The Deceit of Depleted Uranium use in Afghanistan Part 2

The Deceit of Depleted Uranium use in Afghanistan

Part 2 – The vital evidence

This final part of the deceit story will prove for the first time that weapons containing uranium components are used in Afghanistan despite US and NATO denial. We saw this same denial in the Balkans, Kuwait and Iraq. Eventually hard evidence revealed the truth and the military backed down. A massive PR exercise is then launched to play down its usage. Independent experts have since carried out test in Afghanistan and revealed the excessive use of weapons containing uranium components at a much greater level than used in Iraq.
We continue to see the US A-10 aircraft flying missions over Afghanistan which uses excessive amounts of DU rounds (around 1,150 per flight). This same aircraft can carry other weapons that are also believed to contain uranium, such as the Maverick Missile.


They continue to tell us that we do not use any weapons containing uranium but as one would expect they just keep re appearing in their deadly form. These shots again show such weapons slung below another two aircraft, but do not worry folks, just remember that low level radiation is safe - or so they keep telling us!!

In many of my previous articles I have talked about the huge aerosol of DU nanoparticles that enter the upper atmosphere upon impact. These particles ascend many thousands of feet as they rise on the heated convective currents created by such weapons. We have also seen these same particles drifting around the immediate target area and also across international borders on the prevailing wind.

We can now look at secondary contamination (which is an on going cycle) whereby the wind continues to pick up nanoparticles from contaminated areas and allows them to drift on the wind to any point on the globe. In hot dry conditions such as Afghanistan the recycling of contaminated particles goes on forever and becomes a major hazard during sand storms as this picture shows.

With today’s technology we now see the regular use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) that are controlled many miles away from the area of conflict. They can carry 4 Hellfire missiles and 2 bunker busters both of which have been an association with uranium components. These UAV’s have been responsible for many innocent civilian deaths as well as having the ability to contribute to the ongoing contamination.

Secondary contamination is a major problem in Afghanistan not only from the natural weather conditions but also from the constant military activity by aircraft and helicopters. DU has been used extensively in this war and those countries downwind of Afghanistan, such as Pakistan, India and China etc will reap in the harvest.
The environment in most of the areas of conflict is extremely arid and therefore secondary contamination become a major issue. The picture on the left gives you some idea of the conditions that exist within a sandstorm or in the vicinity of the down wash from helicopters. What makes the aerosols so lethal is the fact that there is no known protection (breather apparatus).

Now that we fully understand the dangers associated with the use of weapons containing uranium components let’s focus on some evidence to prove that everyone associated with Afghanistan continues lying on the issue of DU/EU weapons.

We have repeated denials from Governments and their respective Departments of Defence, UNEP and US, UK and NATO forces. Dare we once again ask “Are weapons being used in Afghanistan that contain uranium components?”…..don’t hold your breath for a response!

I can now say, after an exhaustive period of research, that the evidence is now before me. It gives me great pleasure to allow the Palestine Telegraph to break this exclusive news and to again prove that such weapons are used in Afghanistan. The Palestine Telegraph is very rare in that it is prepared to print the truth and are not controlled or censored like most of the media in the west.

This picture shows hundreds of spent DU Penetrators being prepared for detonation which is totally illegal and in violation of US military regulations.

Let’s take a closer look at this particular incident and see where and when it took place and by whom. We will also analyse the implications of such a thoughtless action and ask the question how was this allowed to take place? One could also ask the question does the Afghanistan Government know that such weapons are being used and that these types of horrendous acts have taken place.

I believe that this is not the first time that such an incident has taken place in Afghanistan (which I explained in Part 1 along with another photograph).
It is obvious that this act was to remove the evidence, but in doing so would have released an enormous highly contaminated aerosol of DU dust into the region, to downwind locations, and across the border into Pakistan, India, Himalayas, China and beyond. It would have reached far away places within a week and by now would have started it lethal cycle in all those in its path who had the misfortune to inhale it.

The exact location of this incident was in Chaghcharan, Ghor Province in Central Afghanistan near to the NATO military base belonging to the Lithuanian contingent in 2007. The practice of detonating unexploded weapons is carried out in such a way but these are not live weapons. The photograph shows the spent remnants of hundreds of Depleted Uranium Penetrator Rods that were manhandled and placed into a pre dug trench and being prepared with explosives to detonate and destroy the evidence. You will also note that no protective clothing or gasmasks were worn by the Lithuanian squad (not as it would have made any difference anyway because no such apparatus exists to protect against such nanoparticles). The soldiers belong to the Lithuanian mine disposal group known as Išminuotojai

It must be noted that such rods are not only DU (Uranium238) they can consist of the following: 99.8% U238 and rest .2% made of 234, 235, and 236 Plutonium, Neptunium, Americium or 99.2 % 238 and rest .8% 234, 235, 236, Plutonium, Neptunium, Americium. Under the US Military regulations it is illegal and extremely dangerous to dispose of such radioactive waste in this manner. All disposal handling must be done per ar 700-48, da pam 700-48, tb 9-1300-278 while following medical care requirements.

The reason this evidence exists in the battle field is that rods stay intact but loose some of their outer diameter on impact. Some may break up but they stay intact with a mass loss of between 40 % to 70%.
Persons attending such activity should wear a gasmask (ppe per tb 9-1300-278 at minimum.should be in level a or min level b) There would be high level contamination not only during the preparation stage but also after detonation. All staff involved would be at grave risk and also the adjacent Lithuanian base camp.

At this stage I would also like to point out that the normal prevailing winds at this location would carry that contamination over to the adjacent NATO camp that belongs to the Australian contingent putting them at risk and all others in the entire region and beyond.

The risk by inhalation would have been extremely high after the rods had been detonated and vast amounts would have also entered the upper atmosphere to commence its global journey. I will now demonstrate how such a significant explosion and its DU fallout would have travelled had this taken place today for example.

One can clearly see that no one avoids the deadly aerosols with Pakistan and India taking the brunt of the contamination before it continues its journey up over the Himalayas to China and also south down to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. We must also keep in mind that within Afghanistan the down wind contamination would have travelled over the NATO bases that house the Lithuanian and the Australian forces and continued on over Kabul.

As you have seen by my wind flow chart (made up on the 15th October 2009), no one can escape these nanoparticle aerosols as they move on their indiscriminate journey and no breather apparatus has the capability to filter them out. What I find amazing is that no matter what warnings are issued, no government takes any notice. One would assume that countries that lie in its path would have its Ambassador visit the White House without delay. Pakistan, India, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia obviously accept the genocide of its people.

We should now reflect on the consequences of this US led war in Afghanistan and realise that despite the extremely sophisticated aircraft that deliver the vast array of “Dirty Weapons” the spirit of the Afghan people cannot be broken. We should continue to ask the President of the US -why did your country go to war? - Why are you still there when only a handful of Al Qaeda exist? - is your only reason to send more troops to secure the corridor for your TAPI pipeline?

This again brings to mind an informal meeting that took place on the 4th of June 2008 at the Geneva headquarters of the United Nations. The topic of this meeting was “The Humanitarian Tragedy in Afghanistan – Human Rights violations and Health Effects” Doesn’t this sound familiar – Balkans – Iraq – Lebanon – Gaza and now Pakistan and Somalia? A small group of well respected people gathered round a table to pour out their hearts. They described the true situation in Afghanistan - how things really are - how the people think and the terrible health problems that exist as a result of this US war.

It is only when one reads the facts that you realise that we in the west, a so called civilized race of people, are truly deplorable in carrying out these most atrocious and evil acts in securing out commercial greed. I would like the people of America to reflect on some of the comments made at this meeting and spend just one moment of your time to understand what your Government is doing, where your nuclear waste is going, what your arms manufacturers have produced and how your military is delivering these evil products.

This is an extraction from the Zurich based “Current Concern” (The international journal for independent thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility, and for the promotion and respect of public international law, human rights and humanitarian law). At that meeting Professor Mohamed Daud Miraki described the shocking situation in Afghanistan having just returned from a visit -After seven years of war (longer than World War II); the country is in a desolate condition. Despite all assertions by the military exponents, no successful reconstruction work has been done. Neither was the number of illiterates decreased nor was the number of school-leavers increased. The so-called humanitarian help is for the benefit of international organizations for the greater part, but only to a small extent for the benefit of the people.

The number of people going hungry is steadily increasing; fields lie fallow, as the people do not dare to work on their fields in fear of fighting and bombardments by the occupation forces. However, poppy growing works well, especially in those areas that are under allied control. The photograph on the left show US Military agricultural specialist in training prior to going to Afghanistan. One can only hope they don’t follow the same trend as their counterparts in Iraq who destroyed the entire seed bank of Iraq (the birthplace of civilisation and agriculture). I am sure they will follow the same practices in Afghanistan and teach them how to use GM seed and make them totally dependent on Monsanto. I could just imagine the conversation between the American experts and the old Afghan farmers “Listen up guys” “We have been doing this agro business for a hundred years and you have only been doing this for thousands of years” “Let me introduce you to these wonderful Monsanto seeds…..they are guaranteed to give you a greater yield in the short term and make you heavily in debt in the long term”…….”Just let me tell you about what we have done in India….they now exclusively use our seed and owe us lots of money…..would you believe that the farmers there have the highest suicide rate” “How’s that for a success story folks?”

The article went on to say: The Karzai government that Miraki described as a puppet regime dancing to America’s whistle is not rooted in the population and the majority disdain this government. Its influence does not reach beyond the borders of Kabul and it is oriented towards the US and their allies; its influence is waning, however. The people in Afghanistan deeply despise the methods of the occupation troops. Their brutal violence when pursuing the alleged terrorists is indescribable and represents a severe violation of the Geneva Convention and Human Rights. Arbitrarily, men are taken from their homes kidnapped, then tortured and killed without any reason. The people are tired of this disaster and want the occupying forces to leave as soon as possible.

The article further described - the contamination of the environment by the use of new and unknown weapons, especially DU bombs. Due to constant bombing, whole areas have become uninhabitable, as happened in Iraq. People in these areas are suffering from terrible diseases, especially from cancer and genetic deformations. The incidence of cancer deaths and malformations in newborns has risen dramatically. He did not conceal his sympathy with the people’s resistance against American troops and their allies. These actions have nothing to do with terrorism, Dr Miraki claims; instead they are a legitimate armed fight against illegal occupation.


This article is so important that I have decided to take parts of it to explain the true situation in Afghanistan at grass roots level……it puts everything into context. Another expert at this meeting was Dr Daniel Guentert further explained the terrible situation regard Depleted Uranium (Which the US and Allies still deny). These are the exact words used in this same article: He pointed out how radioactive nanoparticles, resulting from the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, are incorporated in the body and destroy cellular structures there with devastating effects on the human organism.
The effect on human health depends on the dosage, the frequency and the duration of DU exposition. A high dosage contributes to an acute deficiency of the human airways and to death within a few days. Lower dosages cause unspecific symptoms (fatigue, loss of hair, diarrhoea, etc.), a deficiency of the immune system, different inflammatory responses (kidney failure, chronic respiratory infections), chromosomal damage (leads to malformations in newborns) and different forms of cancer (lung cancer, liver cancer, skin cancer, leukaemia, lymphoma etc.). We know that there is a linear dose-effect relation for ionising radiation in a cumulative manner.

The damage, done to human cells by DU particles incorporated into the human body is increased up to thousand folds compared to the damage done by X-rays. After an explosion of DU-ammunition an enormous heat develops, in which DU oxidizes to uranium oxide (UO2), which is insoluble; this burning metal has tendency to produce submicron particles like a fine dust with tiny particles of 1-10 μm or even less. Inhalation is the major route of exposure leading to internal contamination with uranium. These tiny particles pass the airways and enter the alveoli; the smaller ones (< 5 μm) penetrate the alveolar membrane and enter the vessels and the cardiovascular system respectively. This means that exposed soldiers or other persons inhale tiny radioactive particles which are stored in the lung tissue and also in other organs via the cardiovascular system.

As we have pointed out on so many occasions the use of any weapon containing uranium components is strictly forbidden, since it represents a severe violation of the Geneva Convention. The final comments came from Professor Alfred de Zayas who talked about the principals and purpose of the United Nations. This is how the article covered his story: He focused on the international law aspects of the Afghanistan tragedy. He called to mind that the United Nations had been created in order to establish and maintain peace, not to wage war. The function of the Security Council is to facilitate peace-making, not to impose peace by massive bombing, resulting in the peace of the graveyard. According to article 2(3) of the UN Charter all 192 member States of the United Nations are obliged to settle disputes through peaceful means. Trying to impose “unconditional surrender” on the Taliban raises the spectre of genocide.

We must pause and ask why, for the past seven years; the United Nations have been waging war in Afghanistan. Is such behaviour consistent with the UN charter? Is it for or against the people of Afghanistan? Tens of thousands of civilians have already been killed in the name of the United Nations. The countryside has been polluted by the use of chemical agents and depleted uranium weapons. This is contrary to the Geneva Red Cross Conventions of 1949 and to the imperative of protecting the environment of the planet, which is the common heritage of all mankind. In the last two decades, it appears that the sacred duty of the Organization has been hijacked for purposes of maintaining the hegemony of the most powerful states.

The UNEP have carried out many visits to the theatres of war but to what avail. They go in almost totally blind, such as in the Balkans..…they pass numerous vehicles that have been hit by DU munitions then park up somewhere to carry out tests for depleted uranium in what could only be described as clean areas. They intentionally then find the odd small penetrator from a US A-10 aircraft and come away saying that DU is not a problem in the Balkans and is as safe as normal background radiation.

They go into Lebanon and declare no trace of DU but carry out environmental impact studies to justify their existence. In Gaza they were made aware of possible DU contamination but made no effort to investigate it. They did however carry out another environmental impact study on one such visit, highlighting points of contamination. After their war crime investigate they then had the audacity to start a one year project bulldozing the contaminated areas, stockpiling the rubble, crushing it and then spreading it around the Gaza Strip to resurface roads and streets. This very act alone was in total violation of the UN’s own decontamination policy. Why in God’s name did they choose to carry out this thoughtless task……was it to try and remove evidence or to cover up what was hidden below in the bomb craters? The UNEP also visited Afghanistan and again carried out an environmental impact study stating that after two decades of war the environment had been degraded and had become a major stumbling block for the countries reconstruction efforts.

It also pointed out that the disposal of solid waste, contamination of groundwater and the toxic air from burning plastic waste had created other problems…..they didn’t look for DU or pass comment on the horrific contamination that existed from the disproportionate use of weapons containing uranium components. How dare such organisations as the UNEP and the WHO continue to cover up this terrible evil act against human kind? How dare the UNEP criticise such contamination when they are fully aware of the catastrophic contamination from US, UK, NATO and IDF forces in so many places? How can they do such a comparison when the contamination from these weapons makes other toxic contamination almost insignificant?

This article proves that DU/EU weapons certainly played and continues to play a very big part in this unnecessary war. Now the US is pouring in thousands of troops backed up by additional troops from other NATO countries. As Doug Rokke once quoted in one of his briefs: “If you go to war you will die”……..I would like everyone to fully understand the truth behind this statement. If you do not become a casualty of war you certainly will become a victim of the notorious “Syndrome” as a direct result of uranium aerosol contamination. What makes these wars so disgusting is our respective governments propaganda message that in making this sacrifice we are making the streets of the US and EU safer. What they really mean is that this is all about oil, gas and economic greed and in order to achieve their goals they have to sacrifice the lives of not only their own troops but also the many thousands of innocent people in the areas of conflict.

I might also add that no Taliban have ever carried out any act of terrorism in the US or EU. When they interviewed the Afghanistan Ambassador to the US on TV last night I felt like throwing up…..he said that the US and NATO forces were in Afghanistan to protect our streets! I would have asked him a question: “If Al Qaeda is now in Somalia does that mean that the US and NATO forces must go there next?” I suppose that would have been a silly question as the US is now changing the NATO rules of engagement to incorporate any attack on oil/gas facilities or the supply chain. That means that if they (the so called terrorists) attack any facility, pipeline, ship or whatever that has a commercial connection to any NATO country, then an attack on one is an attack on all!

I sincerely hope that all the war vets and all those civilians that have died or continue to suffer get their day in court to see true justice when the likes of Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Blair and so many, other too numerous to mention, end up in court to answer to their barbaric ways.

I would like to thank Doug Rokke for his input into my story and for giving me the opportunity to bring this concrete evidence out into the open. I wonder how long it will take all those that denied the usage of DU/EU weapons in Afghanistan to admit to there evil cover-up and come clean. I also like to point out that in bringing this out into the open, all those that served or continue to serve in Afghanistan are likely to fall victims to their own weapons. I guess this adds a new dimension to the term “friendly fire” To the people of Afghanistan I sincerely apologise of behalf of all those in the west that have caused you so much pain and suffering.

The story is now complete but remains open as we continue to monitor all those countries that are down wind of such war zones - Pakistan, India and beyond. We will see dramatic changes in the public health statistics of these countries as they progressively fall victim to dramatic rises in Cancers, Diabetes, Mental Health, Still Births and Genetic Disfigurations in babies etc. We must all take a stand to prohibit the use of any form of uranium in the weapons of today and to ensure that when President Obama says he hopes to see an end to WMD that he really means it and also include these conventional weapons that contain US nuclear waste (mini nukes). Can you imagine they even want to use DU as counterweights in commercial lifts, cranes etc…how crazy can you get!

Peter Eyre – Middle East Consultant 15/10/2009