As many of us already realize, it has not been uh, exactly the interest of Congress to care about the health and well-being of our veterans. Oh sure, there have been some efforts to throw vets a crumb here and there. But, by and large, you do not *use* a weapon with indiscriminate health effects, considered illegal by the United Nations and Hague and Geneva conventions, and *not* know what you are doing.
Plenty of research was done before 1991 (the start of the US use of Depleted Uranium weapons in combat) that proves - beyond a shadow of a doubt -that its use in combat harms our very own soldiers, too. So, regarding the work of this State Senator Jim Sullivan from Wisconsin…well, let's just say, we need to do more than merely watch this measure.
We must ask ourselves, is this proposal a registry to actually *help* our veterans? Or rather, is this an effort to study what happens to America’s ex-soldiers along the way as they weaken, sicken and die? According to Sullivan, they are "not sure of the long term effect of that exposure".
Um, dear State Senator Sullivan, maybe you and your colleagues in Wisconsin are none too sure about the health effects of Depleted Uranium upon our soldiers. But of this one fact, you can be certain: Uncle Sam is sure. In fact, he is very… Heck, you could even say, in effect, that he is indeed “dead” sure.
Make no mistake about the role played by America’s men and women in combat today. Our men and women, in all certainty, are “disposable soldiers” in Kiss The Boys Goodbye and what Kissinger called "dumb, stupid animals to be used", mere cannon fodder for the appetite of the corporations that handsomely profit from these US Wars Everlasting. The Congressional whores – Dems and GOP both - merely do the dirty work for the fascist regime in power by *keeping* us permanently enmeshed in these wars - through such measures as proposing that we keep data base registries on our poisoned vets who have served in the Middle East.
The truth of the matter is, poisoning of our soldiers by radioactivity in Uranium weapons is not curable. Yes, you can treat some of the symptoms, but you can not eliminate the worsening radioactivity decay and destructive somatic damage that it causes over time once even a single microscopic DU particle begins its process of devastation and destruction inside the veteran's body.
The Wisconsin Senate Committee on Veterans and Foreign Affairs may actually already know this as well as - or perhaps even better - than we do. They say there are no studies, but the feds in the US Military have indeed done studies - many, many studies – since the 1940s that any Wisconsin State Senator could examine regarding the effect of Uranium aerosols inhaled, ingested, and even implanted within the body.
Fully aware of the deleterious health effects of DU, the US Military started using this poison dust and gas in Iraq back in 1991. They knew exactly what they were doing with this toxic chemical and radioactive poison before they ever entered Iraq the first time around. Sullivan undoubtedly knows quite well, in fact, that DU is harming Wisconsin’s veterans and all US veterans, to boot.
So rather than scream out to his fellow members of the Wisconsin State Senate, "Let us, right now, all converge upon that five-sided building over the Potomac in Washington, DC’s evil shadow, en masse, in order to force them to STOP this radioactive, poison from being used in our weapons – and upon our soldiers - RIGHT NOW!” Instead, he says, in effect, “Let's keep a data base registry and collect information on our Wisconsin vets, so we can slowly, carefully, painstakingly WATCH... THEM... DIE.”
Are we going to continue to allow our tax dollars to be used to put innocent civilians of Afghanistan and Iraq to death-by-poisoning – as well as our own soldiers, too? Or, will our vets, our soldiers, their families, and all of us who know the truth about what is going on with Radioactive Uranium Weaponry get together and start to scream bloody murder?
This is not likely to happen as a result of any currently established, large, organized veterans or military families group. Hint: This is going to take an actual grassroots effort – comprised of just ordinary citizens and families - to lead the way. So far, I have not seen any large vets' group or military families' group take this up as their main, primary, dedicated focus.
I strongly suspect that it is now past time that this happens. This war-loving Empire is not going to stop the use of Uranium Weapons on its own. It’s main component, U-238, is far too cheap and plentiful to stop its use. Plus, it has the extra little added side 'benefit" of killing mass numbers of all those (including our vets, the so-called enemy, and innocent civilians, too) who breathe in these toxic, radioactive, poisonous Uranium aerosols.
These Uranium weapons were used in Iraq starting in 1991 and their use continued until we could finish up the job again - this time, against a weakened, sickened Iraq, when we merely escalated the Uranium poison gassing of Iraq in 2003. And so, too, we weaken and sicken our very own soldiers. Many of them never will make it to the age of 77, when the rest of us, non-veterans, can be reasonably expected to die. The cost savings in terms of veterans' health care payments and pensions of a very thoughtfully-abbreviated life span on the part of our veterans, no doubt, must be astronomical for the federal military budget.
So predictably more and more over time, we will continue to see state legislators who, pressured by their outraged constituents, propose and pass pointless state legislative measures that do nothing but “watch” and “study” our veterans – instead of trying to work to stop the federally sanctioned Uranium weaponry that is illegal and considered a War Crime under international humanitarian and human rights laws.
These state bills, while on the surface appearing to be well-meaning efforts on behalf of our veterans, actually do little more than merely buy the federal war-makers (and the lucrative weapons industry) more time.
Indeed, one can be quite certain that on the Army enlistment forms there is no fine print that tells prospective soldiers that they are participating in an Early Death Study Program when they sign on the bottom line to fight in an uninhabitable, Uranium-contaminated war “theater”. Unfortunately, however, unlike death scenes we can watch on the silver screen? Our soldiers come home to die, hidden away at home or in substandard veterans’ hospitals - completely removed from the awareness of an “audience” of an enlightened citizenry who can actually watch and observe their slow and painful death-by-radiation process.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
