Informazione
Quello che segue e' il testo dell'intervento scritto di Carlo Pona per
la seduta di New York del Tribunale "Clark" del 10 giugno 2000:
---
CRIMINAL USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM
by Carlo Pona at the International Tribunal on US/NATO war crimes. New
York 10th June 2000
During the criminal aggression against Yugoslavia, NATO used
armor-piercing shells loaded with depleted uranium. This was officially
confirmed in a letter from NATO Secretary General George Robertson to
the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Anyway during the aggression there
has been an unofficial confirmation by Major General Chuck Wald, the US
Department of Defense spokesman during the press briefing on the 3rd May
1999.
Depleted Uranium (DU) is essentially a byproduct of the cycle of
production of nuclear fuel and of the weapon-grade enriched uranium used
to build nuclear bombs. It is also used to produce plutonium.
US have retained stockpiles of DU since the inception of its nuclear
weapon program in the 1940’s. Because of the costs associated with
storing such an extraordinary quantity of material, estimated to be
something like 700,000 tons as UF6 which constitutes a very heavy burden
for the US-Department of Energy, the employment of DU in ammunitions
became a viable method to reduce storage costs. DU is 1.7 times denser
than lead and when fired by guns its kinetic energy is sufficient to
penetrate tank armour or concrete. The problem is that DU is both
radioactive and toxic.
To dispose of it as a nuclear waste is extremely expensive and hence the
Dept. Of Energy itself is promoting its commercial use in many ways.
They say that other uses of DU (including weapons) is a “benefit for
humanity”.
DU is used in ammunitions, countewieghts, shieldings, and now commercial
concrete (DUCRETE). DU munitions include the following: 7.62 mm, 20 mm
(180 grams), 25 mm (200 grams), 30 mm (280 grams), 105 mm (3500 grams),
and 120 mm (4500 grams) penetrators and the ADAM and PDM cluster bombs.
DU is also present also in the Cruise Tomahawk III missiles.
DU emits alphs, beta, gamma and X-ray radiations and may present a
hazard both externally and/or internally. The external radiation hazard
would arise from the close proximity to DU and is made up mainly of
beta, gamma and X-ray radiation. Tha main external radiation hazard from
DU is from contact with bare skin. The current dose limit to the skin
will be exeeded if the skin remains in contact continously with DU for
more than 250 hours per year.
DU is dangerous as a weapon, but it is more dangerous after it has been
fired because it becomes a very thin powder which contaminates for ever
the environment. Upon impact, indeed, the DU core partially vaporizes
producing uranium oxide in particulates of between 0.5 and 5 microns in
size. The aerosol can spread over several hundred miles, depending on
weather conditions.
The main internal radiation hazard is from the inhalation of these
insoluble oxides. The alpha and beta radiation from the retained
material over a long period of time could cause damage to the lung
tissue. The inhalation of 80 mg of insoluble DU would result in the dose
limit to the whole body being exeeded.
Upon ingestion, the uranium oxides are mostly metabolized to the uranyl
ion (UO2++), and, if solubilized in the blood, up to 90% of it may be
excreted by the kidney in the urine. Excretion takes approximately 3
days if DU is solubilised. When uranium arrives to other organs such as
bones, for example, it may not be excreted for ever. A particular case,
very frequent following the use of DU as a weapon is the case of
embedded fragments in the muscle of victims close to the battlefield. In
this case a small particle of DU can cause high level of DU in the urine
even for the rest of the life.
One “hot particle” in the lungs is equivalent, for the nearest cells, to
an X-ray every hour of every day for the rest of one’s life. The uranium
oxides goes into the soil as well. DU’s high toxicity presents ever more
danger to human health in the short time after exposure: the kidneys are
the target organ.
DU in soil is incorporated in vegetables, which, together with the
ruminant’s meat and milk, can represent a way to contaminate humans via
the food chain.
The International Criminal Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia, last week said
that there is no worldwide agreement on its hazard, and that DU is not
forbidden as a weapon.
Maybe they forget, by others things, or they want to forget, that the
National Lead Industries in New York State, have been shut down during
the 1980’s because they released accidentally into the environment only
375 grams of DU, the same amount which is contained in only one round
fired in Kosovo and Yugoslavia. Of course the US government denies,
followed by ICTY which confirms, there is nothing harmful about depleted
uranium that would prevent its use in battle situation anywhere.
Numerous independent experts say depleted uranium is deadly and will
pollute endlessly those areas struck by the ammunitions. The Military
Toxic Project, a non-governmental organization that has been tracking
depleted uranium for years, has published an update. Dan Fahey, the
author, draws primarily on declasified government documents and public
statements, concluding with a sort of rough indictement of
irresponsability. During the Kosovo war, the Pentagon brought out a RAND
corporation think tank study to prove once again that DU is harmless.
Once more independent experts protested. As a consequence the WHO was
asked to investigate. A fact sheet on DU was announced as in the work,
and then it was cancelled.
An initial UN mission to Yugoslavia in May produced a report of serious
contamination by DU. The report’s sponsor, the UNEP’s director, Klaus
Toepfer, suppressed it, under pressure from Washington. the UNEP’s
Balkan Task Force produced a big study in October, but the section on DU
was dramatically reduced in the final version. The task force had tried
to involve the WHO, but the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not allow
it. Measurements were done using Geiger counters incapable of detectin
the particular alpha radiation and nothing was found. In the meantime,
in August, the WHO announced that a generic study of DU was under way.
Last March it become known that the study was under the responsability
of an electro-magnetic field expert who has delegated it to a British
geologist. Faced with the IAEA’s opposition to studying radiation and
health, the WHO has opted to study DU only as a heavy metal pollutant.
There is no surprire that under this situation, the ICTY would say that
there is no international agreement on the hazard from DU.
NATO admitted of having fired 31,000 of such rounds over a small area of
Kosovo. We know now that DU has been used as well outside Kosovo up to
Belgrade and Novi Sad. The Yugoslav Ministry for Development, Science
and Environment of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in a comprehensive
report “Consequences of NATO Bombing on the Environment of FRY” has
stressed the use of DU even outside Kosovo in seven sites in Serbia and
one in Montenegro.
It is not the first time US/NATO used DU in the battlefield. It happened
already surely in Iraq (1991-the total amount ranging from 300 to 700
tons) and Bosnia (1995). US Army is almost routinely using DU on the
small island of Vieques, offshore Puerto Rico: in April 1999, the US
Navy accidentally fired hundreds of DU rounds. Similar events happened
in Japan, where Marines fired DU bullets on an uninhabited island,
prompting apologies from US defense officials and recently in South
Korea.
The Department of Defense itself published a lot of books and essays
regarding DU from which it justifies the concern about its use. They
admit DU is a chemical and radiological hazard.
DU is also one of the possible causes of the so-called Gulf War Syndrome
(GWS), which is affecting thousands of US and British veterans, and for
the increase of genetic malformations among the newborn in South Iraq.
Many Iraqi pedriatic oncologists claim that childhood leukaemia has
risen 600% in the areas where DU was used. Stillbirths, births or
abortion of fetuses with monstrous abnormalities, and other cancers in
children born since 1991 have also been found. Also
UN itself in 1996 in the framework of the Subcommission on Preservation
of Minorities, “urged all States to curb the production and spread of
weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effects”, including
explicitly, among others, depleted uranium.
The recent NATO confirmation of DU use in Kosovo, complete with a map,
alarmed somehow the public opinion, exspecially in Italy, because the
most exposed area is right the area where there are the Italian KFOR’s
soldiers. One more at the press conference, the head of the BTF mission,
Pekka Haavisto declared that there is no reason for serious concern.
BUT: the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, the main coordinator of
aid to Kosovo, has quietly decided to refrain from sending pregnant
staff to Kosovo, to offer those assigned there the option of going
elsewhere and to put a note into the personnel files of those sent there
– to facilitate compensation claims for illnesses that might develop
from DU contamination.
The German and Dutch Governments, whose occupation zones coincide with
the areas hit, have ordered their soldiers not to eat anything outside
their post, especially not from the sorrounding countryside. Dutch
soldiers had to hand in all clothing and equipment, which was shipped
back to the Netherlands sealed in heavy-duty plastic. The government
claims asbestos contamination, but a Dutch military source points to DU,
noting that the vehicles, also sent back, ended up in a radiation
decontamination plant.
And, as far as Italy is concerned, there is the news that two Italian
soldiers sent to the Serbian part of Bosnia, bombed with DU ammunitions
by NATO in 1995, in the framework of the “peace force” SFOR, have died
of leukaemia. In this case there have been arguments because the time
enlapsed between exposure to DU and the death seems to be too short:
only a couple of years. An important Italian oncologist has said in a
popular TV documentary that in some cases it cannot be excluded a very
short time of occurrence for cancer.
In conclusion, we cannot have any doubt that using DU as a weapon is a
war crime and that DU must be banned for ever.
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid%c2%91979 oppure
> http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Contributi e segnalazioni: <jugocoord@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
la tua agenda sul web - per te e per i tuoi amici
Organizza on line i tuoi appuntamenti .
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
http://www.ecircle.it/ad800146/www.ecircle.it
la seduta di New York del Tribunale "Clark" del 10 giugno 2000:
---
CRIMINAL USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM
by Carlo Pona at the International Tribunal on US/NATO war crimes. New
York 10th June 2000
During the criminal aggression against Yugoslavia, NATO used
armor-piercing shells loaded with depleted uranium. This was officially
confirmed in a letter from NATO Secretary General George Robertson to
the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Anyway during the aggression there
has been an unofficial confirmation by Major General Chuck Wald, the US
Department of Defense spokesman during the press briefing on the 3rd May
1999.
Depleted Uranium (DU) is essentially a byproduct of the cycle of
production of nuclear fuel and of the weapon-grade enriched uranium used
to build nuclear bombs. It is also used to produce plutonium.
US have retained stockpiles of DU since the inception of its nuclear
weapon program in the 1940’s. Because of the costs associated with
storing such an extraordinary quantity of material, estimated to be
something like 700,000 tons as UF6 which constitutes a very heavy burden
for the US-Department of Energy, the employment of DU in ammunitions
became a viable method to reduce storage costs. DU is 1.7 times denser
than lead and when fired by guns its kinetic energy is sufficient to
penetrate tank armour or concrete. The problem is that DU is both
radioactive and toxic.
To dispose of it as a nuclear waste is extremely expensive and hence the
Dept. Of Energy itself is promoting its commercial use in many ways.
They say that other uses of DU (including weapons) is a “benefit for
humanity”.
DU is used in ammunitions, countewieghts, shieldings, and now commercial
concrete (DUCRETE). DU munitions include the following: 7.62 mm, 20 mm
(180 grams), 25 mm (200 grams), 30 mm (280 grams), 105 mm (3500 grams),
and 120 mm (4500 grams) penetrators and the ADAM and PDM cluster bombs.
DU is also present also in the Cruise Tomahawk III missiles.
DU emits alphs, beta, gamma and X-ray radiations and may present a
hazard both externally and/or internally. The external radiation hazard
would arise from the close proximity to DU and is made up mainly of
beta, gamma and X-ray radiation. Tha main external radiation hazard from
DU is from contact with bare skin. The current dose limit to the skin
will be exeeded if the skin remains in contact continously with DU for
more than 250 hours per year.
DU is dangerous as a weapon, but it is more dangerous after it has been
fired because it becomes a very thin powder which contaminates for ever
the environment. Upon impact, indeed, the DU core partially vaporizes
producing uranium oxide in particulates of between 0.5 and 5 microns in
size. The aerosol can spread over several hundred miles, depending on
weather conditions.
The main internal radiation hazard is from the inhalation of these
insoluble oxides. The alpha and beta radiation from the retained
material over a long period of time could cause damage to the lung
tissue. The inhalation of 80 mg of insoluble DU would result in the dose
limit to the whole body being exeeded.
Upon ingestion, the uranium oxides are mostly metabolized to the uranyl
ion (UO2++), and, if solubilized in the blood, up to 90% of it may be
excreted by the kidney in the urine. Excretion takes approximately 3
days if DU is solubilised. When uranium arrives to other organs such as
bones, for example, it may not be excreted for ever. A particular case,
very frequent following the use of DU as a weapon is the case of
embedded fragments in the muscle of victims close to the battlefield. In
this case a small particle of DU can cause high level of DU in the urine
even for the rest of the life.
One “hot particle” in the lungs is equivalent, for the nearest cells, to
an X-ray every hour of every day for the rest of one’s life. The uranium
oxides goes into the soil as well. DU’s high toxicity presents ever more
danger to human health in the short time after exposure: the kidneys are
the target organ.
DU in soil is incorporated in vegetables, which, together with the
ruminant’s meat and milk, can represent a way to contaminate humans via
the food chain.
The International Criminal Tribunal on Former Yugoslavia, last week said
that there is no worldwide agreement on its hazard, and that DU is not
forbidden as a weapon.
Maybe they forget, by others things, or they want to forget, that the
National Lead Industries in New York State, have been shut down during
the 1980’s because they released accidentally into the environment only
375 grams of DU, the same amount which is contained in only one round
fired in Kosovo and Yugoslavia. Of course the US government denies,
followed by ICTY which confirms, there is nothing harmful about depleted
uranium that would prevent its use in battle situation anywhere.
Numerous independent experts say depleted uranium is deadly and will
pollute endlessly those areas struck by the ammunitions. The Military
Toxic Project, a non-governmental organization that has been tracking
depleted uranium for years, has published an update. Dan Fahey, the
author, draws primarily on declasified government documents and public
statements, concluding with a sort of rough indictement of
irresponsability. During the Kosovo war, the Pentagon brought out a RAND
corporation think tank study to prove once again that DU is harmless.
Once more independent experts protested. As a consequence the WHO was
asked to investigate. A fact sheet on DU was announced as in the work,
and then it was cancelled.
An initial UN mission to Yugoslavia in May produced a report of serious
contamination by DU. The report’s sponsor, the UNEP’s director, Klaus
Toepfer, suppressed it, under pressure from Washington. the UNEP’s
Balkan Task Force produced a big study in October, but the section on DU
was dramatically reduced in the final version. The task force had tried
to involve the WHO, but the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not allow
it. Measurements were done using Geiger counters incapable of detectin
the particular alpha radiation and nothing was found. In the meantime,
in August, the WHO announced that a generic study of DU was under way.
Last March it become known that the study was under the responsability
of an electro-magnetic field expert who has delegated it to a British
geologist. Faced with the IAEA’s opposition to studying radiation and
health, the WHO has opted to study DU only as a heavy metal pollutant.
There is no surprire that under this situation, the ICTY would say that
there is no international agreement on the hazard from DU.
NATO admitted of having fired 31,000 of such rounds over a small area of
Kosovo. We know now that DU has been used as well outside Kosovo up to
Belgrade and Novi Sad. The Yugoslav Ministry for Development, Science
and Environment of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in a comprehensive
report “Consequences of NATO Bombing on the Environment of FRY” has
stressed the use of DU even outside Kosovo in seven sites in Serbia and
one in Montenegro.
It is not the first time US/NATO used DU in the battlefield. It happened
already surely in Iraq (1991-the total amount ranging from 300 to 700
tons) and Bosnia (1995). US Army is almost routinely using DU on the
small island of Vieques, offshore Puerto Rico: in April 1999, the US
Navy accidentally fired hundreds of DU rounds. Similar events happened
in Japan, where Marines fired DU bullets on an uninhabited island,
prompting apologies from US defense officials and recently in South
Korea.
The Department of Defense itself published a lot of books and essays
regarding DU from which it justifies the concern about its use. They
admit DU is a chemical and radiological hazard.
DU is also one of the possible causes of the so-called Gulf War Syndrome
(GWS), which is affecting thousands of US and British veterans, and for
the increase of genetic malformations among the newborn in South Iraq.
Many Iraqi pedriatic oncologists claim that childhood leukaemia has
risen 600% in the areas where DU was used. Stillbirths, births or
abortion of fetuses with monstrous abnormalities, and other cancers in
children born since 1991 have also been found. Also
UN itself in 1996 in the framework of the Subcommission on Preservation
of Minorities, “urged all States to curb the production and spread of
weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effects”, including
explicitly, among others, depleted uranium.
The recent NATO confirmation of DU use in Kosovo, complete with a map,
alarmed somehow the public opinion, exspecially in Italy, because the
most exposed area is right the area where there are the Italian KFOR’s
soldiers. One more at the press conference, the head of the BTF mission,
Pekka Haavisto declared that there is no reason for serious concern.
BUT: the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, the main coordinator of
aid to Kosovo, has quietly decided to refrain from sending pregnant
staff to Kosovo, to offer those assigned there the option of going
elsewhere and to put a note into the personnel files of those sent there
– to facilitate compensation claims for illnesses that might develop
from DU contamination.
The German and Dutch Governments, whose occupation zones coincide with
the areas hit, have ordered their soldiers not to eat anything outside
their post, especially not from the sorrounding countryside. Dutch
soldiers had to hand in all clothing and equipment, which was shipped
back to the Netherlands sealed in heavy-duty plastic. The government
claims asbestos contamination, but a Dutch military source points to DU,
noting that the vehicles, also sent back, ended up in a radiation
decontamination plant.
And, as far as Italy is concerned, there is the news that two Italian
soldiers sent to the Serbian part of Bosnia, bombed with DU ammunitions
by NATO in 1995, in the framework of the “peace force” SFOR, have died
of leukaemia. In this case there have been arguments because the time
enlapsed between exposure to DU and the death seems to be too short:
only a couple of years. An important Italian oncologist has said in a
popular TV documentary that in some cases it cannot be excluded a very
short time of occurrence for cancer.
In conclusion, we cannot have any doubt that using DU as a weapon is a
war crime and that DU must be banned for ever.
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid%c2%91979 oppure
> http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Contributi e segnalazioni: <jugocoord@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
la tua agenda sul web - per te e per i tuoi amici
Organizza on line i tuoi appuntamenti .
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
http://www.ecircle.it/ad800146/www.ecircle.it
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Bein
Sent: October 12, 2000 5:32 PM
To: 'venik@...'; 'sparta13@...'; 'ES LaPorte';
'rrozoff@...'; 'Petokraka78@...'; 'minja m.'; 'milan kasic';
'kawczynski@...'; 'rlsenior@...'; 'kevcross@...';
'T.V.
Weber & Alida Weber'; 'john_peter maher'; 'Marek Glogoczowski'; 'Bob
Petrovich'
Cc: 'Cat Euler'
Subject: critical comments please
Dear Friends,
Could I ask you to take a few minutes to critically review the attached
paper, please?
The paper is at its length limit. I would like to finalize it by October
25th, 2000.
Peter Bein
---
DRAFT
NATO (mis)information to the public: Why we must not trust NATO on DU
Dr. Peter Bein, PEng, <mailto:piotr.bein@...> piotr.bein@...
Vancouver, Canada
International Conference Against Depleted Uranium Weapons
Manchester, 4-5 November, 2000
Introduction
This brief attempts to show that military information about DU has the
characteristics of information warfare and should not be taken at face
value. Information to the public about DU weapon use and effects on life
in
the Balkans are one of the subjects of information operations in NATO
campaign in the region. NATO used propaganda to: demonize Serbs to
justify
intervention in former Yugoslavia; exaggerate Serbs atrocities before
the
International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia; cover-up own
military
blunders in Yugoslavia; and, induce overthrow of "unfriendly" government
in
Yugoslavia. For details, the reader may refer to English references at
the
ends of chapters in my Polish book.1 It covers DU in the Gulf War as
well.
I'd like to thank Venik for his contribution to the DU brochure for the
Balkans and for reviewing this brief [others???]. I am solely
responsible
for opinions below.
Information operations
Information warfare is one of four instruments of power - diplomatic,
informational, military, and economic - that nations wield to influence
events and actions during peace and conflict. It is as old as human
race.
Our times added bahavioural science, the use of mass media and high
technology. The military employs information operations, as laid out,
for
example, in the US Field Manual 100-6.2 Information warfare of US
Department
of Defense (DoD) targets foreign nations and groups, including foreign
governments. DoD actions "convey and/or deny selected information and
indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives,
and
objective reasoning; and to intelligence systems and leaders at all
levels.3
DoD specifies that management of the foreign perceptions "combines truth
projection, operation security, cover and deception, and psychological
operations." In NATO, psychological operations mean "planned
psychological
activities in peace and war directed to enemy, friendly and neutral
audiences in order to influence attitudes and behavior affecting the
achievement of political and military objectives."
A companion of PsyOp is Public Affairs (PA), which "provides objective
reporting without intent to propagandize" and disseminates information
internationally.4 Information warfare uses propaganda - white (telling
the
truth), gray (ambiguous) or black (lying) - often through public
relations
(PR). In "Selling a conflict - the ultimate PR challenge" NATO spokesman
during Kosovo conflict Jamie Shea told a Switzerland forum how "he won
the
war": "If there is no story, create one," as he did when he got Cherie
Blair
and Hilary Clinton to visit a refugee camp for CNN's cameras. By
declaring
that the daily briefings were a PR exercise, Shea and his employers have
lost all credibility.5 American PR firm Rudder Finn arranged a protest
of
the Jewry against alleged "Serb" death camps in Bosnia. Once the Jews
protested, the rest of the world believed the atrocity was authentic.6
The
information operation was highly successful, regardless of whether the
originators were the warring factions of former Yugoslavia unfriendly to
Serbia, NATO, some other group or a combination. The most convincing
proof
that Serb "death" camps were a hoax is in a video7 filmed in one of the
camps by Serb TV next to reporters of the ITN press giant. ITN spread
around
the world images of the camp presented like a WW2 Nazi concentration
camp.
In our times the military, government, mass media and industry
integrated
into a complex, who battles for the minds of the electorate, consumers
and
workers. Supreme US commander general Dwight Eisenhower was responsible
for
drafting a plan for integrating civic life with the military. In his
last
presidential speech in 1946, he warned against growth of the
military-industrial complex. Today, half of US federal taxes during
peacetime go into military spending, including information operations.
How it works
Information operations prepared the world for NATO engagements in Iraq
and
the Balkans by demonizing the leaders and people of these regions. PA of
these campaigns subordinated mass media. The methods of PsyOp "are based
on
projection of truths and credible message [...that serve to discredit]
adversary propaganda or misinformation against the operations of
US/coalition forces [which] is critical to maintaining favorable public
opinion."2 The target audience is stated clearly, but the other words
require an Orwellian-English dictionary.
US ambassador William Walker and Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) staged the
Racak "massacre" on January 15th, 1999. Walker was the head of Kosovo
Verification Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) who supposedly monitored compliance of both sides to
ceasefire. While the Yugoslav forces complied, KLA operated unchecked.
In
June 2000 Dr. Helena Ranta, the head of the Finnish forensic team
investigating Racak incident for NATO, told me that the bodies had no
signs
of execution, were brought from other locations and that NATO made her
final
report secret. Had it proved Serb crime, the report would receive prompt
publicity. Instead, it was made secret to hide lack of proofs. The fate
was
similar to the "evidence" brought before the NATO "court" in Hague by
"witnesses" of an alleged massacre of several thousand Bosnian Moslems
by
Serb forces in Srebrenica. KLA political leader Hashim Thaci admitted in
a
BBC interview prepared for March 24th, 2000, that a major KLA unit
operated
at Racak and many soldiers lost their life in battles with Yugoslav
forces.
KLA intentionally killed 4 Serb policemen in order to enliven the
conflict
and covertly killed Albanian peasants to win sympathy for the separatist
cause from the West. Madeleine Albright admitted in the same BBC
programme
that Racak incident needed preparation and was vivified in order to keep
pressure on European allies to intervene militarily.
The Racak case indicates the following information warfare elements: (1)
Mission: exert pressure on European allies to intervene militarily
against
"Milosevic". (2) Target audience: foreign governments and public
opinion.
(3) Psychological objectives: cohesion of European allies. (4) Timing:
before Ramboulliet "talks". (5) Theme: another "Serb" atrocity in
Kosovo.
(6) Partners: US department of state, KLA, OSCE. (7) Development: covert
action, mass media. (8) Filtering: select "friendly" media, ban Serb
media
from the site of the "massacre". (9) Blunders: mistakes in staging an
execution, admissions by Albright and Thaci to BBC. (10) Damage control:
deny the final scientific report by making it secret.
Mainstream media supported NATO's Racak propaganda against facts, logic
and
ethics. By large, the journalist profession in the West volunteered to
compromise their ethical code for NATO campaigns, failed to verify
information and could seldom report the other side of each story. In my
opinion, it means a deep penetration and control of the media by
military
and government information operations. Let's look at a BBC case. On the
1st
anniversary of the "massacre" BBC News began a story with a usual
statement
that Serb forces are guilty of the atrocity. The truth was hidden at the
end: Helena Ranta was very close to determining what happened. A reader
must
have wondered at this point, given the beginning of the story. Most
people
read only headlines and bylines. Between the lie and the truth, BBC
story
placed Hashim Thaci's opinion that Racak was a turning point in Kosovo's
history that convinced Western powers about the need to intervene
militarily. The story was typical for thousands of others on the Balkan
conflict in Western media since early 1990s. In the BBC story there was
no
voice from Yugoslav forensic and judicial people involved in the Racak
investigation. After experiencing a few messages of this type, their
schematic must emerge as obviously biased against Serbs.
Reflecting on recent "democratic" elections in Yugoslavia, University of
Berkeley professor emeritus in history Raymond Kent wrote, "the Serbs
are
suddenly transformed from a nation of neo-Nazi 'subhumans' into a 'brave
and
valiant people,' a decade of carefully nurtured Serbophobia lurks in the
background. A host of people in government, politics, intellectual
journals,
scribal and audio-visual media have gained in careers and prominence
through
hate-mongering against the Serbs. This will not be given up easily." 8
Kent
alluded to the infiltration of media by the power complex, "As an
outgrowth
of deceit and disinformation needed to justify military interventions
abroad, an unusually intimate relationship of the major scribal and
audio
visual media and the administration has emerged in the shaping of
foreign
policy. While a 'patriotic mutuality' of government and media was
commonplace in major wars, it never loomed as large in peacetime as in
the
last decade while focusing on the Balkans and the Yugoslav tragedy."
A Dutch paper "Trouw" reported that PsyOp officers worked at two leading
US
news channels during the Kosovo war. A liberal US commentator Alexander
Cockburn remarked, "In the Kosovo conflict [...] CNN's screen was filled
with an unending procession of bellicose advocates of bombing, many of
them
retired US generals." However, the few interns seen at CNN and NPR don't
explain the systematic, decade-long bias across the mass media in NATO
countries. The infiltration must be far subtler to explain it. In fact,
the
story in "Trouw" may have been a PsyOp trick designed to divert public
attention from permanent ties of the media with the power complex.
PA involves press releases and conferences and statements by the
military.
In 1998 Dynamic Response exercises of SFOR, PA informed the regional and
international media. Several military agencies and commanders were
involved
in preparation and delivery of a message, which "must be clearly
communicated and correctly interpreted by potential adversaries."
After-action reviews showed that former warring faction "leaders in
attendance and those watching the event through the media received the
intended message loud and clear." 9
DU propaganda during NATO bombing campaign
Information operations misrepresent the radioactive and toxic effects of
DU
in order to temper public protests which could lead to withdrawal of DU
weapons. This would put the US and other NATO countries at a military
disadvantage where DU ammunition is required to destroy enemy's heavy
armour
and concrete bunkers. It was even suggested that a recent Bundeswehr
report
about a Dutch peacekeeper from Kosovo who apparently became ill of DU
was a
PsyOp plot designed to discredit a wave of DU illness cases expected in
2001.10
On March 30th, 1999, NATO announced they would use DU ammunition in
Kosovo,
but reassured that DU would not harm the environment. A day later Dr.
Bertell condemned as "barbarian" the use of radioactive weapons that had
terrible consequences in Iraq and Bosnia. NATO announcement may have
pre-tested public opinion before formulation of a propaganda plan.
Propaganda planning is a continuous process, responsive to immediate
change
brought about by any new condition or circumstance affecting the target
audience or the psychological objectives. The resulting plan is also
subject
to change. NATO plan was to continue denying adverse effects of DU and
to
withhold information about location of DU use. By comparison, location
of
sites of NATO cluster bomb release was not a secret and a well-organized
UN
and NATO effort to warn the population and to de-mine Kosovo started
immediately after the end of bombing.
NATO announcement about planned use of DU over Kosovo also served to
demoralize Yugoslav army. NATO Blitzkrieg failed to destroy enemy's
command
and control centres and anti-aircraft defences in the "first few days"
(later changed to "few first weeks") of bombing. Leaflets showing A-10
and
Apache were dropped over Yugoslav positions in an attempt to break the
morale and tank power of one of Europe's strongest and most disciplined
armies. Tanks would be difficult to deal with in a ground invasion. A
Serb
who participated in the Kosovo campaign told me that naïveté of NATO
propaganda amused Nebojsa Pavkovic's 3rd Army in camouflaged dugouts,.
On
April 26th at least 11 of 24 Apache helicopters shown on NATO leaflets
were
destroyed in an attack of Yugoslav Air Force planes on Rinas airport
near
Tirana. Yugoslav forces are equipped with British cluster bombs (DU
type?)
and this kind of weapon would be a logical choice in the attack. A few
Apaches were shot down from SAM guns shoulder-held by Yugoslav Army foot
soldiers. Another couple of Apaches may indeed have had accidents during
exercises, as "explained" by NATO propaganda. General Pavkovic chose
military over information warfare to neutralize the Apache "tank
killer". At
least one DU-armed A-10 aircraft was shot down. A part from its engine
is on
display at the museum of NATO aggression in Beograd. NATO did not
publicize
these losses, while US special services attempted to suppress
independent
sources that did.
Kosovo campaign also used British Harrier GR7 and US Navy Harrier AV-8B,
both firing 25 mm DU rounds, and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter firing 20
mm
DU rounds. NATO is equipped with ADAM and PDM cluster bombs made of DU.
Apache carry ATACM and MLRS cluster bombs made of DU, and Hellfire
anti-armour missiles (made of DU?). It is plausible that air-to-surface
anti-armour rockets such as US-made Maverick (also in Yugoslav Air
Force)
might be made with a DU penetrator. There were no questions regarding
these
weapons, therefore no answers from NATO. The issue of DU weapons on
board of
crashed and destroyed A-10 and Apaches and DU counterweights in all
destroyed planes and bombs did not receive as much public attention as
fired
DU ammunition.
Yugoslav authorities must have known about the nuclear and toxic danger
but
did not warn the public, presumably for fear of an outcry. Director of
Desert Storm Think Tank, Patricia Axelrod found on her August 1999 trip
in
Serbia that Yugoslav authorities responded with decontamination to
Tomahawk
explosions. Her Geiger counter showed 10 times higher radioactivity at
craters filled after Tomahawks. She was told that Yugoslav government
did
not inform the population about the hazard but hid radiation victims. It
is
likely that Yugoslav anti-aircraft artillery used Russian AA-8 Aphid
bullets
made of DU. They disintegrate into smaller pieces in the air and
puncture
enemy planes and flying bombs, but DU pieces fall on the ground as well.
The
fiercest anti-aircraft defense was in urban centres.
US president Clinton said on April 13th that NATO would attack
Milosevic's
tanks.and artillery. But an increased level of radiation was found
earlier
over the Balkans. Five days before Clinton's statement, Russian foreign
affairs minister Ivanov said that at several locations in Kosovo experts
found increased radioactivity in the air and on the ground. He hinted at
a
new type of radioactive weapon, not the anti-tank DU ammunition. Greek
professor of chemistry Zeferos discovered dangerously high levels of
radioactivity in the air blown from Kosovo and Serbia in the first 3
days of
NATO attacks. A-10 "tank killers" were not yet engaged.
On April 20th NATO confirmed the use of DU ammunition currently in
Kosovo
and previously in Bosnia, but the spokesman trivialized the danger of
DU. He
added that DU may cause "complications" if it enters the body. Five days
earlier a Pentagon report stated that veterans of previous DU wars need
to
be concerned about their health. The message was likely timed to temper
expected public opposition following the announcement of April 20th. On
May
3rd a Greek accusation before the International Criminal Tribunal for
Former
Yugoslavia named A-10 and Tomahawks containing DU and stressed
intentional
use by NATO of indiscriminating weapons with long-term consequences.
US Air Force command initially contradicted NATO spokesman by denying
that
A-10 aircraft fired DU ammunition. Then on May 7th Pentagon's general
Chuck
Wald confirmed that A-10 fired DU. Yugoslav secretary general described
on
May 15th the use of DU weapons as a "crime against humanity and
international law," naming A-10 attacks on Prizren (March 30th) and on
Bujanovac (April 18th). At the same time, author of a report on DU from
1998
Dan Fahey stated that US soldiers should not be sent to Kosovo, unless
they
are trained to deal with DU contamination, wear protective clothing and
carry Geiger counters. General Alekseiev, the head of environmental
safety
in the Russian army, stated on May 27th that NATO aircraft "intensely"
used
DU bullets against tanks and concrete structures. But not only. An
independent investigation team under Swiss leadership dug out DU bullets
at
the radio tower in Vranje in southern Serbia. At Djakovica, a foreign
aid
worker found tips of DU bullets in a military place with no armoured
vehicles.
DU propaganda after NATO bombing
NATO bombing ceased on June 9, 1999. Yugoslav forces withdrew from
Kosovo
and UN and NATO so-called KFOR peacekeepers came in. Shortly after
ceasefire, US and British military gave detailed information about the
drops
of 1.5 thousand cluster bombs which helped de-miners draw maps of
affected
areas. Military sources suggested that only 3 to 4 thousand DU shells
have
been fired in Kosovo, a figure in apparent agreement with Yugoslav
sources.
Ten months later the estimate grew tenfold.
Pentagon said in June that there was no basis for concerns about dangers
of
DU contamination to returning Kosovo refugees, because uranium is
naturally
everywhere around us and is "absorbed by the body." Pentagon stated that
they did not have any plans to decontaminate Kosovo battlefields,
because
minimal quantities of DU were used and DU is not harmful to health. DU
experts Doug Rokke and Dan Fahey were very concerned. Fahey recommended
careful removal of vehicles hit by DU ammo, then excavating and hauling
away
30 cm of top soil from contaminated sites to controlled disposal and
searching out and disposal of all DU shrapnel and unexploded DU
ammunition.
Yugoslav press agency Beta reported on June 27th about Hungarian "Magyar
Nezmet" paper news of 30 to 50-fold increase of alfa radiation near the
border with Yugoslavia. A likely source might have been a downed NATO
plane
that was destroyed with a NATO missile to hide evidence of NATO loss.
British biologist Roger Coghill stated for BBC from a conference on DU
effects of the 1991 Gulf War that for its hazards to human health DU
should
have never been used in combat. Coghill estimated over 10 thousands
future
deaths from DU released in the Balkans during NATO attacks.
BBC News reported on August 18th that humanitarian workers in Kosovo
were
warned about the DU danger but not local population. Between September
26
and 28, 1999, KFOR officers admitted that DU particles may have
contaminated
soil around targets in Yugoslavia and may be hazardous if inhaled,
particularly by children. Peacekeepers were advised to wear protective
suits, masks and gloves in DU-contaminated areas. or else stay 50 m away
from objects shelled with DU ammunition. US DoD spokesman Victor
Warzinski
said that remains of DU on Kosovo battlefields do not pose a
"significant"
risk to human health. When in June UN de-mining teams asked for guidance
from NATO on DU, they were advised to stay away from vehicles hit by DU
bullets. British National Radiation Protection Board advised that main
risk
stemmed from inhaling DU-contaminated dust.
By the beginning of October, UN agencies who asked NATO where DU combat
sites were located did not receive this "secret" information they
required
to assess war damage in Kosovo. David Kyd of the UN-funded Balkan Task
Force
was frustrated, because NATO cooperated on identification of bombed
industrial facilities and on pollution that escaped into the Danube. US
military reps in European NATO headquarters refused to give any
information.
Pentagon played hide-and-seek with DU information seekers. A RAND study
released by Pentagon on October 19th said that anti-nerve agent pills
cannot
be ruled out as a possible cause for Gulf War syndrome. Bernard Rostker,
DoD
special assistant for Gulf War illnesses said that based on experience
in
the Persian Gulf, extensive environmental reviews were conducted based
upon
industrial pollutants and war damage in Kosovo. "We're now becoming more
sensitive to some of the environmental hazards and placing a lot more
emphasis on environmental medicine," Dr. Sue Bailey, assistant secretary
of
defence for health affairs echoed Rostker. The statements were suspected
to
be a preparation for "other" causes of DU-induced illness in Kosovo.
Robert Fisk reported from Pristina on November 22nd that A-10 shot DU
bullets for longer than a month at at least 40 locations in Kosovo. NATO
did
not bother to look for and examine survivors of attacks on refugee
convoys
for possible DU effects. By the side of Djakovica-Prizren road where one
of
the tragic attacks on refugees took place on April 14th, Fisk found on
the
next day similar craters he saw left by anti-armour missiles launched
from
A-10 in the Gulf. NATO sources in Kosovo told Fisk that DU was present
in
the tips of missiles aimed at Serb bunkers and underground military
installations. Pentagon spokesman Warzinski denied presence of DU in
cruise
missiles. According to Fisk, Yugoslav authorities did not have DU
information about Kosovo because their army had to leave in a hurry.
On February 2nd, 2000, over ten months after US started using DU weapons
in
Kosovo, NATO secretary general Lord Robertson confirmed in a letter to
UN
secreatry general Kofi Annan that A-10 fired 31 thousand DU bullets
containing 10.5 tons of DU. Robertson indicated general areas of DU use
in
Kosovo, but no detail necessary to conduct site investigations. On March
3rd, 2000, Pentagon spokesman Steve Campbell confirmed the absence of
"significant" risk to health and environment from DU remnants. On March
22nd, 3 elderly Catholics and a priest from Plowshares Against Depleted
Uranium were sentenced for damaging A-10 aircraft at a military base in
Maryland, USA. The accused refused the right for a defense attorney and
some
of them demanded placement in a more severe prison. The judge sentenced
them
to 2-3 times longer prison terms than was suggested by the prosecutor.
At
the end of March, German KFOR units identified a radioactive 5,000 sq. m
area inside Kosovo and German ministry of defense was forced to promise
radiological examination of its Kosovo troops.
On March 28th, Nic Fleming reported in British paper "The Express" that
thousands times higher than accepted levels of radioactivity were
discovered
in populated areas by a public health institute in Nis. On April 16th,
"Balkan syndrome" was coined in "Sunday Times" story about a dozen
British
soldiers who were preparing litigation against the government for
alleged
exposure to the harmful effects of DU used by the military in the Balkan
conflicts. Belgium who had soldiers in the same Kosovo sector as the
British
KFOR, reportedly started examination of their 14,000 soldiers who have
served in the Balkans.
On April 30th, 2000, after repeated warnings from military officials and
others to stop Dr. Rokke speak out about the effects of DU, someone shot
through a bedroom window of his home. On May 27th, his locked house in
Alabama was ransacked. Professor Siegwart-Horst Günther was arrested and
maltreated in June 1995 following his crusade against DU. For one year
after
release he remained under police supervision. On January 4th, 1999, he
appeared before a German court. He was told that if necessary he would
be
forcefully taken to a closed psychiatric institution. The authorities
are
very nervous indeed about the DU truth getting out. Violence and
intimidation methods belong to the tools of information warfare.
Countering PsyOp on DU
If DU was benign, why did not Pentagon disclose locations of DU weapon
use
in the Balkans? Public verification would effectively deal with the
world's
suspicions about DU. It would get Pentagon off the hook on this issue
forever and would allow retention of an effective armour-piercer in the
US
and British arsenal. Information operations chose a different approach
for
obvious reasons.
Knowing the adversary may help in anti-DU activities. The Balkan DU case
has
the following information warfare characteristics: (1) Mission: a)
maintain
tactical advantage over enemy's armour; b) suppress
government-industry-military liability, including storage of DU waste
and
past uses of DU weapons in the Gulf, Bosnia and on testing ranges; c)
maintain a weapon against enemy civilians as a terrorist tool with
long-term
biological consequences. (2) Target audience: domestic and foreign
public
opinion. (3) Psychological objectives: alienate, dilute and delay global
public opposition to DU. (4) Timing: a) until US and international laws
ban
the military use of DU; or, b) until a world tribunal sentences persons
responsible, whichever comes first. (5) Theme: "As harmless as a handful
of
dirt from your backyard." (6) Partners: US department of defense, DU
industry. (7) Development: communication through spokesmen, "scientific"
reports and mass media; intimidation of key anti-DU activists with
"special"
methods. (8) Filtering: emphasize "friendly" reports, suppress
independent
research results. (9) Blunders: contradictory own reports; delays in
divulging location of DU use over Yugoslavia; and, failure to warn and
protect NATO and UN forces, foreign workers and local civilians. (10)
Damage
control: deny scientific evidence by changing emphasis.
The primary goal of anti-DU campaigns during US, British and NATO
military
operations should be to warn local population that might be affected.
The
need for a clear and simple handout for the Balkan population about DU
dangers arose as soon as NATO announced the intent to use DU ammunition.
To
the detriment of those affected, development and dissemination of a
brochure
was delayed. NATO propaganda created ambiguity, denial and fog. To date,
the
issue of DU in the ballast and navigational gear of aircraft and guided
missiles is not clear. Neither is it clear if reports about radiation in
the
Balkans prior to NATO use of DU ammo were a black propaganda or not.
Coordination between grassroot orgs in Yugoslavia and Western orgs was
lacking initially. When finally Green Table prepared the brochure with
inputs from the West and Yugoslavia, it was excessive in technical
jargon.
It was issued in only one of the many Balkan languages, was not targeted
at
Kosovo population and came out too late to warn about the hazards. The
brochure was only ready in the beginning of year 2000. By then Robert
Fisk,
Scott Peterson and others have already described how Kosovo children
played
with the DU shells while grown-ups salvaged vehicles that were shelled
with
DU.
How to do it better next time, hoping there will be no 'next' time? We
should not wait for initiative from an affected country, where day to
day
survival may be more important during a war. We must have information
material ready for review by local specialists and for prompt
dissemination.
Present US and NATO strategy seems to mean more "humanitarian
interventions"
wherever and whenever globalisation interests call for use of force, to
subdue states and destabilize regions, including use of prohibited
weapons
against civilians. Western NGOs and concerned citizens should stand-by
with
money and organizational resources necessary to issue and disseminate DU
brochures and posters, ads for local newspapers, radio and TV and other
"products" (to use PsyOp jargon) to any region of the world in any
language
on a short notice. This is what "globalisation" means today,
unfortunately.
Let's be prepared to put out DU fires as they are spread by NATO.
Longer-term, we can design nuclear misinformation de-bunking campaigns.
Using our scientific and citizenship credibility we can spread the word
around to influence the public - just like PsyOp do, but with a
different
meaning of "truth projection", "objective reporting" and "national" and
"strategic" objectives. Organmizations like IDUST, the International
Depleted Uranium Study Team, a newly established NGO of international
researchers, activists and scientists intends to stop the use DU in
military
weapons by the year 2010 through alliance-building, education, research
and
outreach - globally.
Conclusion
Distortions and half-truths about the post-combat hazards of DU weapons
flow
from strategic objectives of "military advantage" over enemy's armour
and
military installations, which in turn flow from objectives of US
"national
interests" or "strategic interests" of NATO. DU ammunition did not
secure
any "military advantage" to US and NATO forces. The necessity to use
slow-moving and low-altitude A-10 and Apache against Serb tanks and
mobile
missile launches spelled disaster to US equipment. Thousands of DU
rounds
went into mock-ups of Serb armour and butchered refugees when "Serb"
armour
was suspected in the convoys. Serb forces left the battlefields
practically
intact, but DU contamination stayed behind. It greeted hundreds of
thousands
of returning refugees, KLA and illegal newcomers from Albania, as well
as
tens of thousands of NATO and UN peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and
Western "re-builders" of this Yugoslav territory. The nature and effects
of
other nuclear weapons that were possibly used in Yugoslavia is
uncertain.
"National" and "strategic" objectives wielded by the US and NATO also
prove
counterproductive. Moral credit of the United States was tarnished in
Western Europe. The same regards majority of former Soviet block people
who
invested great hopes in a better world spearheaded by the US and NATO.
USA
is harming her own national long-term interests and is letting down
millions
of needy people in the process. Opposition to joining NATO and European
Union rose dramatically in Slav countries after NATO attacked
Yugoslavia. In
Poland it is expressed by about 60 to 70% of the population.
The US and NATO would not give up DU's "military advantage" voluntarily,
although DU has an alternative in expensive tungsten. The military does
not
employ a full social cost calculus and has no incentive to switch to a
more
benign material. The cheap DU material was incorporated into the
sandwich
armour of the newest American tank to make it "harder". A "green"
anti-armour bullet was announced by Pentagon propaganda [does someone
know
more about it - I lost the posting]. Obviously, the public does not have
influence on legislation to change things around. The problem concerns
not
only DU ammunition but also DU used as ballast and in navigational
devices
of aircraft and flying bombs.
Massive incidence of DU-related disease and deaths among US and UK Gulf
War
veterans carries the potential for multi-billion dollar litigation.
Evidence
is also mounting about improper handling of DU counterweights by
aircraft
maintenance staff who never went to the Persian Gulf or the Balkans but
acquired Gulf War syndrome nevertheless. Potential government liability
hampers publication of the truth about DU. Once DU is officially
declared
hazardous, military and civilian victims would demand compensation. The
storage of thousands of tonnes of depleted uranium waste around the
world
would have to be remedied at a great expense, too, while DU
contamination in
the Persian Gulf, the Balkans and on DU shooting ranges would need
costly
cleanups. Given the potential liabilities and loss of credibility, it is
in
self-interests of the military, the government and the defence industry
to
continue attempts at "changing emphasis", deception, half-truths and
straight lying about DU. The public must take a vigorous stand to
protect
present and future generations of all life endangered by DU. Propaganda
is a
weak point of the military-government-industry complex who lost
credibility
in the eyes of the public on account of repeated blunders and lies.
Continuing exposure of truth to the public at large should hopefully
begin
desirable change.
Once the public understands the hazards and can identify with the
adverse
consequences, the electorate would exert pressure on politicians. But
the
public is too comfortable with, and does not question mainstream media
messages. The public does not have time and intellectual capacity to
seek,
analyse and understand alternative information about DU. Information
outside
of the prevailing perceptions is rejected as strange or hostile to the
common feeling of security. Government-military-industry information
warriors exploit this in their operations. Bonaparte's assertion that
"the
sword is always beaten by the mind" is challenging if one considers how
the
mind can be influenced by black and grey propaganda. On our side is the
public's self-preservation instinct that came to fruition during project
Plowshares and other protests against nuclear mania.
In a supposedly democratic society, domination of biased messages is an
assault on freedom of opinion and the right to know the truth. The
public is
manipulated with "truth projection." Spreading hatred propaganda against
a
nation to justify aggression and covering up information regarding
crimes
against humanity are crimes themselves. The degree of protection
received by
off-mainstream information, such as ours on DU, will be a major working
test
of freedom and democracy.
1 <http://www.most.org.pl/zb/internet/nato/index.html>
www.most.org.pl/zb/internet/nato/index.html
2 Headquarters, Department of the Army, Field Manual 100-6: Information
Operations, USGPO, Washington DC, 27 August 1996
3 Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense, JCS Publication 1,
Glossary
Department of Defense Military and Associated Terms, 1987,
<http://www.pipeline.com/~psywarrior/glossary.html>
www.pipeline.com/~psywarrior/glossary.html
4 Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Publication
3-53, Joint Doctrine for Psychological Operations, USGPO, Washington DC,
10
July 1996
5 Neue Zurcher Zeitung, March 30, 2000
6 Jacques Merlino, It Is Not Good To Tell The Truth About Yugoslavia, A.
Michel, Paris, 1993
7 Judgement can be ordered through <http://www.tenc.net/> www.tenc.net
8 R. K. Kent, Nationalisms and the absolute corruptibility of imagined
absolute power, October 7, 2000
9 Arthur N. Tulak, Information Operations in Support of Demonstrations
and
Shows of Force,
<http://www.abolishnato.com/abolishnato/natobriefs/intim.nonsence.htm>
www.abolishnato.com/abolishnato/natobriefs/intim.nonsence.htm
10
<http://www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all
&id=969989108>
www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all&id=9699
89108
============================================================================
=======
ALTRA DOCUMENTAZIONE INTERNET E BIBLIOGRAFIA SUL DU
da Piotr Bein
(fonte: mailing list STOPNATO@... )
Convention with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The
Hague,
July 29, 1899 (Hague, II)
Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The Hague,
October 18, 1907 (Hague, IV)
Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating,
Poisonous or
Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, Geneva, June 17,
1925
Geneva Conventions, 12 August 1949
Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War,
Geneva, 1949
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
Stockholm, 1972
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and
Stockpiling
of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons, and on their
Destruction,
1972
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and
Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts
(Protocol I of 1977)
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Report of the United
Nations
Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June
1992,
Annex I)
UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities Resolution 1996/16, August 29, 1996, E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1996/16
UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities Resolution 1997/36, August 28, 1997, E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1997/36
UN Press Release, September 4, 1996, HR/CN/755
Oswiadczenia rzadowe i protesty spoleczne
The denunciation to the Prosecutor of ICTY, in the Hague, filed by the
Association of Serbs from Bosnia and Hercegovina, concerning the use of
DU
by NATO in Republika Srpska, in 1995
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Ministry for Development,
Science and Environment, Information about the effects of the NATO
aggression on the environment in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
Belgrad, 4.99, www.iacenter.org/yugoenv.htm
Jela Jowanowicz, Aide memoire on the use of inhumane weapons in the
aggression of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization against the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, Belgrade, 15.5.99, www.iacenter.org/aide_mem.htm
Independent Commission of Inquiry hearing to investigate U.S./NATO war
crimes against the people of Yugoslavia, 30.7.99,
www.iacenter.org/warcrime/index.htm
Ramsey Clark, An international appeal to ban the use of depleted uranium
weapons, www.iacenter.org/
Artykuly prasowe
Christine Abdelkrim-Delanne, Ces armes si peu conventionneles [w:] "Le
Monde
Diplomatique" z czerwca 1999 r.,
www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1999/06/ABDELKRIM_DELANNE/12106.html
Patricia Axelrod, On the road to Kosovo: Yugoslavs are paying the price
for
NATO's war, www.sfbayguardian.com/
Piotr Bein, Wojenna historia zubozonego uranu: czesc II [w:] ZB nr
2(147),
www.most.org.pl/zb/zb/147/military.htm
Nick Cohen, Depleted uranium: deadly weapon, deadly legacy? [w:]
"Guardian"
z 9.5.99
Natasha Dokovska, A New Chernobyl in the Balkans [w:] Environment News
Service (ENS), 1999, http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-13-01.html
Robert Fisk, Exposed: The deadly legacy of NATO strikes in Kosovo [w:]
"Independent" z 26-28.9.99
Robert Fisk, Exposed: The deadly legacy of NATO strikes in Kosovo [w:]
"Independent News" z 4.10.99,
www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/nato041099.shtml
Robert Fisk, I'd like to believe Nato that depleted uranium is harmless
[w:]
"Independent News" z 4.10.99,
www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/fisk041099.shtml
Robert Fisk, US 'lost count of uranium shells fired in Kosovo' [w:]
"Independent" z 22.11.99
Nic Fleming, Thousand facing cancer death after Nato jets' radioactive
blitz
[w:] "The Express" z 28.3.00,
www.lineone.net/express/00/03/28/news/n2520cancer-d.html
Alex Kirby, Depleted uranium 'threatens Balkan cancer epidemic' [w:] BBC
News z 30.7.99,
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid%5F408000/408122.stm
Alex Kirby, Pentagon's man in uranium warning [w:] BBC News z 11.5.99,
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid%5F340000/340944.stm
Alex Kirby, Pentagon confirms depleted uranium use [w:] BBC News z
7.5.99,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_337000/337855.stm
Alex Kirby, Uranium weapons fear in Kosovo - A-10 can fire depleted
uranium
shells, BBC News z 9.4.99
Dina Kyriakidou, NATO bombing wrecks Balkan environment - Greenpeace,
http://202.139.253.156/news/20059901.html, [w:] ZB 7(133)/99 s.4
Jon Leyne, UK sweeping up stray bombs [w:] BBC News z 30.7.99,
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid%5F408000/408394.stm
David O'Reilly, Activists draw jail in Md. incident [w:] "Philadelphia
Inquirer" z 24.3.00,
www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Mar/24/city/PPLOW24.htm
Scott Peterson, Will America risk use of DU in Kosovo? [w:] "Christian
Science Monitor" z 29.4.99,
www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/04/29/p12s2.htm
Scott Peterson, Pentagon stance on DU a moving target [w:] "Christian
Science Monitor" z 30.4.99,
www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/04/30/p8s1.htm
Scott Peterson, US reluctance to talk about DU [w:] "Christian Science
Monitir" z 5.10.99, www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/10/05/fp6s2-csm.shtml
Scott Peterson, The Trail of a Bullet: New evidence emerges of
radioactive
contamination in Kosovo. The Pentagon isn't talking [w:] "Christian
Science
Monitor" z 5.10.99, www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/10/05/fp1s3-csm.shtml
Lois Rogers, Ailing troops sue over Balkan war syndrome [w:] "Sunday
Times"
z 16.4.00, www.sunday-times.co.uk
Kathleen Sullivan, U.S. firing radioactive ammo: Depleted uranium
contamination poses threat to civilians, troops in Balkans [w:] "San
Francisco Examiner" z 7.5.99, s.A1,
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/05/07/NEWS111
11.dtl
Kathleen Sullivan, Radioactive ammo health study draws fire from expert,
says researchers in denial about risks [w:] "San Francisco Examiner" z
16.4.99, s.A23,
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/04/16/NEWS769
4.dtl
Kathleen Sullivan, Uranium bullets on NATO holsters [w:] "San Francisco
Examiner" z 1.4.99
M.R. Gordon i E. Schmitt, Pentagon blocks Apache use in Kosovo [w:] "New
York Times" z 16.5.99, www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11532
Magazyn "In Defense of Marxism", www.marxist.com/Europe/uranium.html
Boost for Gulf War syndrome research [w:] BBC News z 28.4.99,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_61000/61412.stm
Spanish fighter pilots admit that NATO deliberately attacked civilian
targets [w:] "Articulo 20" nr 30 z 14.6.99
Ksiazki
International Action Center, "Metal of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium - How
the
Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU Weapons", New York City,
1997
Helen Caldicott, A New Kind of Nuclear War [w:] "Metal of Dishonor:
Depleted
Uranium - How the Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU
Weapons",
New York City: International Action Center, 1997
Raporty rzadu USA
Army Environmental Policy Institute, Health and Environmental
Consequences
of Depleted Uranium Use in the US Army June 1995
US General Accounting Office, Operation Desert Storm: Army Not
Adequately
Prepared to Deal With Depleted Uranium Contamination, (GAO/NSIAD-93-90),
January 1993
Tylko na Sieci i inne
Vladimir S. Zajic, Review of Radioactivity, Military Use, and Health
Effects
of Depleted Uranium, July 1999,
http://members.tripod.com/vzajic/index.html
Michel Chossudovsky, "Impacts of NATO`s 'Humanitarian' Bombings, The
Balance
Sheet of Destruction in Yugoslavia", Ottawa, April 11, 1999.
Coghill Research Laboratories, Lower Race, Pontypool, Gwent NP4 5UH, UK,
UK,
www.cogreslab.demon.co.uk/WEBDU.htm
J.J. Richardson, Depleted uranium: The invisible threat, 23.6.99,
www.motherjones.com/total_coverage/kosovo/reality_check/du.html
Serb dummies fool NATO dummies, 24.6.99,
www.truthinmedia.org/Kosovo/Peace/ps8.html
Rosalie Bertell, War in Kosovo: Use of depleted uranium, wiadomosc z
31.3.99
na www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/10957
Nuklearni Rat u Jugoslaviji, Osiromaseni uranijum: Sta je to i kako se
zastiti, Zeleni Sto i International DU Information Network, broszura z
2000
r. bez daty, rozprowadzona w Sieci
Od Venika
Ponizsze pozycje mozna znalezc w witrynie internetowej Venika
www.venik.way.to, która z powodu przesladowania przez wladze USA czesto
zmienia serwer. Po ukazaniu sie strony tytulowej nalezy wybrac
guzik-obrazek
"War in Yugoslavia", a nastepnie szukac danej pozycji w spisie tresci,
albo
podstawic podany przyrostek htm za slowem aviation w pasku wyszukiwania.
"USA Today" z 27.4.99, s.6A /apachecrash01.htm
Spanish fighter pilots admit that NATO deliberately attacked civilian
targets [w:] "Articulo 20" nr 30 z 14.6.99, /nws001/articulo001.htm
Apache helicopter crash site in Albania, /apachecrash02.htm
---
From: Peter Bein
Sent: October 12, 2000 5:32 PM
To: 'venik@...'; 'sparta13@...'; 'ES LaPorte';
'rrozoff@...'; 'Petokraka78@...'; 'minja m.'; 'milan kasic';
'kawczynski@...'; 'rlsenior@...'; 'kevcross@...';
'T.V.
Weber & Alida Weber'; 'john_peter maher'; 'Marek Glogoczowski'; 'Bob
Petrovich'
Cc: 'Cat Euler'
Subject: critical comments please
Dear Friends,
Could I ask you to take a few minutes to critically review the attached
paper, please?
The paper is at its length limit. I would like to finalize it by October
25th, 2000.
Peter Bein
---
DRAFT
NATO (mis)information to the public: Why we must not trust NATO on DU
Dr. Peter Bein, PEng, <mailto:piotr.bein@...> piotr.bein@...
Vancouver, Canada
International Conference Against Depleted Uranium Weapons
Manchester, 4-5 November, 2000
Introduction
This brief attempts to show that military information about DU has the
characteristics of information warfare and should not be taken at face
value. Information to the public about DU weapon use and effects on life
in
the Balkans are one of the subjects of information operations in NATO
campaign in the region. NATO used propaganda to: demonize Serbs to
justify
intervention in former Yugoslavia; exaggerate Serbs atrocities before
the
International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia; cover-up own
military
blunders in Yugoslavia; and, induce overthrow of "unfriendly" government
in
Yugoslavia. For details, the reader may refer to English references at
the
ends of chapters in my Polish book.1 It covers DU in the Gulf War as
well.
I'd like to thank Venik for his contribution to the DU brochure for the
Balkans and for reviewing this brief [others???]. I am solely
responsible
for opinions below.
Information operations
Information warfare is one of four instruments of power - diplomatic,
informational, military, and economic - that nations wield to influence
events and actions during peace and conflict. It is as old as human
race.
Our times added bahavioural science, the use of mass media and high
technology. The military employs information operations, as laid out,
for
example, in the US Field Manual 100-6.2 Information warfare of US
Department
of Defense (DoD) targets foreign nations and groups, including foreign
governments. DoD actions "convey and/or deny selected information and
indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives,
and
objective reasoning; and to intelligence systems and leaders at all
levels.3
DoD specifies that management of the foreign perceptions "combines truth
projection, operation security, cover and deception, and psychological
operations." In NATO, psychological operations mean "planned
psychological
activities in peace and war directed to enemy, friendly and neutral
audiences in order to influence attitudes and behavior affecting the
achievement of political and military objectives."
A companion of PsyOp is Public Affairs (PA), which "provides objective
reporting without intent to propagandize" and disseminates information
internationally.4 Information warfare uses propaganda - white (telling
the
truth), gray (ambiguous) or black (lying) - often through public
relations
(PR). In "Selling a conflict - the ultimate PR challenge" NATO spokesman
during Kosovo conflict Jamie Shea told a Switzerland forum how "he won
the
war": "If there is no story, create one," as he did when he got Cherie
Blair
and Hilary Clinton to visit a refugee camp for CNN's cameras. By
declaring
that the daily briefings were a PR exercise, Shea and his employers have
lost all credibility.5 American PR firm Rudder Finn arranged a protest
of
the Jewry against alleged "Serb" death camps in Bosnia. Once the Jews
protested, the rest of the world believed the atrocity was authentic.6
The
information operation was highly successful, regardless of whether the
originators were the warring factions of former Yugoslavia unfriendly to
Serbia, NATO, some other group or a combination. The most convincing
proof
that Serb "death" camps were a hoax is in a video7 filmed in one of the
camps by Serb TV next to reporters of the ITN press giant. ITN spread
around
the world images of the camp presented like a WW2 Nazi concentration
camp.
In our times the military, government, mass media and industry
integrated
into a complex, who battles for the minds of the electorate, consumers
and
workers. Supreme US commander general Dwight Eisenhower was responsible
for
drafting a plan for integrating civic life with the military. In his
last
presidential speech in 1946, he warned against growth of the
military-industrial complex. Today, half of US federal taxes during
peacetime go into military spending, including information operations.
How it works
Information operations prepared the world for NATO engagements in Iraq
and
the Balkans by demonizing the leaders and people of these regions. PA of
these campaigns subordinated mass media. The methods of PsyOp "are based
on
projection of truths and credible message [...that serve to discredit]
adversary propaganda or misinformation against the operations of
US/coalition forces [which] is critical to maintaining favorable public
opinion."2 The target audience is stated clearly, but the other words
require an Orwellian-English dictionary.
US ambassador William Walker and Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) staged the
Racak "massacre" on January 15th, 1999. Walker was the head of Kosovo
Verification Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) who supposedly monitored compliance of both sides to
ceasefire. While the Yugoslav forces complied, KLA operated unchecked.
In
June 2000 Dr. Helena Ranta, the head of the Finnish forensic team
investigating Racak incident for NATO, told me that the bodies had no
signs
of execution, were brought from other locations and that NATO made her
final
report secret. Had it proved Serb crime, the report would receive prompt
publicity. Instead, it was made secret to hide lack of proofs. The fate
was
similar to the "evidence" brought before the NATO "court" in Hague by
"witnesses" of an alleged massacre of several thousand Bosnian Moslems
by
Serb forces in Srebrenica. KLA political leader Hashim Thaci admitted in
a
BBC interview prepared for March 24th, 2000, that a major KLA unit
operated
at Racak and many soldiers lost their life in battles with Yugoslav
forces.
KLA intentionally killed 4 Serb policemen in order to enliven the
conflict
and covertly killed Albanian peasants to win sympathy for the separatist
cause from the West. Madeleine Albright admitted in the same BBC
programme
that Racak incident needed preparation and was vivified in order to keep
pressure on European allies to intervene militarily.
The Racak case indicates the following information warfare elements: (1)
Mission: exert pressure on European allies to intervene militarily
against
"Milosevic". (2) Target audience: foreign governments and public
opinion.
(3) Psychological objectives: cohesion of European allies. (4) Timing:
before Ramboulliet "talks". (5) Theme: another "Serb" atrocity in
Kosovo.
(6) Partners: US department of state, KLA, OSCE. (7) Development: covert
action, mass media. (8) Filtering: select "friendly" media, ban Serb
media
from the site of the "massacre". (9) Blunders: mistakes in staging an
execution, admissions by Albright and Thaci to BBC. (10) Damage control:
deny the final scientific report by making it secret.
Mainstream media supported NATO's Racak propaganda against facts, logic
and
ethics. By large, the journalist profession in the West volunteered to
compromise their ethical code for NATO campaigns, failed to verify
information and could seldom report the other side of each story. In my
opinion, it means a deep penetration and control of the media by
military
and government information operations. Let's look at a BBC case. On the
1st
anniversary of the "massacre" BBC News began a story with a usual
statement
that Serb forces are guilty of the atrocity. The truth was hidden at the
end: Helena Ranta was very close to determining what happened. A reader
must
have wondered at this point, given the beginning of the story. Most
people
read only headlines and bylines. Between the lie and the truth, BBC
story
placed Hashim Thaci's opinion that Racak was a turning point in Kosovo's
history that convinced Western powers about the need to intervene
militarily. The story was typical for thousands of others on the Balkan
conflict in Western media since early 1990s. In the BBC story there was
no
voice from Yugoslav forensic and judicial people involved in the Racak
investigation. After experiencing a few messages of this type, their
schematic must emerge as obviously biased against Serbs.
Reflecting on recent "democratic" elections in Yugoslavia, University of
Berkeley professor emeritus in history Raymond Kent wrote, "the Serbs
are
suddenly transformed from a nation of neo-Nazi 'subhumans' into a 'brave
and
valiant people,' a decade of carefully nurtured Serbophobia lurks in the
background. A host of people in government, politics, intellectual
journals,
scribal and audio-visual media have gained in careers and prominence
through
hate-mongering against the Serbs. This will not be given up easily." 8
Kent
alluded to the infiltration of media by the power complex, "As an
outgrowth
of deceit and disinformation needed to justify military interventions
abroad, an unusually intimate relationship of the major scribal and
audio
visual media and the administration has emerged in the shaping of
foreign
policy. While a 'patriotic mutuality' of government and media was
commonplace in major wars, it never loomed as large in peacetime as in
the
last decade while focusing on the Balkans and the Yugoslav tragedy."
A Dutch paper "Trouw" reported that PsyOp officers worked at two leading
US
news channels during the Kosovo war. A liberal US commentator Alexander
Cockburn remarked, "In the Kosovo conflict [...] CNN's screen was filled
with an unending procession of bellicose advocates of bombing, many of
them
retired US generals." However, the few interns seen at CNN and NPR don't
explain the systematic, decade-long bias across the mass media in NATO
countries. The infiltration must be far subtler to explain it. In fact,
the
story in "Trouw" may have been a PsyOp trick designed to divert public
attention from permanent ties of the media with the power complex.
PA involves press releases and conferences and statements by the
military.
In 1998 Dynamic Response exercises of SFOR, PA informed the regional and
international media. Several military agencies and commanders were
involved
in preparation and delivery of a message, which "must be clearly
communicated and correctly interpreted by potential adversaries."
After-action reviews showed that former warring faction "leaders in
attendance and those watching the event through the media received the
intended message loud and clear." 9
DU propaganda during NATO bombing campaign
Information operations misrepresent the radioactive and toxic effects of
DU
in order to temper public protests which could lead to withdrawal of DU
weapons. This would put the US and other NATO countries at a military
disadvantage where DU ammunition is required to destroy enemy's heavy
armour
and concrete bunkers. It was even suggested that a recent Bundeswehr
report
about a Dutch peacekeeper from Kosovo who apparently became ill of DU
was a
PsyOp plot designed to discredit a wave of DU illness cases expected in
2001.10
On March 30th, 1999, NATO announced they would use DU ammunition in
Kosovo,
but reassured that DU would not harm the environment. A day later Dr.
Bertell condemned as "barbarian" the use of radioactive weapons that had
terrible consequences in Iraq and Bosnia. NATO announcement may have
pre-tested public opinion before formulation of a propaganda plan.
Propaganda planning is a continuous process, responsive to immediate
change
brought about by any new condition or circumstance affecting the target
audience or the psychological objectives. The resulting plan is also
subject
to change. NATO plan was to continue denying adverse effects of DU and
to
withhold information about location of DU use. By comparison, location
of
sites of NATO cluster bomb release was not a secret and a well-organized
UN
and NATO effort to warn the population and to de-mine Kosovo started
immediately after the end of bombing.
NATO announcement about planned use of DU over Kosovo also served to
demoralize Yugoslav army. NATO Blitzkrieg failed to destroy enemy's
command
and control centres and anti-aircraft defences in the "first few days"
(later changed to "few first weeks") of bombing. Leaflets showing A-10
and
Apache were dropped over Yugoslav positions in an attempt to break the
morale and tank power of one of Europe's strongest and most disciplined
armies. Tanks would be difficult to deal with in a ground invasion. A
Serb
who participated in the Kosovo campaign told me that naïveté of NATO
propaganda amused Nebojsa Pavkovic's 3rd Army in camouflaged dugouts,.
On
April 26th at least 11 of 24 Apache helicopters shown on NATO leaflets
were
destroyed in an attack of Yugoslav Air Force planes on Rinas airport
near
Tirana. Yugoslav forces are equipped with British cluster bombs (DU
type?)
and this kind of weapon would be a logical choice in the attack. A few
Apaches were shot down from SAM guns shoulder-held by Yugoslav Army foot
soldiers. Another couple of Apaches may indeed have had accidents during
exercises, as "explained" by NATO propaganda. General Pavkovic chose
military over information warfare to neutralize the Apache "tank
killer". At
least one DU-armed A-10 aircraft was shot down. A part from its engine
is on
display at the museum of NATO aggression in Beograd. NATO did not
publicize
these losses, while US special services attempted to suppress
independent
sources that did.
Kosovo campaign also used British Harrier GR7 and US Navy Harrier AV-8B,
both firing 25 mm DU rounds, and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter firing 20
mm
DU rounds. NATO is equipped with ADAM and PDM cluster bombs made of DU.
Apache carry ATACM and MLRS cluster bombs made of DU, and Hellfire
anti-armour missiles (made of DU?). It is plausible that air-to-surface
anti-armour rockets such as US-made Maverick (also in Yugoslav Air
Force)
might be made with a DU penetrator. There were no questions regarding
these
weapons, therefore no answers from NATO. The issue of DU weapons on
board of
crashed and destroyed A-10 and Apaches and DU counterweights in all
destroyed planes and bombs did not receive as much public attention as
fired
DU ammunition.
Yugoslav authorities must have known about the nuclear and toxic danger
but
did not warn the public, presumably for fear of an outcry. Director of
Desert Storm Think Tank, Patricia Axelrod found on her August 1999 trip
in
Serbia that Yugoslav authorities responded with decontamination to
Tomahawk
explosions. Her Geiger counter showed 10 times higher radioactivity at
craters filled after Tomahawks. She was told that Yugoslav government
did
not inform the population about the hazard but hid radiation victims. It
is
likely that Yugoslav anti-aircraft artillery used Russian AA-8 Aphid
bullets
made of DU. They disintegrate into smaller pieces in the air and
puncture
enemy planes and flying bombs, but DU pieces fall on the ground as well.
The
fiercest anti-aircraft defense was in urban centres.
US president Clinton said on April 13th that NATO would attack
Milosevic's
tanks.and artillery. But an increased level of radiation was found
earlier
over the Balkans. Five days before Clinton's statement, Russian foreign
affairs minister Ivanov said that at several locations in Kosovo experts
found increased radioactivity in the air and on the ground. He hinted at
a
new type of radioactive weapon, not the anti-tank DU ammunition. Greek
professor of chemistry Zeferos discovered dangerously high levels of
radioactivity in the air blown from Kosovo and Serbia in the first 3
days of
NATO attacks. A-10 "tank killers" were not yet engaged.
On April 20th NATO confirmed the use of DU ammunition currently in
Kosovo
and previously in Bosnia, but the spokesman trivialized the danger of
DU. He
added that DU may cause "complications" if it enters the body. Five days
earlier a Pentagon report stated that veterans of previous DU wars need
to
be concerned about their health. The message was likely timed to temper
expected public opposition following the announcement of April 20th. On
May
3rd a Greek accusation before the International Criminal Tribunal for
Former
Yugoslavia named A-10 and Tomahawks containing DU and stressed
intentional
use by NATO of indiscriminating weapons with long-term consequences.
US Air Force command initially contradicted NATO spokesman by denying
that
A-10 aircraft fired DU ammunition. Then on May 7th Pentagon's general
Chuck
Wald confirmed that A-10 fired DU. Yugoslav secretary general described
on
May 15th the use of DU weapons as a "crime against humanity and
international law," naming A-10 attacks on Prizren (March 30th) and on
Bujanovac (April 18th). At the same time, author of a report on DU from
1998
Dan Fahey stated that US soldiers should not be sent to Kosovo, unless
they
are trained to deal with DU contamination, wear protective clothing and
carry Geiger counters. General Alekseiev, the head of environmental
safety
in the Russian army, stated on May 27th that NATO aircraft "intensely"
used
DU bullets against tanks and concrete structures. But not only. An
independent investigation team under Swiss leadership dug out DU bullets
at
the radio tower in Vranje in southern Serbia. At Djakovica, a foreign
aid
worker found tips of DU bullets in a military place with no armoured
vehicles.
DU propaganda after NATO bombing
NATO bombing ceased on June 9, 1999. Yugoslav forces withdrew from
Kosovo
and UN and NATO so-called KFOR peacekeepers came in. Shortly after
ceasefire, US and British military gave detailed information about the
drops
of 1.5 thousand cluster bombs which helped de-miners draw maps of
affected
areas. Military sources suggested that only 3 to 4 thousand DU shells
have
been fired in Kosovo, a figure in apparent agreement with Yugoslav
sources.
Ten months later the estimate grew tenfold.
Pentagon said in June that there was no basis for concerns about dangers
of
DU contamination to returning Kosovo refugees, because uranium is
naturally
everywhere around us and is "absorbed by the body." Pentagon stated that
they did not have any plans to decontaminate Kosovo battlefields,
because
minimal quantities of DU were used and DU is not harmful to health. DU
experts Doug Rokke and Dan Fahey were very concerned. Fahey recommended
careful removal of vehicles hit by DU ammo, then excavating and hauling
away
30 cm of top soil from contaminated sites to controlled disposal and
searching out and disposal of all DU shrapnel and unexploded DU
ammunition.
Yugoslav press agency Beta reported on June 27th about Hungarian "Magyar
Nezmet" paper news of 30 to 50-fold increase of alfa radiation near the
border with Yugoslavia. A likely source might have been a downed NATO
plane
that was destroyed with a NATO missile to hide evidence of NATO loss.
British biologist Roger Coghill stated for BBC from a conference on DU
effects of the 1991 Gulf War that for its hazards to human health DU
should
have never been used in combat. Coghill estimated over 10 thousands
future
deaths from DU released in the Balkans during NATO attacks.
BBC News reported on August 18th that humanitarian workers in Kosovo
were
warned about the DU danger but not local population. Between September
26
and 28, 1999, KFOR officers admitted that DU particles may have
contaminated
soil around targets in Yugoslavia and may be hazardous if inhaled,
particularly by children. Peacekeepers were advised to wear protective
suits, masks and gloves in DU-contaminated areas. or else stay 50 m away
from objects shelled with DU ammunition. US DoD spokesman Victor
Warzinski
said that remains of DU on Kosovo battlefields do not pose a
"significant"
risk to human health. When in June UN de-mining teams asked for guidance
from NATO on DU, they were advised to stay away from vehicles hit by DU
bullets. British National Radiation Protection Board advised that main
risk
stemmed from inhaling DU-contaminated dust.
By the beginning of October, UN agencies who asked NATO where DU combat
sites were located did not receive this "secret" information they
required
to assess war damage in Kosovo. David Kyd of the UN-funded Balkan Task
Force
was frustrated, because NATO cooperated on identification of bombed
industrial facilities and on pollution that escaped into the Danube. US
military reps in European NATO headquarters refused to give any
information.
Pentagon played hide-and-seek with DU information seekers. A RAND study
released by Pentagon on October 19th said that anti-nerve agent pills
cannot
be ruled out as a possible cause for Gulf War syndrome. Bernard Rostker,
DoD
special assistant for Gulf War illnesses said that based on experience
in
the Persian Gulf, extensive environmental reviews were conducted based
upon
industrial pollutants and war damage in Kosovo. "We're now becoming more
sensitive to some of the environmental hazards and placing a lot more
emphasis on environmental medicine," Dr. Sue Bailey, assistant secretary
of
defence for health affairs echoed Rostker. The statements were suspected
to
be a preparation for "other" causes of DU-induced illness in Kosovo.
Robert Fisk reported from Pristina on November 22nd that A-10 shot DU
bullets for longer than a month at at least 40 locations in Kosovo. NATO
did
not bother to look for and examine survivors of attacks on refugee
convoys
for possible DU effects. By the side of Djakovica-Prizren road where one
of
the tragic attacks on refugees took place on April 14th, Fisk found on
the
next day similar craters he saw left by anti-armour missiles launched
from
A-10 in the Gulf. NATO sources in Kosovo told Fisk that DU was present
in
the tips of missiles aimed at Serb bunkers and underground military
installations. Pentagon spokesman Warzinski denied presence of DU in
cruise
missiles. According to Fisk, Yugoslav authorities did not have DU
information about Kosovo because their army had to leave in a hurry.
On February 2nd, 2000, over ten months after US started using DU weapons
in
Kosovo, NATO secretary general Lord Robertson confirmed in a letter to
UN
secreatry general Kofi Annan that A-10 fired 31 thousand DU bullets
containing 10.5 tons of DU. Robertson indicated general areas of DU use
in
Kosovo, but no detail necessary to conduct site investigations. On March
3rd, 2000, Pentagon spokesman Steve Campbell confirmed the absence of
"significant" risk to health and environment from DU remnants. On March
22nd, 3 elderly Catholics and a priest from Plowshares Against Depleted
Uranium were sentenced for damaging A-10 aircraft at a military base in
Maryland, USA. The accused refused the right for a defense attorney and
some
of them demanded placement in a more severe prison. The judge sentenced
them
to 2-3 times longer prison terms than was suggested by the prosecutor.
At
the end of March, German KFOR units identified a radioactive 5,000 sq. m
area inside Kosovo and German ministry of defense was forced to promise
radiological examination of its Kosovo troops.
On March 28th, Nic Fleming reported in British paper "The Express" that
thousands times higher than accepted levels of radioactivity were
discovered
in populated areas by a public health institute in Nis. On April 16th,
"Balkan syndrome" was coined in "Sunday Times" story about a dozen
British
soldiers who were preparing litigation against the government for
alleged
exposure to the harmful effects of DU used by the military in the Balkan
conflicts. Belgium who had soldiers in the same Kosovo sector as the
British
KFOR, reportedly started examination of their 14,000 soldiers who have
served in the Balkans.
On April 30th, 2000, after repeated warnings from military officials and
others to stop Dr. Rokke speak out about the effects of DU, someone shot
through a bedroom window of his home. On May 27th, his locked house in
Alabama was ransacked. Professor Siegwart-Horst Günther was arrested and
maltreated in June 1995 following his crusade against DU. For one year
after
release he remained under police supervision. On January 4th, 1999, he
appeared before a German court. He was told that if necessary he would
be
forcefully taken to a closed psychiatric institution. The authorities
are
very nervous indeed about the DU truth getting out. Violence and
intimidation methods belong to the tools of information warfare.
Countering PsyOp on DU
If DU was benign, why did not Pentagon disclose locations of DU weapon
use
in the Balkans? Public verification would effectively deal with the
world's
suspicions about DU. It would get Pentagon off the hook on this issue
forever and would allow retention of an effective armour-piercer in the
US
and British arsenal. Information operations chose a different approach
for
obvious reasons.
Knowing the adversary may help in anti-DU activities. The Balkan DU case
has
the following information warfare characteristics: (1) Mission: a)
maintain
tactical advantage over enemy's armour; b) suppress
government-industry-military liability, including storage of DU waste
and
past uses of DU weapons in the Gulf, Bosnia and on testing ranges; c)
maintain a weapon against enemy civilians as a terrorist tool with
long-term
biological consequences. (2) Target audience: domestic and foreign
public
opinion. (3) Psychological objectives: alienate, dilute and delay global
public opposition to DU. (4) Timing: a) until US and international laws
ban
the military use of DU; or, b) until a world tribunal sentences persons
responsible, whichever comes first. (5) Theme: "As harmless as a handful
of
dirt from your backyard." (6) Partners: US department of defense, DU
industry. (7) Development: communication through spokesmen, "scientific"
reports and mass media; intimidation of key anti-DU activists with
"special"
methods. (8) Filtering: emphasize "friendly" reports, suppress
independent
research results. (9) Blunders: contradictory own reports; delays in
divulging location of DU use over Yugoslavia; and, failure to warn and
protect NATO and UN forces, foreign workers and local civilians. (10)
Damage
control: deny scientific evidence by changing emphasis.
The primary goal of anti-DU campaigns during US, British and NATO
military
operations should be to warn local population that might be affected.
The
need for a clear and simple handout for the Balkan population about DU
dangers arose as soon as NATO announced the intent to use DU ammunition.
To
the detriment of those affected, development and dissemination of a
brochure
was delayed. NATO propaganda created ambiguity, denial and fog. To date,
the
issue of DU in the ballast and navigational gear of aircraft and guided
missiles is not clear. Neither is it clear if reports about radiation in
the
Balkans prior to NATO use of DU ammo were a black propaganda or not.
Coordination between grassroot orgs in Yugoslavia and Western orgs was
lacking initially. When finally Green Table prepared the brochure with
inputs from the West and Yugoslavia, it was excessive in technical
jargon.
It was issued in only one of the many Balkan languages, was not targeted
at
Kosovo population and came out too late to warn about the hazards. The
brochure was only ready in the beginning of year 2000. By then Robert
Fisk,
Scott Peterson and others have already described how Kosovo children
played
with the DU shells while grown-ups salvaged vehicles that were shelled
with
DU.
How to do it better next time, hoping there will be no 'next' time? We
should not wait for initiative from an affected country, where day to
day
survival may be more important during a war. We must have information
material ready for review by local specialists and for prompt
dissemination.
Present US and NATO strategy seems to mean more "humanitarian
interventions"
wherever and whenever globalisation interests call for use of force, to
subdue states and destabilize regions, including use of prohibited
weapons
against civilians. Western NGOs and concerned citizens should stand-by
with
money and organizational resources necessary to issue and disseminate DU
brochures and posters, ads for local newspapers, radio and TV and other
"products" (to use PsyOp jargon) to any region of the world in any
language
on a short notice. This is what "globalisation" means today,
unfortunately.
Let's be prepared to put out DU fires as they are spread by NATO.
Longer-term, we can design nuclear misinformation de-bunking campaigns.
Using our scientific and citizenship credibility we can spread the word
around to influence the public - just like PsyOp do, but with a
different
meaning of "truth projection", "objective reporting" and "national" and
"strategic" objectives. Organmizations like IDUST, the International
Depleted Uranium Study Team, a newly established NGO of international
researchers, activists and scientists intends to stop the use DU in
military
weapons by the year 2010 through alliance-building, education, research
and
outreach - globally.
Conclusion
Distortions and half-truths about the post-combat hazards of DU weapons
flow
from strategic objectives of "military advantage" over enemy's armour
and
military installations, which in turn flow from objectives of US
"national
interests" or "strategic interests" of NATO. DU ammunition did not
secure
any "military advantage" to US and NATO forces. The necessity to use
slow-moving and low-altitude A-10 and Apache against Serb tanks and
mobile
missile launches spelled disaster to US equipment. Thousands of DU
rounds
went into mock-ups of Serb armour and butchered refugees when "Serb"
armour
was suspected in the convoys. Serb forces left the battlefields
practically
intact, but DU contamination stayed behind. It greeted hundreds of
thousands
of returning refugees, KLA and illegal newcomers from Albania, as well
as
tens of thousands of NATO and UN peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and
Western "re-builders" of this Yugoslav territory. The nature and effects
of
other nuclear weapons that were possibly used in Yugoslavia is
uncertain.
"National" and "strategic" objectives wielded by the US and NATO also
prove
counterproductive. Moral credit of the United States was tarnished in
Western Europe. The same regards majority of former Soviet block people
who
invested great hopes in a better world spearheaded by the US and NATO.
USA
is harming her own national long-term interests and is letting down
millions
of needy people in the process. Opposition to joining NATO and European
Union rose dramatically in Slav countries after NATO attacked
Yugoslavia. In
Poland it is expressed by about 60 to 70% of the population.
The US and NATO would not give up DU's "military advantage" voluntarily,
although DU has an alternative in expensive tungsten. The military does
not
employ a full social cost calculus and has no incentive to switch to a
more
benign material. The cheap DU material was incorporated into the
sandwich
armour of the newest American tank to make it "harder". A "green"
anti-armour bullet was announced by Pentagon propaganda [does someone
know
more about it - I lost the posting]. Obviously, the public does not have
influence on legislation to change things around. The problem concerns
not
only DU ammunition but also DU used as ballast and in navigational
devices
of aircraft and flying bombs.
Massive incidence of DU-related disease and deaths among US and UK Gulf
War
veterans carries the potential for multi-billion dollar litigation.
Evidence
is also mounting about improper handling of DU counterweights by
aircraft
maintenance staff who never went to the Persian Gulf or the Balkans but
acquired Gulf War syndrome nevertheless. Potential government liability
hampers publication of the truth about DU. Once DU is officially
declared
hazardous, military and civilian victims would demand compensation. The
storage of thousands of tonnes of depleted uranium waste around the
world
would have to be remedied at a great expense, too, while DU
contamination in
the Persian Gulf, the Balkans and on DU shooting ranges would need
costly
cleanups. Given the potential liabilities and loss of credibility, it is
in
self-interests of the military, the government and the defence industry
to
continue attempts at "changing emphasis", deception, half-truths and
straight lying about DU. The public must take a vigorous stand to
protect
present and future generations of all life endangered by DU. Propaganda
is a
weak point of the military-government-industry complex who lost
credibility
in the eyes of the public on account of repeated blunders and lies.
Continuing exposure of truth to the public at large should hopefully
begin
desirable change.
Once the public understands the hazards and can identify with the
adverse
consequences, the electorate would exert pressure on politicians. But
the
public is too comfortable with, and does not question mainstream media
messages. The public does not have time and intellectual capacity to
seek,
analyse and understand alternative information about DU. Information
outside
of the prevailing perceptions is rejected as strange or hostile to the
common feeling of security. Government-military-industry information
warriors exploit this in their operations. Bonaparte's assertion that
"the
sword is always beaten by the mind" is challenging if one considers how
the
mind can be influenced by black and grey propaganda. On our side is the
public's self-preservation instinct that came to fruition during project
Plowshares and other protests against nuclear mania.
In a supposedly democratic society, domination of biased messages is an
assault on freedom of opinion and the right to know the truth. The
public is
manipulated with "truth projection." Spreading hatred propaganda against
a
nation to justify aggression and covering up information regarding
crimes
against humanity are crimes themselves. The degree of protection
received by
off-mainstream information, such as ours on DU, will be a major working
test
of freedom and democracy.
1 <http://www.most.org.pl/zb/internet/nato/index.html>
www.most.org.pl/zb/internet/nato/index.html
2 Headquarters, Department of the Army, Field Manual 100-6: Information
Operations, USGPO, Washington DC, 27 August 1996
3 Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense, JCS Publication 1,
Glossary
Department of Defense Military and Associated Terms, 1987,
<http://www.pipeline.com/~psywarrior/glossary.html>
www.pipeline.com/~psywarrior/glossary.html
4 Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joint Publication
3-53, Joint Doctrine for Psychological Operations, USGPO, Washington DC,
10
July 1996
5 Neue Zurcher Zeitung, March 30, 2000
6 Jacques Merlino, It Is Not Good To Tell The Truth About Yugoslavia, A.
Michel, Paris, 1993
7 Judgement can be ordered through <http://www.tenc.net/> www.tenc.net
8 R. K. Kent, Nationalisms and the absolute corruptibility of imagined
absolute power, October 7, 2000
9 Arthur N. Tulak, Information Operations in Support of Demonstrations
and
Shows of Force,
<http://www.abolishnato.com/abolishnato/natobriefs/intim.nonsence.htm>
www.abolishnato.com/abolishnato/natobriefs/intim.nonsence.htm
10
<http://www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all
&id=969989108>
www.vorstadtzentrum.net/cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=all&id=9699
89108
============================================================================
=======
ALTRA DOCUMENTAZIONE INTERNET E BIBLIOGRAFIA SUL DU
da Piotr Bein
(fonte: mailing list STOPNATO@... )
Convention with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The
Hague,
July 29, 1899 (Hague, II)
Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The Hague,
October 18, 1907 (Hague, IV)
Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating,
Poisonous or
Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, Geneva, June 17,
1925
Geneva Conventions, 12 August 1949
Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War,
Geneva, 1949
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
Stockholm, 1972
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and
Stockpiling
of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons, and on their
Destruction,
1972
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and
Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts
(Protocol I of 1977)
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Report of the United
Nations
Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June
1992,
Annex I)
UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities Resolution 1996/16, August 29, 1996, E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1996/16
UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of
Minorities Resolution 1997/36, August 28, 1997, E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1997/36
UN Press Release, September 4, 1996, HR/CN/755
Oswiadczenia rzadowe i protesty spoleczne
The denunciation to the Prosecutor of ICTY, in the Hague, filed by the
Association of Serbs from Bosnia and Hercegovina, concerning the use of
DU
by NATO in Republika Srpska, in 1995
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Ministry for Development,
Science and Environment, Information about the effects of the NATO
aggression on the environment in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
Belgrad, 4.99, www.iacenter.org/yugoenv.htm
Jela Jowanowicz, Aide memoire on the use of inhumane weapons in the
aggression of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization against the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, Belgrade, 15.5.99, www.iacenter.org/aide_mem.htm
Independent Commission of Inquiry hearing to investigate U.S./NATO war
crimes against the people of Yugoslavia, 30.7.99,
www.iacenter.org/warcrime/index.htm
Ramsey Clark, An international appeal to ban the use of depleted uranium
weapons, www.iacenter.org/
Artykuly prasowe
Christine Abdelkrim-Delanne, Ces armes si peu conventionneles [w:] "Le
Monde
Diplomatique" z czerwca 1999 r.,
www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1999/06/ABDELKRIM_DELANNE/12106.html
Patricia Axelrod, On the road to Kosovo: Yugoslavs are paying the price
for
NATO's war, www.sfbayguardian.com/
Piotr Bein, Wojenna historia zubozonego uranu: czesc II [w:] ZB nr
2(147),
www.most.org.pl/zb/zb/147/military.htm
Nick Cohen, Depleted uranium: deadly weapon, deadly legacy? [w:]
"Guardian"
z 9.5.99
Natasha Dokovska, A New Chernobyl in the Balkans [w:] Environment News
Service (ENS), 1999, http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-13-01.html
Robert Fisk, Exposed: The deadly legacy of NATO strikes in Kosovo [w:]
"Independent" z 26-28.9.99
Robert Fisk, Exposed: The deadly legacy of NATO strikes in Kosovo [w:]
"Independent News" z 4.10.99,
www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/nato041099.shtml
Robert Fisk, I'd like to believe Nato that depleted uranium is harmless
[w:]
"Independent News" z 4.10.99,
www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/fisk041099.shtml
Robert Fisk, US 'lost count of uranium shells fired in Kosovo' [w:]
"Independent" z 22.11.99
Nic Fleming, Thousand facing cancer death after Nato jets' radioactive
blitz
[w:] "The Express" z 28.3.00,
www.lineone.net/express/00/03/28/news/n2520cancer-d.html
Alex Kirby, Depleted uranium 'threatens Balkan cancer epidemic' [w:] BBC
News z 30.7.99,
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid%5F408000/408122.stm
Alex Kirby, Pentagon's man in uranium warning [w:] BBC News z 11.5.99,
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid%5F340000/340944.stm
Alex Kirby, Pentagon confirms depleted uranium use [w:] BBC News z
7.5.99,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_337000/337855.stm
Alex Kirby, Uranium weapons fear in Kosovo - A-10 can fire depleted
uranium
shells, BBC News z 9.4.99
Dina Kyriakidou, NATO bombing wrecks Balkan environment - Greenpeace,
http://202.139.253.156/news/20059901.html, [w:] ZB 7(133)/99 s.4
Jon Leyne, UK sweeping up stray bombs [w:] BBC News z 30.7.99,
http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid%5F408000/408394.stm
David O'Reilly, Activists draw jail in Md. incident [w:] "Philadelphia
Inquirer" z 24.3.00,
www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Mar/24/city/PPLOW24.htm
Scott Peterson, Will America risk use of DU in Kosovo? [w:] "Christian
Science Monitor" z 29.4.99,
www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/04/29/p12s2.htm
Scott Peterson, Pentagon stance on DU a moving target [w:] "Christian
Science Monitor" z 30.4.99,
www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/04/30/p8s1.htm
Scott Peterson, US reluctance to talk about DU [w:] "Christian Science
Monitir" z 5.10.99, www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/10/05/fp6s2-csm.shtml
Scott Peterson, The Trail of a Bullet: New evidence emerges of
radioactive
contamination in Kosovo. The Pentagon isn't talking [w:] "Christian
Science
Monitor" z 5.10.99, www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/10/05/fp1s3-csm.shtml
Lois Rogers, Ailing troops sue over Balkan war syndrome [w:] "Sunday
Times"
z 16.4.00, www.sunday-times.co.uk
Kathleen Sullivan, U.S. firing radioactive ammo: Depleted uranium
contamination poses threat to civilians, troops in Balkans [w:] "San
Francisco Examiner" z 7.5.99, s.A1,
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/05/07/NEWS111
11.dtl
Kathleen Sullivan, Radioactive ammo health study draws fire from expert,
says researchers in denial about risks [w:] "San Francisco Examiner" z
16.4.99, s.A23,
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/04/16/NEWS769
4.dtl
Kathleen Sullivan, Uranium bullets on NATO holsters [w:] "San Francisco
Examiner" z 1.4.99
M.R. Gordon i E. Schmitt, Pentagon blocks Apache use in Kosovo [w:] "New
York Times" z 16.5.99, www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/11532
Magazyn "In Defense of Marxism", www.marxist.com/Europe/uranium.html
Boost for Gulf War syndrome research [w:] BBC News z 28.4.99,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_61000/61412.stm
Spanish fighter pilots admit that NATO deliberately attacked civilian
targets [w:] "Articulo 20" nr 30 z 14.6.99
Ksiazki
International Action Center, "Metal of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium - How
the
Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU Weapons", New York City,
1997
Helen Caldicott, A New Kind of Nuclear War [w:] "Metal of Dishonor:
Depleted
Uranium - How the Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU
Weapons",
New York City: International Action Center, 1997
Raporty rzadu USA
Army Environmental Policy Institute, Health and Environmental
Consequences
of Depleted Uranium Use in the US Army June 1995
US General Accounting Office, Operation Desert Storm: Army Not
Adequately
Prepared to Deal With Depleted Uranium Contamination, (GAO/NSIAD-93-90),
January 1993
Tylko na Sieci i inne
Vladimir S. Zajic, Review of Radioactivity, Military Use, and Health
Effects
of Depleted Uranium, July 1999,
http://members.tripod.com/vzajic/index.html
Michel Chossudovsky, "Impacts of NATO`s 'Humanitarian' Bombings, The
Balance
Sheet of Destruction in Yugoslavia", Ottawa, April 11, 1999.
Coghill Research Laboratories, Lower Race, Pontypool, Gwent NP4 5UH, UK,
UK,
www.cogreslab.demon.co.uk/WEBDU.htm
J.J. Richardson, Depleted uranium: The invisible threat, 23.6.99,
www.motherjones.com/total_coverage/kosovo/reality_check/du.html
Serb dummies fool NATO dummies, 24.6.99,
www.truthinmedia.org/Kosovo/Peace/ps8.html
Rosalie Bertell, War in Kosovo: Use of depleted uranium, wiadomosc z
31.3.99
na www.flora.org/flora.mai-not/10957
Nuklearni Rat u Jugoslaviji, Osiromaseni uranijum: Sta je to i kako se
zastiti, Zeleni Sto i International DU Information Network, broszura z
2000
r. bez daty, rozprowadzona w Sieci
Od Venika
Ponizsze pozycje mozna znalezc w witrynie internetowej Venika
www.venik.way.to, która z powodu przesladowania przez wladze USA czesto
zmienia serwer. Po ukazaniu sie strony tytulowej nalezy wybrac
guzik-obrazek
"War in Yugoslavia", a nastepnie szukac danej pozycji w spisie tresci,
albo
podstawic podany przyrostek htm za slowem aviation w pasku wyszukiwania.
"USA Today" z 27.4.99, s.6A /apachecrash01.htm
Spanish fighter pilots admit that NATO deliberately attacked civilian
targets [w:] "Articulo 20" nr 30 z 14.6.99, /nws001/articulo001.htm
Apache helicopter crash site in Albania, /apachecrash02.htm
---
AA.VV.
"CONTRO LE NUOVE GUERRE"
a cura di Massimo Zucchetti
Odradek edizioni, pagine 282, lire 24000
---
RECENSIONE
di I. Slavo (Coordinamento Romano per la Jugoslavia - crj@...)
La grande bagarre scatenata in queste ultime settimane attorno al tema
dell'uranio impoverito, in seguito alla morte accertata di altri
soldatini italiani in missione coloniale in Bosnia-Erzegovina, sembra
quasi una "nemesi mediatica" per molti di noi, che negli anni trascorsi
si sono letteralmente spaccati il cranio a cercare di far passare
qualche informazione e qualche idea diversa, nell'opinione pubblica o
anche semplicemente "a sinistra", in merito alle "nuove guerre", delle
quali quella jugoslava (1991-... ?) e' momento emblematico e
spartiacque. Qualcuno di noi si era prodigato intervenendo in ogni
possibile sede di dibattito per contrastare un certo soffocante
"perbenismo", il perbenismo che porto' ad esempio Rossana Rossanda ad
appoggiare i bombardamenti della NATO sulla Repubblica Serba di Bosnia
nel 1995; qualcun'altro si era rovinato la vista ed i nervi a scrivere
al computer, con esasperazione e con indignazione, tutto quello che
sapeva e che vedeva sulla guerra fratricida nei Balcani, e sulla annessa
e connessa campagna di disinformazione. Pero' solo con i bombardamenti
della NATO contro la RF di Jugoslavia, per amara ironia, tante cose
urlate in maniera solipsistica e disperata hanno trovato una loro
dimensione logica ed una sistematizzazione. Per l'enormita' dell'evento,
si sono create sensibilita' condivise, legami, comitati, iniziative;
molte certezze buoniste - del buonismo di "Sarajevo assediata", "Rugova
come Ghandi", "Milosevic come Hitler" - sono entrate in crisi; nuovi
linguaggi critici e di militanza vanno finalmente maturando. Certo, il
buonismo piu' coerente ha appoggiato i "bombardamenti umanitari"; quello
meno convinto ma ostinato si e' spento cortocircuitando su se stesso e
con D'Alema alla Marcia della Pace del 1999... La confusione regna
tuttora sovrana, soprattutto nella sinistra, ma il fragore delle bombe
ha riportato alla realta' molti sognatori, e li ha costretti a mettere
moltissime cose in discussione.
Uno dei frutti principali - quantomeno perche' tra i pochi durevoli -
prodotti da quelle settimane di lotta, e di vergogna per la aggressione
del nostro paese contro un paese vicino, e' il Comitato scienziate/i
contro la guerra. Il Comitato e' nato nel maggio 1999 e subito, a
giugno, ha organizzato un Seminario interdisciplinare dal quale e'
maturato il primo libro "Imbrogli di guerra" (ormai esaurito, ma
interamente leggibile in Internet). Dopo un anno il Comitato ha tenuto
un secondo Convegno Nazionale, e gli Atti, come per il precedente
incontro del 1999, sono stati pubblicati dalle edizioni Odradek. In
questo secondo libro - che qui recensiamo in maniera grossolana, ma del
quale trovate una piu' puntuale presentazione, curata dagli autori, nel
contributo successivo - si riprendono e si approfondiscono le tante
tematiche affrontate nel primo, si pongono enormi punti di domanda, e si
punta l'indice su alcuni fatti gravissimi. Fatti dei quali l'opinione
pubblica e' stata tenuta all'oscuro. La recente campagna sugli effetti
(collaterali?) delle armi all'uranio impoverito ha squarciato in parte
il velo, rendendo improvvisamente *importante* questo libro anche per la
grande stampa, e persino per certi ben noti papaveri nostrani...
Qui arriviamo all'arcano del "subject" che abbiamo scelto per questo
messaggio: che cosa c'entra il senatore a vita, e Presidente della
Commissione Esteri del Senato, Giulio Andreotti con il libro "Contro le
nuove guerre"? C'entra perche' in un intervento al Senato il 10 gennaio
scorso Andreotti ha brandito in aula il libro additandolo ad esempio di
ricerca seria sugli effetti dell'uranio impoverito, e non solo.
Clamorosa ed incredibile sorte di un libro originariamente nato
all'interno, e sostanzialmente pensato ad uso, di ambienti "sani"
(percio' minoritari, ininfluenti e ghettizzati...) della sinistra
intellettuale - persino accademica, ma fieramente antimilitarista ed
anticapitalista. Sul perche' Andreotti si mostri a tal punto
interessato alle ricerche ed idee del Comitato scienziate/i, e sul
perche' proprio adesso e con tale forza venga posta, ai vertici piu'
alti dello Stato, la questione dell'uso dell'uranio impoverito, non
entriamo nel merito. Quello che interessa qui sottolineare e' che questo
libro e' veramente *importante*, perche' e' l'unico libro pubblicato nel
nostro paese che affronti contemporaneamente tante ferite aperte e
sanguinanti della guerra in Jugoslavia e del modo in cui questa e' stata
vista e vissuta dagli "intellettuali". Il libro si apre proprio con un
lavoro dello storico Angelo D'Orsi sul "tradimento", opportunista e
bellicista, degli intellettuali nel Novecento. Forse la questione viene
presa un po' alla larga, e senza colpire abbastanza a fondo quella
intellettualita' precisa, "sinistra", firmaiola, giornalistica e
"buonista", di cui dicevamo sopra, quella del consenso alla
frantumazione della Repubblica Federativa Socialista di Jugoslavia
(RFSJ) e dell'assenso alle "missioni umanitarie" d'ogni tipo e risma -
bombe all'uranio impoverito incluse o escluse, poco importa.
Segue un contributo di Nanni Salio sulla "trasformazione nonviolenta dei
conflitti", sostanzialmente scontato ma utile come compendio di una
linea ideologica, solo una delle tante linee ed anime che formano il
Comitato. Poi una ricerca, scritta a tre (sei) mani, sul carattere
strategico della disinformazione, giornalistica e politica, lungo tutto
il corso della guerra, a partire cioe' dal 1991: si tratta piu' che
altro di una anticipazione, di un assaggio, visto che sull'argomento
gia' si potrebbe stendere un'opera enciclopedica... L'articolo condensa
in poche pagine una grande mole di informazioni scioccanti. Unico altro
libro tascabile a contenere materia del genere, nel nostro paese, e' la
versione italiana (ridotta) di "La NATO nei Balcani", dell'I.A.C. -
Editori Riuniti, importantissimo, carico di informazioni sul chi, come e
perche' ha distrutto la RFSJ, non a caso mai recensito in Italia da
nessuno. D'altronde, fino allo scoppio del "caso dell'uranio
impoverito", nemmeno "Contro le nuove guerre" era stato presentato da
alcun mezzo di informazione italiano, stampa di sinistra inclusa.
Ci preme ancora segnalare i contributi della seconda parte sui danni
inflitti dalla NATO alla RF di Jugoslavia: due testi scientifici in
lingua inglese sugli effetti ambientali, nei quali e' descritta la
guerra chimica indiretta - e percio' ancora piu' infame - scatenata da
Massimo D'Alema e dai suoi alleati contro quel paese e contro quel
popolo. Si noti bene che e' questo l'unico materiale disponibile nelle
librerie italiane sull'argomento: nessun altro ha mai pubblicato niente
sugli obiettivi colpiti dalla NATO. A seguire, il testo di Carlo Pona
sull'uranio impoverito, che riprende ed approfondisce i contributi del
volume precedente.
Infine, segnaliamo i contributi di Baracca e Polcaro sui nuovi sistemi
d'arma e sulla nuova corsa agli armamenti (con l'Ottantanove forse
qualcuno pensava che le bombe atomiche fossero sparite dalla faccia del
pianeta?), e l'approfondito e sconvolgente studio di Alberto Di Fazio
sul problema energetico e dell'inquinamento dal punto di vista (anche
politico) globale, che da solo meriterebbe piu' di un intero volume
tutto dedicato. Nel libro ci sono tanti altri contributi su tanti altri
argomenti, talvolta non omogenei tra loro, talvolta forse persino
contraddittori con lo spirito originale che anima il Comitato
scienziate/i - cosi' ci sembra - e tuttavia tali da costruire
nell'insieme un libro di incredibile ricchezza, *prezioso* per la
fondamentale importanza dei temi che vengono affrontati, ed ahinoi per
la sua stessa rarita' ed unicita' nel suo genere, testo fondamentale per
chiunque voglia opporsi alle "nuove guerre" in maniera non soltanto
moralistica, ma consapevole e lungimirante.
---
PRESENTAZIONE DEL LIBRO "CONTRO LE NUOVE GUERRE" (Odradek, 2000)
A distanza di un anno dal seminario tenutosi a Roma (21 giugno 1999) da
cui ha avuto luce "Imbrogli di guerra" (Odradek, 1999), il Comitato
"Scienziate e scienziati contro la guerra" ha promosso presso il
Politecnico di Torino un convegno scientifico sul tema:
"CULTURA, SCIENZA E INFORMAZIONE DI FRONTE ALLE NUOVE GUERRE"
(22 e 23 giugno 2000). Informazioni sul convegno si trovano al sito
web: http://www.iac.rm.cnr.it/~spweb/convegni/index.html
L' iniziativa ha da un lato ripreso ed aggiornato alcune delle analisi
gia' presentate durante l'incontro tenutosi a Roma, circa i rischi per
la salute umana e per l'ambiente dovuti all'uso di uranio impoverito e
all'inquinamento chimico causato dai bombardamenti della recente guerra
di aggressione della NATO contro la Repubblica Federale Jugoslava, e
dall'altro e' tornata sulle connessioni fra la guerra nei Balcani e gli
scenari delle crisi ambientali globali.
L' evoluzione dello scenario internazionale ha reso pero' necessario un
contributo piu' ampio al dibattito sulle implicazioni di pace e di
guerra
insite nei modi di produrre informazione, di costruire rappresentazioni
storiche, di definire norme e valori.
Non ci si e' quindi soltanto soffermati sullo specifico caso jugoslavo
(che peraltro e' stato approfondito grazie anche al contributo di
colleghe
e colleghi jugoslavi presenti al convegno), ma si è cercato di
continuare
un ragionamento piu' ampio circa le responsabilita' degli operatori
della
cultura, della scienza e della tecnologia nel rendere possibili le
guerre:
per poterle fare, occorre prima di tutto attrezzarsi e predisporre la
societa' mentalmente e materialmente a volerle fare.
I responsabili della cultura di guerra risiedono in tutti i campi del
sapere, da quelli umanistici - dove concorrono a costruire i pregiudizi,
rafforzando sensi di identita' in conflitto ed etiche intrinsecamente
discriminanti -, a quelli scientifico-tecnologici che forniscono anche
in
concreto non solo le armi ma i sistemi essenziali all'organizzazione e
al
funzionamento degli apparati militari.
Il convegno ha permesso di allargare lo scambio tra esperte ed esperti
di
discipline diverse intorno ai temi della guerra, nella consapevolezza
che,
nonostante taluni scienziati abbiano spesso collaborato in modo
determinante
alla realizzazione di strumenti di distruzione e di morte, l'impegno di
chi opera nei campi della ricerca e dell'informazione puo' contribuire a
prevenire l'insorgere di nuove guerre. Tale assunzione di
responsabilita'
appare tanto piu' urgente per chi intreccia ai compiti di ricerca anche
funzioni didattiche e di formazione, perche' con il proprio lavoro puo'
aprire spazi orientati a relazioni di pace anziche' di scontro violento.
E' stato quindi un secondo tentativo di attrezzarsi piu' adeguatamente
per operare alla ricerca del dialogo, della tolleranza e della
accettazione del diverso da se'.
Durante questo incontro le differenze su modi, strumenti di analisi e
paradigmi di riferimento sono emersi anche fra i partecipanti: il
confronto
tra diversi approcci sia al sapere scientifico che alle tematiche della
guerra
e della pace sono stati elementi molto importanti dell'incontro di
Torino.
I partecipanti hanno riscoperto che cosa li accomuna: l'insoddisfazione
per
la certezza assoluta del sapere e, all'opposto, il piacere del dubbio
sistematico, dell'accettare la sfida del confronto, del dibattito anche
polemico ma finalizzato ad ampliare costantemente le capacita' di
comprensione
di quanto ci circonda, dei problemi che esaminiamo e che decidiamo di
affrontare; infine, il rifiuto di aderire alle schiere dei dominatori,
di
coloro, cioe', che usano le scienze e le tecnologie per proiettare sul
nostro pianeta inquietanti scenari di guerra.
E' stato, insomma, un ulteriore segno della vivacita' del Comitato
scienziate
e scienziati contro la guerra che da oltre un anno affronta appassionate
discussioni in rete (scienzaepace@...) sui temi della pace,
degli
armamenti, delle crisi ambientali, come pure delle biotecnologie, della
genetica, delle vittime della guerra e degli ultimi scenari, come la
Palestina.
Si spera ovviamente che quanto viene qui presentato sia nuovamente uno
strumento per promuovere dibattiti anche oltre i confini del mondo
scientifico
dando, a noi come ad altre/i, occasioni di confronto, riflessione ed
elaborazione
culturale e scientifica per la costruzione della pace e di modalita'
diverse di
comunicazione tra i saperi e di risoluzione dei conflitti.
Gli atti del Convegno si trovano dunque nel libro "Contro le Nuove
Guerre", a
cura di Massimo Zucchetti , edito da Odradek, pagine 282, lire 24000.
Vi si trovano i contributi degli autori:
Angelo D'Orsi, Giovanni Salio, Ivan Grzetic, Mica Saric Tanaskovic,
Carlo Pona,
Alberto Di Fazio, Angelo Baracca, Francesco Polcaro, Giulia Barone,
Franco Marenco, Andrea Martocchia, Adriana Valente, Enrico Peyretti,
Antonino
Drago, Cristina Giannardi, Daniele Dominici, Mauro Cristaldi,
Associazione "Medici contro la Tortura", Natasa Lazovic, Luciano
Vasapollo,
Francesco Iannuzzelli, Lucas Gualdron, Marcella Delle Donne.
Il prezzo d'acquisto del volume e' destinato a coprire in parte le spese
di
pubblicazione, nonchè a finanziare le future attivita' del Comitato
"Scienziate e Scienziati contro la guerra", che sono ampie
e, purtroppo, sempre piu' attuali e necessarie.
Per informazioni e per ordinare il libro:
Massimo Zucchetti
DENER - Politecnico di Torino
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
10129 Torino
Tel: +39.011.564.4464
Email: zucchetti@...
Per informazioni sul Comitato:
Sito web: http://www.iac.rm.cnr.it/~spweb/
---
INTERVENTO DI GIULIO ANDREOTTI
nell'aula di Palazzo Madama il giorno 10/1/2001:
PRESIDENTE. È iscritto a parlare il senatore Andreotti. Ne ha facoltà.
ANDREOTTI. Signor Presidente, colleghi, io non sono né un tecnico di
fisica né un medico, quindi non ho delle opinioni personali da poter far
valere. Ringrazio il Ministro per la sua relazione, che naturalmente
deve essere ispirata anche a prudenza e attenzione, questo è ovvio, però
penso che forse una conclusione operativa possa e debba essere
tracciata.
Molte volte non occorre avere documenti riservati. L'anno scorso, in
giugno, ha avuto luogo presso il Politecnico di Torino un convegno su
questo argomento, i cui atti sono stati pubblicati, che ha fornito una
serie di informazioni e di risposte molto esaurienti, in un quadro che
si ricollega obiettivamente alla lunga battaglia che è stata fatta per
la messa al bando delle armi chimiche, per una effettiva analogia che
esiste; una battaglia che fu difficile. La Conferenza sul disarmo aveva
una struttura ad hoc a Ginevra nella quale le resistenze erano
moltissime, forse anche per l'allora situazione internazionale, che
fortunatamente oggi non è tale da doverci preoccupare. Per ben due
volte, il ministro degli esteri tedesco Genscher ed io stesso dovemmo
andare a Ginevra ad intervenire per suscitare un andamento favorevole e
per eliminare l'abitudine che vi era ai continui rinvii. Inoltre, il
Governo italiano, con una riunione di scienziati internazionali che si
tenne nel 1988 a Villa Madama, dette un contributo obiettivo di
carattere scientifico alla liceità dell'impostazione portata avanti da
coloro che erano a favore della messa al bando delle armi nucleari. La
necessità che questo tipo di armi all'uranio impoverito sia compreso in
quell'elenco mi pare obiettivamente implicita. C'è uno strano documento
al riguardo. Come sapete, la NATO, che era stata denunciata al Tribunale
internazionale per i crimini nella ex Jugoslavia in relazione alle
operazioni effettuate, è stata prosciolta; ma nel documento del
Tribunale internazionale si afferma: «I gusci di uranio impoverito
attorno ai proiettili anticarro, secondo le denunce, hanno effetti di
contaminazione, tuttavia non entrano nella lista delle armi proibite e
non c'è consenso internazionale sulla loro pericolosità». Questo non è
un documento scientifico né politico; ritengo però che lavorare per
l'inserimento delle armi ad uranio impoverito nell'elenco delle armi
proibite abbia una sua logica intrinseca e sia necessario. Tanto più
che, proprio in un documento ufficiale del segretario generale della
NATO, signor Robertson (una lettera al Segretario generale delle Nazioni
Unite del febbraio dello scorso anno, prima del convegno cui ho fatto
precedentemente riferimento), si forniscono dati relativi al Kosovo
menzionando il lancio di 31.000 proiettili, pari a 10 tonnellate di
questo prodotto, i cui effetti - se ne discute nella nostra Commissione
e in altre sedi sul piano medico-scientifico - devono essere verificati,
a mio avviso, non soltanto sulle persone ma anche sul territorio. Il
Ministro ha fatto un cenno alle acque, per fortuna positivo, ma occorre
capire bene che cosa significa per il territorio, nell'immediato e a
scadenza, l'aver recepito 10 tonnellate di uranio impoverito. Ciò
solleva dubbi fortissimi. Il nostro compito però non è cronistorico ma,
piuttosto, politico. Dobbiamo incoraggiare la linea che è stata
sostenuta nei giorni scorsi: nella ricerca di una certezza di carattere
obiettivo e per un senso di opportunità politica e morale, dovrebbe
essere nel frattempo interdetto dovunque l'uso di queste armi. Ho
adoperato l'avverbio “dovunque” per riferirmi anche all'Iraq, un Paese
coinvolto in questa vicenda, secondo le notizie apprese dai giornali,
con una guerra che non è considerata tale. Del resto anche quella in
Kosovo non è stata ufficialmente una guerra e non so, tra l'altro, se i
figli di coloro che sono morti sono considerati orfani di guerra o no; è
un problema che pure andrà studiato, a prescindere dall'argomento che
oggi affrontiamo. Credo sia necessaria un'azione nelle sedi proprie,
l'Alleanza atlantica e le Nazioni Unite, le quali nei loro atti hanno
già un documento del 1996 nel quale si parla della necessità di
eliminare la produzione e la diffusione di armi di distruzione di massa
e con effetti indiscriminati, in particolare le armi nucleari, le armi
chimiche, il napalm, le bombe a frammentazione, le armi biologiche e le
armi contenenti uranio impoverito. Non si tratta di una richiesta
esorbitante; qualcuno, con una speculazione di lega piuttosto bassa, ha
sostenuto che abbiamo suscitato le ire degli americani che avrebbero
chiuso l'ambasciata per questo motivo. Ciò fa parte, a mio avviso, della
cronaca macabra, ma umoristica, di fine d'anno. Questi sono problemi
seri, venuti a conoscenza dell'opinione pubblica; abbiamo dunque la
necessità - e il Ministro se ne è dato carico - sia di evitare qualunque
momento di panico e di disorientamento all'interno delle Forze armate
sia di adottare un'azione politica. E poi, vorrei anche aggiungere una
considerazione. In Commissione esteri, qualche settimana fa, abbiamo
ricevuto la dirigente dell'agenzia dell'ONU per i rifugiati, che veniva
in visita di congedo. Le abbiamo posto il quesito: i serbi che sono
stati cacciati dalle loro terre, nel momento del conflitto in Bosnia,
nella Kraijna e nella parte della Slavonia, sono rientrati o non sono
rientrati? Purtroppo - ci ha detto - l'accordo di Dayton in questo non
si è potuto realizzare. Nel Kosovo certamente non c'è più il signor
Milosevic che fa operazioni di persecuzione nei confronti degli
albanesi, però i serbi dove sono? La grandissima parte è andata via e
per una parte non piccola sono stati uccisi. Non vorrei rifarmi a una
frase che suscitò tante polemiche a suo tempo, quella di Benedetto XV
sulla «inutile strage», però dinanzi a una situazione di difficile
convivenza etnica, se la convivenza è appoggiata solo sulla presenza di
truppe, certo transitoriamente è un bene, ma non può essere una
soluzione di carattere definitivo. Le soluzioni, posto che si trovino,
vanno ricercate altrove.
Ritengo che dobbiamo ringraziare il Ministro per averci fatto questa
relazione e dobbiamo mettere a carico suo e del Ministro degli esteri
anche la necessità di non demordere, di non fare come qualche volta
facciamo, che i problemi ci emozionano per un certo tempo, ci
interessano, poi uno strano cancellino li toglie dalla lavagna e ci
dedichiamo ad altri argomenti. Su questo non credo che dovrebbe esserci
consenso; certamente non ci sarà mai da parte mia. (Applausi dai Gruppi
PPI, DS, UDEUR e Misto-CR e dei senatori Gubert, Lorenzi e Vertone
Grimaldi. Congratulazioni).
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid%c2%91979 oppure
> http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Contributi e segnalazioni: <jugocoord@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
la tua agenda sul web - per te e per i tuoi amici
Organizza on line i tuoi appuntamenti .
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
http://www.ecircle.it/ad808408/www.ecircle.it
"CONTRO LE NUOVE GUERRE"
a cura di Massimo Zucchetti
Odradek edizioni, pagine 282, lire 24000
---
RECENSIONE
di I. Slavo (Coordinamento Romano per la Jugoslavia - crj@...)
La grande bagarre scatenata in queste ultime settimane attorno al tema
dell'uranio impoverito, in seguito alla morte accertata di altri
soldatini italiani in missione coloniale in Bosnia-Erzegovina, sembra
quasi una "nemesi mediatica" per molti di noi, che negli anni trascorsi
si sono letteralmente spaccati il cranio a cercare di far passare
qualche informazione e qualche idea diversa, nell'opinione pubblica o
anche semplicemente "a sinistra", in merito alle "nuove guerre", delle
quali quella jugoslava (1991-... ?) e' momento emblematico e
spartiacque. Qualcuno di noi si era prodigato intervenendo in ogni
possibile sede di dibattito per contrastare un certo soffocante
"perbenismo", il perbenismo che porto' ad esempio Rossana Rossanda ad
appoggiare i bombardamenti della NATO sulla Repubblica Serba di Bosnia
nel 1995; qualcun'altro si era rovinato la vista ed i nervi a scrivere
al computer, con esasperazione e con indignazione, tutto quello che
sapeva e che vedeva sulla guerra fratricida nei Balcani, e sulla annessa
e connessa campagna di disinformazione. Pero' solo con i bombardamenti
della NATO contro la RF di Jugoslavia, per amara ironia, tante cose
urlate in maniera solipsistica e disperata hanno trovato una loro
dimensione logica ed una sistematizzazione. Per l'enormita' dell'evento,
si sono create sensibilita' condivise, legami, comitati, iniziative;
molte certezze buoniste - del buonismo di "Sarajevo assediata", "Rugova
come Ghandi", "Milosevic come Hitler" - sono entrate in crisi; nuovi
linguaggi critici e di militanza vanno finalmente maturando. Certo, il
buonismo piu' coerente ha appoggiato i "bombardamenti umanitari"; quello
meno convinto ma ostinato si e' spento cortocircuitando su se stesso e
con D'Alema alla Marcia della Pace del 1999... La confusione regna
tuttora sovrana, soprattutto nella sinistra, ma il fragore delle bombe
ha riportato alla realta' molti sognatori, e li ha costretti a mettere
moltissime cose in discussione.
Uno dei frutti principali - quantomeno perche' tra i pochi durevoli -
prodotti da quelle settimane di lotta, e di vergogna per la aggressione
del nostro paese contro un paese vicino, e' il Comitato scienziate/i
contro la guerra. Il Comitato e' nato nel maggio 1999 e subito, a
giugno, ha organizzato un Seminario interdisciplinare dal quale e'
maturato il primo libro "Imbrogli di guerra" (ormai esaurito, ma
interamente leggibile in Internet). Dopo un anno il Comitato ha tenuto
un secondo Convegno Nazionale, e gli Atti, come per il precedente
incontro del 1999, sono stati pubblicati dalle edizioni Odradek. In
questo secondo libro - che qui recensiamo in maniera grossolana, ma del
quale trovate una piu' puntuale presentazione, curata dagli autori, nel
contributo successivo - si riprendono e si approfondiscono le tante
tematiche affrontate nel primo, si pongono enormi punti di domanda, e si
punta l'indice su alcuni fatti gravissimi. Fatti dei quali l'opinione
pubblica e' stata tenuta all'oscuro. La recente campagna sugli effetti
(collaterali?) delle armi all'uranio impoverito ha squarciato in parte
il velo, rendendo improvvisamente *importante* questo libro anche per la
grande stampa, e persino per certi ben noti papaveri nostrani...
Qui arriviamo all'arcano del "subject" che abbiamo scelto per questo
messaggio: che cosa c'entra il senatore a vita, e Presidente della
Commissione Esteri del Senato, Giulio Andreotti con il libro "Contro le
nuove guerre"? C'entra perche' in un intervento al Senato il 10 gennaio
scorso Andreotti ha brandito in aula il libro additandolo ad esempio di
ricerca seria sugli effetti dell'uranio impoverito, e non solo.
Clamorosa ed incredibile sorte di un libro originariamente nato
all'interno, e sostanzialmente pensato ad uso, di ambienti "sani"
(percio' minoritari, ininfluenti e ghettizzati...) della sinistra
intellettuale - persino accademica, ma fieramente antimilitarista ed
anticapitalista. Sul perche' Andreotti si mostri a tal punto
interessato alle ricerche ed idee del Comitato scienziate/i, e sul
perche' proprio adesso e con tale forza venga posta, ai vertici piu'
alti dello Stato, la questione dell'uso dell'uranio impoverito, non
entriamo nel merito. Quello che interessa qui sottolineare e' che questo
libro e' veramente *importante*, perche' e' l'unico libro pubblicato nel
nostro paese che affronti contemporaneamente tante ferite aperte e
sanguinanti della guerra in Jugoslavia e del modo in cui questa e' stata
vista e vissuta dagli "intellettuali". Il libro si apre proprio con un
lavoro dello storico Angelo D'Orsi sul "tradimento", opportunista e
bellicista, degli intellettuali nel Novecento. Forse la questione viene
presa un po' alla larga, e senza colpire abbastanza a fondo quella
intellettualita' precisa, "sinistra", firmaiola, giornalistica e
"buonista", di cui dicevamo sopra, quella del consenso alla
frantumazione della Repubblica Federativa Socialista di Jugoslavia
(RFSJ) e dell'assenso alle "missioni umanitarie" d'ogni tipo e risma -
bombe all'uranio impoverito incluse o escluse, poco importa.
Segue un contributo di Nanni Salio sulla "trasformazione nonviolenta dei
conflitti", sostanzialmente scontato ma utile come compendio di una
linea ideologica, solo una delle tante linee ed anime che formano il
Comitato. Poi una ricerca, scritta a tre (sei) mani, sul carattere
strategico della disinformazione, giornalistica e politica, lungo tutto
il corso della guerra, a partire cioe' dal 1991: si tratta piu' che
altro di una anticipazione, di un assaggio, visto che sull'argomento
gia' si potrebbe stendere un'opera enciclopedica... L'articolo condensa
in poche pagine una grande mole di informazioni scioccanti. Unico altro
libro tascabile a contenere materia del genere, nel nostro paese, e' la
versione italiana (ridotta) di "La NATO nei Balcani", dell'I.A.C. -
Editori Riuniti, importantissimo, carico di informazioni sul chi, come e
perche' ha distrutto la RFSJ, non a caso mai recensito in Italia da
nessuno. D'altronde, fino allo scoppio del "caso dell'uranio
impoverito", nemmeno "Contro le nuove guerre" era stato presentato da
alcun mezzo di informazione italiano, stampa di sinistra inclusa.
Ci preme ancora segnalare i contributi della seconda parte sui danni
inflitti dalla NATO alla RF di Jugoslavia: due testi scientifici in
lingua inglese sugli effetti ambientali, nei quali e' descritta la
guerra chimica indiretta - e percio' ancora piu' infame - scatenata da
Massimo D'Alema e dai suoi alleati contro quel paese e contro quel
popolo. Si noti bene che e' questo l'unico materiale disponibile nelle
librerie italiane sull'argomento: nessun altro ha mai pubblicato niente
sugli obiettivi colpiti dalla NATO. A seguire, il testo di Carlo Pona
sull'uranio impoverito, che riprende ed approfondisce i contributi del
volume precedente.
Infine, segnaliamo i contributi di Baracca e Polcaro sui nuovi sistemi
d'arma e sulla nuova corsa agli armamenti (con l'Ottantanove forse
qualcuno pensava che le bombe atomiche fossero sparite dalla faccia del
pianeta?), e l'approfondito e sconvolgente studio di Alberto Di Fazio
sul problema energetico e dell'inquinamento dal punto di vista (anche
politico) globale, che da solo meriterebbe piu' di un intero volume
tutto dedicato. Nel libro ci sono tanti altri contributi su tanti altri
argomenti, talvolta non omogenei tra loro, talvolta forse persino
contraddittori con lo spirito originale che anima il Comitato
scienziate/i - cosi' ci sembra - e tuttavia tali da costruire
nell'insieme un libro di incredibile ricchezza, *prezioso* per la
fondamentale importanza dei temi che vengono affrontati, ed ahinoi per
la sua stessa rarita' ed unicita' nel suo genere, testo fondamentale per
chiunque voglia opporsi alle "nuove guerre" in maniera non soltanto
moralistica, ma consapevole e lungimirante.
---
PRESENTAZIONE DEL LIBRO "CONTRO LE NUOVE GUERRE" (Odradek, 2000)
A distanza di un anno dal seminario tenutosi a Roma (21 giugno 1999) da
cui ha avuto luce "Imbrogli di guerra" (Odradek, 1999), il Comitato
"Scienziate e scienziati contro la guerra" ha promosso presso il
Politecnico di Torino un convegno scientifico sul tema:
"CULTURA, SCIENZA E INFORMAZIONE DI FRONTE ALLE NUOVE GUERRE"
(22 e 23 giugno 2000). Informazioni sul convegno si trovano al sito
web: http://www.iac.rm.cnr.it/~spweb/convegni/index.html
L' iniziativa ha da un lato ripreso ed aggiornato alcune delle analisi
gia' presentate durante l'incontro tenutosi a Roma, circa i rischi per
la salute umana e per l'ambiente dovuti all'uso di uranio impoverito e
all'inquinamento chimico causato dai bombardamenti della recente guerra
di aggressione della NATO contro la Repubblica Federale Jugoslava, e
dall'altro e' tornata sulle connessioni fra la guerra nei Balcani e gli
scenari delle crisi ambientali globali.
L' evoluzione dello scenario internazionale ha reso pero' necessario un
contributo piu' ampio al dibattito sulle implicazioni di pace e di
guerra
insite nei modi di produrre informazione, di costruire rappresentazioni
storiche, di definire norme e valori.
Non ci si e' quindi soltanto soffermati sullo specifico caso jugoslavo
(che peraltro e' stato approfondito grazie anche al contributo di
colleghe
e colleghi jugoslavi presenti al convegno), ma si è cercato di
continuare
un ragionamento piu' ampio circa le responsabilita' degli operatori
della
cultura, della scienza e della tecnologia nel rendere possibili le
guerre:
per poterle fare, occorre prima di tutto attrezzarsi e predisporre la
societa' mentalmente e materialmente a volerle fare.
I responsabili della cultura di guerra risiedono in tutti i campi del
sapere, da quelli umanistici - dove concorrono a costruire i pregiudizi,
rafforzando sensi di identita' in conflitto ed etiche intrinsecamente
discriminanti -, a quelli scientifico-tecnologici che forniscono anche
in
concreto non solo le armi ma i sistemi essenziali all'organizzazione e
al
funzionamento degli apparati militari.
Il convegno ha permesso di allargare lo scambio tra esperte ed esperti
di
discipline diverse intorno ai temi della guerra, nella consapevolezza
che,
nonostante taluni scienziati abbiano spesso collaborato in modo
determinante
alla realizzazione di strumenti di distruzione e di morte, l'impegno di
chi opera nei campi della ricerca e dell'informazione puo' contribuire a
prevenire l'insorgere di nuove guerre. Tale assunzione di
responsabilita'
appare tanto piu' urgente per chi intreccia ai compiti di ricerca anche
funzioni didattiche e di formazione, perche' con il proprio lavoro puo'
aprire spazi orientati a relazioni di pace anziche' di scontro violento.
E' stato quindi un secondo tentativo di attrezzarsi piu' adeguatamente
per operare alla ricerca del dialogo, della tolleranza e della
accettazione del diverso da se'.
Durante questo incontro le differenze su modi, strumenti di analisi e
paradigmi di riferimento sono emersi anche fra i partecipanti: il
confronto
tra diversi approcci sia al sapere scientifico che alle tematiche della
guerra
e della pace sono stati elementi molto importanti dell'incontro di
Torino.
I partecipanti hanno riscoperto che cosa li accomuna: l'insoddisfazione
per
la certezza assoluta del sapere e, all'opposto, il piacere del dubbio
sistematico, dell'accettare la sfida del confronto, del dibattito anche
polemico ma finalizzato ad ampliare costantemente le capacita' di
comprensione
di quanto ci circonda, dei problemi che esaminiamo e che decidiamo di
affrontare; infine, il rifiuto di aderire alle schiere dei dominatori,
di
coloro, cioe', che usano le scienze e le tecnologie per proiettare sul
nostro pianeta inquietanti scenari di guerra.
E' stato, insomma, un ulteriore segno della vivacita' del Comitato
scienziate
e scienziati contro la guerra che da oltre un anno affronta appassionate
discussioni in rete (scienzaepace@...) sui temi della pace,
degli
armamenti, delle crisi ambientali, come pure delle biotecnologie, della
genetica, delle vittime della guerra e degli ultimi scenari, come la
Palestina.
Si spera ovviamente che quanto viene qui presentato sia nuovamente uno
strumento per promuovere dibattiti anche oltre i confini del mondo
scientifico
dando, a noi come ad altre/i, occasioni di confronto, riflessione ed
elaborazione
culturale e scientifica per la costruzione della pace e di modalita'
diverse di
comunicazione tra i saperi e di risoluzione dei conflitti.
Gli atti del Convegno si trovano dunque nel libro "Contro le Nuove
Guerre", a
cura di Massimo Zucchetti , edito da Odradek, pagine 282, lire 24000.
Vi si trovano i contributi degli autori:
Angelo D'Orsi, Giovanni Salio, Ivan Grzetic, Mica Saric Tanaskovic,
Carlo Pona,
Alberto Di Fazio, Angelo Baracca, Francesco Polcaro, Giulia Barone,
Franco Marenco, Andrea Martocchia, Adriana Valente, Enrico Peyretti,
Antonino
Drago, Cristina Giannardi, Daniele Dominici, Mauro Cristaldi,
Associazione "Medici contro la Tortura", Natasa Lazovic, Luciano
Vasapollo,
Francesco Iannuzzelli, Lucas Gualdron, Marcella Delle Donne.
Il prezzo d'acquisto del volume e' destinato a coprire in parte le spese
di
pubblicazione, nonchè a finanziare le future attivita' del Comitato
"Scienziate e Scienziati contro la guerra", che sono ampie
e, purtroppo, sempre piu' attuali e necessarie.
Per informazioni e per ordinare il libro:
Massimo Zucchetti
DENER - Politecnico di Torino
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
10129 Torino
Tel: +39.011.564.4464
Email: zucchetti@...
Per informazioni sul Comitato:
Sito web: http://www.iac.rm.cnr.it/~spweb/
---
INTERVENTO DI GIULIO ANDREOTTI
nell'aula di Palazzo Madama il giorno 10/1/2001:
PRESIDENTE. È iscritto a parlare il senatore Andreotti. Ne ha facoltà.
ANDREOTTI. Signor Presidente, colleghi, io non sono né un tecnico di
fisica né un medico, quindi non ho delle opinioni personali da poter far
valere. Ringrazio il Ministro per la sua relazione, che naturalmente
deve essere ispirata anche a prudenza e attenzione, questo è ovvio, però
penso che forse una conclusione operativa possa e debba essere
tracciata.
Molte volte non occorre avere documenti riservati. L'anno scorso, in
giugno, ha avuto luogo presso il Politecnico di Torino un convegno su
questo argomento, i cui atti sono stati pubblicati, che ha fornito una
serie di informazioni e di risposte molto esaurienti, in un quadro che
si ricollega obiettivamente alla lunga battaglia che è stata fatta per
la messa al bando delle armi chimiche, per una effettiva analogia che
esiste; una battaglia che fu difficile. La Conferenza sul disarmo aveva
una struttura ad hoc a Ginevra nella quale le resistenze erano
moltissime, forse anche per l'allora situazione internazionale, che
fortunatamente oggi non è tale da doverci preoccupare. Per ben due
volte, il ministro degli esteri tedesco Genscher ed io stesso dovemmo
andare a Ginevra ad intervenire per suscitare un andamento favorevole e
per eliminare l'abitudine che vi era ai continui rinvii. Inoltre, il
Governo italiano, con una riunione di scienziati internazionali che si
tenne nel 1988 a Villa Madama, dette un contributo obiettivo di
carattere scientifico alla liceità dell'impostazione portata avanti da
coloro che erano a favore della messa al bando delle armi nucleari. La
necessità che questo tipo di armi all'uranio impoverito sia compreso in
quell'elenco mi pare obiettivamente implicita. C'è uno strano documento
al riguardo. Come sapete, la NATO, che era stata denunciata al Tribunale
internazionale per i crimini nella ex Jugoslavia in relazione alle
operazioni effettuate, è stata prosciolta; ma nel documento del
Tribunale internazionale si afferma: «I gusci di uranio impoverito
attorno ai proiettili anticarro, secondo le denunce, hanno effetti di
contaminazione, tuttavia non entrano nella lista delle armi proibite e
non c'è consenso internazionale sulla loro pericolosità». Questo non è
un documento scientifico né politico; ritengo però che lavorare per
l'inserimento delle armi ad uranio impoverito nell'elenco delle armi
proibite abbia una sua logica intrinseca e sia necessario. Tanto più
che, proprio in un documento ufficiale del segretario generale della
NATO, signor Robertson (una lettera al Segretario generale delle Nazioni
Unite del febbraio dello scorso anno, prima del convegno cui ho fatto
precedentemente riferimento), si forniscono dati relativi al Kosovo
menzionando il lancio di 31.000 proiettili, pari a 10 tonnellate di
questo prodotto, i cui effetti - se ne discute nella nostra Commissione
e in altre sedi sul piano medico-scientifico - devono essere verificati,
a mio avviso, non soltanto sulle persone ma anche sul territorio. Il
Ministro ha fatto un cenno alle acque, per fortuna positivo, ma occorre
capire bene che cosa significa per il territorio, nell'immediato e a
scadenza, l'aver recepito 10 tonnellate di uranio impoverito. Ciò
solleva dubbi fortissimi. Il nostro compito però non è cronistorico ma,
piuttosto, politico. Dobbiamo incoraggiare la linea che è stata
sostenuta nei giorni scorsi: nella ricerca di una certezza di carattere
obiettivo e per un senso di opportunità politica e morale, dovrebbe
essere nel frattempo interdetto dovunque l'uso di queste armi. Ho
adoperato l'avverbio “dovunque” per riferirmi anche all'Iraq, un Paese
coinvolto in questa vicenda, secondo le notizie apprese dai giornali,
con una guerra che non è considerata tale. Del resto anche quella in
Kosovo non è stata ufficialmente una guerra e non so, tra l'altro, se i
figli di coloro che sono morti sono considerati orfani di guerra o no; è
un problema che pure andrà studiato, a prescindere dall'argomento che
oggi affrontiamo. Credo sia necessaria un'azione nelle sedi proprie,
l'Alleanza atlantica e le Nazioni Unite, le quali nei loro atti hanno
già un documento del 1996 nel quale si parla della necessità di
eliminare la produzione e la diffusione di armi di distruzione di massa
e con effetti indiscriminati, in particolare le armi nucleari, le armi
chimiche, il napalm, le bombe a frammentazione, le armi biologiche e le
armi contenenti uranio impoverito. Non si tratta di una richiesta
esorbitante; qualcuno, con una speculazione di lega piuttosto bassa, ha
sostenuto che abbiamo suscitato le ire degli americani che avrebbero
chiuso l'ambasciata per questo motivo. Ciò fa parte, a mio avviso, della
cronaca macabra, ma umoristica, di fine d'anno. Questi sono problemi
seri, venuti a conoscenza dell'opinione pubblica; abbiamo dunque la
necessità - e il Ministro se ne è dato carico - sia di evitare qualunque
momento di panico e di disorientamento all'interno delle Forze armate
sia di adottare un'azione politica. E poi, vorrei anche aggiungere una
considerazione. In Commissione esteri, qualche settimana fa, abbiamo
ricevuto la dirigente dell'agenzia dell'ONU per i rifugiati, che veniva
in visita di congedo. Le abbiamo posto il quesito: i serbi che sono
stati cacciati dalle loro terre, nel momento del conflitto in Bosnia,
nella Kraijna e nella parte della Slavonia, sono rientrati o non sono
rientrati? Purtroppo - ci ha detto - l'accordo di Dayton in questo non
si è potuto realizzare. Nel Kosovo certamente non c'è più il signor
Milosevic che fa operazioni di persecuzione nei confronti degli
albanesi, però i serbi dove sono? La grandissima parte è andata via e
per una parte non piccola sono stati uccisi. Non vorrei rifarmi a una
frase che suscitò tante polemiche a suo tempo, quella di Benedetto XV
sulla «inutile strage», però dinanzi a una situazione di difficile
convivenza etnica, se la convivenza è appoggiata solo sulla presenza di
truppe, certo transitoriamente è un bene, ma non può essere una
soluzione di carattere definitivo. Le soluzioni, posto che si trovino,
vanno ricercate altrove.
Ritengo che dobbiamo ringraziare il Ministro per averci fatto questa
relazione e dobbiamo mettere a carico suo e del Ministro degli esteri
anche la necessità di non demordere, di non fare come qualche volta
facciamo, che i problemi ci emozionano per un certo tempo, ci
interessano, poi uno strano cancellino li toglie dalla lavagna e ci
dedichiamo ad altri argomenti. Su questo non credo che dovrebbe esserci
consenso; certamente non ci sarà mai da parte mia. (Applausi dai Gruppi
PPI, DS, UDEUR e Misto-CR e dei senatori Gubert, Lorenzi e Vertone
Grimaldi. Congratulazioni).
---
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid%c2%91979 oppure
> http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Contributi e segnalazioni: <jugocoord@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
eCircle ti offre una nuova opportunita:
la tua agenda sul web - per te e per i tuoi amici
Organizza on line i tuoi appuntamenti .
E' facile, veloce e gratuito!
Da oggi su
http://www.ecircle.it/ad808408/www.ecircle.it
Sull'uranio (e il plutonio).
2 messaggi, tanti links, altri documenti, le prove del plutonio.
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 17:20:39 +0100
To: pck-armamenti@...
From: Alessandro Marescotti <a.marescotti@...>
Subject: la RAI di Michele Santoro "linka" PeaceLink
Questo e' un messaggio giunto per email a Il Raggio Verde della RAI
------
...non sono andato ancora a dormire e non so se riuscirò ad andarci
tranquillamente...
...è appena iniziato un nuovo giorno, almeno cronologicamente parlando, non
sono andato ancora a dormire e non so se riuscirò ad andarci
tranquillamente... Stasera, dopo giorni e giorni di notizie sentite e lette un po'
ovunque, ho fatto il punto della situazione sull'uranio impoverito e, forse,
anche su tante altre cose!!! Nel 1997, assolti gli obblighi di leva (da gennaio
a novembre), ritenni di poter restare nell'ambiente militare per, almeno, altri 9
mesi; esperienze indimenticabili, incontri importanti, formazione, orgoglio,
responsabilità, voglia di esserci... Partecipai alla missione CONSTANT
FORCE a Sarajevo del 1998 da giugno ad agosto (fino al congedamento),
prima d'allora fui impiegato per tante altre operazioni in Italia. Ho 26 anni,
sono diplomato (con scarsa voglia) Perito Tecnico Commerciale
Programmatore, appassionato di MUSICA, informatica, ecc... ecc...
...stasera HO PERSO TANTA VOGLIA DI CRESCERE e FARE
QUALCOSA DI BUONO, sono ANGOSCIATO D'APPARTENERE
ALL'EUROPA, D'ESSERE ITALIANO e D'AVER DATO QUALCOSA DI ME
ALLA NATO (USA & soci)... NON MI MERITATE! (e come me tanti altri!!!) N
O N E' G I U S T O ! ! ! Abusare della buona fede, dell'amore per sentimenti
sani come il patriottismo, la fratellanza, la giustizia, la libertà, della voglia di
sentirsi partecipi di un gioco importante e (CERTAMENTE!!!) più grande di
noi; ABUSARE DELLA NOSTRA FORZA, DELLE NOSTRE IDEE, DEL
NOSTRO FUTURO!!! DELUSO dalla mia Italia (EUROPA, NATO, ECC...)
per come continua a gestire le NOSTRE COSE! ... "TUTTI GLI ESSERI
UMANI NASCONO LIBERI ED EGUALI DI DIGNITA' E DI DIRITTI. ESSI
SONO DOTATI DI RAGIONE E DI COSCIENZA E DEVONO AGIRE GLI UNI
VERSO GLI ALTRI IN SPIRITO DI FRATELLANZA." Art.1 "OGNI INDIVIDUO
HA DIRITTO ALLA VITA, ALLA LIBERTA' ED ALLA SICUREZZA DELLA
PROPRIA PERSONA." Art.3 "OGNI INDIVIDUO, IN QUANTO MEMBRO
DELLA SOCIETA', HA DIRITTO ALLA SICUREZZA SOCIALE, NONCHE'
ALLA REALIZZAZIONE, ATTRAVERSO LO SFORZO NAZIONALE E LA
COOPERAZIONE INTERNAZIONALE ED IN RAPPORTO CON
L'ORGANIZZAZIONE E LE RISORSE DI OGNI STATO, DEI DIRITTI
ECONOMICI, SOCIALI E CULTURALI INDISPENSABILI ALLA SUA
DIGNITA' ED AL LIBERO SVILUPPO DELLA SUA PERSONALITA'." Art.22
... STOP ALLE GUERRE E A OGNI TIPO DI RISCHIO NON CALCOLATO!!!
---
scusate la lungaggine ed il caos del mio SENTITISSIMO sfogo.
GRAZIE
Antonio
------
Il Raggio Verde, la trasmissione su Raidue di Santoro (ogni venerdi'), riporta
in questa pagina i siti sull'uranio impoverito (in testa hanno messo
PeaceLink); la url e'
http://www.ilraggioverde.rai.it/notiziesommerse/archivio/2001/gennaio/12/ind
ex.asp#link
------
stiamo ricevendo tante testimonianze sull'uranio impoverito.
Quest'ultima la giro in lista cosi' come l'ho ricevuta perche'
credo dia un'idea della dimensione umana della situazione e di
come la sta vivendo la popolazione locale.
Grazie a questa ragazza ora siamo direttamente in contatto con
medici dell'ospedale di Belgrado, presto vi faremo avere
informazioni piu' precise.
francesco
-------------------
"La gente disperata, esausta, terrorizzata di morire di leucemia ed altri
tumori (...) si chiede seriamente se non era melgio morire per Milosevic
prima che adesso in questa lenta agonia"
Ho parlato con [xxxx] - cosi si chiama la ragazza ! [Xx] anni : 2 lauree in
medicina una serba un italiana : disoccupata apena tornata da Sarayevo
sembrava un fiume in piena ti rasume brevemente le cose più importanti
(perchè intanto che c'era mi sono fatto raccontare anche tutto la storia del
dopo Tito!)
1. loro già nel 1995 - dopo il Bombardamento dela Bosnia si erano accorti
che il reparto oncologico di Belgrado era pieno di gente venuto dalla Bosnia.
Nascevano molti bambini deformi. Si riccorda come anche i contadini si
lamentavano per le molte malformazione tra gli animali
2. Loro tutto la storia del uranio lo sanno da pocchissimo tempo! da quando
si stanno amalando i soldati italiani, ed i giornali ne parlano..... e si chiedono:
ma isoldati che stanno qua solo pochi mesi,muoiono e noi che stiamo qua
da sempre e per sempre come finiremo loro ( noi qua in Italia!)parlano di
noi???
3. La gente disperata, esausta, terrorizzata di morire di leucemia ed altri
tumori anche perchè non hanno scelta: devono bere l'acqua e il latte
inquinata; mangiare i cibi contamminati... allora si chiedono seriamente se
non era melgio di morire per Milosevic prima che adesso questa lenta
agonia
4.Tutti i giovani cercano di scappare davanti alle ambasciate ci sono le fila i
vecchi diperati e soli aspettono soltanto la morte
--------------------------------------
Links sull'Uranio impoverito
· PeaceLink.it - dossier Uranio (il dossier di peacelink affronta in modo
dettagliato e completo l’argomento, è ricco di documenti, tabelle ed
immagini)
· Military Toxics Project
· http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/bunker/6885/gulfsyndrome/
· http://www.sudnews.it/sindromedelgolfo/
· http://www.gulflink.osd.mil (sito molto dettagliato sugli effetti delle armi
chimiche e sui disturbi riscontrati dai veterani della guerra del golfo)
· Osservatorio etico ambientale
· European Network Against Depleted Uranium
· International Action Center
· WISE Uranium project
· Rapporto Laka Foundation
· Rapporti scientifici
· Uranium medical project
· Sindrome dei Balcani
· http://digilander.iol.it/uranioimpoverito/index.htm (contiene immagini dell’
U.S. ARMY: armi ed equipaggiamenti militari statunitensi utilizzati in
Kossovo)
· http://www.fas.org/man/index.html (offre una panoramica delle
operazioni militari americane)
· http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html (il sito con cartine
ed immagini le contaminazioni radioattive dell’ U.I. sull’ ambiente e sull’uomo
non solo nelle aree dei balcani)
· http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/uranium.htm
· http://www.igc.org/disarm/dupanel.html (è il sito di un’organizzazione
americana che si occupa di disarmo)
· http://www.ne.doe.gov/uranium/facts.html
· http://www.serbia-info.com/news/kosovo/index.html (offre informazioni
dettagliate sulle operazioni militari nell’area dei balcani)
· http://www.sindromedeibalcani.supereva.it/
· http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/img/dukosoc2.gif
· http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/osseticamb/enadu/faaccidentita.htm
(contiene il rapporto della FAA ed informa i reduci e tutti coloro che sono
venuti a contatto con l’U.I. sulle precauzioni da adottare)
· http://members.aol.com/dstormmom/vetcenter/updates.htm
· http://www.nrc.gov (nuclear regulatory commission : è la commissione
americana per l’ utilizzo di armi nucleari )
· http://www.rama-usa.org/du.htm
Per ogni altra consultazione: http://www.ilraggioverde.rai.it/home/index.asp
-----------------------------------------------------------
Comunico le novita' della campagna contro
l'uranio impoverito sul sito di PeaceLink
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238
- Gli effetti sulla popolazione locale
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/effetti/bratunac.sh
tml Pubblichiamo un articolo (in inglese) di Dubravka Vujanovic
sulla situazione a Bratunac, in Bosnia, dove la popolazione e'
decimata da tumori ai polmoni e leucemie.
- Testimonianze
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/testimonianze
Ci stanno scrivendo in tanti e crediamo sia importante riportare
le loro stesse parole per denunciare la gravita' della situazione
e la mancanza di assistenza sanitaria, legale e informativa, nei
Balcani come in Italia
- Documenti legali
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/leggi/internaz
Abbiamo tradotto in italiano la risoluzione dell'ONU che condanna
la produzione e l'uso delle armi con uranio impoverito. Nella
medesima pagina sono disponibili i testi in inglese degli altri
accordi internazionali violati dall'uso di queste armi, ovvero il
Protocollo aggiuntivo alla Convenzione di Ginevra e il Principio
di Precauzione.
- Documenti
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti
Sono stati aggiunti vari documenti scientifici, medici e militari;
tra questi la conferma da parte del DOE che all'interno
dell'uranio impoverito ci sono anche piccole quantita' di plutonio
- Cronologia dell'uranio impoverito
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/u238/storia.shtml
Una storia impressionante di allarmi inascoltati, dichiarazioni
false delle autorita' militari, morti e sofferenze per la
popolazione e per i volontari e militari coinvolti
Aggiornamenti sul sito:
- PeaceLink a Strasburgo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti/eu_hearing.shtml
Il testo del dossier presentato da PeaceLink all'audizione
sulla sindrome dei Balcani, svoltasi il 16/1/2001 al Parlamento
Europeo di Strasburgo
- Risoluzione del Parlamento Europeo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/leggi/internaz/du_eu.shtml
Il Parlamento Europeo ha approvato il 17/1/2001 una risoluzione
che propone agli stati membri una moratoria delle armi con uranio
impoverito; due emendamenti piu' espliciti e restrittivi contro le
armi al DU sono stati bocciati
- Risposta di PeaceLink al sottosegr. Ostillio
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/chefare/ostillio.shtml
- Documenti
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti
Nuovi materiali inseriti nella sezione documenti: fra questi
- il comunicato stampa dell'UNEP che conferma la presenza di U236 (e
quindi di plutonio) nei proiettili rinvenuti in Kosovo;
- un'analisi della composizione dell'uranio impoverito derivato dal
riprocessamento del combustibile nucleare che dimostra come sia circa il
60% piu' pericoloso di quello derivato dall'uranio naturale;
- tra i video trovate i links ai filmati del Pentagono del 1995, che gia' allora
evidenziavano la pericolosita' del DU.
- Bosnia
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/effetti/fisk.shtml
Un'articolo (in inglese) sulla situazione nella Bosnia orientale
di Robert Fisk, uno dei primi giornalisti che anni fa cominciarono
ad occuparsi degli effetti dell'uranio impoverito.
- Dossier Uranio Impoverito
http://www.uranioimpoverito.it
Il dossier di Luca Bellomo, del quale da tempo ospitiamo una copia
sul server di PeaceLink, ora ha il suo indirizzo internet, dove
trovate anche gli ultimi aggiornamenti
------
francesco iannuzzelli francesco@...
associazione peacelink - sez. disarmo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date forwarded: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 19:08:52 +0100
From: pck-armamenti@...
Organization: peacelink
Subject: (Fwd) Uranio 236 nei proiettili NATO
C'e' il rischio che la notizia venga sottovalutata, in fondo
cambia solo un numerino, 236 invece che 238... invece e' un fatto
molto importante e, purtroppo, grave.
L'UNEP ha confermato di aver trovato tracce di U236 nei proiettili
all'uranio impoverito rinvenuti in Kosovo. L'UNEP e' il programma
ambientale delle Nazioni Unite e sta svolgendo delle analisi per
determinare l'inquinamento radioattivo nei Balcani. Uno dei
laboratori che si occupano di queste analisi, lo "Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology" di Spiez, ha appunto annunciato di aver
riscontrato tracce di U236.
L'U236 e' un isotopo dell'uranio che non si trova in natura e di
conseguenza non puo' trovarsi nell'uranio impoverito (U238) che
viene trattato prima di essere utilizzato nelle centrali.
La presenza di U236 e' quindi una chiara conferma che l'uranio
impoverito utilizzato per le armi non deriva solo dal processo di
arricchimento ma anche dal riprocessamento del combustibile
nucleare esaurito, cioe' dalle scorie dei reattori nucleari.
Questo fatto era stato finora solo vagamente ammesso dal
Department of Energy statunitense, ma ora le analisi lo confermano
definitivamente.
Il poblema e' che le scorie nucleari prodotte dalle centrali
nucleari contengono tutta una serie di radionuclidi non presenti
in natura e assai pericolosi per l'uomo e per l'ambiente (ad
esempio il Plutonio Pu239). Questi radionuclidi pero' sono molto
difficilmente rilevabili; cio' non significa che non siano
dannosi, quantita' anche minime possono essere estremamente
pericolose.
L'unico che potrebbe essere rilevato e' proprio l'U236.
Cito il documento di Scienziate/i contro la guerra (punto 4)
> Nel caso in cui il DU non derivi dai processi primari di
> arricchimento ma da riprocessamento del combustibile delle
> centrali, allora si accompagnerebbe con Pu239, il quale
> tuttavia, alle concentrazioni in esame, si può rilevare
> anch'esso assai difficilmente. In questo caso, però, su campioni
> ambientali è possibile ricercare la presenza di U236, il quale,
> essendo presente solo nella fase di riprocessamento del
> combustibile nucleare esaurito, è un indicatore della presenza
> di plutonio.
che potete leggere integralmente all'indirizzo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti
In pratica abbiamo la conferma che l'uranio impoverito usato dalla
Nato deriva dalle scorie nucleari e quindi va rivisto tutto quello
che la Nato ha sostenuto sulla sua non pericolosita', basandosi
sul fatto che si tratta di semplice U238.
Il comunicato stampa dell'UNEP (in inglese) lo potete trovare online all'indirizzo
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID9&ArticleID'45
------
francesco iannuzzelli francesco@...
associazione peacelink - sez. disarmo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo
----------------------------------
------- End of forwarded message -------
------
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid‘979 oppure
> http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Contributi e segnalazioni: <jugocoord@...>
------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I gruppi di discussione + interessanti e divertenti!
Le liste + calde!!
Il meglio di eCircle!!!
http://www.ecircle.it/ad782699/www.listparade.it
2 messaggi, tanti links, altri documenti, le prove del plutonio.
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 17:20:39 +0100
To: pck-armamenti@...
From: Alessandro Marescotti <a.marescotti@...>
Subject: la RAI di Michele Santoro "linka" PeaceLink
Questo e' un messaggio giunto per email a Il Raggio Verde della RAI
------
...non sono andato ancora a dormire e non so se riuscirò ad andarci
tranquillamente...
...è appena iniziato un nuovo giorno, almeno cronologicamente parlando, non
sono andato ancora a dormire e non so se riuscirò ad andarci
tranquillamente... Stasera, dopo giorni e giorni di notizie sentite e lette un po'
ovunque, ho fatto il punto della situazione sull'uranio impoverito e, forse,
anche su tante altre cose!!! Nel 1997, assolti gli obblighi di leva (da gennaio
a novembre), ritenni di poter restare nell'ambiente militare per, almeno, altri 9
mesi; esperienze indimenticabili, incontri importanti, formazione, orgoglio,
responsabilità, voglia di esserci... Partecipai alla missione CONSTANT
FORCE a Sarajevo del 1998 da giugno ad agosto (fino al congedamento),
prima d'allora fui impiegato per tante altre operazioni in Italia. Ho 26 anni,
sono diplomato (con scarsa voglia) Perito Tecnico Commerciale
Programmatore, appassionato di MUSICA, informatica, ecc... ecc...
...stasera HO PERSO TANTA VOGLIA DI CRESCERE e FARE
QUALCOSA DI BUONO, sono ANGOSCIATO D'APPARTENERE
ALL'EUROPA, D'ESSERE ITALIANO e D'AVER DATO QUALCOSA DI ME
ALLA NATO (USA & soci)... NON MI MERITATE! (e come me tanti altri!!!) N
O N E' G I U S T O ! ! ! Abusare della buona fede, dell'amore per sentimenti
sani come il patriottismo, la fratellanza, la giustizia, la libertà, della voglia di
sentirsi partecipi di un gioco importante e (CERTAMENTE!!!) più grande di
noi; ABUSARE DELLA NOSTRA FORZA, DELLE NOSTRE IDEE, DEL
NOSTRO FUTURO!!! DELUSO dalla mia Italia (EUROPA, NATO, ECC...)
per come continua a gestire le NOSTRE COSE! ... "TUTTI GLI ESSERI
UMANI NASCONO LIBERI ED EGUALI DI DIGNITA' E DI DIRITTI. ESSI
SONO DOTATI DI RAGIONE E DI COSCIENZA E DEVONO AGIRE GLI UNI
VERSO GLI ALTRI IN SPIRITO DI FRATELLANZA." Art.1 "OGNI INDIVIDUO
HA DIRITTO ALLA VITA, ALLA LIBERTA' ED ALLA SICUREZZA DELLA
PROPRIA PERSONA." Art.3 "OGNI INDIVIDUO, IN QUANTO MEMBRO
DELLA SOCIETA', HA DIRITTO ALLA SICUREZZA SOCIALE, NONCHE'
ALLA REALIZZAZIONE, ATTRAVERSO LO SFORZO NAZIONALE E LA
COOPERAZIONE INTERNAZIONALE ED IN RAPPORTO CON
L'ORGANIZZAZIONE E LE RISORSE DI OGNI STATO, DEI DIRITTI
ECONOMICI, SOCIALI E CULTURALI INDISPENSABILI ALLA SUA
DIGNITA' ED AL LIBERO SVILUPPO DELLA SUA PERSONALITA'." Art.22
... STOP ALLE GUERRE E A OGNI TIPO DI RISCHIO NON CALCOLATO!!!
---
scusate la lungaggine ed il caos del mio SENTITISSIMO sfogo.
GRAZIE
Antonio
------
Il Raggio Verde, la trasmissione su Raidue di Santoro (ogni venerdi'), riporta
in questa pagina i siti sull'uranio impoverito (in testa hanno messo
PeaceLink); la url e'
http://www.ilraggioverde.rai.it/notiziesommerse/archivio/2001/gennaio/12/ind
ex.asp#link
------
stiamo ricevendo tante testimonianze sull'uranio impoverito.
Quest'ultima la giro in lista cosi' come l'ho ricevuta perche'
credo dia un'idea della dimensione umana della situazione e di
come la sta vivendo la popolazione locale.
Grazie a questa ragazza ora siamo direttamente in contatto con
medici dell'ospedale di Belgrado, presto vi faremo avere
informazioni piu' precise.
francesco
-------------------
"La gente disperata, esausta, terrorizzata di morire di leucemia ed altri
tumori (...) si chiede seriamente se non era melgio morire per Milosevic
prima che adesso in questa lenta agonia"
Ho parlato con [xxxx] - cosi si chiama la ragazza ! [Xx] anni : 2 lauree in
medicina una serba un italiana : disoccupata apena tornata da Sarayevo
sembrava un fiume in piena ti rasume brevemente le cose più importanti
(perchè intanto che c'era mi sono fatto raccontare anche tutto la storia del
dopo Tito!)
1. loro già nel 1995 - dopo il Bombardamento dela Bosnia si erano accorti
che il reparto oncologico di Belgrado era pieno di gente venuto dalla Bosnia.
Nascevano molti bambini deformi. Si riccorda come anche i contadini si
lamentavano per le molte malformazione tra gli animali
2. Loro tutto la storia del uranio lo sanno da pocchissimo tempo! da quando
si stanno amalando i soldati italiani, ed i giornali ne parlano..... e si chiedono:
ma isoldati che stanno qua solo pochi mesi,muoiono e noi che stiamo qua
da sempre e per sempre come finiremo loro ( noi qua in Italia!)parlano di
noi???
3. La gente disperata, esausta, terrorizzata di morire di leucemia ed altri
tumori anche perchè non hanno scelta: devono bere l'acqua e il latte
inquinata; mangiare i cibi contamminati... allora si chiedono seriamente se
non era melgio di morire per Milosevic prima che adesso questa lenta
agonia
4.Tutti i giovani cercano di scappare davanti alle ambasciate ci sono le fila i
vecchi diperati e soli aspettono soltanto la morte
--------------------------------------
Links sull'Uranio impoverito
· PeaceLink.it - dossier Uranio (il dossier di peacelink affronta in modo
dettagliato e completo l’argomento, è ricco di documenti, tabelle ed
immagini)
· Military Toxics Project
· http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/bunker/6885/gulfsyndrome/
· http://www.sudnews.it/sindromedelgolfo/
· http://www.gulflink.osd.mil (sito molto dettagliato sugli effetti delle armi
chimiche e sui disturbi riscontrati dai veterani della guerra del golfo)
· Osservatorio etico ambientale
· European Network Against Depleted Uranium
· International Action Center
· WISE Uranium project
· Rapporto Laka Foundation
· Rapporti scientifici
· Uranium medical project
· Sindrome dei Balcani
· http://digilander.iol.it/uranioimpoverito/index.htm (contiene immagini dell’
U.S. ARMY: armi ed equipaggiamenti militari statunitensi utilizzati in
Kossovo)
· http://www.fas.org/man/index.html (offre una panoramica delle
operazioni militari americane)
· http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html (il sito con cartine
ed immagini le contaminazioni radioattive dell’ U.I. sull’ ambiente e sull’uomo
non solo nelle aree dei balcani)
· http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/uranium.htm
· http://www.igc.org/disarm/dupanel.html (è il sito di un’organizzazione
americana che si occupa di disarmo)
· http://www.ne.doe.gov/uranium/facts.html
· http://www.serbia-info.com/news/kosovo/index.html (offre informazioni
dettagliate sulle operazioni militari nell’area dei balcani)
· http://www.sindromedeibalcani.supereva.it/
· http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/img/dukosoc2.gif
· http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/osseticamb/enadu/faaccidentita.htm
(contiene il rapporto della FAA ed informa i reduci e tutti coloro che sono
venuti a contatto con l’U.I. sulle precauzioni da adottare)
· http://members.aol.com/dstormmom/vetcenter/updates.htm
· http://www.nrc.gov (nuclear regulatory commission : è la commissione
americana per l’ utilizzo di armi nucleari )
· http://www.rama-usa.org/du.htm
Per ogni altra consultazione: http://www.ilraggioverde.rai.it/home/index.asp
-----------------------------------------------------------
Comunico le novita' della campagna contro
l'uranio impoverito sul sito di PeaceLink
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238
- Gli effetti sulla popolazione locale
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/effetti/bratunac.sh
tml Pubblichiamo un articolo (in inglese) di Dubravka Vujanovic
sulla situazione a Bratunac, in Bosnia, dove la popolazione e'
decimata da tumori ai polmoni e leucemie.
- Testimonianze
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/testimonianze
Ci stanno scrivendo in tanti e crediamo sia importante riportare
le loro stesse parole per denunciare la gravita' della situazione
e la mancanza di assistenza sanitaria, legale e informativa, nei
Balcani come in Italia
- Documenti legali
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/leggi/internaz
Abbiamo tradotto in italiano la risoluzione dell'ONU che condanna
la produzione e l'uso delle armi con uranio impoverito. Nella
medesima pagina sono disponibili i testi in inglese degli altri
accordi internazionali violati dall'uso di queste armi, ovvero il
Protocollo aggiuntivo alla Convenzione di Ginevra e il Principio
di Precauzione.
- Documenti
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti
Sono stati aggiunti vari documenti scientifici, medici e militari;
tra questi la conferma da parte del DOE che all'interno
dell'uranio impoverito ci sono anche piccole quantita' di plutonio
- Cronologia dell'uranio impoverito
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/u238/storia.shtml
Una storia impressionante di allarmi inascoltati, dichiarazioni
false delle autorita' militari, morti e sofferenze per la
popolazione e per i volontari e militari coinvolti
Aggiornamenti sul sito:
- PeaceLink a Strasburgo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti/eu_hearing.shtml
Il testo del dossier presentato da PeaceLink all'audizione
sulla sindrome dei Balcani, svoltasi il 16/1/2001 al Parlamento
Europeo di Strasburgo
- Risoluzione del Parlamento Europeo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/leggi/internaz/du_eu.shtml
Il Parlamento Europeo ha approvato il 17/1/2001 una risoluzione
che propone agli stati membri una moratoria delle armi con uranio
impoverito; due emendamenti piu' espliciti e restrittivi contro le
armi al DU sono stati bocciati
- Risposta di PeaceLink al sottosegr. Ostillio
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/chefare/ostillio.shtml
- Documenti
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti
Nuovi materiali inseriti nella sezione documenti: fra questi
- il comunicato stampa dell'UNEP che conferma la presenza di U236 (e
quindi di plutonio) nei proiettili rinvenuti in Kosovo;
- un'analisi della composizione dell'uranio impoverito derivato dal
riprocessamento del combustibile nucleare che dimostra come sia circa il
60% piu' pericoloso di quello derivato dall'uranio naturale;
- tra i video trovate i links ai filmati del Pentagono del 1995, che gia' allora
evidenziavano la pericolosita' del DU.
- Bosnia
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/effetti/fisk.shtml
Un'articolo (in inglese) sulla situazione nella Bosnia orientale
di Robert Fisk, uno dei primi giornalisti che anni fa cominciarono
ad occuparsi degli effetti dell'uranio impoverito.
- Dossier Uranio Impoverito
http://www.uranioimpoverito.it
Il dossier di Luca Bellomo, del quale da tempo ospitiamo una copia
sul server di PeaceLink, ora ha il suo indirizzo internet, dove
trovate anche gli ultimi aggiornamenti
------
francesco iannuzzelli francesco@...
associazione peacelink - sez. disarmo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date forwarded: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 19:08:52 +0100
From: pck-armamenti@...
Organization: peacelink
Subject: (Fwd) Uranio 236 nei proiettili NATO
C'e' il rischio che la notizia venga sottovalutata, in fondo
cambia solo un numerino, 236 invece che 238... invece e' un fatto
molto importante e, purtroppo, grave.
L'UNEP ha confermato di aver trovato tracce di U236 nei proiettili
all'uranio impoverito rinvenuti in Kosovo. L'UNEP e' il programma
ambientale delle Nazioni Unite e sta svolgendo delle analisi per
determinare l'inquinamento radioattivo nei Balcani. Uno dei
laboratori che si occupano di queste analisi, lo "Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology" di Spiez, ha appunto annunciato di aver
riscontrato tracce di U236.
L'U236 e' un isotopo dell'uranio che non si trova in natura e di
conseguenza non puo' trovarsi nell'uranio impoverito (U238) che
viene trattato prima di essere utilizzato nelle centrali.
La presenza di U236 e' quindi una chiara conferma che l'uranio
impoverito utilizzato per le armi non deriva solo dal processo di
arricchimento ma anche dal riprocessamento del combustibile
nucleare esaurito, cioe' dalle scorie dei reattori nucleari.
Questo fatto era stato finora solo vagamente ammesso dal
Department of Energy statunitense, ma ora le analisi lo confermano
definitivamente.
Il poblema e' che le scorie nucleari prodotte dalle centrali
nucleari contengono tutta una serie di radionuclidi non presenti
in natura e assai pericolosi per l'uomo e per l'ambiente (ad
esempio il Plutonio Pu239). Questi radionuclidi pero' sono molto
difficilmente rilevabili; cio' non significa che non siano
dannosi, quantita' anche minime possono essere estremamente
pericolose.
L'unico che potrebbe essere rilevato e' proprio l'U236.
Cito il documento di Scienziate/i contro la guerra (punto 4)
> Nel caso in cui il DU non derivi dai processi primari di
> arricchimento ma da riprocessamento del combustibile delle
> centrali, allora si accompagnerebbe con Pu239, il quale
> tuttavia, alle concentrazioni in esame, si può rilevare
> anch'esso assai difficilmente. In questo caso, però, su campioni
> ambientali è possibile ricercare la presenza di U236, il quale,
> essendo presente solo nella fase di riprocessamento del
> combustibile nucleare esaurito, è un indicatore della presenza
> di plutonio.
che potete leggere integralmente all'indirizzo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/documenti
In pratica abbiamo la conferma che l'uranio impoverito usato dalla
Nato deriva dalle scorie nucleari e quindi va rivisto tutto quello
che la Nato ha sostenuto sulla sua non pericolosita', basandosi
sul fatto che si tratta di semplice U238.
Il comunicato stampa dell'UNEP (in inglese) lo potete trovare online all'indirizzo
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID9&ArticleID'45
------
francesco iannuzzelli francesco@...
associazione peacelink - sez. disarmo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo
----------------------------------
------- End of forwarded message -------
------
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Archivio di JUGOINFO:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid‘979 oppure
> http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Contributi e segnalazioni: <jugocoord@...>
------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I gruppi di discussione + interessanti e divertenti!
Le liste + calde!!
Il meglio di eCircle!!!
http://www.ecircle.it/ad782699/www.listparade.it
