PORTUGAL: EX-CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF ATTACKS NATO AS USA ADMITS DELAY IN WARNING ABOUT DANGERS OF D.U. WEAPONS

The verbal war over depleted uranium (DU), which Pravda.Ru started some weeks before the international media took up the story, becomes hotter and hotter, as accusations are launched against NATO and are subsequently denied. One thing is certain: soldiers are dying of leukaemia, soldiers who have served in areas where DU weapons were used by NATO. Depleted Uranium is added to conventional weapons to create added thrust when the missile hits the target. Due to its hardness, DU fuses upon impact, puncturing a hole in heavily armoured vehicles or reinforced concrete bunkers. As it fuses, a cloud of toxic particles is released and it is this toxicity that can be dangerous if it is ingested or breathed in. The point is that civilians are living in areas where these materials were used. Tests are being made at the moment and should be available by the end of January but the tests are for radioactivity, not toxicity. Given that the radioactive charge can rise and fall, it is logical to assume that the results of these tests will reveal higher than usual rates of radioactivity but probably not deadly levels. What seems to be causing the damage to the health is toxins released by the use of DU weapons. Now ex-Portuguese Chief of the Army Staff, General Cerqueira Rocha, has stated that when the first Portuguese battalion was sent to Bosnia in January 1996, the Portuguese were not informed by NATO of the use of DU weapons by the United States Air Force. Yesterday, the US State Department admitted that DU weapons had been used in Bosnia in 1994/5 and that notification about possible risks had only been made in 1999. The ex-NATO commander in Europe, US General Wesley Clark, stated yesterday that he recommended “maximum care” for the soldiers who are operating in areas where DU was used. He stated that all NATO members received maps showing where DU had been deployed. He added that “it is the responsibility of the countries involved in the peace-keeping forces to clean up the environment”. Declarations such as these go against those of NATO, which continued until recently to deny that there is any danger whatsoever to the health posed by the use of DU. Let us now pass from the declarations of two NATO generals to those of a scientist, Brian Spratt, an British investigator into health hazards presented by DU, who declared yesterday on BBC’s Newsnight programme: “Depleted Uranium is moderately radioactive, it is poisonous from the chemical point of view and there is a possibility that it reacts with certain metals – nickel for example – which are not radioactive but which can increase the risk of cancer if they appear in sufficient quantity”. In Portugal, Prime Minister Guterres has requested that the father of the corporal who died recently of a mystery illness after having served in Kosovo (officially, encephalitis but on further examination, kidney and liver failure, compatible with toxic or radioactive poisoning) allow the body of his son to have a second autopsy. The Portuguese are currently performing tests in Kosovo to determine whether NATO’s claims today that there is a “minimal health risk” are true or false. At least NATO now admits that there is a “minimal health risk” and that DU weapons were used. Finally.

TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY Pravda.Ru Lisbon