[E-rundbrief] Info 492 - US and Israel targeting DNA in Gaza?
Matthias Reichl
info at begegnungszentrum.at
Sa Dez 23 17:50:18 CET 2006
E-Rundbrief - Info 491 - James Brooks: US and Israel targeting DNA in
Gaza? The DIME bomb, yet another genotoxic weapon. (See also Info
490, 477, 468, 467, 465, 451, 449, 441, 435, 433 and others)
Bad Ischl, 23.12.2006
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
www.begegnungszentrum.at
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US and Israel targeting DNA in Gaza? Part 3 of 3: The DIME bomb, yet
another genotoxic weapon
By James Brooks
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Dec 7, 2006, 00:22
The human genome: target or innocent bystander?
Since early July, Israeli forces have been using a new weapon in the
Gaza Strip that inflicts strange and deadly wounds. Doctors and
medics say the unidentified device has significantly increased
fatalities from Israel's attacks. [1] [2] [And it would appear that
DIME was one of the new weapons also used by Israeli forces in
Lebanon this summer. It and other new and more deadly weapons have
been used by the US as well in its recent incursions. - Elana]
In the first two parts of this article, we reviewed evidence that
Israel's new weapon may be Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME), a
"low collateral damage" weapon developed by the US Air Force. The
DIME bomb's "micro-shrapnel" is reportedly made of HMTA, a tungsten
alloy that disrupts body biochemistry, damages the immune system,
rapidly causes cancer, and attacks DNA (genotoxic). [3-9] [Except for
all that, it's a perfectly innocuous weapon of course. - Elana]
The road to DIME
DIME weapons are "spin-offs" from the military's "bunker buster"
research. Initially, "bunker busters" were made with depleted uranium
(DU), which had already been used in armor-piercing bombs, bullets,
and artillery shells. [10]
The former director of the US Army's Depleted Uranium project, Dr.
Douglas Rokke, warns us that DU is an "illegal . . . radioactive
toxic material," the use of which "is absolutely unacceptable, and a
crime against humanity." [11]
During Gulf War I, US forces deployed more than 300 tons of DU in
Iraq. A few years later, more was dropped during Operation Desert
Fox. Iraqi doctors reported alarming rises in the incidence of
cancer, leukemia, and birth defects, in clusters closely correlated
with US bomb sites. Scientists found strong links between DU and Gulf
War Syndrome, which is slowly killing thousands of veterans. [12-14]
Despite the science, the vets, and the tragedies in Iraq, the US has
stubbornly refused to end its use of DU. US-UK forces may have
expended more than 2,000 additional tons of DU in Iraq since March
2003. Nowadays, however, commanders are supposed to warn GIs to avoid
contact with the results of their work. [15]
After the 2001-2002 bombing of Afghanistan, the Uranium Medical
Research Centre (UMRC) found that the urine of Afghanis living near
US bombing sites contained four to 20 times the normal level of
non-depleted uranium (NDU). These unexpected results could not "be
explained by . . . any known geological or other features in the area."
UMRC researchers were "shocked" that, "without exception, at every
bomb site investigated, people are ill . . . [with] symptoms
consistent with internal contamination by uranium." [13]
Their field results indicated that our weapons' scientists had
"progressed" beyond DU to NDU, a processed form of pure uranium that
is even more toxic than the depleted form. The "slightly enriched"
uranium reported from recent Israeli bombsites in Lebanon may
possibly be NDU from modified GBU 28 'bunker busters' supplied by the
United States. [16] [17]
Dual-purpose munitions
Considering the scope of their destructive power, DU and NDU may be
said to function as Dual-Purpose Munitions, like cluster bomblets
that kill both tanks and people. As their exotic metallurgy "burns"
through concrete and steel, DU and NDU bombs are converted to
micron-sized particles that sicken and kill and murder the next
generation in the womb. [18] [19]
Agent Orange, an herbicide heavily used during the war on Vietnam,
also performed two functions. It obliterated the 'jungle cover hiding
the Viet Cong' while it 'weakened the enemy' with burns, illness, and
death, and corrupted the DNA of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese.
The third generation of its disfigured and suffering victims is now
being born. [20] [21]
This madness seems to have begun during World War II, within the
Manhattan Project that built the first atomic bomb. In a 1943 memo to
Brigadier General L. R. Groves, three researchers proposed steps to
develop "a gas warfare instrument" [of radioactive material, such as
uranium] "ground into particles of microscopic size to form dust and
smoke. . . . in this form it would be inhaled by personnel. The
amount necessary to cause death to a person inhaling the material is
extremely small. It has been estimated that one millionth of a gram
accumulating in a person's body would be fatal. There are no known
methods of treatment for such a casualty." [22]
The good doctors were concerned the Germans might be preparing such a
weapon. They urged the Army to be ready to respond, or act, in kind.
General Groves promptly followed their recommendations.
The toxic HMTA "micro-shrapnel" spewed by DIME weapons appears to be
the latest development in a long string of carcinogenic and genotoxic
weapons developed and deployed by the US military.
Return to Gaza: The mythology of murder
Israel has denied using DIME weapons. Nonetheless, Israel's military
has used the occupied Palestinian territories as a weapons
development zone for decades, testing bright ideas like depleted
uranium and poison gases. It would not surprise us to find that it is
now testing a weapon for the US Air Force on Palestinians in Gaza. [23]
Unfortunately, the DIME hypothesis is the most plausible explanation
for the grotesque effects of Israel's new weapon. We can only pray
that we have not witnessed the first experiment in the effects of
embedded HMTA in human subjects.
Still, DIME may not explain all of the evidence. For example, one of
the metals found in victims' wounds was copper. DIME bombs are not
known to contain significant copper, but another US marvel, the
Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW), sprays slugs of molten copper at its
targets. Is Israel also testing the SFW? [24] [25]
If DIME weapons are designed to reduce civilian casualties, why has
Israel's 'mystery weapon' increased the civilian death toll? Perhaps
this question should be addressed to the advocates of Focused
Lethality Munitions, and to the remote-control operators of Israel's
drone aircraft and their commanders and politicians.
Although much remains unclear about Israel's new weapon, a few
devastating facts are indisputable:
The weapon causes enormous and indiscriminate pain and suffering.
It operates as both a chemical weapon and an anti-personnel
explosive. At the very least, it is likely to induce heavy metal
poisoning in its surviving victims.
The weapon has significantly increased civilian mortality rates, in
part because it inflicts virtually untreatable wounds.
Despite this public parade of horrors, Israeli forces have continued
to use this weapon against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for nearly
five months.
"Whenever and wherever necessary"
If the DIME hypothesis is confirmed, authorities will probably
explain that it is a new class of weapon not regulated by
international law. The truth is that existing conventions and
treaties have already prohibited some of the most egregious effects
of the new weapon.
To cite one example, the bomb may be in direct violation of Protocol
I of the 'Geneva Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons,' which
"prohibits the use of any weapon the primary effect of which is to
injure by fragments which in the human body escape detection by X-rays." [26]
We will likely be told that DIME weapons provide a more "humane" way
to fight "terrorism" by "reducing collateral damage" and "helping US
troops win hearts and minds." At the same time, we'll be assured that
the new weapon "packs quite a punch" and will "give our troops more
options" to "take the battle to the enemy," even if he is "hiding
among civilians."
Whether Israel's new weapon is the Air Force's DIME bomb or another
similarly dreadful invention, the horrors unfolding in Gaza make it
clear that "Focused Lethality" is a blood-drenched lie. It promises
only a deadlier form of indiscriminate warfare.
US plans to explode payloads of cancer-causing genotoxic heavy metal
powder "wherever and whenever necessary" may portend an escalation of
a campaign currently limited to the vicinity of "hard targets" we
attack with DU and NDU. Whatever we make of the intent behind these
weapons, the result is chemical-genetic warfare. It cannot be allowed
to continue.
References
1) Gaza doctors say patients suffering mystery injuries after Israeli
attacks, Rory McCarthy, The Guardian, 10/18/2006
2) Israel used chemical weapons in Lebanon and Gaza, Jean Shaoul,
Centre for Research on Globalization/wsws.org, 10/24/2006
3) Abstract: Potential late health effects of depleted uranium and
tungsten used in armor-piercing munitions: comparison of neoplastic
transformation and genotoxicity with the known carcinogen nickel,
Miller, AC, et al, PubMed, 11/26/2006
4) Neoplastic transformation of human osteoblast cells to the
tumorigenic phenotype by heavy metaltungsten alloy particles:
induction of genotoxic effects, Miller, AC et al Carcinogenesis, Vol.
22, No. 1, 115-125, January 2001, Oxford University Press
5) Abstract: Carcinogenic Potential of Depleted Uranium and Tungsten
Alloys, Alexandra C Miller, Ph. D., Department Of Defense, Armed
Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI)
6) Depleted uranium-catalyzed oxidative DNA damage: absence of
significant alpha particle decay, Miller, AC et al, Journal of
Inorganic Biochemistry, Issue 91, 2002 pp. 246 252
7) Embedded Weapons-Grade Tungsten Alloy Shrapnel Rapidly Induces
Metastatic High-Grade Rhabdomyosarcomas in F344 Rats, Kalinich et al,
Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 113, Number 6, June 2005
8) Abstract: Effect of the militarily-relevant heavy metals, depleted
uranium and heavy metal tungsten-alloy on gene expression in human
liver carcinoma cells (HepG2), Miller, AC et al,
SpringerLink/Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, 1/1/2004
9) Preconceptional paternal exposure to radiation or heavy metals
like cadmium can induce cancer in unexposed offspring, Alexandra C.
Miller, Rafael Rivas, Robert J. Merlot and Paul, Carcinogenesis 5:
Environmental and Endogenous Carcinogens/Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res,
Volume 47, 2006
10) Cancer Worries for New U.S. Bombs, DefenseTech.org, 5/20/2006
11) Depleted Uranium and US-Israeli Bombs, Dr. Doug Rokke, PhD, Media
Lens, 7/24/2006
12) Dirty Weapons - Casualties From Iraq War Will Mount, Chalmers
Johnson, Pacific News Service, 5/3/2003
13) Uranium Radiation Levels in Afghanistan Not Attributable to
Depleted Uranium, Centre for Research on Globalization - Middle East, 6/5/2003
14) Depleted Uranium Radioactive Contamination In Iraq: An Overview,
Prof Souad N. Al-Azzawi, Centre for Research on Globalization -
Middle East, 8/31/2006
15) Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons Lingers as Health Concern, Larry
Johnson, Common Dreams, 8/4/2003
16) Further Evidence Of Enriched Uranium In The Air In Lebanon
Following The Recent Conflict, Stop Uranium Wars/Pandora DU research
Project, 11/22/2006
17) Mystery of Israel's secret uranium bomb, Robert Fisk, The
Independent, 10/28/2006
18) The Real Dirty Bombs: Depleted Uranium, Christopher Bollyn,
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 8/6/2004
19) Depleted Uranium, Australian Peace Committee, 12/2/2006
20) Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign
21) Agent Orange DNA injury confirmed in Vietnam veterans, Patrick
Gower, New Zealand Herald, 7/29/2006
22) Memorandum to: Brigadier General L. R. Groves From: Drs. Conant,
Compton, and Urey, Midfully.org/War Department, United States
Engineer Office, Manhattan District, Oak Ridge Tennessee, 10/30/1943
23) The Israeli Poison Gas Attacks, James Brooks, Vermonters for a
Just Peace in Palestine/Israel
24) CBU-97, Wikipedia
25) Textron Systems' Sensor Fuzed Weapon Production to Include
Maritime Capability, Textron Systems Corporation, 8/10/2006
26) Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain
Conventional Weapons . . . , United Nations: International Law, 10/10/1980
James Brooks serves as webmaster for Vermonters for a Just Peace in
Palestine/Israel. He can be contacted at jamiedb @ wildblue.net.
Copyright © 1998-2006 Online Journal
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