Depleted Uranium Caused My Granddaughter's Birth Defect. Don't Tell Me It Didn't.

[Rozlee]

I've ranted about this in a couple of my posts in the past. I figured I'd give it a journal of it's own.

According to the Army, Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) was caused from soldiers being exposed to a triple slam of chemicals that sent the immune systems of those afflicted into a downward spiral; those chemicals being pyridostigmine bromide, a nerve agent prophylactic; organophospate pesticides and chemical nerve agents.

They deny completely that depleted uranium had anything to do with GWS.

They deny completely that depleted uranium has anything to do with the current crop of cancer and birth defects among the Iraqis and in our own servicemen and women and their children.

Including Olivia, my granddaughter.

We dropped over 300 tons of depleted uranium in Iraq in the first Gulf War; most of it in Southern Iraq, specifically Basra. In the current conflict, we've used over 3,500 tons and counting. It didn't take more than a few months for the Iraqis in Basra to notice the birth defects in their newborns; it didn't take them more than a couple of years to notice the sudden spike in leukemia and cancers of every kind.

In 2004, during the fierce battle in Fallujah, the city was laid waste with what some military experts have quietly said was almost two hundred tons of DU. And yet again, it didn't take long for the birth defects to rear their heads. In September of '09, out of 174 children born in the hospital in Fallujah, 24% died. Of those, 3/4th had visible deformities, some horrendous such as two heads or no heads at all. In 2002, before the war, out of 530 babies born, only 6 had died and only one deformity had been noted. Fallujah is now "worse than Hiroshima," according to one British researcher who has been studying the cancer clusters in the city. That's another thing. Cancer, especially brain cancer, has risen tremendously.

And not just among the Iraqis. Our soldiers are in Fallujah, too. Their turnover is staggering. My daughter told me that a contractor she knew that gave water testing instruction usually had two thirds of the military taking the classes out sick. And this was considering the fact that they loved getting off work to take classes. In one unit, half the recently returned soldiers were found to have malignant growths. Did these Iraqis and soldiers take pyridostigmine bromide pills, breath in sarin or too much insecticide all at the same time? I think not.

Don't tell me it's not depleted uranium.

Google "Gulf War" and "Goldenhars' Syndrome". Goldenhars is a birth defect where one side of the body develops faster than the other while in utero. You'll find several hits about articles suggesting a causal link between the two. I was in the first Gulf War. In 2004, I went to the second for one short, tragic tour and my daughter went as well in 03, 05, 06 and 07. Her tours were relatively short 4-6 month ones; she's a Coastie and she was just there to teach environmental toxic detection. She came home and had a child that was fine and healthy. She had a miscarriage a year later. Depressed, she and her husband tried again six months after that. They had Olivia.

Olivia has Goldenhars.

Don't tell me it's not depleted uranium, you bastards. Yeah, sure. Anectodal evidence is no evidence and a distraught grandmother needs to rail at the gods and, since she's an agnostic, the military is a better scapegoat. But, it's not just Olivia. It's the Basrans, the soldiers with Gulf War Syndrome, the Fallujans, the soldiers with cancer in that unit. You can say it's not depleted uranium until the damn cows come home.

Just don't tell ME it's not fucking depleted uranium.

[Angry Dragon]

1. I am sorry

This country cares not for the lives of anyone
only the care and protection of wealth

[Bobbieo]

2. We all seem destined to be affected by uranium poisoning!

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. I have no idea what it will take to shake the deep denial about DU.

How the military can deny it is powerfully jaw dropping.

I can only hope that word spreads among the enlisted people, so they know they face dangers so much greater than they are being told.

What if they gave a war and no body came?

[dflprincess]

4. Lots of noise about and pressure

They tried to deny that deliberate exposure to radiation caused the "Atomic Vets" problems or that Agent Orange did any damage to Vietnam Vets.

When my dad (WWII vet) had his first heart attack someone from the VA showed up at the hospital to talk to him because they were seeing a lot of early heart attacks among Army Air Corp veterans (Dad was 44 at the time). That was all he ever heard about it and he died of 2nd heart attack not long after that. Granted my father had other risk factors, but in the last couple years it's come out that WWII flight crews were regularly given speed to keep them "sharp" on long missions. Makes me wonder how that may have affected their long term heart health.

Sadly, the health of service personnel or their children is something the military has never concerned itself with and the only way to make them admit what damage has been done is to keep fighting.

[freshwest]

6. My BNL

Is dying from Agent Orange. He has been going to pieces for years, and finally got full VA disability, so he is content.

What disturbs me is the attitude of some of the family members on that side. They are rabid war supporters. He won't talk about it.

IMHO, it's what keeps them from going insane as they watch his deterioration. It must have meaning; reason; part of a noble cause.

All wars are like that. Once they start and first blood is shed, the people will support them.

But tomorrow there will be a crowd of veterans protesting in front of the White House. I don't suppose, like most of those dying, it will be covered on mainstream media. Not good for their owners.

[freshwest]

5. Part of the truth that they hope will die quietly

I've seen the interviews with Doug Rokke; I've seen the children from the soldiers that came back. Not to mention what the DU did to Iraqi kids.

I saw first hand the birth defects unimaginable to most people, from soldier fathers who had normal kids before. I've talked to vets who said they were told to not expect to have kids. They brought this up themselves, I didn't ask.

All expected to die out of sight and out of mind, so it can keep going on. The amount of people that died after Gulf War One was never much talked about; there were few or none in the official tallies, but an incredible number died later from Gulf War Syndrome. That and the vaccines did no good; these people had no idea what they were signing up for.

It reminds of the BP oil pollution stories that were later suppressed; most people don't know the lethality of cleaning up simply that, and not DU. One story was about how the clean up crews of the Exxon Valdez spill years ago had all died much younger than they should have, at younger ages.

We're being gotten rid of in the name of many causes and for commercial reasons and the more exposure to the truth, perhaps we can turn this insane and deadly system around.

I'm sorry about your granddaughter. My heart goes out to you.

[w8liftinglady]

7. bless you.We must continue speaking out until they can't ignus any more

I won't forget your granddaughter's plight.

[Dystopian]

8. I'm so very sorry....

Rozlee:hug:

I understand, and know what you're going through.
My heart goes out to your family and little Olivia...
Will keep you in my thoughts...
Too many suffering....it's generational. Too sad for words.

Hope. Patience. Peace.