Informazione

ANCHE KOSTUNICA ACCOLTO NEL CLUB


Il nuovo Presidente (aggiungere: democratico) della Repubblica Federale
di Jugoslavia Vojislav Kostunica ha partecipato al summit 2001 di Davos,
dove il Gotha del capitalismo mondiale si riunisce ogni anno per
decidere le sorti del mondo.
Kostunica si e' presentato a Davos pochi giorni dopo l'inserimento del
suo paese all'interno del Fondo Monetario Internazionale - inserimento
ottenuto grazie agli uomini del "G17" (i consiglieri economici della
coalizione DOS), compreso il nuovo Governatore della Banca Centrale
Jugoslava Djinkic -, mentre viene richiesta l'adesione al WTO e mentre
il nuovo governo serbo guidato da Zoran Djindjic, composto da 17
ministri, viene presentato in Parlamento.

Dalla regia ci comunicano che 17 e' un numero massonico, e che la
maggiorparte dei partecipanti al summit di Davos sono massoni. Ma
naturalmente questa e' solo una fortuita coincidenza che in nessun modo
puo' gettare ombre sul carattere democratico della nuova classe
dirigente jugoslava, che ha rotto con il passato regime del dittatore
Slobodan Milosevic e bla, bla, bla... (Italo Slavo - crj@...)


YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT CONFERS WITH UN SECRETARYGENERAL IN DAVOS
DAVOS, Jan 28 (Tanjug) Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica
conferred Sunday in Davos with UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan, who
hailed
the attitude of the Yugoslav authorities regarding the crisis in
southern
Serbia and expressed his understanding for their problems.
Pointing out that a legal framework is necessary for
cooperation
between Yugoslavia and the War Crimes Tribunal, Annan said this could
not
be achieved overnight.
The meeting was attended also by the special UN envoy for the
Balkans Carl Bildt, who expressed his concern over the situation in the
buffer zone in southern Serbia, where ethnic Albanian terrorists have
been
intensifying their attacks recently.
Kostunica and UN Development Program official Mark Brown
discussed
the prospects for UNDP participation in Yugoslavia's recovery and
development endeavors.
Kostunica also met Swiss Confederation President Moritz
Leuenberger to discuss bilateral cooperation, taking into account that
Yugoslavia is sponsored by Switzerland in the International Monetary
Fund
and the World Bank.
The meeting between President Kostunica and his Croatian
counterpart Stipe Mesic focused on bilateral relations and on
cooperation
in southeastern Europe aimed at stabilizing the situation in the region.

The same subject will be discussed during the afternoon session
of
presidents of Balkan countries who are attending the 31st World Economic

Forum in Davos.

---

A cura del Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'".
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:
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FACTS ON CONSEQUENCES OF THE USE OF DEPLETED
URANIUM IN THE NATO AGGRESSION AGAINST
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA IN 1999
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

---

YUGOSLAV UN AMBASSADOR ON USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM IN VIOLATION OF UN
CHARTER
GENEVA, Sep 14, (Tanjug). Yugoslav Ambassador to the UN in
Geneva
Branko Brankovic said Thursday that last year's NATO aggression on
Yugoslavia constituted a glaring violation of the fundamental principles

of
the UN Charter, and most strongly condemned the US, whose aircraft
dropped
depleted uranium bombs on inhabited areas.
Brankovic was presenting a Yugoslav government document on the
effects of the use of depleted uranium during the NATO aggression on
Yugoslavia in 1999. The following is the official translation of his
statement:
In the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia
in 1999, called "Humanitarian intervention Guardian Angel", commander
of
French air force in NATO, General Joffret stated: "The air force
received
orders to destroy life in Serbia" (the statement was quoted by Michel
Fontanie, President of ASFED FRANCE Association pour la sauvegarde des
familles et enfants de disparus, in Strasbourg, 27 May 1999).
NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
from
24 March to 10 June 1999, was committed in gross violation of the
fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations and
international law in general and represents a crime against peace and
humanity and a crime of genocide.
During the armed NATO aggression against the FR of Yugoslavia,
it
was established beyond doubt that US A10 aircraft fired shells with
depleted uranium (DU). Some 50,000 missiles with DU were fired on some
100
densely populated locations in the Serb province of Kosovo and Metohija.

It
was also established that 3,0005,000 DU shells were fired on 8 locations

outside the Province of which six in the region of Presevo and
Bujanovac
and one in a broader area of Vranje and one in Montenegro. The Yugoslav
authorities undertook a detailed investigation of all locations outside
the
Province and established that contamination is going up to 235,000
Bq/kg,
which is 1,100 times above the permissible level of contamination. The
contaminated areas were marked and other activities are underway to deal

with the consequences.
US Department of Defense refused to release information about
the
locations and quantities of DU used in the territory of the FR of
Yugoslavia. In his letter to P. Sullivan, Executive Director of National

Gulf War Research Center of 19 July 1999, the Director of the Joint
Staff
denied access to this information because "The issues related to the use

of
DU in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia area of operations are under
litigation in the International Court of Justice. Any answers we provide

at
this time may impact the interests of the United States in these
proceedings".
At the request of UN SecretaryGeneral K. Annan, NATO
SecretaryGeneral G. Robertson, in his letter of 7 February 2000,
confirmed
that throughout the territory of the Province of Kosovo and Metohija, in

approximately 100 air strikes, around 31,000 rounds of DU ammunition
were
used (which is equivalent to 10 tons of DU) and attached a map with only

28
locations, saying that "at this moment it is impossible to state
accurately
every location where DU ammunition was used". But it was not said why it

was impossible at this moment, nor when it will be possible, if in July
1999 it was not possible.
Nevertheless, the USA knows best the characteristics of DU
weapons
and the health consequences that DU provokes to the future generations.
On
the basis of many research studies conducted after the Gulf war by US
institutes it was established beyond doubt, that DU contaminates both
environment and affects population on a lasting basis development of
tumours, immune system damage, neurological problems, respiratory
disease,
kidney damage and male and female
reproductive effects, newlyborns with deformities, etc.
The effect of DU is lasting (DU has a halflife of 4.5 billion
years) and its chemical and radiological toxicity cannot be reduced. The

fact that most of DU, in addition to the Province of Kosovo and Metohija

was dropped in the area of Presevo and Bujanovac, with a large Albanian
population, indicates that the goal might be, in addition to destroying
the
Serbs, also an attempt to systematically destroy the coming generations
of
the Albanian population, whose birth rate is among the highest in the
world: according to the data from 1994, growth rate in Serbia is minus 3

%,
in Vojvodina, minus 0.3 %, in central Serbia, and even plus 17.2 in the
Province of Kosovo and Metohija (half the figure in Albania).
The US has tried to justify the use of weapons with DU
ammunition
owing allegedly to their greater effectiveness in antitank warfare. The
fact that 30,00050,000 DU missiles were dropped in the Province of
Kosovo
and Metohija, and only a dozen Yugoslav Army tanks were destroyed,
raises
the issue of the true goals in using such quantities of DU ammunition in

densely populated areas. The most important reason is that DU is made
from
radioactive waste, which is very expensive to store and safeguard. The
US
thus disposes of large quantities of hazardous waste by spilling it over

the territories of other countries. Uncontrolled diposal of this
radioactive waste deliberately causes lasting and dangerous
contamination
of Europe.
The dispersion of DU particles cannot be controlled or
prevented
and may spill over to neighbouring states and regions. In addition to
the
local population, international civilian and security presences, staff
of
humanitarian and nongovernmental organizations in general deployed in
the
Province of Kosovo and Metohija, are also exposed to DU dust, inhaled or

ingested through food and water. Among them, as well as among US
veterans
from the Gulf war, "inexplicable illness" began showing up. Armies and
Governments of NATO countries are aware of the dangers arising from DU
and
some Governments have already undertaken certain measures of protection.

The use of DU weapons represents a grave breach of the basic
principles of international humanitarian law because they cause
unnecessary
suffering and excessive injury, beyond the point used for military
purposes. For its inherent cruelty and immeasurable lethal effects
threatening the current and future generations, in the UN SubCommission
on
the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, DU weapons rank among the
weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction (UN SubCommission on the
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Resolutions 1996/16 and
1997/36);
also these are precisely the weapons which uses is prohibited by
international law for more than a century including the Geneva
Conventions
and their Additional Protocols of 1997.
Under US pressure, some international organizations tend to minimize
the
effects of DU and conceal serious consequences caused by the use of DU,
while some give up preparing a report warning of DU or withdraw reports
and
published new versions deliberately diminishing the scope of effects of
DU.
In line with this let me quote the statement by Dan Fahey, a former US
Navy
officer "The Pentagon has refused to comply with 1993 congressional
mandate
to study the health effects of inhaled and ingested DU dust. In 1999 the

Pentagon obstructed a United Nations investigation of the use of DU in
Kosovo. The Pentagon is likely to continue impeding investigations of DU

hazards", and remind you that the nine US congressmen (supporting the
rights of US veterans, victims of DU used by the US in the Gulf War)
sent,
on 8 June 2000, a letter to the President of the USA expressing concerns

over the reports that the US Government has blocked an investigation by
the
World Health Organization's experts into the effects of DU on human
health.
In the report of Amnesty International on war rights violations

by
NATO during the operations in Yugoslavia, referring to the studies
indicating "the DU dust poses a significant health risk, if inhaled or
ingested", the Amnesty International expresses concern about
indiscriminate
nature of DU ammunitions and recommended NATO and its member states "to
investigate and cooperate fully with independent investigations of the
possible longterm health and environment risk posed by DU weapons". It
is
therefore necessary for the Yugoslav experts from the Institute for
Nuclear
Science "Vinca", in cooperation with independent experts and those from
international organizations who are not under the influence of the US
(Iraq, India, Russia, China), to examine the terrain and mark
contaminated
sites. In view of the fact that weather and natural laws contribute to
dissemination of uranium in the field, it is necessary that
international
organizations for the protection of human rights, health, environment,
food, etc. undertake urgent action in order to protect the population
and
ensure financial resources to decontaminate the terrain, wherever
possible.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Associazione Peacelink" <infoNOSPAM@...>
To: <huambo53@...>
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 12:00 AM
Subject: Campagna contro le modifiche alla legge sulla stampa


>
> Campagna contro la modifica della legge sulla stampa - Associazione
PeaceLink
>
> "Parliamoci chiaro, le nostre leggi sull'ordinamento della professione
giornalistica per tanti aspetti si collegano alla struttura del fascismo
a
cominciare dalla figura del direttore responsabile (io l'ho ricoperta
per
quasi vent'anni) che non esiste in nessun'altra legislazione del mondo.
Una
figura derivata da un ordinamento in cui i direttore responsabile era
nominato da un partito politico autoritario e onnipotente, in
contrapposizione all'editore e mantenuto con privilegi economici, ma
senza
il controllo politico della testata".
>
> Giovanni Spadolini. Citazione tratta dal libro "Come si diventa
giornalista" - Piero Morganti - Ed.Einaudi
>
>
> ============================================================
>
>
> Campagna PeaceLink contro la registrazione delle testate telematiche -
aggiornamento del 25-1-01
>
>
> COMUNICATO STAMPA - DA LEGGERE E DIFFONDERE IL PIU' POSSIBILE
>
>
> Finalmente si scoprono le carte. I lavori parlamentari sulla nuova legge
in merito alla diffamazione a mezzo stampa sono andati avanti, e tra gli
emendamenti sono comparsi i fatidici obblighi di registrazione per i
"periodici telematici".
>
>
> Il percorso della legge finora e' stato questo: la II commissione
giustizia della camera ha approvato un testo definitivo che verra'
votato
dalla camera dei deputati nella sua globalita'. Se questo testo dovesse
passare alla camera con una votazione favorevole verra' discusso in
senato,
continuando l'iter della legge.
>
>
> Ricordiamo la ragione di fondo della nostra campagna: sta per passare una
modifica alla legge sulla stampa senza che l'opinione pubblica ne sia
minimamente informata, dal momento che questa modifica e' nascosta tra
le
righe di un progetto di legge che riguarda il reato di diffamazione a
mezzo
stampa.
>
>
> In particolare, se dovessero essere approvate queste modifiche, l'articolo
16 della legge sulla stampa, che stabilisce le sanzioni per la stampa
clandestina, diventerebbe il seguente:
>
>
> "Chiunque intraprende la pubblicazione di un giornale o altro periodico,
ANCHE SE DIFFUSO A MEZZO DI TRASMISSIONI INFORMATICHE O TELEMATICHE,
senza
che sia stata eseguita la registrazione prescritta dall' art. 5, è
punito
con la reclusione fino a due anni o con la multa fino a lire
cinquecentomila".
>
>
> Nella categoria di "periodico" potrebbe essere fatto rientrare a pieno
titolo anche qualsiasi sito web aggiornato periodicamente, trasformando
questa legge in un possibile grimaldello legislativo che renderebbe di
fatto
illegale qualsiasi forma di informazione telematica non registrata,
imbavagliando i circuiti informativi e il giornalismo di base che
costituiscono l'unica alternativa onesta alle grandi concentrazioni
editoriali, televisive e mediatiche dei grandi colossi
dell'informazione.
>
>
> Questo iter parlamentare va interrotto in tutti i modi, e quindi
proponiamo una mobilitazione massiccia per far sentire la voce di chi e'
contrario alla registrazione obbligatoria delle testate telematiche.
>
>
> Tutti i documenti della campagna e i testi dell'appello sono disponibili
su
>
>
> http://www.peacelink.it/censura
>
>
> Alleghiamo alcuni stralci dei lavori parlamentari in merito a questa
vicenda. Tutti i documenti sono consultabili all'indirizzo www.camera.it
con
una "ricerca per numero" del progetto di legge 7292.
>
>
> In coda al testo sono allegati gli articoli della legge sulla stampa che
stanno per essere modificati, con le relative modifiche scritte in
maiuscolo.
>
>
> Se la nuova legge sulla stampa non vi piace, ditelo prima che venga
approvata !
>
>
> Inviate un fax ai seguenti numeri:
>
>
> Ministero della giustizia - ufficio stampa - Fax 06.68891493
> Presidenza del Consiglio - Fax 06-67793543
>
> Segnalate l'eventuale invio del fax scrivendo a info@... oppure a
PeaceLink, Casella Postale 2009, 74100 Taranto.
>
> Un fac-simile del testo da inviare puo' essere questo:
>
>
> SONO CONTRARIO ALLE MODIFICHE ALLA LEGGE SULLA STAMPA CONTENUTE NELLA
PROPOSTA DI LEGGE ANEDDA N.7292 IN MERITO ALLA DIFFAMAZIONE A MEZZO
STAMPA.
>
>
> LA REGISTRAZIONE OBBLIGATORIA DEI GIORNALI E DEI PERIODICI TELEMATICI E'
UNA MINACCIA PER LA LIBERTA' DI ESPRESSIONE GARANTITA DALL'ARTICOLO 21
DELLA
NOSTRA COSTITUZIONE.
>
>
> ADERISCO ALL'APPELLO LANCIATO DALL'ASSOCIAZIONE PEACELINK CONTRO LE
MODIFICHE ALLA LEGGE SULLA STAMPA.
>
>
> DATA E FIRMA
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
>
>
> CAMERA DEI DEPUTATI - XIII LEGISLATURA
> Resoconto della II Commissione permanente
> (Giustizia)
>
>
>
> Giovedì 18 gennaio 2001. - Presidenza del Presidente Anna FINOCCHIARO
FIDELBO. - Interviene il Ministro della Giustizia Piero Fassino e il
sottosegretario di Stato per la Giustizia Marianna Li Calzi.
>
>
> La seduta comincia alle 13.30.
> Diffamazione a mezzo stampa o altro mezzo di diffusione.
> C. 7292 Anedda, C. 1808 Stefani, C. 3073 Cola, C. 6286 Turroni, C. 6302
Sanza, C. 6363 Pecorella, C. 7014 Pisapia, C. 7419 Volontè e C. 7422
Siniscalchi.
>
>
> (Seguito esame e conclusione).
>
>
> La Commissione prosegue l'esame del provvedimento rinviato il 21 dicembre
2000.
>
>
> Anna FINOCCHIARO FIDELBO, presidente, dopo aver avvertito che sono stati
presentati emendamenti al testo in esame (vedi allegato 2), ricorda che
il
provvedimento è nuovamente iscritto nel calendario dell'Assemblea a
partire
da martedì 23 gennaio.
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> Sebastiano NERI (AN), relatore, (omissis) Rende nota quindi alla
Commissione una serie di rilievi critici avanzati dall'associazione di
editori di siti Internet che paventa la sostanziale inapplicabilità
della
disciplina che ci si appresta ad approvare in relazione alle norme sulla
registrazione e sull'indicazione del responsabile editoriale; tale
regolamentazione rischia infatti di scoraggiare la creazione in Italia
dei
siti Internet cui si riferisce la normativa medesima. Ribadisce in
conclusione di rimettersi alle valutazioni della Commissione su tutti
gli
emendamenti presentati.
>
>
> Il ministro Piero FASSINO, manifestando apprezzamento per le proposte
avanzate nel corso del dibattito, dichiara la disponibilità del Governo
a
ritirare i suoi emendamenti. Sottolinea tuttavia che l'impostazione che
sembra prevalere in Commissione, basata sulla non punibilità nei casi di
rettifica, fermo restando il risarcimento del danno, rischia di trovare
pochi consensi al Senato, con la conseguenza che il provvedimento
difficilmente riuscirebbe ad essere approvato entro la fine della
legislatura.
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> -------------------------------
>
>
> ALLEGATO 2
>
>
> Diffamazione a mezzo stampa o altro mezzo di diffusione. (Anedda C. 7292).
> EMENDAMENTI
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> ART. 9.
> Dopo il comma 2 dell'articolo 9, aggiungere i seguenti:
> 2. Il comma 2 dell'articolo 2 della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47, è
sostituito dal seguente:
> I giornali, le pubblicazioni delle agenzie d'informazioni e i periodici di
qualsiasi altro genere, anche se diffusi a mezzo di trasmissioni
informatiche o telematiche, devono recare la indicazione:
> del luogo e della data della pubblicazione;
> del nome e del domicilio dello stampatore o della persona responsabile
della gestione della diffusione nel caso di trasmissioni informatiche o
telematiche;
> del nome del proprietario e del direttore o vice direttore responsabile.
> 3. Al comma 1 dell'articolo 3 della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 dopo le
parole: «Ogni giornale o altro periodico» sono inserite le seguenti: «,
anche se diffuso a mezzo di trasmissioni informatiche o telematiche».
> 4. Al comma 1 dell'articolo della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 dopo le
parole «o altro periodico» sono inserite le seguenti: «anche se diffuso
a
mezzo di trasmissioni informatiche o telematiche».
> 5. Al comma 1 dell'articolo 5 della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 dopo le
parole: «o periodico», sono inserite le seguenti: «anche se diffuso a
mezzo
di trasmissioni informatiche o telematiche».
> 6. Al comma 1 dell'articolo 8 della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 le
parole: «Il direttore o, comunque, il responsabile è tenuto a fare
inserire
gratuitamente nel quotidiano o nel periodico o nell'agenzia di stampa»,
sono
sostituite dalle seguenti: «Il direttore è tenuto a fare inserire
gratuitamente nel quotidiano o nel periodico o nell'agenzia di stampa,
anche
se diffusi a mezzo di trasmissioni informatiche o telematiche».
> 7. Dopo il comma 1 dell'articolo 11 della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 è
inserito il seguente: «Nel caso di cui al primo comma, quando i reati
sono
commessi con trasmissione informatica o telematica sono civilmente
responsabili in solido con gli autori del reato e fra di loro, l'editore
e
la persona responsabile della gestione della diffusione.
> 8. Al comma 1 dell'articolo 16 della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47 dopo le
parole: «o periodico,» sono inserite le seguenti: «anche se diffuso a
mezzo
di trasmissioni informatiche o telematiche».
> 9. 50.Il Governo.
>
>
> -----------------------
>
>
> COME POTREBBE CAMBIARE LA LEGGE SULLA STAMPA
> (le modifiche che stanno per essere apportate sono indicate con lettere
maiuscole).
>
>
> Disposizioni sulla stampa: legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> Art. 2 - Indicazioni obbligatorie sugli stampati
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> I giornali, le pubblicazioni delle agenzie di informazioni e i periodici
di qualsiasi altro genere, ANCHE SE DIFFUSI A MEZZO DI TRASMISSIONI
INFORMATICHE O TELEMATICHE, devono recare la indicazione:
>
>
> del luogo e della data della pubblicazione;
>
>
> del nome e del domicilio dello stampatore O DELLA PERSONA RESPONSABILE
DELLA GESTIONE DELLA DIFFUSIONE NEL CASO DI TRASMISSIONI INFORMATICHE O
TELEMATICHE;
>
>
> Art. 3 - Direttore responsabile
>
>
> Ogni giornale o altro periodico, ANCHE SE DIFFUSO A MEZZO DI TRASMISSIONI
INFORMATICHE O TELEMATICHE, deve avere un direttore responsabile.
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> Art. 4 - Proprietario
>
>
> Per poter pubblicare un giornale o altro periodico, ANCHE SE DIFFUSO A
MEZZO DI TRASMISSIONI INFORMATICHE O TELEMATICHE, il proprietario, se
cittadino italiano residente in Italia, deve possedere gli altri
requisiti
per l'iscrizione nelle liste elettorali politiche.
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> Art. 5 - Registrazione
>
>
> Nessun giornale o periodico, ANCHE SE DIFFUSO A MEZZO DI TRASMISSIONI
INFORMATICHE O TELEMATICHE, può essere pubblicato se non sia stato
registrato presso la cancelleria del Tribunale, nella cui circoscrizione
la
pubblicazione deve effettuarsi.
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> Art. 8 - Risposte e rettifiche
>
>
> IL DIRETTORE È TENUTO A FARE INSERIRE GRATUITAMENTE NEL QUOTIDIANO O NEL
PERIODICO O NELL'AGENZIA DI STAMPA, ANCHE SE DIFFUSI A MEZZO DI
TRASMISSIONI
INFORMATICHE O TELEMATICHE, le dichiarazioni o le rettifiche dei
soggetti di
cui siano state pubblicate immagini od ai quali siano stati attribuiti
atti
o pensieri o affermazioni da essi ritenuti lesivi della loro dignità o
contrari a verità, purchè le dichiarazioni o le rettifiche non abbiano
contenuto suscettibile di incriminazione penale.
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> Art. 11 - Responsabilità civile
>
>
> Per i reati commessi col mezzo della stampa sono civilmente responsabili,
in solido con gli autori del reato e fra di loro, il proprietario della
pubblicazione e l'editore.
>
>
> NEL CASO DI CUI AL PRIMO COMMA, QUANDO I REATI SONO COMMESSI CON
TRASMISSIONE INFORMATICA O TELEMATICA SONO CIVILMENTE RESPONSABILI IN
SOLIDO
CON GLI AUTORI DEL REATO E FRA DI LORO, L'EDITORE E LA PERSONA
RESPONSABILE
DELLA GESTIONE DELLA DIFFUSIONE.
>
>
> (omissis)
>
>
> Art. 16 - Stampa clandestina
>
>
> Chiunque intraprende la pubblicazione di un giornale o altro periodico,
ANCHE SE DIFFUSO A MEZZO DI TRASMISSIONI INFORMATICHE O TELEMATICHE,
senza
che sia stata eseguita la registrazione prescritta dall' art. 5, è
punito
con la reclusione fino a due anni o con la multa fino a lire
cinquecentomila.
>
>
> (omissis)
>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Diffondiamo la versione italiana di questo articolo di Michel Collon
sull'uranio impoverito, da noi gia' distribuito in lingua francese:

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La “Sindrome Nato”: armi, profitti e bugie
MICHEL COLLON (15.01.2001)

Chi occulta da dieci anni i pericoli dell’uranio impoverito e per quali
interessi ?
Dopo anni di sofferenze, soldati belgi denunciano il loro governo. Ma
perché la Nato occulta la verità da dieci anni? Finalmente, se scoppia
lo scandalo dell’uranio è grazie alla decennale lotta accanita – contro
gli USA, poi in Gran Bretagna e in Francia – da parte delle associazioni
di soldati vittime e di un pugno di scienziati e di militanti
coraggiosi. Tra i quali Christine Abdelkrim-Delanne che ha pubblicato
recentemente “La Sporca Guerra pulita. Storia di quel conflitto”.
26.000 soldati USA soffrono di “malattie sconosciute”
“Sono rimasto ferito il 26 febbraio 1991 da un colpo amico che usava
munizioni all’uranio impoverito – racconta Jerry Wheat (3^ divisione
corazzata USA nel Golfo) – In ottobre, ho avuto dolori addominali
violenti. Ho lasciamo l’esercito. Decisi di suicidarmi poiché non
ricevevo nessuna risposta, né cure. Mi è stato detto che la mia malattia
non era reale, che ce l’avevo nella mente. Il nostro governo dovrebbe
cessare l’utilizzo dell’uranio impoverito. Se non lo fa, che almeno
decida di curare coloro, come me, che ne hanno bisogno. Ricordate!
questa triste eredità degli errori compiuti dal governo non è una
novità. Circa 50 anni fa, dei Veterani sono stati utilizzati come cavie
umane per gli esperimenti nucleari. Poi il governo ha testato l’LSD su
altri. Poi hanno usato il Napalm in Vietnam.” Al ritorno dalla guerra
del Golfo, nel 1991, diversi soldati americani e britannici avvertono
certi disturbi, che poi si rivelano essere cancri, malattie polmonari e
della pelle, lesioni cerebrali. E mostruose malformazioni nei loro
neonati.
“Si notano le stesse patologie nella popolazione irachena; – dichiara il
prof. Selma Al Taha, direttore di un laboratorio genetico – dopo la
guerra, registriamo un aumento importante di malformazioni congenite:
idrocefalie (rigonfiamento abnorme del cervello; ndr), encefaliti,
spina-bifida (chiusura incompleta delle ossa vertebrali, che toglie
protezione al midollo spinale; ndr), ma anche malformazioni mostruose di
braccia e gambe, assenza di cuore e testa.”
Il suo collega Al Askri, specialista in medicina nucleare, sottolinea:
“un forte aumento delle patologie della tiroide e dei tumori. Visitiamo
quotidianamente circa 50 pazienti con il cancro.” Nel sud del paese,
intenso teatro di guerra, si trova il più alto tasso di leucemia
infantile. È assolutamente indispensabile un’indagine scientifica
approfondita e indipendente. Poiché i sintomi della “sindrome della
guerra del Golfo” sono molto diversi tra loro, diverse possibili cause
sono state avanzate nel corso degli anni: uranio impoverito, vaccini
somministrati ai soldati, pesticidi, bombardamento di fabbriche
chimiche… Argomento complesso, la questione meriterebbe una ricerca
scientifica seria e costosa. Gli USA e la Nato negano ogni legame con
l’uranio impoverito e ogni errore da parte loro. E’ ovviamente il loro
rifiuto d’iniziare questa ricerca scientifica che gli ha permesso di
negare la sindrome del Golfo per dieci anni. Tuttavia, l’esercito
americano ha dovuto recentemente riconoscere che 132.749 veterani erano
“inabili al servizio” di cui il 20% colpiti da “malattie sconosciute”.
Ma non riconosce tutti gli studi e in particolare quelli dell’autorevole
dipartimento dei Veterani, o quelli del centro di ricerca delle forze
navali di San Diego, e si ostina a dichiarare che si tratta di “vittime
da stress di guerra”.

Chi non cerca niente, non trova niente
Malgrado l’ostruzionismo sistematico dell’esercito USA, la verità si fa
lentamente strada… il 7 maggio 1991, il professore tedesco Sigwart
Gunther scopre frantumi di proiettile, di forme e pesi bizzarri,
sull’autostrada del deserto iracheno. “Ho visto bambini che giocavano
con quei resti. Ho poi saputo che una ragazzina che ne aveva conservato
era morta di leucemia.” Quattro diversi istituti tedeschi vi misurano
un’enorme radioattività. La polizia sequestra e fa scomparire il
proiettile, ma non può impedire a Gunther di dare l’allarme. Poco
ascoltato, purtroppo. Nel 1992, uno studio dell’Ufficio di valutazione
tecnologica del Congresso USA, constata che, su 148 soldati morti
ufficialmente riconosciuti, 34 sono stati ammazzati da “colpi amici”. E
conclude: “E’ impossibile prevedere il numero dei decessi ulteriori tra
i soldati che portano le schegge d’uranio impoverito nel loro corpo”. È
forse per questo che l’esercito USA avrebbe, dopo la guerra, raccolto in
segreto e confiscato materiali americani e iracheni contaminati? In ogni
caso, a gennaio 1992, sotto la pressione delle associazioni di veterani,
l’Ufficio d’investigazione del Congresso americano inizia un’inchiesta.
E a marzo, il servizio sanitario dell’esercito raccomanda d’identificare
tutti i soldati che portano schegge nel loro corpo “per osservare e
catalogare i segni di tossicità renale cronica e di cancro.” Ma, per
cinque anni, il numero di soldati contaminati non sarà pubblicato.
L’esercito americano è in flagrante delitto di bugie ripetute.
Sistematicamente, l’esercito USA occulta le informazioni allarmanti.
Così, cinque mesi dopo la fine della guerra, un incendio infuria per sei
ore nella base USA di Doha, vicino Kuwait City, distruggendo 4
carrarmati Abrams, 660 obici da 120 mm e 9.720 da 25 mm, tutti caricati
con proiettili all’uranio impoverito. 3.500 soldati sono presenti e si
misura una contaminazione superiore alle norme ammesse. Una nota che
informi del pericolo d’inalare le particelle non è mai stata distribuita
al personale che pulirà l’hangar senza protezioni, bevendo inoltre
l’acqua dal serbatoio lì vicino. Ma alla fine della giornata, ufficiali
incollano delle etichette “radioattività” sui frantumi dei proiettili
raccolti. E due mesi dopo, i gruppi incaricati di decontaminare
indosseranno maschere a gas, guanti e tute di protezione. Inoltre, per
sette anni l’esercito USA rifiuterà di rivelare quanti soldati sono
stati contaminati tra i gruppi incaricati di riparare – senza protezione
– i veicoli da combattimento colpiti dai “colpi amici”. Dal 1992,
Veterani e autorità USA si sono affrontati in una battaglia di cifre.
Fino a marzo ’98, il Pentagono sostiene che la contaminazione da uranio
riguarda solo 35 persone. Ma documenti segreti declassificati permettono
al ricercatore Dan Fahey di obbligare il Pentagono a riconoscere
pubblicamente il proprio “errore”: sarebbero 113, almeno. La
determinazione dei Veterani è stato l’elemento decisivo per ostacolare
la malafede delle autorità americane che, ancora oggi, cercano di
guadagnare tempo e seminare bugie. Ciò che Dan Fahey riassume nel “Chi
non cerca niente, non trova niente”.
Due donne ammirevoli, Sara e Carol, hanno lanciato la resistenza
Sara Flounders è co-fondatrice dell’International Action Center
un’organizzazione presieduta da Ramsey Clark (ex-ministro americano
della Giustizia) che lotta contro tutte le guerre imperialiste degli
Stati Uniti: Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Nicaragua, Libia, Somalia e
ovviamente la guerra del Golfo. Già nel 1992, Sara Flounders ha raccolto
le testimonianze di un centinaio di soldati e comincia le prime ricerche
sulle relazioni con l’uranio. Nel 1997, nel suo libro “Il metallo del
disonore”, pubblica una delle prime dichiarazioni di Veterani: “Ero
volontario per patriottismo – racconta Carol H. Picou (venerdì scorso,
ospite a “Il raggio verde” di M.Santoro; ndt) – volevo aiutare.
Infermiera militare, ero nel primo ospedale militare che entrava in Iraq
(…) nel deserto iracheno. C’erano proiettili ovunque, e granate, e
bunker distrutti, e la nostra unità medica di 150 persone ha
attraversato tutto ciò senza alcuna protezione. Eravamo sette donne.
Siamo tutte malate. Altri membri dell’unità sono morti. I carrarmati
(iracheni) erano bruciati e i corpi dei carristi carbonizzati, non avevo
mai visto una cosa simile. Ho fermato la mia jeep e ho fatto qualche
foto. Ero sconvolta. Ci siamo detti: “è la strada dell’inferno.” Nessuno
ci aveva avvertito della contaminazione.
“Non potevo più controllare il mio ventre, né lo sfintere”
In Iraq, ho cominciato a notare delle macchie nere sulla pelle.
Avvertivo in me uno strano cambiamento. Non potevo più controllare il
mio ventre, né lo sfintere. Mi fu detto che la disfunzione era meccanica
e che avrei dovuto fare degli esami al rientro. Al mio ritorno, ho
cominciato a porre domande e ho temuto per la mia carriera militare. Un
“Veterano atomico (ndr: è il tragico soprannome dei 250.000 soldati –
cifre americane ufficiali – irradiati durante gli esperimenti nucleari
americani tra il 1942 e il 1963) mi disse che io ero avvelenata
dall’uranio impoverito. Un medico civile ha diagnosticato: encefalopatia
dovuta all’esposizione a una sostanza tossica, anomalie del sistema
immunitario, ecc. L’esercito ha ritenuto, per la mia invalidità, che
“l’incontinenza urinaria e intestinale sia di origine sconosciuta”. Sono
stata licenziata, è stata soppressa, di conseguenza, la mia
assicurazione sanitaria militare. Nel febbraio ’94, un controllo ha
rivelato la presenza di uranio. Sono andata a Washington e ho fatto una
pubblica dichiarazione. Oggi, ho un grave problema alla memoria. Ho
un’encefalopatia di origine tossica, un deterioramento della tiroide, un
degrado muscolare. Soffro d’incontinenza della vescica e degli intestini
e praticamente non posso più usare le mani e i piedi. Il neonato di un
membro della nostra unità è nato senza orecchie, senza occhi e con il
cuore a destra.” Da allora, Carol ha testimoniato in tutto il mondo. Il
suo coraggio, insieme all’azione di Sara Flounders e dell’International
Action Center hanno fatto arretrare il muro del silenzio.
Ancora una storia di quattrini ?
A chi serve il crimine? Chi ha interesse ad usare tonnellate di uranio
impoverito?
In settembre, un colonnello dell’armata jugoslava, incaricato
dell’indagine sui siti bombardati dalla Nato e della protezione dei
militari, mi diceva che esistono dei metalli altrettanto, o forse più
efficaci per forare i mezzi blindati, dell’uranio impoverito. Ma
impiegare quest’ultimo permette di risolvere lo spinoso problema del
trattamento di quelle scorie nucleari (che restano radioattive per
miliardi di anni). L’industria nucleare trasformerebbe dunque certi
paesi – e certi popoli – in pattumiere nucleari. Non essendo esperto,
non posso giudicare i “pregi” dei diversi componenti possibili. Sarebbe
molto importante che ricercatori onesti e indipendenti studiassero
questo aspetto. Quando si scopre l’impiego di armi così criminali, non è
necessario scoprire quali interessi si celano dietro?
La colpa ai vaccini? Alla pillola anti-sonno? O al business?
Diverse ipotesi tentano di spiegare la “sindrome del Golfo e dei
Balcani”… Secondo Pamela Asa, ricercatore in biologia nucleare,
l’esercito USA avrebbe clandestinamente introdotto una sostanza non
autorizzata, lo squalene, nel cocktail di vaccini somministrati ai suoi
soldati. Reazione? All’inizio, l’esercito USA nega che i suoi laboratori
dispongano di squalene. Poi, ammette la sua utilizzazione ma dopo la
guerra. Infine, confessa di averlo sperimentato prima della guerra, ma
rifiuta di aprire gli archivi. Ora, un’inchiesta del Congresso americano
dimostra che il numero di vaccinati è settanta volte superiore alle
cifre ufficiali. I militari sarebbero stati cavie per tests segreti.
Stessa accusa contro l’esercito francese
Le sue compresse di pyridostigmina (prevenzione contro il gas bellico)
sarebbero state imposte ai soldati senza autorizzazione legale, malgrado
i loro pericolosi effetti secondari. Negli USA, questo prodotto non ha
mai ottenuto l’autorizzazione della Food and Drug Administration. Altro
aspetto: il giornale “Canard enchaîné” ha scoperto che “segretamente, lo
stato maggiore francese ha sperimentato una pillola anti-sonno allora
vietata”. 14.000 scatole di Modafinil confezionate sotto falso nome,
rifiutando di dire ai soldati ciò che stavano assumendo (molti
rifiutarono). Ovviamente, tale pillola magica anti-fatica promette
prodigiosi benefici. Ma la legge francese proibisce, pena il carcere,
ogni test praticato senza informare il soggetto sulla natura del
prodotto e dei rischi. L’esercito francese si sarebbe comportato da
fuorilegge per servire grossi interessi finanziari? Il libro di
Abdelkrim esamina inoltre diverse sostanze sospette tra i quali un
pesticida. Cosa concluse? Innanzitutto, che la cospirazione del
silenzio, organizzata dagli USA e dalla Nato, è responsabile di questa
incertezza che acuisce l’angoscia delle vittime. In secondo luogo, che i
sintomi dei soldati occidentali potrebbero derivare da differenti
fattori: uranio, vaccini, medicinali speciali o contaminazioni locali.
Ma, in ciascuno di questi casi, questo libro dimostra che gli eserciti
occidentali hanno utilizzato prodotti pericolosi nascondendone i rischi.
Essi si aggrappano quindi alla teoria dei “malati nella loro mente”,
poiché ogni inchiesta rivelerebbe delle colpe gravissime. Terzo, le
popolazioni dell’Iraq e dei Balcani non hanno assunto quei vaccini o
altri prodotti, perciò è l’uranio che causa quei tumori e quelle
malformazioni mostruose; di conseguenza, bisogna mettere al bando
immediatamente quest’arma criminale.
Sapevano e non hanno detto niente
Quattro mesi prima della guerra del Golfo, lo stato maggiore USA diffuse
le Consegne in caso di incidente nel trasporto di munizioni all’uranio
impoverito. Rivelatrici: “Se gli imballaggi rimangono danneggiati,
devono essere sostituiti prima di riprendere il trasporto. Dev’essere
effettuato un controllo di contaminazione radioattiva. Se sono
contaminati, devono essere decontaminati secondo le metodiche descritte
al capitolo 7…” Si noterà che queste misure rigorose riguardano un
incidente di trasporto, non un’esplosione! C’era quindi un pericolo
grave? Sicuramente, e lo sapevano. Il 22 luglio 1990, il
luogotenente-colonnello Ziehm aveva scritto in un rapporto ufficiale:
“Si è verificata e continua a verificarsi una preoccupazione circa
l’impatto dell’uranio impoverito sull’ambiente. Anche se nessuno dubita
dell’efficacia dell’uranio impoverito sul campo di battaglia, queste
munizioni possono divenire politicamente inaccettabili e suscettibili
d’essere, di conseguenza, ritirate dagli arsenali.” (pg.202). I
dirigenti militari USA, perfettamente a conoscenza dei fatti e per
evitare la protesta, hanno organizzato il complotto del silenzio!
Perché è stato licenziato Asaf Durakovic ?
Quel complotto dura ancora. Asaf Durakovic, professore di medicina
nucleare (venerdì scorso, ospite a “Il raggio verde” di M.Santoro; ndt),
incaricato di esaminare i soldati del 144° New Jersey Transport Corps,
ne aveva inviato 24 alla clinica per Veterani di Boston. Le ricerche
progredivano, mettendo in evidenza tracce di radioattività. Brutalmente,
i suoi dossiers e i suoi campioni di laboratorio vengono distrutti e, a
febbraio ’97, il suo incarico è annullato per “ragioni di bilancio”.
Nello stesso periodo, anche i dottori Burroughs e Slingerlan perdono il
loro incarico per aver domandato del materiale di ricerca migliore.
Durakovic scrisse a Clinton per “denunciare il complotto di cui sono
vittime i Veterani”. Senza risposta.
Ma anche in Europa si organizza la protesta
A Manchester, gennaio ’99, un gruppo di ONG lancia una grande campagna
d’informazione. E certi stati cominciano a preoccuparsi. In agosto, il
ministro finlandese dell’Ambiente organizza un gruppo d’inchiesta nel
Kosovo. La Nato rifiuta di collaborare, ma l’équipe persevera e conclude
che i rischi sono seri. A novembre, il governo italiano emana una nota
molto critica. In Belgio, una serie di articoli di Frédéric Loore fa
scalpore dalle pagine del “Giornale del Sabato”. Il ministro Flahaut
all’inizio tenta di minimizzare, poi deve fare marcia in dietro…
Cari nostri ministri, cosa sapete esattamente ?
Ministro Flahaut, quando direte la veità? A ottobre ’99 e febbraio 2000,
dichiarate “di non essere a conoscenza di rischi di salute per i
militari dopo le operazioni nei Balcani”. Ma il 7 gennaio 2001,
riconoscete che la Nato aveva avvertito dei rischi e che avete fatto
effettuare, con discrezione, dei tests urologici al loro ritorno!
Secondo il sindacalista Marc De Ceulaer, gli avvertimenti della Nato non
sono stati comunicati pubblicamente poiché ne sarebbe seguito un
movimento di protesta contro l’invio di soldati in Bosnia. Tutto ciò
esige un dibattito per stabilire la verità. Delle due cose una: o i
ministri belgi susseguenti non sono stati informati dagli USA sui
pericoli dell’uranio impoverito; e allora il Belgio non dovrebbe forse
uscire da un’organizzazione che minaccia a tal punto la vita umana,
compresa quella dei propri militari? Oppure erano tutti al corrente, e
in questo caso non dovrebbero essere tutti giudicati per complicità?
Parigi e Londra producono a loro volta armi all’uranio. E hanno
soffocato la verità.
Nel 1993, la bambina inglese Kimberley Office muore alla nascita a causa
delle malformazioni congenite gravi. Suo padre, soldato nel Golfo, e sua
madre, sostenuti dalle associazioni di veterani, forzarono finalmente
l’esercito britannico a iniziare uno studio pilota nel 1998. Risultato
ufficiale: niente. Ma le autorità britanniche sono affidabili? Esse
producono questo tipo di armamento dal 1979, hanno impiegato molto tempo
per riconoscerlo e, all’inizio, hanno pubblicamente negato di aver
utilizzato armi all’uranio durante la guerra del Golfo. Le autorità
francesi hanno lungamente negato di produrre o utilizzare quel tipo di
armi. Illegali e condannate dall’ONU in una (prudente) risoluzione del
1996. Ma, nel 1994, la rivista pacifista francese “Damoclés” rivela la
presenza di residui nei poligoni di collaudo delle armi. Nel 1998,
rivela che la Giat Industries produce 60.000 granate da 120 mm
all’uranio. Nello stesso anno, Christine Abdelkrim-Delanne, autrice del
recente libro “La Sporca Guerra pulita”, interroga le autorità francesi.
È stata analizzata la terra e l’acqua nelle zone di collaudo delle armi
all’uranio? Il personale era protetto? Quale sicurezza che nessun
soldato francese sia stato contaminato? Nessuna risposta. Agosto 2000,
il ministro della Difesa, Alain Richard, afferma di nuovo solennemente
che nessun soldato francese è rimasto vittima di munizioni all’uranio
nel Golfo. Ma i soldati si organizzano e la loro associazione Avigolfe
replica pubblicando una lunga lista di soldati malati o deceduti:
Frédéric Bissérieux, morto di tumore a 32 anni; A.N., morto a 43 anni di
cancro diffuso; M.C., morto di linfoma; M.L., morto nel 1992 di un
cancro al polmone… L’inchiesta dimostra che le autorità militari hanno,
come i loro colleghi USA, rifiutato di rispondere alle preoccupazioni
dei soldati, di comunicare loro documenti sanitari completi o di
condurre serie ricerche. Il libro di Abdelkrim smaschera le numerose
bugie e dissimulazioni del ministro Richard e dell’esercito.
Attualmente, certe potenze europee cercano di rigettare la colpa sugli
USA e di approfittarne per promuovere il progetto dell’esercito europeo.
Ma tutti hanno le stesse responsabilità.
L’embargo impedisce di soccorrere la popolazione irachena
La tattica attuale dei media pro-Nato è quella di limitare il dibattito
solo ai soldati occidentali. Ma in Iraq, milioni di persone sono
minacciate poiché una piccolissima particella di uranio inalata basta a
sconvolgere il sistema immunitario. E l’embargo impedisce i soccorsi. Un
crimine dopo tanti altri… “Riporteremo l’Iraq all’età della pietra”,
aveva annunciato il presidente USA George Bush. Sono stati bombardati,
violando le convenzioni internazionali, diversi siti civili: centrali
elettriche, stazioni di pompaggio e depurazione dell’acqua, siti
petroliferi, silos di cereali, magazzini alimentari… Una crudeltà
deliberata. A ottobre ’90, l’Istituto di Washington per il Medio-Oriente
raccomandava di colpire “le stazioni di pompaggio e depurazione delle
acque di Bagdad senza le quali la popolazione urbana dovrà impiegare
molte ore ogni giorno in cerca di acqua e poi depurarla”. Inoltre, sono
stati bombardati, senza preoccuparsi degli effetti sull’ambiente e la
salute, i siti militari si produzione di sostanze chimiche e biologiche,
le centrali nucleari, le fabbriche d’armi, i complessi petrolchimici e i
loro prodotti altamente tossici. La lista di crimini commessi è lunga:
uso delle orribili (e illegali) “bombe a frammentazione” ognuna delle
quali semina centinaia di schegge assassine sulle popolazioni; migliaia
di soldati iracheni sepolti vivi nel deserto; massacro di migliaia di
soldati in fuga sulla “autostrada della morte”… Quindici anni dopo il
Vietnam, l’esercito USA non fu per nulla più “civile”. Ma il crimine
peggiore è sicuramente l’embargo. Ancor oggi, tutto un popolo è privato
dei mezzi di sostentamento e di cura. Questo scandalo deve cessare
immediatamente! È nella popolazione irachena che l’uranio ha fatto il
maggior numero di vittime. Tutta una generazione è in pericolo. Bisogna
soccorrerli d’urgenza finanziando le ricerche e le cure necessarie.
Christine Abdelkrim ha visitato l’Iraq, quell’ “inferno pieno di grida e
sofferenze”, e il suo libro ha il merito di mostrare che l’uranio
impoverito e l’embargo contro l’Iraq sono due aspetti di una stessa
barbara guerra. Condotta da gente per la quale la vita non conta.
Per fare giustizia
Il vecchio ministro Ramsey Clark ha ben definito ciò che bisogna
pretendere: “Le armi all’uranio impoverito rappresentano una minaccia
inaccettabile per la vita, una violazione della legge internazionale e
un attentato alla dignità umana. Per salvaguardare il futuro
dell’umanità, noi esigiamo l’interdizione internazionale incondizionata
della ricerca, la produzione, i collaudi, i trasporti, la detenzione e
l’utilizzazione dell’uranio impoverito a fini militari. Inoltre,
domandiamo che tutte queste armi e tutti i residui radioattivi siano
immediatamente isolati e immagazzinati, che l’uranio impoverito sia
classificato “sostanza radioattiva a rischio”, che le zone contaminate
siano ripulite e che tutti coloro che sono rimasti esposti possano
ricevere cure mediche appropriate.”
E chi deve pagare ? il principio “chi inquina paga” è semplicemente
giusto.
La Nato, le aziende private che hanno prodotto questi armamenti e i
diversi governi che hanno prodotto, utilizzato o lasciato utilizzare
queste armi devono prelevare dai loro bilanci militari quanto serve a
finanziare:
1. ricerche scientifiche serie e indipendenti sugli effetti dell’uranio
impoverito e sui sintomi rilevati;
2. una campagna d’informazione delle popolazioni dell’Iraq, della Bosnia
e della Jugoslavia, oltre ai soldati e le altre persone minacciate;
3. misure d’isolamento immediato delle zone contaminate, di evacuazione
e di trattamento dei residui e degli equipaggiamenti sospetti;
4. cure di qualità e indennizzi per tutte le vittime; popolazioni locali
o soldati occidentali;
5. una commissione d’inchiesta indipendente, costituita da personalità
scientifiche non legate all’industria bellica o all’esercito, per
ricercare i responsabili degli atti commessi in queste guerre e coloro
che hanno soffocato l’informazione sui pericoli dell’uranio.
Inoltre, il governo belga cesserà immediatamente, unilateralmente e
senza condizioni ogni politica d’embargo che aggrava la situazione della
popolazione irachena e impedisce i soccorsi.
Perché la Nato non rispetta nessuna vita…
Di nuovo, la Nato è colta in flagrante delitto. Ma, ha forse mentito
solamente sulle sue armi perverse e la sua “guerra pulita? Oppure anche
sui suoi veri obiettivi? Ricordate: le guerre contro l’Iraq, in Bosnia o
contro la Jugoslavia erano tutte “umanitarie”. Ma oggi, il popolo
iracheno rimane sottomesso ad un embargo impietoso, niente è regolare in
Bosnia trasformata in protettorato occidentale corrotto e invivibile,
mentre in Jugoslavia duemila civili sono stati uccisi dai bombardamenti
della Nato. Quanto al Kosovo, è etnicamente “ripulito” dai suoi
protetti dell’UCK, e trasformato in pattumiera nucleare. Nell’ottobre
scorso, invitai a Bruxelles Snezana Pavlovic, esperto nucleare di
Belgrado, per un grande dibattito sull’uranio. Questo Serbo ci ha detto:
“il nostro governo aveva previsto l’uso di armi all’uranio e organizzato
la protezione dei soldati esposti. In Serbia, i siti contaminati sono
delimitati e proibiti. Ma non nel Kosovo occupato, dove la Nato nega
ogni pericolo. Infatti, soprattutto i civili albanesi, in particolare i
bambini, saranno le vittime dell’uranio”. Della salute degli Albanesi,
la Nato se ne infischia completamente. E oggi, il numero dei tumori
aumenta molto nel Kosovo, come in Bosnia. Per esempio, a Bratunac dove
si sono rifugiati i civili serbi fuggiti dalle zone bombardate dalla
Nato, nel 1995, nelle periferie di Sarajevo, il cimitero è troppo
piccolo, ogni tre giorni qualcuno muore di cancro.
“Facciamo la guerra per vendere” (Bill Clinton)
Questa terrificante ammissione di fallimento porta a domandarsi: quali
erano i loro veri obiettivi? In verità, la guerra della Nato non aveva
alcunché di umanitario, riferiva Bill Clinton (in privato) alla vigilia
della guerra: “Se noi vogliamo delle solide relazioni economiche, che ci
permettano di vendere in tutto il mondo, bisogna che l’Europa sia la
chiave. Di questo si tratta con tutta questa cosa (sic) del Kosovo.” Uno
dei suoi vicini confermava: “Affinché la globalizzazione avanzi,
l’America non deve temere di agire come la superpotenza onnipotente qual
è. La mano invisibile del mercato non funzionerà mai senza un pugno
nascosto. McDonalds non può prosperare senza McDonnell Douglas (fabbrica
dell’aereo F-15; ndr)”. Era dunque una guerra per i superprofitti delle
multinazionali, per spezzare la resistenza di un paese che pretende di
conservare un’economia indipendente. Per coloro che vogliono dominare e
sfruttare il mondo, una vita umana non vale niente. Né quella dei
soldati americani o europei, né quella degli Iracheni, sei Serbi e degli
Albanesi, tutti volontariamente contaminati. Ecco perché Javier Solana,
responsabile ieri della Nato e oggi del futuro esercito europeo, ha
organizzato l’estate scorsa il “segreto difesa” su ogni progetto e
analisi militare europei, provocando la collera, ma invano, della
maggioranza degli europarlamentari, privati così di ogni controllo. Sono
i popoli che devono giudicare se bisogna fare la guerra oppure le
multinazionali e i generali?? Il sig. Solana ha già risposto. Oggi, noi
paghiamo le conseguenze. Bisogna fermare la Nato!

Seguono Informazioni utili per partecipare alle varie iniziative
antimperialiste organizzate nella Francia settentrionale e in Belgio.

Siti utili:
www.lai-aib.org/balkans
WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
www.emperors-clothes.com

Michel Collon sta preparando un film documentario sulla situazione
generale nel Kosovo. Informazioni e reazioni: michel.collon@...

---

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BOTTE IN ASCENSORE

- Due aggressori entrati dopo la Morina in ascensore
l'hanno colpita varie volte e poi sono fuggiti -

Nell'ascensore dell'edificio numero 41 della Via Nebojsina due giovani
hanno aggredito e picchiato Bratislava Buba Morina, parlamentare
federale appartenente alla Direzione della JUL [Sinistra Unita
Jugoslava]. Come ha dichiarato Morina alla polizia, gli aggressori
l'hanno aspettata all'entrata dell'edificio e sono entrati dietro di lei
nell'ascensore. Dopo averle rivolto degli insulti, i giovani hanno
incominciato a picchiarla. Quando lei e' caduta, sono usciti
dall'ascensore e sono fuggiti. "La signora Morina deve andare a fare
degli esami radiologici", ha risposto una gentile voce femminile quando
i nostri giornalisti hanno suonato al citofono della sua casa. " Vi
potete immaginare come l'hanno picchiata... Ma lei non puo' parlare con
voi, avrete tutte le risposte dalla Direzione."
Alla Direzione della JUL non abbiamo potuto incontrare Ratko Krsmanovic,
il segretario generale, ma siamo riusciti ad avere un comunicato nel
quale e' scritto che "la Direzione della JUL esprime una durissima
protesta contro il linciaggio pianificato". Il Centro Stampa della JUL,
firmatario di questo comunicato, ribadisce anche che "l'attacco era
organizzato e questo e' confermato dal fatto che gli aggressori erano
mascherati e bande simili a questa svolgono i compiti che vengono loro
assegnati da superiori." Quante e quali percosse abbia in effetti subito
Buba Morina non siamo riusciti a scoprirlo, ma alla nostra domanda sulle
sue condizioni l'autista di Morina ha risposto: "Sta bene, non ha
lividi".
Ricordiamo che la vittima, membro della Direzione, era gia' stata
attaccata dai dimostranti nel 1996-'97 durante la protesta civica,
quando la sua automobile fu fermata in mezzo alla folla a piazza Slavija
e, nel caos generale, lei riusci' a sfuggire al linciaggio da parte di
cittadini arrabbiati.

(Tratto da NOVOSTI, Belgrado, 16/1/2001)

---

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-------- Original Message --------
Oggetto: Mappe dei bombardamenti in Bosnia
Rispedito-Data: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 11:51:51 +0100
Rispedito-Da: pck-yugoslavia@...
Data: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 11:54:33 +0100
Da: "francesco iannuzzelli" <francesco@...>
Rispondi-a: pck-yugoslavia@...
Società: peacelink
A: pck-armamenti@...
CC: pck-yugoslavia@..., pck-pace@...


Ciao a tutti, vi segnalo che abbiamo messo online le mappe e le
coordinate dei bombardamenti con uranio impoverito in Bosnia.
Le trovate a questo indirizzo

http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo/u238/mappe

In pratica le zone coinvolte sono 3: i dintorni di Sarajevo, Hadzici
(poco fuori Sarajevo) e Han Pijesak (a sud di Vlasenica)
Comunque sul sito trovate delle piantine dettagliate

Per quanto riguarda il Kosovo e' attivo un database all'indirizzo

http://db.peacelink.it/kosovo

che permette di cercare le citta' di tutto il Kosovo e ne visualizza
una piantina ingrandita con la distanza in linea d'aria dai
bombardamenti piu' vicini

ciao
francesco


francesco iannuzzelli francesco@...
associazione peacelink - sez. disarmo
http://www.peacelink.it/tematiche/disarmo
----------------------------------
Chiamami adesso, che non ho piu' niente da dire,
ma voglio parlare lo stesso insieme a te
(Paolo Conte)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> http://www.sps.org.yu/aktuelno/

23. januar 2001.
SAOPTENJE SOCIJALISTICKE PARTIJE SRBIJE
(Povodom izjave Rasela Donsona) ...
JAGODINA: VIE DEMOKRATIJE - MANJE PLATE...
PODSECANJE: NAI NEPRIJATELJE ZA NUKLEARNI OTPAD...

21. januar 2001.
SAOPTENJE SOCIJALISTICKE PARTIJE SRBIJE
(Krenje Rezolucije 1244 Saveta Bezbednosti) ...

18. januar 2001.
SAOPTENJE SOCIJALISTICKE PARTIJE SRBIJE
(Obnavljanje rada Komiteta za Kosovo i Metohiju) ...

17. januar 2001.
SAOPTENJE SOCIJALISTICKE PARTIJE SRBIJE
(uranijumska municija i zagadjenje) ...

11. januar 2001.
SEDNICA GLAVNOG ODBORA SOCIJALISTICKE PARTIJE SRBIJE...

09. januar 2001.
TRECA EVROMEDITERANSKA KONFERENCIJA PARTIJA LEVICE...
OD ISTORIJSKE JE VANOSTI DA SRBI MA GDE IVELI I SVI GRAANI SRBIJE I
JUGOSLAVIJE, BEZ OBZIRA NA POLITICKE RAZLIKE, SIMPATIJE ILI MRNJE,
SACUVAJU NARODNI KONSENZUS O TOME DA ODBRANA ZEMLJE I NARODA NE MOE BITI
ZLOCIN...

Prethodne vesti

---

> http://www.sps.org.yu/eng/news/2001-01-08.html

Socialist Party of Serbia
Head Committee
January 8th 2000,
Belgrade
Press Release

Socialist Party of Serbia is of the opinion that the position of the
Yugoslav Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Goran Svilanovic, taken at the
talks
with the outgoing American administration, regarding readiness of
Yugoslavia to co-operate in commencing of the Hague Tribunal proceedings
is directly contrary to the national interest of the Serb people and the
state interest of both Serbia and Yugoslavia. Such a position is also
contrary to the statements of the President of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia Mr. Vojislav Kostunica and of the Federal Prime Minister Mr.
Zoran Zizic, both asserting that Hague Tribunal is a political court.

Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs, encountering an administration
that
waged a criminal and illegal war against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
and that committed massive crimes against citizens of Yugoslavia, shifts
all the blame to his own people and accepts collective, complete and
only
guilt for all that transpired at the territories of former Yugoslavia,
even though Serbs were the utmost victims of the secession, separatism
and
terrorism.

Acceptance of one political Tribunal to try defenders of the fatherland
is
nothing but renunciation of states and peoples right of self-defence. At
the same time, Albanian terrorist sentenced by courts are freed, while
at
Kosovo and Metohia persecution, killing and kidnapping of Serbs
continues,
and Albanian terrorism is spreading to the south of Serbia.

Such Svilanovics statements are not only alibi and amnesty for crimes
done
to Serbs but also disgraceful message that it was an error that Serb
people defended their country and that nation was protected. That is
more
than clear message to all those who will, in near or distant future, be
in
the position to defend the country again, that they will be held
responsible in some new tribunal set aside for Serbs only. For that
reason, and not for any individual person, it is of historical
importance
that Serbs, wherever they may reside and all the citizens of Serbia and
Yugoslavia, regardless of their political differences, sympathies or
hatred, preserve national consensus that defence of the country may not
and could not be a crime and that Serbs, Serbia and Yugoslavia in the
course of all these years did not cause nor committed any crimes against
other peoples and states. To the contrary. Thats why such statements of
the Yugoslav Foreign Affairs Minister are damaging for Serbia and for
Yugoslavia as well as for the Serb people as a whole.

---

> http://www.sps.org.yu/eng/news/2001-01-11.html

January 11th 2001,
Belgrade
Press Release

Today, in Belgrade, a session of the Head Committee of the Socialist
Party
of Serbia was held under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the
Socialist
Party of Serbia Mr . Slobodan Milosevic. While deliberating upon actual
situation in the country and the tasks of the Party in the period to
come,
it has been established that it is of historical importance that
citizens
of the Serbia and Yugoslavia preserve consensus that freedom and
self-defence of the country may not be crime, as well as that Serbia and
Yugoslavia did not commit crime against other peoples and states.

Socialist Party of Serbia is of the opinion that the position of the
Yugoslav Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Goran Svilanovic, taken at the
talks
with the outgoing American administration, regarding readiness of
Yugoslavia to co-operate in commencing of the Hague Tribunal proceedings
is directly contrary to the national interest of the Serb people and the
state interest of both Serbia and Yugoslavia. Yugoslav Minister of
Foreign
Affairs, encountering an administration that waged a criminal and
illegal
war against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and that committed massive
crimes against citizens of Yugoslavia, shifts all the blame to his own
people and accepts collective, complete and only guilt for all that
transpired at the territories of former Yugoslavia, even though Serbs
were
the utmost victims of the secession, separatism and terrorism.

Such Svilanovics statements are not only alibi and amnesty for crimes
done
to Serbs but also disgraceful message that it was an error that Serb
people defended themselves and that the freedom of the country was
protected. That is more than clear message to all those who will, in
near
or distant future, be in the position to defend the country again, that
they will be held responsible in some new tribunal set aside for Serbs
only. Thats why such statements of the Yugoslav Foreign Affairs Minister
are damaging for Serbia and for Yugoslavia as well as for the Serb
people
as a whole.

At the session of the Head Committee of the Socialist Party of Serbia it
was once more reiterated that preservation of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia as a joint state of the Serb and Montenegrin people, its
citizens, Republic of Serbia and Republic of Montengro is of national
and
state interest and of significance for all its citizens, peoples and
both
federal units, with respect to the will of the citizens and peoples and
constitutional procedure.

Press Service of the
Head Committee of the SPS

---

> http://www.sps.org.yu/eng/news/2001-01-21.html

Belgrade, January 21st 2001

Press Release

Socialist Party of Serbia expresses deep concern regarding the
continuation of systematic violations of the UN Security Council
Resolution 1244 (1999) and terrorism that is overflowing to the other
parts of Serbia in the Zone of ground security. Under the auspices of
UNMIK and K-For new illegal elections are being prepared in the Province
in order to continue with the implementation of the programme of the
separatists.

At the same time, all that is happening last weeks and months, in the
field, at the municipalities of Preshevo, Buyanovac and Medvedya, in
essence represents a part of the plan for gradual legalisation of
newly-established circumstances and presence of the terrorist KLA, for
transformation of new terrorist leaders into "side in the conflict" or
partners for dialogue with state authorities. Question is, why state
representatives are conscientiously avoiding to call terrorists in the
Zone of ground security terrorist in front of the TV cameras, but prefer
to speak of Albanian extremists or armed groups of Albanians. Why on
terrorists crimes such as murders of policemen and civilians, on
abductions they use formulation increase of violence? Thats well known
vocabulary of Coushner and NATO officials who did not make themselves
glorious on understanding of Serbs legitimate interests. In the European
countries there is an atmosphere of state of emergency in regard of use
of
depleted uranium and plutonium ammunitions and other forbidden weapons
used in the aggression of NATO against Yugoslavia. Heads of states and
governments, parliaments, including European parliament, political,
humanitarian and other organisations are requesting all facts to be made
public and their citizens and interests protected. Yugoslav public,
however, even though it is direct victim of the use of such weapons and
thus having more right to know the truth is still denied knowledge of
what
is Yugoslav Government doing or planning to do at the domestic and
international fields. Is the Government of our country conscientious of
the historical responsibility it carries right now regarding the
protection of most important interests such as health of the people and
future generations, or keeping silent is part of its European policy?

In such circumstances, Yugoslav Government was in a hurry to withdraw,
quite some time ago, Yugoslav ambassador at the United Nations, while a
new one is not yet appointed. Public has the right to know who will and
when put these issues to the Security Council, General Assembly and
other
organs of the United Nations.

Press Service of the
Head Committee of the SPS

---

Copyright 1997-2000 SPS

---

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-------- Original Message --------
Oggetto: ‘INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE’ AND THE END OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [fwd]
Data: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 19:55:04 +0100
Da: Herman de Tollenaere

PUBLICA.CZ http://www.publica.cz/forum/forum_chandler.htm

‘INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE’ AND THE END OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
By Dr David Chandler, Research Fellow,
Policy Research Institute, Leeds Metropolitan University

shortened version of “International Justice”, in the New Left Review,
No.6,
Nov/Dec 2000

The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999 has been saluted as
a triumph for ‘international justice’ over the traditional claims of
state
sovereignty. The war was in clear breach of international law: waged
without
UN Security Council authorization, against an elected, civilian
government
which
had not violated any external treaty, justifiable neither as a threat to
peace and security, nor in terms of any NATO country’s self-defence. It
has
been
welcomed instead as a ‘humanitarian’ crusade, explicitly setting
individual
rights above the territorial rights of nation-states. But if the
sovereignty
of some states—Yugoslavia, Iraq—is to be limited, that of others— the
NATO
powers—is to be increased under the new order: they are to be given the
right
to intervene at will. It is, in other words, not sovereignty itself but
sovereign
equality—the recognition of the legal parity of nation-states,
regardless
of their wealth or power—which is being targeted by the new
interventionists.
Yet such equality has been the constitutive principle of the entire
framework
of existing international law and of all attempts, fragile as they may
be, to
establish the rule of ‘right’ over ‘might’ in regulating inter-state
affairs.
‘Humanitarian intervention’. This article will examine the implications
of
such a right to ‘humanitarian’ military intervention for the future of
inter-state
regulation and international law.

International Law and Sovereign Equality

The concept of sovereign equality is often understood as an integral
part
of the long-standing doctrine of state sovereignty. In fact, it is of
much
more
recent provenance than the classic state system which emerged at the end
of
the
Thirty Years War. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 famously recognized
the
secular
rights of German princelings above the religious claims of the Papacy,
legitimating no external power beyond that of the sovereign; it was this
formal recognition of the principle of territorial sovereignty which
henceforth
became the basis of relations between states. There was, however, no
international
law in the modern sense: such rights of sovereignty were effectively
restricted
to the major powers and there was no explicit framework of an
international
community which could formally limit their exercise. Without
international
law, the regulation of inter-state relations could not extend beyond
voluntary
agreements between the sovereign states—strategic alliances, aimed at
preserving
local interests and maintaining a relatively stable balance of power.

The epoch of this classic, ‘anarchical’ state-system, with no defined
limits
to the sovereignty of the major powers, was also the era of colonialism.
The
states included within it were those which could defend their own
territory
from
the claims of other states. It was therefore quite consistent to argue
that in
countries which could not demonstrate such ‘empirical statehood’—the
colonies—sovereignty could not apply. Meanwhile, those with sufficient
military
force to intervene in other states’ affairs—in other words, the great
powers—continued to do so. During the colonial era, the major powers
either
regulated their territorial acquisitions directly—as in Africa and
India—or,
as in China, Japan and the Ottoman Empire, insisted that their own
actions
could
not be fettered by local domestic legislation, claiming the right of
extraterritoriality. Under the Westphalian system, then, superior force
was
the guarantor of effective sovereignty.

The Westphalian model came under attack with the modernization and
growing
world importance of the leading non-European states. Challenges to
Western
rule
and increasing international instability led to new attempts to regulate
inter-state
affairs. The Hague Conference of 1899 saw the attendance of China,
Japan,
the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Siam. In 1905 Japan’s defeat of Russia
came as
a powerful shock to European imperial confidence, closely bound up with
assumptions of racial superiority. The second Hague Conference of 1907
was
the first gathering of modern states at which Europeans were outnumbered
by the
representatives of other countries. But it was the watershed of the
First
World War—bringing in its wake the collapse of the Russian,
Austro-Hungarian and
Ottoman empires, the rise of colonial resistance, the establishment of
the
Soviet Union and the threat of new world war—that was decisive in
turning
Western policy makers away from the strength-based Westphalian system
and
towards a more juridical concept of sovereignty and a framework of
international law.

The principle of national self-determination was proclaimed by Woodrow
Wilson
at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference—for the newly created states of
Central
Europe.
The extension of such a right to the rest of the world—ringingly
affirmed
by the Bolsheviks’ Declaration of the Rights of Toiling and Exploited
Peoples in
January 1918—was held at bay. The expansion of the concept of
territorial
sovereignty beyond the principle of ‘might is right’ remained highly
controversial within policy-making circles. Robert Lansing, US Secretary
of State, recalled his doubts:

The more I think about the President’s declaration as to the right of
‘self-determination’, the more convinced I am of the danger of putting
such
ideas into the minds of certain races. It is bound to be the basis of
impossible
demands on the Peace Conference and create trouble in many lands.

What effect will it have on the Irish, the Indians, the Egyptians, and
the
nationalists among the Boers? Will it not breed discontent, disorder and
rebellion? Will not the Mohammedans of Syria and Palestine and possibly
Morocco
and Tripoli rely on it? [2]

This ‘danger’ was a central concern of the inter-war settlement. The
League
of Nations timidly initiated legal restriction of great-power
sovereignty
through
the introduction of the mandate system, with colonial administrators now
deputed to ‘advance the interests’ of the subject peoples. The
mandates—implying
a recognition that colonial rule could only be temporary—were the first
formal
admission that empire was no longer a legitimate political form. But the
concept of sovereign equality remained confined to a few, the right of
self-determination denied to large sections of the world’s population,
Japan’s
attempt to include a clause on racial equality in the League of Nations
Charter firmly
rejected. The development of a universal legal conception of sovereign
equality
would have to await a further world war.

The 1945 settlement, preserved in the principles of the UN Charter,
reflected
a new international situation, transformed by the emergence of the
Soviet
Union
as a world power and the spread of national liberation struggles in
Asia, the
Middle East and Africa. Ideologies of race and empire, too, seemed
definitively
vanquished with the defeat of the Nazi regime. It was a decisive moment
in
the transformation of the Westphalian system. In this context, the
inter-war
consensus on ‘the non-applicability of the right to self-determination
to
colonial peoples’ could no longer be sustained. United States policy
makers,
as they looked forward to assuming the mantle of the now declining
British
Empire,
realized that updated institutions for the management of international
relations
would have to ‘avoid conventional forms of imperialism’. [3] The
result
was nominal Great-Power acceptance—however hypocritical—of a law-bound
international
system.

Central to this new mechanism of international regulation was the
conception
of sovereign equality. The UN Charter, the first attempt to construct a
law-bound
‘international community’ of states, recognized all its members as
equal.
Article 2(1) explicitly stressed ‘the principle of sovereign equality’,
while
both Article 1(2) and Article 55 emphasized ‘respect for the principle
of
equal rights and self-determination of peoples’. New nations—which would
have failed
Westphalian tests of ‘empirical statehood’, and hence been dismissed as
‘quasi-states’—were granted sovereign rights, [4] while the sovereignty
of
the great powers was now, on paper at least, to be restricted. The UN
system
did not, of course, realize full sovereign equality. In practice, the
Security
Council overwhelmingly predominated, with each of its self-appointed
permanent
members—the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China—retaining
rights
of veto. Still, sovereign equality was given technical recognition in
parity
of representation in the General Assembly and lip-service to principle
of
non-interventionism, setting legal restrictions on the right to wage
war.

Justice and war

Under the Westphalian system, the capacity of the most powerful states
to
use force against the less powerful was a normal feature of the
international
order.
Under the legal framework set up by the Charter, the sovereign’s right
to
go to war (other than by UN agreement or in self-defence) was, for the
first time,
outlawed—a point sometimes missed by those who would argue that the
post-1945
order ‘failed to break’ with Westphalian norms. [5] The principle of
non-intervention was, in fact, a constituting principle of the new
international
community of states. Just as the rule of law in domestic jurisdictions
depends
upon the concentration of legalized force in a single authority, and the
criminalization of the individual exercise of violence, so within the
post-war
system of international regulation, the legal monopoly of the use of
force
resides in the UN. [6] Article 2(4) states:

All members shall refrain in their international relations from the
threat
or use of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence
of any state, or in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the
United
Nations.

‘We may not appreciate’, writes Louis Henkin, ‘how remarkable that was,
that
transformative development in the middle of the twentieth century:
“sovereign
states” gave up their “sovereign” right to go to war.’ [7] . It marked,
it
seemed, the end of the Westphalian system of legitimating great-power
domination
through the use of force.

The universal recognition of sovereign equality entailed a new
conception
of states, whose legal authority now derived not from wealth or might
but
nationhood. Formally speaking, non-Western states from now on had the
same
standing as Western ones within the international order, despite
continuing
inequalities of economic and military power. [8] In theory, however, a
framework of international law had been created that limited the
exercise
of state sovereignty—including the right to wage war. In legal terms, at
least,
might no longer equalled right.

‘International Justice’ or International Law?

Even so mild a form of international regulation is now coming under
ferocious
attack. The case for the special treatment of some states, and demotion
of
others, has been put in a variety of registers. British barrister and
newspaper
pundit Geoffrey Robertson offers a rabid rogue-list: ‘The reality is
that
statesare not equal. There can be no “dignity” or “respect” when
statehood
is an
attribute of the governments which presently rule Iraq and Cuba and
Libya
and North Korea and Somalia and Serbia and the Sudan’. [9] Max Boot,
features
editor of the Wall Street Journal, prefers a swaggering cynicism: ‘There
is no compelling reason, other than an unthinking respect for the status
quo, why
the West should feel bound to the boundaries it created in the past.’
[10]
BrianUrquhart, a former UN undersecretary-general, sees sovereign
equality as
the ‘central barrier’ to peace and justice, providing a ‘cloak of
impunity’ for
every kind of abuse. [11]

Pitted against the concept of international law based on sovereign
equality
is a new form of global ‘justice’, formulated in explicit opposition to
it.
Advocates
of this justice herald the emergence of a new, ‘human-rights’ based
order
of international relations, arguing that the post-1945 framework—here,
‘international society’—is being eclipsed by the ethical demands of
global
‘civil society’. For Martin Shaw, erstwhile International Socialist, the
‘crucial issue’ is to face up to the necessity which enforcing these
principles would impose
to breach systematically the principles of sovereignty and
non-intervention…
The global society perspective, therefore, has an ideological
significance
which
is ultimately opposed to that of international society. [12]

For Robertson, too, ‘the movement for global justice’ is ‘a struggle
against
sovereignty’. [13] Sovereign equality is seen by these ideologues as a
legal
fiction, a mask for the abuse of power. International law is merely an
‘anachronism’, a historical hangover, while ‘some of its classic
doctrines—sovereign and diplomatic immunity, non-intervention in
internal
affairs, non-compulsory submission to the ICJ, equality of voting in the
General Assembly—continue to damage the human rights cause.’ [14]

The denial of sovereign equality obviously has major consequences for
both
the form and content of international law. The most prominent is the
rise of
the idea of a ‘duty’ of forcible ‘humanitarian’ intervention—the
so-called
devoir
d’ingerence. [15] Its advocates naturally retain the right to decide
on
whom this obligation falls. Robertson explains that ‘humanitarian
intervention
cannot be the prerogative of the UN’ since it cannot be relied upon to
act when
necessary. The duty of intervention must therefore stand independently:
‘UNanimity cannot be the only test of legitimacy’. [16] For Shaw,
‘it
is unavoidable that global state action will be undertaken largely by
states,
ad hoc coalitions of states and more permanent regional groupings of
states’. [17]
In practice, the prosecution of international justice turns out to be
the
prerogative of the West.

Such is overtly the substance of NATO’s new ‘strategic concept’,
promulgated
at the Alliance’s fiftieth anniversary summit in Washington in late
April
1999,
at the height of the Balkan War. As US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe
Talbott
explained,

We must be careful not to subordinate NATO to any other international
body
or compromise the integrity of its command structure. We will try to act
in
concert with other organizations, and with respect for their principles
and
purposes.
But the Alliance must reserve the right and freedom to act when its
members,
by consensus, deem it necessary. [18]

Similarly, a new study of ‘humanitarian intervention’ in the wake of
the Kosovo
war argues explicitly for ad hoc and arbitrary powers to intervene:

A code of rules governing intervention would be likely in the early
twenty-first
century to limit rather than help effective and responsible action on
the
part of the international community… Any attempt to get general
agreements
would
be counter-productive… It may be inevitable, possibly even preferable,
for
responses to international crises to unfold selectively. [19]

Ironically, the new ‘global’ forms of justice and rights protection will
be distinctly less universal than those of the UN-policed international
society
they set out to replace. David Held argues that, ‘in the first
instance’,
at least,

cosmopolitan democratic law could be promulgated and defended by those
democratic states and civil societies that are able to muster the
necessary
political judgement and to learn how political practices and
institutions
must change and adapt in the new regional and global circumstances. [20]

Rather more bluntly, Shaw explains the rationale of all-round NATO
intervention:

This perspective can only be centred on a new unity of purpose among
Western
peoples and governments, since only the West has the economic, political
and military resources and the democratic and multinational institutions
and
culture necessary to undertake it. The West has a historic
responsibility
to take
on this global leadership. [21]

This line of argument is now increasingly official doctrine. The
Guardian
could hail British military intervention in Sierra Leone as ‘the duty
owed by a
wealthy and powerful nation to, in this case, one of the world’s poorest
countries’. [22] Here inequality is expressly theorized as the basis
of
the new world order. Yet the modern system of law (whether international
or
domestic) depends, both at the basic level of its derivation and in the
vital
question of its application, on the concept of formal equality between
its
subjects. All international institutions—whether the UN, OSCE or even
NATO
itself—derive their authority from inter-state agreements. International
law derives its legitimacy from the voluntary assent of nation-states.
Without
such consent, the distinction between law (based on formal equality) and
repression
(based on material force) disappears. The equal application of the law
entails
parity between its subjects, without which it ceases to have meaning. In
today’s climate, the rights of weaker states can be infringed on the
grounds that
the law does not fully apply to them, while more powerful states can
claim
immunity
from the law on the grounds that it is they who ultimately enforce it.

The extension of ‘international justice’ is, in short, the abolition of
international law. For there can be no international law without equal
sovereignty, no system of rights without state-subjects capable of being
its bearers. In a world composed of nation-states, rather than a single
global
power, universal law can only derive from national governments. What the
jettisoning of the principle of non-interventionism means is the
re-legitimation
of the right of the Great Powers to practice what violence they please.
Their
apologists declare that war is now the ‘lesser evil’, compared to the
new
moral crimes of ‘indifference’ or ‘appeasement’.

Liberal interventionists have emerged as the biggest advocates of
increased
military spending. [23] For these ideologues, the absolute end of
‘international justice’ can only be compromised by diplomacy or
negotiation.
The new professors of Human Rights at the UN University’s Peace and
Governance
Programme are happy to condone those ‘good international citizens’ who
are
‘tempted to go it alone’ waging war for ‘justice’, with or without
international
sanction. [24] Robertson likewise insists that ‘a human rights offensive
admits of no half-measures’; ‘crimes against humanity are, by
definition,
unforgivable’
; ‘justice, in respect of crimes against humanity, is non-negotiable’.
[25]
Such war can know no legal bounds. In the Middle East, in Africa and the
Balkans,
the exercise of ‘international justice’ signifies a return to the
Westphalian
system of open great-power domination over states which are too weak to
prevent
external claims against them.


Dr David Chandler, Research Fellow, Policy Research Institute, Leeds
Metropolitan University. His latest book is Bosnia: Faking Democracy
After
Dayton (Pluto Press, 1999) his next book Human Rights and International
Intervention will be published by Verso in Autumn 2001.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] This article is a shortened version of “International Justice” which
appears in the New Left Review, No.6, Nov/Dec 2000.
[2] Robert Lansing, The Peace Negotiations: A Personal Narrative, London
1921, p. 87.
[3] Justin Rosenberg, The Empire of Civil Society, London 1994.
[4] R. H. Jackson, Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Relations
and
the Third World, Cambridge 1990.
[5] David Held, Democracy and the Global Order, Cambridge 1995, p.88.
[6] O. Ramsbotham and T. Woodhouse, Humanitarian Intervention in
Contemporary
Conflict: A Reconceptualization, Cambridge 1996, p. 35.
[7] Louis Henkin, ‘That “S” Word: Sovereignty, and Globalization, and
Human
Rights, etc’, Fordham Law Review, 1999, vol. Lxviii, no. 1, p. 1.
[8] Sovereign equality was confirmed in many subsequent UN resolutions,
notably
the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic
Affairs
of States and Protection of their Independence and Sovereignty of 21
December
1965 (Resolution 2131 [XX]) and the Declaration on Principles of
International
Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in
Accordance
with the Charter of the United Nations of 24 October 1970 (Resolution
2625
[XXV]).
[9] Geoffrey Robertson, Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global
Justice, London 1999, p. 372.
[10] Max Boot, ‘Paving the Road to Hell: The Failure of UN
Peacekeeping’,
Foreign Affairs, 2000, vol. 79, no. 2, pp. 143­8.
[11] Brian Urquhart, ‘In the Name of Humanity’, New York Review of
Books,
27 April 2000.
[12] Martin Shaw, Global Society and International Relations:
Sociological
Concepts and Political Perspectives, Cambridge 1994, p. 134­5.
[13] Crimes Against Humanity, p. xviii.
[14] Crimes Against Humanity, p. 83.
[15] M. Bettati and B. Kouchner, Le Devoir d’ingerence, Paris 1987.
[16] Crimes Against Humanity, pp. 382, 72.
[17] Global Society, p. 186.
[18] Cited in B. Simma, ‘NATO, the UN and the Use of Force: Legal
Aspects’,
European Journal of International Law, 1999, vol. 10, pp. 1­22.
[19] Albrecht Schnabel and Ramesh Thakur, eds, Kosovo and the Challenge
of
Humanitarian Intervention, New York: forthcoming. See
www.unu.edu/p&g/kosovo_full.htm
[20] Democracy and the Global Order, p. 232.
[21] Global Society and International Relations, pp. 180­1.
[22] ‘We Are Right To Be There’, Guardian, 13 May 2000.
[23] For example, John Gray, ‘Crushing Hatreds’, Guardian, 28 March
2000;
John Lloyd, ‘Prepare for a Brave New World’, New Statesman, 19 April
1999.
[24] See, for example, Kosovo and the Challenge of Humanitarian
Intervention.
[25] Crimes Against Humanity, pp. 73, 260, 268.


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Oggetto: CADU News - May 2000
Data: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 14:03:32 +0100
Da: Greater Manchester and District CND <gmdcnd@...>
...

Dear All

We have been having some problems with send attachments to E-Mails, so
here's the newsletter as a simple cut and paste effort.

As usual, please feel free to use the articles in this newsletter, but,
always give CADU credit for them

Thanks

Clare Frisby

CADU News May 2000

Issue Number Four

Campaign Against Depleted Uranium,

1) NATO fudges on DU in Kosov@
2) NATO report on DU in Kosov@
3) Yugoslav claims more DU rounds were used
4) Gulf War Veterans
5) Vieques Update
6) DU, NATO, UN and the WHO
7) Mariam Appeal Day for the People of Iraq
8) What is DU in YU action?
9) Depleted Uranium Protesters Convicted of Trespass
10) DU Tank Armour Production Part of Major US Department of Energy
Investigation
11) German Greens Begin Anti-DU initiative.
12) DU found in Scrap Yard
13) CADU Petition
14) What is CADU?
15) CADU Website - volunteer wanted
16) CADU International Conference on Depleted Uranium 4 - 5 November
Manchester
17) BAe Systems wins DU contract
18) IMPORTANT - Affiliate to CADU to receive CADU News

1) NATO FUDGES ON DU IN KOSOV@

NATO finally responded to a request from UN Secretary General, Kofi
Annan,
for information on use of depleted uranium munitions (DU) during the
conflict in the Balkans last year. However, not only did NATO take 5
months to respond to Kofi Annan, in typically uninformative manner they
provided as little information as they could get away with. This in
itself
is indicative of the way in which NATO views both its own role and
status
in world affairs, and that of the UN.
NATO’s secretary-general, George Robertson wrote to Kofi Annan saying
that
American A-10 ground attack aircraft used armour-piercing depleted
uranium
rounds against Serb armoured vehicles during NATO’s 78-day air campaign
last spring. The ammunition was part of the aircraft’s standard load.
"DU (depleted uranium) rounds were used whenever the A-10 engaged armour

during Operation Allied Force, therefore, it was used throughout Kosovo,

during approximately 100 missions."
The NATO letter said U.S. jets had fired approximately 31,000 rounds of
depleted uranium during the war against Yugoslavia. That translates to
about 10 1/2 tons — or 21,000 pounds — of ammunition, experts say.
By comparison, the United States and Britain fired 630,000 pounds of
depleted uranium in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq during the Gulf War,
according to the Pentagon.
The UN’s Annan had requested the information on depleted uranium targets

last October. A U.N. team sent to Kosovo last summer to investigate the
habitability of the region after the war could not assess the threat
posed
by depleted uranium contamination, because the Pentagon and NATO refused
to
divulge where the ammunition had been fired.
NATO has now provided a map of where DU was used with their letter, (see

above) but the map is totally inadequate as it is in no way detailed
enough
to assess environmental pollution caused by DU
"The major focus of these operations was in an area west of the
Pec-Dakovica-Prizren highway, in the area surrounding Klina, in the area

around Prizen and in an area to the north of a line joining Suva Reka
and

Urosevac," the letter said.
Robertson noted in NATO’s letter that the map was not complete, saying
"many missions using DU also took place outside of these areas." He
concluded: "At this moment it is impossible to state accurately every
location where DU ammunition was used."
The Pentagon has tried to downplay the risks of exposure to depleted
uranium dust and debris since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Dan Fahey, of the Military Toxics Project in the US, said the map raised

questions about the safety of people living in areas contaminated by
depleted uranium dust and debris, as well as the health of peacekeeping
troops and relief workers.
"It is NATO’s responsibility, and specifically the responsibility of the

United States, to go in there and start doing a clean-up, especially
considering the fact we were fighting the war to protect the civilian
populations and enable them to live in their land free of external
harm,"
Pentagon spokesman Vic Warzinski said depleted uranium contamination was

"not that major of a threat" in Kosovo.
For more information, try Website:
www.homepage.jefnet.com/gwvrl/

2) NATO Report on DU and Kosov@

A draft special report, from the Civilian Affairs Committee of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly released a report which makes interesting reading

for those of us involved in the DU issue. Rapporteur, Volker Kroning of

Germany suggests in this report that the lawfulness of the use of DU in
Kosov@ could be challenged under International Humanitarian Law.
The report, entitled ‘Kosovo and International Humanitarian Law’
examines
which aspects of NATO’s intervention may have clashed with International

Humanitarian Law (IHL), and what NATO members can do to improve the
application and enforcement of this law by all members of the
international
community.
The relevant section, ‘The Use of Certain Weapons’ begins by stating
that
"one of the most controversial aspects of NATO’s intervention in Kosovo
was
the use of certain types of weapons, in particular cluster bombs and
depleted uranium (DU) munitions". In relation to DU specifically, the
report has the following to say:-
"Depleted uranium is 0.7 times as radioactive as naturally
occurring
uranium, and has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. While the type of
radiation emitted by depleted uranium (alpha particles) has little
penetrative capabilities, DU attacks often result in the dispersion of
fine
radioactive dust, which, when inhaled, is likely to be trapped in the
(DU
is insoluble), where it can have a more serious effect. Furthermore, DU
bears many of the same poisonous characteristics as other heavy metals
such
as lead, whose effects are known to be hazardous. So far, although
scientific inquiries into the toxicity of DU are underway, there is
insufficient information to conclude that DU munitions have a
long-lasting
nefarious effect which could affect civilian populations. Nevertheless,
in
light of media coverage of its use in both the Gulf War and Kosovo, of
the
imposition of safety guidelines issued to KFOR soldiers, and indications

that DU promotes growth of cancerous cells in lab cell cultures, the
lawfulness of its use could challenged under IHL.
One of the chief problems is that spent DU munitions may be a source of
danger long after hostilities have ceased. Should DU munitions be
recognised as posing a lasting radioactive and chemical poisoning
threat,
their prohibition may be invoked through Article 23(a) of the 1907 Hague

Convention, which prohibits the use of poison. Even if DU munitions are
recognised as radioactively and/or chemically harmful, whether they
qualify
as poison is a
debatable issue. Another issue is whether DU munitions qualify, as they
do
in the opinion of some, as a type of nuclear weapon. The question then
is
the use of nuclear weapons is permissible under IHL, although no
international legal instrument specifically prohibits them. In the eyes
of
many legal experts, as well as the International Court of Justice, the
requirement to avoid attacks of an indiscriminate nature (Art. 51/4 and
51/5 of PI) intrinsically prohibits the use of nuclear weapons, as well
as
the use of weapons which have lasting environmental pollution effects."
[Italics are mine]
The report concludes that NATO’s reliance on air power, to fulfil its
‘zero-casualty’ aim is "if not legally, then morally objectionable". The

report goes on to quote Henry Kissinger (of all people) "What kind of
humanism expresses its reluctance to suffer military casualties by
devastating the civilian economy of its adversary for years to come"
The full report can be seen on the following NATO Website:
www.naa.be/publications/comrep/1999/as245cc-e.html
By Cath at CADU

3) Yugoslav study claims more DU rounds were used

In a report from the Yugoslav Defence Ministry, issued last month, it
was
claimed that NATO in fact used far more rounds of depleted uranium than
was
admitted by western leaders. Gen. Slobodan Petkovic, Deputy Defence
Minister, who presented the report said NATO used about 50,000 rounds
containing depleted uranium, whereas the letter from NATO to the United
Nations earlier this year mentioned only about 30,000 (see front page).
A team of Yugoslav experts undertook the study of all the environmental
effects of the NATO air strikes. They say NATO warplanes used depleted
uranium rounds on eight sites in Yugoslavia during the alliance's 78-day

bombing campaign last year.
The locations contaminated by the depleted uranium and described in the
75-page document include six sites in Serbia and one in Montenegro,
Serbia's smaller partner in the Yugoslav federation.
The eighth location is in Kosovo, Serbia's southern province. The region
is
now run by U.N. and NATO peace keepers, preventing examination of the
contamination by a Yugoslav team.
The Yugoslav authorities accuse Nato of polluting the soil, air and
water
through its attacks on oil refineries and chemical factories. Petkovic
said
most of the rounds were fired on Kosovo along the border with Albania.
For
the first time, the Yugoslav army has admitted that radioactive
materials
were dropped outside Kosovo as well. Petkovic said the areas had been
sealed off and Yugoslav experts had detected radioactivity well above
safe
levels. Some of the affected areas are said to be in parts of southern
Serbia, where there is a high ethnic Albanian population.

4) Gulf War Veterans

In view of the conclusion to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Report (see

page 2), which states that NATO’s zero-casualty war is ‘morally
objectionable’, it is worth noting that this ‘zero’ isn’t quite what it
seems. During the Gulf War of 1991, only 49 British soldiers were killed
-
testimony to the new era of modern warfare which relies heavily on air
power, and weapons such as DU munitions.
However, since this time, over 400 Gulf War veterans have died. Only 40

out of the 35,000 British forces in the Gulf have been tested for DU
poisoning; but all have tested positive. This is the new warfare - when

the war is over, the killing continues. And this killing is entirely
indiscriminate.

5) VIEQUES UPDATE

In the last CADU news we reported on the situation in Vieques, an island
in
Puerto Rico, where the US Navy has been testing munitions including DU
for
50 years. Locals had been camped out on the testing ranges to prevent
the
US military from re-commencing testing there. As CADU news goes to
press,
the latest on the situation is featured below:
"On May 4 federal authorities began to arrest the people conducting
Civil
Disobedience in Vieques. This has been considered as an offence of the
U.S. Government against the will of the people of Vieques and Puerto
Rico
that took back their land for one full year to prevent the bombing and
shelling of the Island. The U.S. Government's response to the demands
for
Human Rights of the people of Vieques was a military invasion of Vieques

that was met with no resistance by the protesters that from the outset
had
vowed to non-violence Civil Disobedience.
The diverse group of protesters that have been arrested is composed by
grassroots community leaders and members of the community at-large,
religious leaders, elected officials from Puerto Rico and the US,
including
two members of the U.S. Congress and members of the Puerto Rican
Legislature; leaders of the Puerto Rican Independence party, students,
union members, and known artists. Spirits where high and protesters
were
calm as they promised to be back to prevent the resumption of the
bombings.
The struggle of David versus Goliath has reached a new stage and will
surely continue and intensify until the final goal of a Navy-free
Vieques
is achieved.
This is the moment to put forward all planned activities of protest or
to
plan protest events in your community. Today and tomorrow many protests
will take place in U.S. and Puerto Rico."
The protesters in Vieques have called for supporters to write to Clinton
to
condemn the use of force by the federal authorities to remove the
protesters. - President Clinton, The White House, Washington DC 20500.
More information from their Website on www.viequeslibre.org

6) DU, NATO, UN and the WHO!

The following is an unedited article from the San Francisco Examiner, of

May 1st, reproduced here because it offers some insight into DU on the
world stage.

'Depleted uranium': A tale of poisonous denial
By Robert James Parsons

GENEVA - When a United Nations agency announced that NATO had officially

confirmed using depleted-uranium munitions in Kosovo, the story hit the
world's media, then quickly faded.
The agency went on record as saying that there was too little
information
for firm conclusions but no cause for serious concern. The Pentagon
officially echoed this, and attention shifted elsewhere.
For those following the story, this was another episode in a game of
hide-and-don't-tell that the U.S. government has been playing for years,

both at home and abroad. But as the game continues, there is cause for
serious concern.
The U.S. government denies there is anything harmful about depleted
uranium
that would prevent its use in battle situations anywhere. Numerous
independent experts say depleted uranium is deadly and will pollute
indefinitely those areas struck by the munitions. They blame it for
most
of the illnesses of Persian Gulf war syndrome.
The Military Toxics Project, a non-governmental organisation that has
been
tracking depleted uranium for years, has just published an update. Dan
Fahey, its author and the project's research director for depleted
uranium,
draws primarily on declassified government documents and public
statements,
building a grim indictment of irresponsibility that is nothing short of
criminal.
Since the first use of depleted uranium in the Iraq war (a use that
continues today with the bombing of the no-fly zones), the controversy
has
spread into the international arena, including the United Nations.
During the Kosovo war, the Pentagon brought out a RAND Corporation think

tank study to prove once and for all that depleted uranium is harmless.
Independent experts, contesting the use of depleted uranium in Kosovo
and
Serbia, protested.
Later, in a paper entitled "Fear of Falling," Fahey analysed the study
in
detail, showing it to be a sham. Yet the U.S. government still cites it
as
a proof that the depleted uranium problem has been laid to rest.

But NATO's admission, even unofficial, of depleted uranium use in the
Kosovo war alarmed aid agencies operating there.
The World Health Organisation was asked to investigate. The WHO,
however,
has an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency giving the
latter the last word over anything touching public health and radiation.

A fact sheet on depleted uranium announced as in the works, was
cancelled.
(The Atomic Energy Agency was set up in '50s by the nuclear powers of
the
time to push the nuclear industry on a public wary of living with
nuclear
waste and with radiation in general. The United States plays a dominant
role within it. Holding the only mandate in the U.N. system to promote a

part of the private sector, it has been repeatedly denounced by
non-governmental organisations as incompatible with the ideals expressed
in
the U.N. charter.)
An initial U.N. mission to Yugoslavia in May produced a report of
serious
contamination by depleted uranium. The report's sponsor, the United
Nations
Environment Program's director, Klaus Toepfer, suppressed it - under
pressure from Washington, according to inside sources. It nonetheless
eventually leaked out.
The program's Balkans Task Force brought out a major study in October,
but
the section on depleted uranium had been whittled down from 72 pages to
two
on orders from Toepfer, again apparently under pressure from Washington.

The task force had tried to involve the WHO, but the Atomic Energy
Agency,
in keeping with the agreement, excluded the WHO from the radiation
appraisal. Measuring was done using Geiger counters incapable of
detecting
the particular alpha radiation that depleted uranium emits, and none was

found.
Meantime, in August, the WHO had announced it was undertaking a
"generic"
(general) study of depleted uranium, but no details were available. In
March, it became known that the study was under the WHO's Dr. Michael
Repacholi, an electromagnetic field expert, who, it has since been
discovered, has delegated it to Barry Smith, a consultant in England,
who
is a geologist.
Faced with the Atomic Energy Agency's opposition to studying radiation
and
health, the WHO has opted to study DU as a heavy metal pollutant.
This is hardly of help to those exposed to tons of virtually
indestructible
radioactive dust particles, including the international aid agencies
awaiting an official pronouncement from the WHO.

The recent NATO confirmation of depleted uranium use in Kosovo, complete

with a map, should have finally sounded the alarm.
After being put on hold for six months by NATO, the task force finally
had
something specific and official, but the pressure was on to play it
down.
The publication of the map in a Geneva daily on the day that the task
force
was meeting to decide on strategy forced its hand.
When the task force chairman, former Finnish environmental minister
Pekka
Haavisto, called a press conference to disclose the map and its
accompanying letter, it was Toepfer's spokesperson, the man who had cut
out
the 70 pages from the October report, not Haavisto's, who orchestrated
the
event.
Not surprisingly, Haavisto was kept on a leash. Hence the announced
conclusion: no cause for serious concern.
But there are indications that not everybody agrees.
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 depleted
uranium
contamination.
The German and Dutch governments, whose occupation zones coincide with
the
areas hardest hit by depleted uranium, according to NATO's map, have
ordered their soldiers not to eat anything outside their post mess
halls,
especially not from the surrounding countryside. This echoes independent

experts' claims that the dust has entered the food chain of the region.
Dutch soldiers stationed last fall in part of the same heavily hit area

(around Prizren) had to hand in all clothing and equipment, which was
then
shipped back to the Netherlands sealed in heavy-duty plastic.
The government claimed asbestos contamination, but a Dutch military
source
points to DU, noting that the vehicles, also sent back, ended up in a
radiation decontamination plant.
Fahey's "Don't Look, Don't Find" discusses a U.S. Army report issued
well
before the Gulf War: "Though no anti-DU movement existed at the time,
the
Army predicted that DU munitions might be removed from the arsenal by
political force once the health and environmental impacts of DU were
widely
known."
Although the U.S. government seems intent on keeping those impacts
unknown,
the public is finding out. Mariam Appeal Day for the People of Iraq.

7) Mariam Appeal Day for the People of Iraq
by Cat Euler

Over 1,000 people attended the immensely successful Mariam Appeal
conference in London last month. Iraqi artists displayed the amazing
range
of creativity for which the Tigris and Euphrates region has long been
known. Middle Eastern food and music added to the celebration of
culture
which must continue, despite the horrendous effects of sanctions and
depleted uranium. This is when human beings reach their finest hour: to

create, to live, to survive with dignity and art in the midst of
deprivation and death. It is an inspiration to all of us.

Both the showing of the Hugh Livingstone video, The Ultimate Bullet, and

the DU workshop which followed, were also well attended, with some 50
people at each. The video is a sobering and well documented account of
the
journey of a US Gulf War vet to Iraq to meet with Iraqi veterans of the
same war, to discover the similar sufferings which both have
experienced.
It is a good teaching tool for those of you who are organising local
meetings on depleted uranium.

I began the workshop with some overheads showing the US DoD map of the
extensive area of southern Iraq where DU munitions were used. I quickly

discovered the difference between presenting information on DU to people

who have no thought that they or their loved ones might be contaminated,

and presenting the same information to people who have relatives living
in
Basra. Rather than being concerned with theoretical or strictly
scientific
information about isotopes, the questions on practical matters came
thick
and fast. "My nephew lives in Basra, are all the buildings there
contaminated?" "Is it possible to clean it up?" "Is there any hope for

us?" I tried to answer these moving questions as simply and accurately
as
possible. It is unlikely, I said, that the heaviest contamination
travels
more than a few dozen or, at most, hundred metres from the point of
impact.
However, we have documented evidence that DU particles can travel on
the
winds as far as 40 km. Further documented measurements need to be
carried
out in order to establish the maximum distance. We can’t know how much
contamination exists in Basra without a full radiological survey. There

are probably spots which have greater and lesser or no contamination.
Yes,
I said, it may be possible to ‘clean it up’ in the sense that it can be
isolated from the human environment for a long time if it is properly
buried. However, the known methods would cost billions of pounds for an
extensive geographical area, and the recently announced chemical binding

methods, though perhaps less costly, are untried. I feel as though I
don’t
have enough information on their effect on both soluble and insoluble
dust
particles. I said the US and British governments should take
responsibility
for funding the clean up. I said it was important that people in the
area
drank distilled water whenever possible, but the look of despair on some

people’s faces told me how impossible it seemed in conditions of
sanctions
to obtain even this. Yes, I said, I always believe there is hope, that

while there is life there is always hope. I must believe this, and why
not?

The people from the region are deeply concerned, and do not have
sufficient
information. Their concerns and fears were echoed by many I spoke to
during a trip to Belgrade last month. Women do not know how their babies

will be affected; they do not know where the contamination is, and they
must continue living and surviving in sanctions-deprived circumstances
despite the fear that comes with not knowing. I now hold very close to
my
heart the difference between providing information to the interested and

providing information to the victims. In Serbia, too, the music and art
continue.

Other DU activists also contributed valuable information at the
workshop.
One woman told us of her constant letters to members of parliament and
the
civil service. She had been told, in one response, that the Department
for
International Development (DfID) was in partnership with the World
Health
Organisation (WHO) to carry out cancer and other health surveys in Iraq.

However, they were only looking at health effects and had no plans to
look
at causation, and no plans to survey DU contamination. This attitude on

the part of WHO, also expressed at the UN, may very well be related to
the
1959 agreement WHO signed with the International Atomic Energy Authority

(IAEA), which mandates mutual agreement for overlapping research
interests,
and agrees on secrecy for ‘sensitive’ information.

8) What is DU in YU action?

DU in YU is non-government, non-profit organisation that gathers people
that are willing to act in anti DU campaign in Yugoslavia.
Also, it covers wider problems of ecology and danger from nuclear and
radioactive sources.

DU in YU action centre is located in Nis, second biggest town in
Yugoslavia, 250 km southern of Belgrade, and only 50 km eastern from
Kosovo. The DU danger is very real here, although DU probably hadn't
been
used in the town itself (the nearest location where DU traces were found
is
Nis Airport, located 5 km from town centre). The biggest threat to the
citizens of Nis came from the south; more that 80% of food that people
of
Nis consume came from zones of high risk: Vranje, Bujanovac, Presevo,
Leskovac, Prokuplje, areas where it's confirmed that DU had been used.
We
will try to inform people of Nis about DU in our local environment, as
well
as citizens of towns where DU was used. We plan to organise public
lectures, TV and radio campaign, and to demand from our authorities to
protect the sites where DU is found. We would also try to make an
international impact as the only NGO in Yugoslavia whose main task is to

protect people from DU. We also hope that we can make a network
of local ecological organisations in southern Serbia, and, in future, on

the national level.

We will try to cooperate with all relevant people and institutions in
Serbia as well as from abroad. We've already got a response from some
nuclear physicist from "Vinca Nuclear Institute" in Belgrade, Prof. Dr
Vladimir Ajdacic among the others.

We are looking forward to any kind of co-operation and help from all
organisations and people that are working on DU topic.
Our address is: Bul. Februar 65a, 18000 Nis, Yugoslavia
Phone: 381 18 43 166, Fax: 381 18 43 828
You can contact us on the following e-mail addresses:
nikolab@... - Nikola Bozinovic
mina_zdravkovic@... - Mina Zdravkovic

9) DEPLETED URANIUM PROTESTERS CONVICTED OF TRESPASS

Minnetonka, Sixty-three human rights, peace and anti-war activists were
convicted of trespass following a 2 1/2-hour bench trial in Hennepin
County
District Court here.
The group walked onto the property of Alliant Techsystems, Inc. Nov. 1,
1999 to protest the company’s manufacture of depleted uranium-238 (DU)
weapons.
The demonstrators, were all fined $25, except for ten who spent more
than
eight hours in custody after their arrest. They were sentenced to time
served.
Char Madigan, a peace activist with Minnesota Alliant Action and the
Midwest Institute for Social Transformation, said the defendants had
"won
the lowest fine ever," in the long series of protests at the company's
gates.
Judge Gary Larson appeared to listen patiently as seven of the
defendants
testified as representatives of the larger group. Several testified to
the
international and U.S. Air Force laws that forbid the use of poison or
poisoned weapons in war. The argument was presented as an affirmative
defence known as a "claim of right." Trespass is permitted in Minnesota
law
if the defendant can show that some higher authority allows the
intrusion.
In spite of testimony regarding the international treaties and U.S.
military law that prohibit the government from employing weapons such as

"poison gas and all analogous materials, liquids or devices," or weapons

that "kill our wound treacherously" or that "cause serious or long-term
damage to the natural environment," the Judge ruled that the claim of
right
had not been established.
The Constitution of the United States holds that treaty law is the
"supreme
law of the land" and that it binds "every judge in every state."
Alliant Techsystems assembled 15 million so-called PGU-14 rounds, a
"depleted uranium penetrator" for the A-10 Warthog, the U.S./NATO plane
used to shoot DU munitions into Kosovo in 1999, and into Iraq in 1991.
10) DU TANK ARMOR PRODUCTION PART OF MAJOR US Department of Energy (DOE)

INVESTIGATION
The Department of Energy next month plans to finalise an extensive
report
that investigates whether workers were subjected to greater exposure
hazards than previously thought in the recycling of uranium for use in
various projects, including the creation of tank armour.
The DOE is trying to track the flow, over nearly 50 years, of recycled
uranium throughout the DOE complex and its characteristics to determine
possible health and environmental issues, according to a memo from DOE
Deputy Secretary Glauthier. The project, called the Historical
Generation
and Flow of Recycled Uranium in the DOE Complex but commonly known as
the
mass balance project, will identify any additional exposure hazards
related
to recycled uranium and estimate the number of workers exposed. DOE
needs
to determine "whether radioactive fission products and plutonium in the
uranium feed or waste streams existed in concentrations that present a
potential health or environmental concern," Glauthier said in the memo.
Transuranic materials such as plutonium and neptunium are more
radioactive
than natural uranium.
In part, the project looks at material sent to the Specific
Manufacturing
Capabilities (SMC) facility at DoE’s Idaho National Engineering Lab to
determine whether potential additional worker exposures exist due to
transuranic contamination. The SMC facility received metallic depleted
uranium (DU) from DOE plants in Ohio and Colorado, and from that
manufactured tank armour for the military, DOE sources say.
DOE officials say they have dismissed concerns over whether tank armour
itself is more dangerous to soldiers due to the possible transuranic
contamination. A DOE source says this is because the level of
transuranic
materials that would be present is minuscule. The department is also
characterising metallic DU at Paducah and its Fernald, OH, facility,
which
commercial facilities could have received to make DU rounds. In a Jan.
20
letter to an environmental group regarding the project, DOE names three
commercial businesses that produced DU rounds. The Fernald Environmental

Management Project is now "compiling data on the depleted uranium and
the
shipment of this material," the letter says.
DOE launched the massive project last fall, in response to workers and
the
public's concern over potential effects on workers at the department's
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky.
>From the US Dept. of Defence Website, thanks to Dan Fahey for posting

11) GERMAN GREENS BEGIN ANTI-DU INITIATIVE

The parliamentary group of the Greens in the Federal German Parliament
on
May 17 announced the start of an initiative for the ban of DU weapons.
The
initiative comprises the following steps:

1) formulation of a parliamentary motion (together with the Social
Democrats) for the ban of DU weapons; the motion would at the same time
instruct the Federal Government to work for an international ban of DU
weapons,

2) the Federal Government shall try to make NATO release more detailed
information on DU use in Kosovo,

3) sufficient protective measures are to be taken in the areas concerned

from DU weapons use,

4) the Ministry of Defence shall conduct preventive measures for
the
protection of German soldiers in Kosovo, and shall instruct them on
possible compensation claims.

This is clearly excellent news for all anti-DU campaigners, and we hope
that other parliamentarians in other countries follow this lead. For
anyone who is interested and can read German, the full text of the
announcement is on the web, at
http://www.gruene-fraktion.de/aktuell/neu/index-uran.htm

12) DU found in Scrap Yard

A rubbish tip manager in Suffolk, England, thought the large lump of
metal
he found in a skip might have some scrap value - until he found that he
had
been carrying 20lb of depleted uranium in his van for 6 months.
According
to a report in the national newspapers, Nicholas Remblance had forgotten

all about the metal until his van set off the Geiger counter at a
weighbridge. Firemen in protective clothing and experts from the nuclear

power station in Sizewell were brought in to investigate and the yard
was
sealed off. Initial tests on Mr Remblance indicated he had not been
affected, but further investigations will be carried out in a few weeks
time. The Environment Agency has ordered an investigation into how the
block turned up in Mr Remblance’s scrap yard.

13) CADU Petition

Enclosed in CADU news this month is a copy of a petition which we would
like supporters to get signatures for. Please photocopy and distribute
-
if you don’t have access to photocopying facilities, we can send you
more.
We hope to have thousands of signatures by the autumn, and add to the
growing pressure on the government to ban DU. The petitions should be
returned to us by the end of October, as we will be collecting them
together to hand in during the international conference on 4th November
(see inside). However, please get them to us as soon as they are
completed,
particularly if signatories have ticked the box requesting more
information
- then we can respond quickly.

14) What is CADU?

The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium is a small, mainly voluntary group

based in Manchester, England which was set up in 1999 to campaign for a
ban
on depleted uranium weapons. We are linked to both European and
international networks opposed to DU. We produce a briefing pack,
leaflets,
other resources and have a display available for loan. Groups and
individuals can affiliate to CADU and will receive this newsletter
quarterly. CADU’s aims are:-

n To fight for a global ban on the manufacture, export, testing and use
of
DU weapons.

n To fight for recognition by the Ministry of Defence that these weapons

are connected with illnesses among Gulf War Veterans and civilians in
Iraq
and elsewhere.

n To put pressure on governments to take responsibility for
environmental
decontamination in areas where they have used DU.

15) CADU Website - volunteer wanted!

CADU now has its own Website, as we said in the last newsletter. The
address is www.cadu.com - easy to remember. We have only just got this
Website up so please bear with us if we have teething problems - we are
new
to this technology. If any of our supporters has web technology skills,

and would like to volunteer to be responsible for maintaining and
updating
our Website - we would love to hear from you. It would really help us
out,
as we are over-stretched as it is. It is a job which could be done
fairly
easily from any part of the country - so get in touch if you think you
may
be the person to help.

16) CADU International Conference on Depleted Uranium 4th - 5th
November 2000

Note change of date due to venue difficulties

Bringing Together Speakers and
Campaigners from All Over the World
We hope this international conference will be an opportunity not
only to
provide accessible information to those not familiar with the issue, but

also provide a working platform for activists to collaborate on key
global
strategies for removing the threat of depleted uranium from all peoples,

and for putting pressure on governments to respond appropriately to this

threat.
The conference will begin at 9am on Saturday 4 November and
conclude at 5
pm on Sunday. The plenary sessions will include speakers from Iraq,
Serbia, and veterans groups. Scientists will present the latest
information on the testing programmes and medical effects. Workshops on

the huge range of issues related to DU include: law, the nuclear
industry,
UN work, government responses, Gulf War and Balkans veterans, clean up
operations, practical support for those affected, the role of the World
Health Organisation and the IAEA, environmental effects, non-violent
protest actions, etc. There will be time for questions from the floor as

well as spontaneously organised workshops.

Speakers already confirmed include: Dr Rosalie Bertell, Doug Rokke,
Military Toxics Project, Dr Chris Busby of the Low Level Radiation
Project,
Bernice Boermans of IALANA, Prof. Malcolm Hooper of the University of
Sunderland

Leaflets with registration details will be available shortly, and
conference programmes will be sent out with your registration pack.
For further information contact Cat Euler, Conference Organiser, at the
CADU office

17) BAE Systems wins DU contract

Jane’s Defence Weekly reported several months ago, that the Ministry of
Defence (UK) selected the Royal Ordnance Division of British Aerospace
Systems to provide the 120mm CHARM 3 Training Round (the name for the DU

bullet) for use in the Challenger battle tanks in service with the
British
Army. It reports that they will be produced at Royal Ordnance
facilities
in Birtley and Glascoed, in a contract worth up to £100 million.
Do any readers live near any of these production plants, or have any
more
information about them? Please get in touch.

17) IMPORTANT - Affiliate to CADU to receive CADU News

We are asking our supporters to now affiliate formally to CADU by
completing the form below. Affiliation means you will automatically
receive
CADU news quarterly. Alternatively, individuals or groups can affiliate
by
becoming ‘Supporting Subscribers’, by contributing a minimum of £2 per
month or £24 per year regularly to CADU, and filling in the standing
order
form below & send it back to us.
Thanks to everyone who has been keeping our campaign going with your
kind
donations. (If you have recently donated and feel that this should
count
as your annual affiliation fee, please write a note to such effect on
the
form)

I would like to affiliate to CADU (please print out and send back by
snail
mail - E-Mail affiliations are free but the extra income from postal
affiliations is always welcome)

Name

Address

The affiliation rates (including 1 copy of CADU News quarterly) are: -
£5 individuals per year £20 groups per year

* I enclose a cheque for for yearly affiliation

* Or, I have filled in the standing order form below for my yearly
affiliation (it is much easier for CADU if affiliators could pay by
standing order, just enter £5 or £20 below)

Account Name Account Number

Bank Name Sort
Code
Bank Address

I authorise the payment of £ every month / year (delete as
appropriate)
starting from (enter date), until
further notice, to Campaign Against
Depleted Uranium, (bank sort code 08-92-99, Account number 65042867)
Co-op
bank, Kings Valley Yew St, Stockport, Cheshire SK4 2JU

Signed Date

****************************************************************************

**************************************
Greater Manchester and District Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(GM&DCND),
One World Centre, 6 Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5NS, UK
Tel: +44 (0)161 834 8301, Fax: +44 (0)161 834 8187, E-Mail:
gmdcnd@...

***NEW CADU CONTACT DETAILS PLEASE READ CAREFULLY***

The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (CADU) can also be contacted at
the
above address and fax number, BUT the phone number is: +44 (0)161 834
8176

The CADU web site is: www.cadu.org.uk

*Should you wish to receive the quarterly CADU mailing by E-Mail please
send a message to the above E-Mail address*
****************************************************************************

****************************************

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 04:40:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: di noia luigi <dinoialuigi@...>
Subject: recensione sull'uranio impoverito
To: pck-armamenti@...

Segnalo la pubblicazione da parte del Centro di
Documentazione Wilhelm Wolff del testo “Il metallo
del disonore: l’uranio impoverito” a cura dello
statunitense International Action Center. L’opera più
completa e vigorosa di denuncia delle armi all’uranio
impoverito. Riporto qui la presentazione:

“Prefazione

Questo è un libro importante, da conoscere e far
conoscere.
Esso contiene la denuncia documentata, scientifica,
militante della guerra condotta con armi all’uranio
impoverito: il nuovo tipo di guerra totale che il
Pentagono, la Nato, l’Occidente tutto hanno inaugurato
dieci anni fa sperimentandola sulle carni del popolo
irakeno, ed hanno poi gloriosamente replicato in
Bosnia, in Kosovo ed in Serbia contro i popoli
jugoslavi.
Parliamo di guerra totale perché le armi all’uranio
impoverito (dai missili ai proiettili d’ogni calibro),
oltre a seminare la morte immediata con più efficacia
delle armi convenzionali tradizionali, hanno anche il
”pregio” di seminare, tra le popolazioni prese a
bersaglio, la morte lenta, differita nel tempo. Tumori
di ogni genere (ai polmoni, al cervello, alla pelle,
ai bronchi, alla vescica, alla stomaco, al seno),
leucemia, abbattimento permanente di tutte le difese
immunitarie (un effetto simile a quello che provoca
l’AIDS): ecco cosa sono in grado di produrre le armi
all’uranio impoverito, capaci contemporaneamente di
devastare l’esistenza delle future generazioni con
l’enorme aumento di terribili alterazioni congenite
nei nuovi nati ed un’altrettanta micidiale caduta di
fertilità e della funzionalità sessuale. E non è
finita. Infatti, i bombardamenti all’uranio impoverito
hanno un altro gravissimo effetto letale: contaminare
per milioni e milioni di anni (arrestatevi per un
istante a riflettere su questo “particolare” tempo) la
terra, l’acqua, l’intero ambiente naturale dell’uomo.
Si tratta, insomma, della perfetta fusione tra guerra
nucleare, chimica e biologica, alla faccia
dell’infinità di convenzioni e risoluzioni
internazionali che “mettono al bando” le armi di
distruzione di massa...
Ecco perché si deve chiamare con la massima energia
tutti coloro che si sentono bollire il sangue dinanzi
ad un simile crimine a mobilitarsi, a lottare per
porre fine ad esso, e -tanto per incominciare- a
raccogliere e a diffondere sulla più larga scala
possibile questa denuncia.
Viceversa, la consegna dei poteri economici, politici
e militari che stanno dietro questa vera e propria
pratica del genocidio, è quella del silenzio. Il
silenzio totale. Oppure, quando vengono chiamati in
causa in modo stringente, è quella della irrisione:
“l’uranio impoverito è tanto radioattivo e nocivo
quanto la cassa del mio orologio” (un generale
italiano), “è meno pericoloso di un fiammifero acceso”
(un portavoce K-for). In ogni caso, si garantisce, non
esistono prove inconfutabili che produce dei danni. Ed
invece questo testo fornisce proprio una inconfutabile
analisi delle mostruose conseguenze che l’ultimissima
forma della guerra di distruzione capitalistica
produce. Un’analisi che necessariamente contiene, per
il suo rigore, qualche parte tecnica di lettura un po’
difficile (e forse non indispensabile) per i profani,
ma che altri interventi sanno tradurre in modo
adeguato anche per i non specialisti. Di essa si deve
tenere a mente almeno un dato “tecnico”: non esiste
alcuna soglia di sicurezza per le radiazioni, per cui
in questa materia ogni forma di minimizzazione è in
sprezzo della salute e della vita dell’uomo e della
natura. Ma non meno rilevante è un dato politico: il
feroce embargo imposto alle popolazioni irakene e
serbo-jugoslave, rendendo praticamente impossibile ad
esse approvvigionarsi delle apparecchiature e delle
medicine indispensabili, potenzia al massimo gli
effetti devastanti dei bombardamenti radioattivi.
Guerra nucleare-chimica-biologica combinata con la
guerra economico-politica: in Irak sono state falciate
in questo modo, in dieci anni, oltre un milione e
mezzo di vite!
Ci fermiamo qui per ora. Invitiamo i lettori ad
esaminare attentamente i materiali e diamo loro
appuntamento al termine del libro, alla postfazione,
nella quale svolgeremo qualche nostra considerazione.
Che, s’intende, nulla vieta, a chi lo voglia, di
guardare in anticipo.

Postfazione

risulterà ora più chiaro perché i poteri economici,
politici e militari che stanno ricorrendo alla
pratica, alla pianificazione, del genocidio attraverso
le armi all’uranio impoverito - poteri che fino a ieri
non si sarebbe esitato a definire imperialisti -
esigano, il silenzio su tutta la vicenda. Il silenzio,
l’occultamento di questo estremo crimine di guerra in
cui si stanno specializzando le democrazie “amanti e
custodi della pace”, sono la migliore garanzia di
poter proseguire indisturbate ed impune su questa
strada.
Per contro, rompere la consegna del silenzio,
contro-informare, è il primo, elementare dovere di
tutti coloro i quali si sentono il bisogno di opporsi
per davvero alle guerre di sfruttamento e di dominio
di cui l’Occidente si rende protagonista. Può esserci
d’aiuto, in questo, l’esperienza passata.
La storia degli effetti letali dell’uranio, infatti,
non è nuova. Non comincia né con la “sindrome del
Golfo” che - oltre la popolazione irakena - ha
colpito, come s’è visto, i soldati statunitensi e
britannici (migliaia dei quali sono già morti, tanto e
smentire l’inganno della guerra a costo zero per
l’occidente), né con le strazianti malformazioni dei
bimbi iracheni o dei figli dei soldati statunitensi
nati dopo la guerra: comincia con la stessa storia del
nucleare. Assai opportunamente il libro contiene la
denuncia delle ferite irreversibili inferte ai popoli
Navajo od alle genti delle isole Marshall, dallo
sfruttamento delle miniere di uranio fatta per decenni
senza nessuna precauzione, dai depositi di scorie
nucleari disseminati un po’ dovunque, dagli
esperimenti nucleari compiuti dagli stati uniti (che
sono oltre la metà degli esperimenti totali).E lascia
intravedere sullo sfondo gli orrori, arrivati proprio
in questi giorni perfino sulle pagine della Washington
Post, di luoghi come Paducah, la cittadina del
Kentucky nei cui impianti di lavorazione dell’uranio
migliaia di operai sono stati usati come cavie umane
negli anni cinquanta e sessanta. Alla faccia di coloro
che ancora si ostinano a distinguere il nucleare
civile da quello militare, supponendo che il primo sia
sicuro, innocuo, o addirittura benefico...
Dunque: da Hiroshima e Nagasaki fino alle isole
Marshall, dalle riserve Navajo a Paducah, da Three
Miles Island fino a Cernobyl, la storia dei tremendi
danni da uranio è lunga (nei soli stati Uniti sono
oltre 4.000 i luoghi contaminati, e nel mondo si
stimano in circa 20 milioni le persone morte
prematuramente a causa dell’inquinamento nucleare). Ma
in essa la guerra all’uranio impoverito segna un salto
di qualità: sia per la scala territoriale a cui è
stata seminata morte per milioni e milioni di anni,
poiché ora ad essere colpiti nuclearmente sono interi
paesi; sia per la capacità acquisita dagli Stati uniti
e dalle altre potenze occidentali di ridurre e
minimizzare l’allarme sociale imponendo il segreto di
stato intorno a questa catena di delitti, già di per
sé meno immediatamente percepibili perché ad effetti
differiti nel tempo; sia, infine, perché l’embargo
impedisce ai paesi colpiti di accedere ai mezzi
necessari per tentare se non altro di contenere la
diffusione del Morbo nucleare. A maggior ragione la
denuncia e la lotta contro questo “crimine contro
l’umanità” non deve conoscere timidezze, né tregue.
Tanto per essere chiari: i curatori di questa
traduzione sono schierati incondizionatamente dalla
parte dei lavoratori e degli oppressi di tutto il
mondo. Pertanto non si sentono neppure sfiorati dal
ricatto che i governi e i mass media occidentali
imbastiscono intorno ai nomi di Saddam e di Milosevic
(per cui non abbiamo alcuna simpatia). Coloro che lo
mettono in atto, infatti, lungi dall’agire per motivi
“umanitari” ed “antiterroristici”, sono i massimi
responsabili delle guerre terroristiche che
l’Occidente, che il “nostro” paese, ha fatto e
continua a fare, anche per mezzo di altrettanto
delittuosi embarghi, ai popoli dell’Irak e della
Jugoslavia. A costoro rispondiamo al modo in cui i
palestinesi di Ramallah hanno risposto al sig. Jospin:
You are terrorist. Siete voi, governanti e generali
dell’Occidente, i veri, grandi terroristi che
insanguinano la terra! E sappiamo molto bene che
l’insanguinate non per salvare i “poveri” kuwaitiani,
kosovari o timoresi di cui non ve ne può fregare di
meno, ma per chiarissimi, riconoscibilissimi,
luridissimi, interessi di rapina e di oppressione.
Il grande merito di Metal of Dishonor è proprio quello
di sbattere sul banco degli imputati precisamente i
poteri, a cominciare dal Pentagono, che
pretenderebbero di “amministrare la giustizia” e di
“preservare la pace” nel mondo. E di farlo con
coraggio dall’interno degli Stati Uniti, che sono il
centro direttivo mondiale della guerra ai “popoli
ribelli” del Terzo Mondo e la potenza che detiene il
semi-monopolio della produzione e della vendita delle
armi di sterminio di massa, senza alcun timore di
“fare il gioco del nemico”. Poiché per i Catalinotto,
per le Flounders e per gli altri il nemico non è
l’irakeno o lo jugoslavo, come ieri per loro e per
quelli come loro, non era il vietnamita: il nemico è
in casa propria, è il Pentagono e -aggiungiamo noi- il
coacervo di interessi economici e politici che sta
dietro e sopra il Pentagono.
Ma questa pubblicazione dell’International Action
Center ha anche il merito di non far alcuna
distinzione tra i colpiti americani (non a caso
appartenenti in larghissima parte alla “bassa truppa”
di estrazione proletaria e, in molti casi, di colore),
i nativi, gli irakeni, i bosniaci, gli jugoslavi,
inclusi i terribili “orchi” serbi. In un’Occidente
imbevuto fino alle midolla di razzismo verso le
popolazioni non europee, non “occidentali”,
considerate alla stregua di sotto-razze, sotto-popoli,
sotto-uomini predestinati a servire come schiavi la
super-razza bianca che abita l’Occidente, questo
atteggiamento alieno da sciovinismo deve insegnare
qualcosa a tutti noi. E ci deve essere d’insegnamento
e di sprone anche il fatto che gli attivisti dell’IAC
abbiano voluto e organizzato proprio a Baghdad un
incontro internazionale di denuncia delle armi
all’uranio impoverito che ha visto insieme, contro i
veri signori della guerra, militanti e studiosi
statunitensi, irakeni, tedeschi, inglesi. Ciò che, nel
piccolo, esprime l’esigenza di una nuova
collaborazione, di una nuova unità militante tra le
classi lavoratrici del mondo intero, contro le guerre
capitalistiche e contro le false “paci”
capitalistiche, altrettanto strangolatorie, che ne
sono la continuazione.
Dice la Flounders: “Oggi il Pentagono non teme alcuna
arma. Teme una sola cosa: la mobilitazione delle
masse, la loro consapevolezza, la loro attivazione, la
loro rabbia”. Esattissimo. E’ la forza organizzata
delle masse lavoratrici statunitensi e mondiali la
sola che può mettere con le spalle al muro il
Pentagono, la Nato ed i loro soci nel crimine.
Coagularla e dispiegarla non sarà facile, non è cos di
un giorno o di un mese o di un anno; ma se davvero si
vuole tagliare il male la radice, è questa l’arma
vincente, e la sola via da percorrere. Non ce ne sono
altre di più facili e più brevi, tantomeno se si
tratta di scorciatoie dettate dalla disperazione.
Per questo, ci sia permesso dirlo con franchezza, non
possiamo condividere gli appelli al diritto o alle
istituzioni internazionali di cui è pieno il testo.
Non è sul terreno del diritto, infatti, che si possono
contrastare e lottare efficacemente i pianificatori
del genocidio, ma su quello dei rapporti di forza sul
campo. Non saranno certo le istituzioni internazionali
che da sempre esprimono gli interessi degli Stati
uniti, della Nato, dei paesi ricchi sfruttatori e
affamatori del Terzo Mondo, quelle istituzioni
internazionali che hanno benedetto la guerra di Corea,
l’assassinio di Lumumba, le aggressioni Usa, Onu e
Nato al Vietnam, all’Irak, alla Jugoslavia, che hanno
permesso per oltre mezzo secolo ad Israele di vessare
liberamente con ogni mezzo il popolo palestinese e
libanese, che legittimano il neocolonialismo
finanziario e termonucleare oggi imperante nel mondo,
che soffocano con l’embargo i popoli riottosi a
piegarsi ai diktat del Fmi e delle cancellerie
occidentali; non saranno certo queste istituzioni che
rispondono ai supremi interessi delle multinazionali,
del mercato, del profitto, del capitale, ad impedire
che l’orrenda storia delle guerre all’uranio
impoverito continui. (Si tenga presente, per dirne
una, che l’Organizzazione mondiale della sanità che fa
capo all’Onu si è finora rifiutata di svolgere la
benché minima indagine sulle conseguenze della guerra
in Irak: si tratta, dopotutto, soltanto di arabi,
peggio se islamici, irakeni..., “surplus people”, come
dice il testo, da far fuori senza convenevoli e senza
rimpianti.)
Né, crediamo, si può star a distinguere tra armi di
sterminio lecite e illecite, come se avesse senso
prevedere uno sterminio regolato, “umanitario”, magari
sotto la supervisione di tribunali presuntamente
indipendenti chiamati a giudicare quali massacri sono
legittimi, e quali non lo sono. No! Il diritto
internazionale non è altro che il diritto del più
forte spadroneggia sulla scena internazionale. Cioè il
diritto di Wall Street, del Pentagono, della Nato, dei
padroni dell’Occidente a fare dappertutto tutto quello
che è nel loro insindacabile interesse. Non facciamo
rientrare dalla finestra quello che abbiamo cacciato
dalla porta. Non appelliamoci alla ragionevolezza e
alla sensibilità di quegli stessi poteri che abbiamo
appena finito di denunciare come criminali.
E’ tutt’altra la direzione in cui dobbiamo rivolgerci.
“La mobilitazione delle masse, la loro consapevolezza,
la loro attivazione, la loro rabbia”, la loro
organizzazione internazionale di lotta: è questa la
grande forza, oggi largamente inespressa, su cui
puntare. La sola che può mettere davvero fine ai
macelli in corso. La sola che può trasformare in
realtà il vecchio “sogno” autenticamente umano della
fine delle guerre di sfruttamento e di dominio.”

Luigi Di Noia

---

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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.

---

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Sito WEB : http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra

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-----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

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=======



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

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