Gulf War with Iran and the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds; also the bombing of industrial factories.  As  a result Iraq is clearly a polluted area.

 

16:03

Minder complaining about the filming.

 

Minder takes tripod

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

emaciated baby in mother's arms.

 

But in Iraq it is very difficult to uncover the truth.Government minders are always present when filming.

This government minder - unaware the camera was rolling on him - objected to the filming of a pile of rubbish in the stream.

 

To register his disapproval he took the tripod and walked away, bringing an end to the filming. Ensuring the press reports what Iraq wants to be reported is an important part in Iraq's efforts to lift sanctions.

 

It is in the hospitals where the full force of sanctions seems most immediately obvious.  Iraq claims around 6,000 children under-five are dying each month from malnutrition.

 

16:33

 

 

17:22

 

 

17:39

 

Dr Jinan Ghalib:

Remove the economic sanction from our society to help our children to prevent this devastating problem.  Sanctions is devastating for our children.  We lose many because of economic sanctions.  I want to hang Clinton.  This is a crime!

 

17:54

Kurdish family on floor.

bloated stomach baby.

Saddam and rice picture in street.

 

In the Kurdish north of Iraq- an area beyond Saddam's control - malnutrition has dropped due to the implementation of United Nations food programmes.

In the rest of Iraq, Saddam has refused the UN a role in distributing food directly to the Iraqi people - seeing this as an affront to his authority.  

Instead his regime acts as a middle man.  Malnutrition remains as high as 26%.

 

18:35

 

Sami Araji:

Why the persistence on using this ugly weapon of boycott against the Iraqi people?  Why?  Is it fair?  Is it just?  I don't think so.  I think it is an act of destruction.....

 

We haven't attacked anybody.  If we entered in a war with Kuwait, it's finished, it's been ten years now.  Why do you run after us in all this period of time.

 

19:05

 

Wafiq Samarrai:

Saddam's problem is that he feels he is strong.  He feels he is more powerful than anyone else.  This is a wrong way of thinking.  It leads you into making wrong decisions, and to misreading the situation.

 

 

19;39

 

Baby on bed with Hydrocephaly.

Girl with leukaemia.

 

 

The high-stakes propaganda struggle over the true extent of danger of Depleted Uranium continues.

With the weapon having found use in Kosovo crisis, the fall out from Depleted Uranium looks set to grow.

 

It would be a sad and shameful irony if it turns out that the West - which accuses Saddam Hussein of amassing weapons of mass destruction - is itself guilty of using radioactive and chemically-toxic weapons.

 

20:04

 

John Large

We can no longer tolerate with this sophistication of weaponry, no longer tolerate that the military planners and targetters having an entirely free hand to do something that may control a so-called tyrant for a few years, but certainly we would not like to see the effects going on for many decades. 

And that may be what we are seeing now in Iraq and it might be what we will see in Serbia by the unconstrained and unrestrained usage of high technology weapons.

 

 

THE END

 

20:30

 

 

CREDITS: Camera:   Giles Trendall

                  Producer:  Annasofie Flamond

                  Executive Producer: Mark Stucke

 

An ME TV Production

 

 

IRAQ -

Depleted Uranium Fallout

 

ASTONS:

 

 

Dr. Jinan Ghalib (00'15'')

Paediatrician, Children & Maternity Hospital in Basra.

 

Dr. Abdel Karim (09'42'')

Paediatrician, Children & Maternity Hospital in Basra.

 

Dr. Jawad Al-Ali (07'54'')

Oncology Department, The Saddam Teaching Hospital.

 

Sami Araji (00'35'')

Campaigner.

 

John Large (04'05'')

Independent Nuclear Consultant

 

John Harrison (13'02'')

National Radiological Protection Board, U.K

 

Wafiq Samarrai (15'06'')

Former Head of Iraqi Military Intelligence.

 

Jism Mohamed (09'01'')

Mother

 

Omran Abdel-Ali (02'39'')

Iraqi Gulf War veteran

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