- The constant fear of dying by small arms fire, cluster bombs, white phosphorus, random mortar shells, and a host of other grisly products of the U.S. military-industrial-complex.
- The ability to be abducted and tortured (er, sorry, harshly interrogated) for months on end.
- The right to hand over all rights to your natural resources to transnational corporations.
- The outright destruction of all important infrastructure and most housing.
- Mass unemployment with the added feature of harsh anti-union laws.
- The freedom to leave your lifelong home and join the millions of unemployed refugees either in camps in neighboring nations or within your own borders with no hope of ever returning home. For no extra cost, learn to fear your neighbors of decades as part of a colonial style divide an conquer scheme.
- An added benefit of tons of radioactive depleted uranium littering your entire country.
- Occasional and infrequent access to clean water, electricity and other necessities.
All these and so much more, courtesy of Senate Democrats!
One wonders if Rumsfeld and his fellow war criminals had this mind when they were claiming their war of aggression 'would pay for itself.'
http://socialistworker.org/2008/05/12/paying-to-be-occupied
Why is it that the far left has such a fascination with depleted uranium? This contains the following false statement: An added benefit of tons of radioactive depleted uranium littering your entire country. -- DU is only in small areas where tanks were fought in 2003 and most of the penetrators fired by the A10 aircraft are probably a little under the sand still intact within their aluminum shroud. They could have been cleaned up long ago, but it is a little hard to mount a clean up operation when the workers keep getting killed. That's the real tragedy that Iraqi continues to kill Iraqi, not the DU in the few places where it is found around a destroyed Iraqi tank.
ReplyDeleteLearn about uranium, go to www.depletedcranium.com and watch the video of dinner off of a widely popular Art Deco Fiesta Ware orange plate glazed with depleted uranium! The links at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DUStory/message/55 also will teach you much from an international scientific standpoint. You can even write me at DUStory-owner@yahoogroups.com
While I definitely qualify as far-left, I am also a Veteran of the United States Navy. I have some familiarity with DU based weapons like Phalanx close in weapon system, so I will ignore the patronizing second paragraph offering to educate me about depleted uranium. rhotel1's comments in the first paragraph are patently false. rhotel1 asserts with no supporting documentation that "DU [is found] in the few places." There are many verifiable sources supporting my assertion of tons as correct. Take for example, this article in Jane's Defense (hardly a leftist publication) Iraq: the DU dust settles citing "the amount of DU used in the 2003 war at 1,700 tonnes." rhotel1's further reactionary, and frankly racist comments further demonstrate their apologetics for what are essentially genocidal policies in Iraq by U.S. ruling class.
ReplyDeleteRoger Helbig is well known for attacking anyone exposing the horrors of DU. After the above, he wrote me a nasty little note. I responded thusly, which silenced him. Every time he claims DU is safe, people need to remind him that the military itself considers DU unsafe and has procedures for dealing with it in documents like Handling Procedures for Equipment Contaminated with Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities.
ReplyDeleteSorry Mr. Helbig:
Helbig: "Just because so many tonnes of DU have been fired"
I am glad you acknowledged from the start that we are discussing tons of DU, rather than your somewhat astonishing original assertions of 'small' and 'little.' Since this was the main point of contention to begin with, your tacit admission of my original statement being correct is good despite the rest of your polemic. I'm very unclear how 1,700 tons of rounds, aluminum shrouded or otherwise, is acceptable to you. I do realize the shrouded part is important to you so you can deny any Iraqis are at risk of inhaling or ingesting DU particulate. However, we are talking tons upon tons of a mildly radioactive toxic heavy metal, which you dismiss out of hand. Again, my original statement of tons of DU stands without question. You have done nothing to disprove it, and even agreed with the quote from Jane's Defense which is a low end estimate.
Helbig: "just because you served in the Navy does not make you much of an expert"
Never claimed to be an expert (although now that I've seen your credentials, you aren't either). What I do claim is that we had safety procedures for handling DU rounds. Safety procedures in place due to the toxic and radioactive nature of DU rounds for Phalanx systems (which by the way were in their shrouds as you would know). Safety procedures not unlike Pamphlet 700–48 http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p700_48.pdf. How is it that a former USAF officer would be unfamiliar with these types of documents? Of course you are familiar, but as an apologist for empire and genocide, you cannot acknowledge such familiarity.
Helbig: "your far left character is showing when you call my comments racist"
Funny, I stated I was revolutionary left from the get go, so I guess you just think rehashing it strengthens your hand. Your reactionary extreme right wing character is showing when you don't even see the inherent racism of your initial statement:
Helbig: "They could have been cleaned up long ago,
but it is a little hard to mount a clean up operation when the
workers keep getting killed. That's the real tragedy that Iraqi
continues to kill Iraqi, not the DU in the few places where it is
found around a destroyed Iraqi tank."
Blaming Iraqis for the tons of DU in their nation now are we?
Did the Iraqi people ask to be invaded by an aggressor nation? Did the Iraqi people ask to be occupied by a brutal occupier for over half a decade? Did the Iraqi people request the use of DU rounds and a host of other horrific products of the U.S. military-industrial-complex? Did Iraqis ask their occupier to set up a provisional puppet government intentionally divided along ethnic and religious lines in a colonial-style divide and conquer scheme?
The U.S. ruling class has never had any intentions of cleaning up toxicity or reconstructing anything in Iraq. Despite your jingoistic defense ("no political axe to grind," indeed) of these racist genocidal policies are tantamount to your racism. In other words, only racists defend racism, everyone else condemns it.