Heads roll at
Veterans Administration Mushrooming
depleted uranium (DU) scandal blamed by Bob Nichols
In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those
who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information
for research and educational purposes. Preventive
Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the reason Veterans Affairs
Secretary Anthony Principi stepped down earlier this month was the growing
scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.
Writing in
Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter No. 169, Arthur N. Bernklau, executive
director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, stated, The real
reason for Mr. Principis departure was really never given, however a
special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted
uranium as the definitive cause of the Gulf War Syndrome has fed a
growing scandal about the continued use of uranium munitions by the US
Military. Bernklau
continued, This malady (from uranium munitions), that thousands of our
military have suffered and died from, has finally been identified as the
cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is
now being revealed. He added, Out
of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them,
11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent
Medical Disability. This astounding number of Disabled Vets means that a
decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent
medical problems! The disability rate for the wars of the last century
was 5 percent; it was higher, 10 percent, in Viet Nam.
The VA
Secretary (Principi) was aware of this fact as far back as 2000, wrote
Bernklau. He, and the Bush administration have been hiding these facts,
but now, thanks to Morets report, (it) ... is far too big to hide or to
cover up! Terry
Jamison, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs, at the VA
Central Office, recently reported that Gulf Era Veterans now on medical
disability, since 1991, number 518,739 Veterans, said Berklau.
The
long-term effects have revealed that DU (uranium oxide) is a virtual death
sentence, stated Berklau. Marion Fulk, a nuclear physical chemist, who
retired from the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, and was also
involved with the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid
malignancies in the soldiers (from the 2003 Iraq War) as spectacular
and a matter of concern! When asked if
the main purpose of using DU was for destroying things and killing
people, Fulk was more specific: I would say it is the perfect weapon for
killing lots of people! Principi could
not be reached for comment prior to deadline. References 1. Depleted
uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets: A death sentence
here and abroad by Leuren Moret, http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml. 2. Veterans for
Constitutional Law, 112 Jefferson Ave., Port Jefferson NY 11777, Arthur N.
Bernklau, executive director, (516) 474-4261, fax 516-474-1968.
3. Preventive
Psychiatry E-Newsletter. Email Gary Kohls, gkohls@cpinternet.com, with
Subscribe in the subject line. Email Bob Nichols at bobnichols@cox.net. |