Toxins from NATO Bombs Endangering Six Countries Besides Serbia; Use of Depleted Uranium Shells Condemned by Experts ATHENS, Apr. 10 - Greek experts registered an increase in levels of toxic substances in the atmosphere of Greece, and said that Albania, Macedonia, Italy, Austria and Hungary all face a potential threat to human health as a result of NATO's bombing of Serbia, which includes the use of radioactive depleted uranium shells. Prof. Christos Zerefos, a member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and director of the world center for ozone cartography, said that one day after the start NATO's attack on Yugoslavia, Greek experts discovered in the atmosphere dioxin and particles of the group of toxic agents knows as furanes, which pose a high risk for human health of the entire region. Meanwhile, back in New York, the International Action Center, a group that opposes the use of depleted-uranium weapons, called the Pentagon's decision to use the A-10 "Warthog" jets against targets in Serbia "a danger to the people and environment of the entire Balkans". The A-10s were the anti-tank weapon of choice in the 1991 war against Iraq. It carries a GAU-8/A Avenger 30 millimeter seven-barrel cannon capable of firing 4,200 rounds per minute. During that war it fired 30 mm rounds reinforced with depleted uranium, a radioactive weapon. John Catalinotto, a spokesperson from the Depleted Uranium Education Project of the International Action Center, and an editor of the 1997 book "Metal of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium", said the use of DU weapons in Yugoslavia "adds a new dimension to the crime NATO is perpetrating against the Yugoslav people -including those in Kosovo". Sara Flounders, a contributing author of "Metal of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium" and the Co-Director of the International Action Center, said the "Warthogs fired roughly 940,000 rounds of DU shells during the Gulf War. More than 600,000 pounds of radioactive waste was left in the Gulf Region after the war. And DU weapons in smaller number were already used by NATO troops during the bombing of Serbian areas of Bosnia in 1995." In an Apr. 1 front page article headlined, "Uranium bullets on NATO holsters," the San Francisco Examiner's reporter, Kathleen Sullivan, wrote that "the use of depleted uranium in combat is a troubling prospect to some veterans groups, which worry that the Pentagon will fail - once again - to issue warnings about the danger posed by its hazardous dust and debris. Piers Wood, a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information and a retired Army lieutenant colonel, dismissed concerns about the health and environmental effects of depleted uranium, saying everything in life is a trade-off. "I would risk the consequences of inhaling depleted uranium dust before I would consider facing tanks, Wood told the Examiner. Depleted uranium is wonderful stuff. It turns tanks into Swiss cheese." However, radiation expert Rosalie Bertell said depleted uranium is highly toxic to humans. Bertell, president of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health, called its use in Yugoslavia radiation and toxic chemical warfare that must be denounced. Some experts also warned of the environmental hazards posed by depleted uranium, which has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. "In Yugoslavia, it's expected that depleted uranium will be fired in agricultural areas, places where livestock graze and where crops are grown, thereby introducing the specter of possible contamination of the food chain," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. Last year, Iraqi doctors said they feared a disturbing rise in leukemia and stomach cancer among civilians who live near the war zone may be linked to depleted uranium contamination of Iraqi farmland. --- TiM Ed.: In short, the new Adolf and his helpers are indeed worse than the original. For, the Clinton administration and its NATO allies are committing not only crimes against humanity, but against life in general, including the flora and fauna (also see an earlier TiM article about that - Day 8, Update 1, Item 2, Mar. 31). -------------- Clinton Willing to Risk Global War; A Pentagon Officer: "The Man Is an Ass" (From the Capitol Hill Blue) WASHINGTON, Apr. 5 - Bill Clinton's failing Kosovo war "is part of a desperate, dangerous and fatally flawed plan by a scandal-ridden President to salvage a legacy for the history books," White House and Pentagon insiders told Doug Thompson, the Capitol Hill Blue publisher and a former journalist. Interviews conducted over the past two weeks by Thompson showed an increasingly isolated President whose obsession with his place in the history books has led him to ignore the recommendations not only of career military officers, but also of many close aides. "The President is standing alone on a lot of this," says one White House aide. "He's finder fewer and fewer people who are willing to stick with him over Kosovo. He's backed himself, his administration and his country into a corner." Two who are sticking with Clinton are National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who aides say would follow Clinton anywhere. "Berger and Albright put their loyalty to Clinton above their oaths to serve the Constitution," says military analyst Sander Owen. "It's pathetic to watch." At the Pentagon, senior officers now call the President the "draft dodger in chief," and sneer at his inability to grasp simple military tactics. "The man is an ass," says one career officer. "He has no concept of a military operation. To him, it's just a video game. What we don't know is how many body bags it will take to make this jerk face reality." Arnold Crittendon, a retired intelligence analyst, says Clinton has become a "laughing stock" in both the military and intelligence communities. "His political motives are so blatant that they would be farcical if we weren't talking about the lives of American soldiers," Crittendon says. "There wasn't that much respect for the man to begin with. What little there was is long gone now." [...] Former Navy Capt. Al Simonson says he knows several career military professionals who are willing to resign their commissions rather than continue to serve under Clinton. "I've been around the military for more than 30 years and I have never seen morale this low," Simonson says. "Bill Clinton has destroyed the soul of our armed forces." [...] For the full report, check out the CAPITOL HILL BLUE: http://www.capitolhillblue.org/April1999/040599/clinton040599.htm -------------- Get Us Out of NATO! (By Col. Randy Givens, a "Green Beret" Vet) LOS FRESNOS, Apr. 9 - Col. George "Randy" Givens (US SF, ret.), a "Green Beret" veteran from the Vietnam war, says the U.S. should get out of NATO. Fast. Before the body bags start coming home. Here's a message he sent to us last night, enclosing an editorial from a local paper in this southwest Texas community in the Rio Grande Valley: "Our Secretary of State claims that at this month�s 50th anniversary NATO summit, U.S. 'leaders will unveil a revised strategic concept for the alliance.' This may be so, but I think all Americans should immediately say: 'Get us OUT of NATO.' NATO was intended to be a DEFENSIVE organization to protect Europe and American interests from a Soviet attack - PERIOD!!! We signed treaties to that effect. Congress approved them. If Clinton and friends want to change that, then they MUST be forced to rewrite the treaties and submit them to the American people for a vote. By then, the body bags will be coming home and all bets will be off. --- -- - Visit the Truth in Media Web site http://www.truthinmedia.org/ for more articles on geopolitical affairs. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
