Our Nuclear War in Yugoslavia

Jane Cadarette writes from North Andover, MA. She is a member of Pax Christi and a board member of the Merrimack Valley People for Peace. jcadarette@worldnet.att.net

Stupendous mushroom clouds, simultaneously beautiful, awesome and terrifying are the images the words "nuclear war" evoke in me. The dust and debris exploded into the atmosphere would encircle the earth, block the sun, temperatures would plummet and as a result-life, that hadn't been incinerated in the initial blasts, would end. WRONG! My idea is outdated. Nuclear war is happening now.

Under the NATO umbrella, our country, the first nation to bomb a city with an atom bomb, the first to bomb a working nuclear reactor in war, is using weapons in Yugoslavia which have changed warfare as drastically as the machine gun did in World War I. And these weapons are nuclear.

If the world, still reeling from the refugee crisis, could muster the outrage this deserves, the bombing would be stopped immediately. Our missiles are tipped with DU (depleted uranium) penetrators. Our shells and bullets, described as armor piercing anti-tank weapons, are enhanced with DU. "Depleted" is a misleading term. It is not a harmless form of uranium. It's 60% as radioactive and has a half life of 4.5 billion years.

"Our government refers to these DU weapons as conventional. But they are not. They are highly toxic and radioactive," according to human rights activist and former US Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark who has drafted an International Appeal to ban their use. In '96 and '97, a UN Human Rights Subcommittee passed resolutions naming DU weaponry among weapons of mass destruction-those with effects incompatible with international human rights and/or humanitarian law. Unfortunately companies such as Raytheon, with which so many of us are entangled, make these weapons; e.g. Tomahawk missiles tipped with DU penetrators.

Depleted uranium is a byproduct of uranium processing for nuclear weapons and reactors. The Cold War left us with plenty. 1.1 billion tons of it. According to the International Action Center's recent book: Metal of Dishonor, our government gives it to weapons manufacturers for free. In the 1970s the weapons-enhancing properties of this heavy metal was discovered. First used in the Gulf War, DU weapons pierced tanks, buildings, and bunkers "like slicing through butter." As tank armor, it was very effective. Unfortunately, these weapons and vehicles radiate.

Each time a DU missile, shell or bullet hits its target, there is an explosion. The target and surrounding area are contaminated. The DU is aerosolized. Carried by the wind, it pollutes the environment. People and animals inhale the particles, some as small as 5 microns in diameter. The military personnel who work near and fire this ammunition are radiated as well as the DU-shielded tank and vehicle crews.

About 350 tons of radiating DU were left in the Gulf region at the end of Desert Storm. Health problems multiply each day for those contaminated. Lungs, kidneys, livers, and fetuses are affected. Yes, especially those many fetuses in Iraq, developing abnormally with enlarged heads (if they have a head), or stunted limbs, missing ears and eyes. A Nov. '95 Special Edition of Life Magazine carried an article which featured babies of our Gulf War vets with birth defects eerily similar to those of Iraqi infants.

Now depleted uranium is in Yugoslavia-with our missiles and with The Fairchild A-10 A Thunderbolt II aircraft, called the Warthog

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a clear vision of reality when he said that war is obsolete, that the world has a choice between violence and nonviolence and that it must choose nonviolence if it is to survive. Every last one of us needs to understand this.

Urgent Warning from Yugoslavia

Dear friends,

Something which we feared might happen seems very likely. I can confirm now we expect that NATO planes will bomb VINCA Institute. In the past several days we received this warning, but today we got this information as serious threat from the highest authorities. Our reactor has not worked for more than 15 years, but a significant amount of 235-U enriched and unused fuel is still in its interior. Highly radioactive material for everyday activities is also located in several research laboratories.

I fear that a big disaster may occur. In the worst case, no Balkan and even European country would be safe. Not to mention ecological catastrophe. I still hope that this disaster could be avoided, unless we are already late. Please inform as many people as possible about the eventual tragedy. God bless you.

-P.R. Adzic, Sat, 1 May 1999,

VINCA Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Laboratory of Physics; Fax:(381 11) 455-041; peter.adzic@cern.ch; or apetar@rt270.vin.bg.ac.yu