Weaponised Uranium Letter to the Australian Prime MinisterJohn Howard
Can folk send this around this letter that has been written by Australian anti-DU activists to their lists to get the ball rolling into Howards post box. Naturally this needs to come from the australian public, so if you can pass it on to any activists etc you might know off down under, or amonst your anti-war,veterans, greens etc networks there, then that would be magic. Helps gives the Aussie anti-du movement is bigger voice. Many thanks
Davey Garland
Pandora DU research Project
To: The Prime Minister
John Howard
Parliament House, Canberra 2601
Ref: Weaponised Uranium
Dear Prime Minister,
We the people of Australia heard you say on ABC radio prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, that you would not send Australian Defence personnel to conflict theaters where nuclear weapons were being used. Taking into account your facility with language, we want to make it very clear that we understand that nuclear and radioactive weapons have different triggering devices, but in essence we are talking about weapons that have the capacity to kill randomly and consistently over long periods of time, and to cause environmental and human disaster in military and civilian populations.
My Prime Minister, you have announced the Australian troops will be sent into Samvah, an area of conflict where Dutch and some US troops have refused to serve due to the high levels of radiation. So what of your promise?
As you know DU weapons were used almost ubiquitously both during and post invasion in both rural and urban conflict zones. DU weapons along with chemicals weapons in the form of napalm and white phosphorus, were used against the citizens of Fallujah. The environmental and human evidence points to a disaster of epic proportions. Already 56% of US troops returning from GW1 are on sickness benefits, despite only a small percentage of them being wounded. 11,000 out of 580,400 who served in GW1 have died.. Those statistics are alarming in themselves. Veterans are seeing their post Gulf War children being born with horrible deformities. 40% of soldiers in one unit alone have developed cancer after only 16 months. This is the environment into which you are sending ADF personnel. We know it and you know it.
If this does not alarm you Prime Minister, it should. The weapons being used in the Gulf War, the Balkans and Afghanistan alter the Master Code for DNA. The US military labs and Manhattan Project personnel alarmed at the implication for global health and survival are now making this news public.
We as people of Australia, sent you letters before, expressing our concern at the widespread use of weaponised uranium missiles, commonly known as Depleted Uranium. We wrote because there is increasing evidence of these weapons becoming more ubiquitous, and they are now definitely linked to cancer and birth defects amongst civilians, and combatants. You chose to stay silent, to not listen to the voices of your concerned citizens. But this time the stakes are higher. The data and science is known and well developed. The Casualties have come in and been counted. The doctors who were threatened and told to misdiagnose and maintain secrecy are speaking out.
There are no more excuses Prime Minister. No place to hide as the elephant in the lounge room is getting harder to ignore.
Sending troops to a known radiation zone without full protection is in effect sentencing them to death. Maybe you agree with Kissinger's adage that that "Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used in Foreign Policy" but they are wives, daughters, husbands, fathers, sons, to all of us: There are no excuses now PM. What you are doing is deliberately sentencing those troops to a multiple of radiologically induced disease and possibly death. They are clearly not your children.
There is no safe place in Iraq. DU in its post impact oxide form, blows with the wind and is respirable. It has already entered the water table and is in livestock and plants. What we have is a human and environmental tragedy of unimaginable proportions. Is this how you want to go down in history John, as the Trojan horse that brought silence on the world?
At a time when it has been revealed that 42 of the US states are now severely contaminated by radiation emanating from DU testing, manufacturing and deployment, you have handed Australian sovereign territory to the US for testing and bases. We understand that Australia also uses weaponised uranium in missiles such as the Javelin. We abhor this as a future for Australia, as we know that areas used for such purposes in the US are now marked as Areas of National Sacrifice, being biologically toxic. You do not have our permission to kill our land and our people.
We the people of Australia, in our name, and the name of future generations demand:
Name: Address:
Davey Garland
Pandora DU research Project
To: The Prime Minister
John Howard
Parliament House, Canberra 2601
Ref: Weaponised Uranium
Dear Prime Minister,
We the people of Australia heard you say on ABC radio prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, that you would not send Australian Defence personnel to conflict theaters where nuclear weapons were being used. Taking into account your facility with language, we want to make it very clear that we understand that nuclear and radioactive weapons have different triggering devices, but in essence we are talking about weapons that have the capacity to kill randomly and consistently over long periods of time, and to cause environmental and human disaster in military and civilian populations.
My Prime Minister, you have announced the Australian troops will be sent into Samvah, an area of conflict where Dutch and some US troops have refused to serve due to the high levels of radiation. So what of your promise?
As you know DU weapons were used almost ubiquitously both during and post invasion in both rural and urban conflict zones. DU weapons along with chemicals weapons in the form of napalm and white phosphorus, were used against the citizens of Fallujah. The environmental and human evidence points to a disaster of epic proportions. Already 56% of US troops returning from GW1 are on sickness benefits, despite only a small percentage of them being wounded. 11,000 out of 580,400 who served in GW1 have died.. Those statistics are alarming in themselves. Veterans are seeing their post Gulf War children being born with horrible deformities. 40% of soldiers in one unit alone have developed cancer after only 16 months. This is the environment into which you are sending ADF personnel. We know it and you know it.
If this does not alarm you Prime Minister, it should. The weapons being used in the Gulf War, the Balkans and Afghanistan alter the Master Code for DNA. The US military labs and Manhattan Project personnel alarmed at the implication for global health and survival are now making this news public.
We as people of Australia, sent you letters before, expressing our concern at the widespread use of weaponised uranium missiles, commonly known as Depleted Uranium. We wrote because there is increasing evidence of these weapons becoming more ubiquitous, and they are now definitely linked to cancer and birth defects amongst civilians, and combatants. You chose to stay silent, to not listen to the voices of your concerned citizens. But this time the stakes are higher. The data and science is known and well developed. The Casualties have come in and been counted. The doctors who were threatened and told to misdiagnose and maintain secrecy are speaking out.
There are no more excuses Prime Minister. No place to hide as the elephant in the lounge room is getting harder to ignore.
Sending troops to a known radiation zone without full protection is in effect sentencing them to death. Maybe you agree with Kissinger's adage that that "Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used in Foreign Policy" but they are wives, daughters, husbands, fathers, sons, to all of us: There are no excuses now PM. What you are doing is deliberately sentencing those troops to a multiple of radiologically induced disease and possibly death. They are clearly not your children.
There is no safe place in Iraq. DU in its post impact oxide form, blows with the wind and is respirable. It has already entered the water table and is in livestock and plants. What we have is a human and environmental tragedy of unimaginable proportions. Is this how you want to go down in history John, as the Trojan horse that brought silence on the world?
At a time when it has been revealed that 42 of the US states are now severely contaminated by radiation emanating from DU testing, manufacturing and deployment, you have handed Australian sovereign territory to the US for testing and bases. We understand that Australia also uses weaponised uranium in missiles such as the Javelin. We abhor this as a future for Australia, as we know that areas used for such purposes in the US are now marked as Areas of National Sacrifice, being biologically toxic. You do not have our permission to kill our land and our people.
We the people of Australia, in our name, and the name of future generations demand:
- The immediate withdrawal of Australian troops from this intransigent war. It is clear there is nothing to be gained and we have failed the people miserably. More have died as a result of the Coalitions activities than from all the years of Sadam Hussein's dictatorship.
An end to the purchase and use of all uranium containing weapons.
An end to the intimidation of scientists investigating the human and environmental costs of the use of such weapons.
An immediate independent study of all civilians in conflict zones and Australian combatants, to investigate the nature and extent of radiation and heavy metal sickness.
Immediate compensation for all combatants thus effected.
Immediate clean up at the US, UK and Australian government's expense, of all areas contaminated with DU residue.
Public disclosure of all Australian weapons containing DU, which our taxes have bought.
An immediate end to negotiations over the use of Australian land for weapons testing.
We demand a full account and end to the use of these Weapons of Current and Future Destruction in line with the Geneva Convention.
Name: Address:
Starmail - 12. Mär, 16:17
