U.S. Used More DU Weapons in Afghanistan Than in Persian Gulf War: Dracovic

TEHRAN TIMES, Nov.9, 2002

TEHRAN -- "U.S. forces must refrain from using depleted uranium weapons like the ones they used in Afghanistan in their possible attack on Iraq," said the discoverer of Gulf War syndrome, Dr. Asef Dracovic, in an interview with Al-Jazeera television.

He warned against the syndrome and said that if U.S. forces use depleted uranium (DU) in the threatened attack on Iraq, as they did in Afghanistan, it would have very serious implications.

Dracovic said that U.S. forces used more DU weapons in Afghanistan than they used in the Persian Gulf War and the Balkans wars, adding that if the same amounts were used in Iraq, it would have terrible consequences.

He stated that thousands of DU bombs were used by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

About 80,000 U.S., 15,000 Canadian, and a large number of British soldiers are suffering from Gulf War syndrome, but unfortunately the media has covered up the whole issue under pressure from the U.S. administration.

Meanwhile, in recent days there have been numerous reports about the birth of many disabled and deformed children in Afghanistan. A large number of health specialists in Afghanistan as well as international observers, including one of the officials of a local hospital, regard the increased number of birth defects in Afghanistan to be the direct result of the U.S dropping DU bombs on Afghanistan.

The use of DU weapons has not only harmed children but also has contaminated plant and animal life in the war-ravaged and impoverished country.

If U.S. forces use DU weapons in their threatened war against Iraq, two important Muslim countries of the region will suffer for years.

Find out more facts and figures on the US war in Afghanistan on the web site of Professor Marc W. Herold