By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad
The Independent
14 November 2000
Iraqi victims of cancer and former American soldiers suffering
from Gulf war syndrome are joining forces to sue the US
government over use of de-pleted uranium (DU) missiles.
Meetings have been held between US-based families of the
Iraqis, former American service personnel and lawyers over
legal action in America. Former British personnel who say they
have been affected by DU will be invited to join the
multi-million-dollar claims.
A decade after Operation Desert Storm, lawyers believe there
is enough evidence to link the massive rise in cancer in Iraq
and the effect on British and American soldiers to almost
950,000 DU missiles and shells fired. A conference will be
held in Spain this month, to be attended by international
medical experts, Gulf war veterans and lawyers, including
Ramsay Clark, a former American attorney general. The
impending legal action is likely to dominate the agenda.
Among the veterans to address the conference, in Gijon, will
be two Gulf war syndrome sufferers, Ray Bristol, a Briton, and
the former US sergeant Carol Picou, who gave evidence to a
congressional commission on DU munitions.
Their lawyers are expected to say the American government
"recklessly" used DU, a bi-product of nuclear energy, knowing
its devastating effect. DU-hardened missiles have a high
penetration rate. When a projectile hits a target, 70 per cent of
the DU coating burns and oxidises, bursting into toxic
radioactive particles. One of the main arguments expected to
be put forward is that American soldiers were not given
protective clothing when sent to inspect damage caused by
shells coated with DU.
In Iraq, campaigners say, almost 250,000 civilians have been
affected by DU and there has been a sevenfold leap in cancer,
especially among children, and deformities in birth. Unicef, the
UN children's organisation, says 4,000 children under five die
every month.
Professor Ashraf Elbayoumi, a former professor of chemistry
at Michigan State University, said yesterday: "There is ample
evidence to link the pattern of cancer to DU."
At the Saddam Children's Hospital in Baghdad there is a
continuous stream of children diagnosed with cancer. And the
international ban on trade is biting. Mohammed Firas, the
29-year-old chief resident doctor, shrugged hopelessly at the
end of a 19-hour shift.
"The number of children we are getting with cancer has gone
up 400 per cent," he said. "But we lack the most basic
medication. You see these children bleed and die in front of
you. I just wish there was more we could do ..."