Afrasianet - International law experts consider the use of uranium bombs an international war crime. Perhaps what confirms this is the continuation of the Pentagon and the Western military industry institutions, evading criminal responsibility for their use against peoples, covering them for the nature of these munitions, their components, and their biological damage to the military and civilians.
But let us hear the voice of those who justify this crime! John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the White House National Security Council, says that the depleted uranium shells that London plans to supply to Kiev are a conventional weapon and have been used for decades. And: "This type of ammunition is fairly common, it has been used for several decades."
Kirby said: "I think the real reason is that Russia does not want Ukraine to continue disabling its tanks." In addition, he indicated that he would not comment on British intentions, considering it a "sovereign decision".
According to Kirby, depleted uranium bombs do not pose a threat in terms of radioactive spread: "It is important to remember that health research has been done on depleted uranium and that it does not pose a radiological threat, and it is not comparable in terms of danger to nuclear weapons."
"Depleted" uranium shells were used by US, British, French and other NATO forces against Iraq (twice in 1991 and 2003), against Yugoslavia (1994 and 1999) and against Afghanistan (2003), and were used by US forces in Syria and Libya, and Israel used them against the Lebanese.
It is still not fully known where or how much depleted uranium has been used in Iraq by US forces since 1991. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that between 170 and 1,700 tons of depleted uranium have been deployed in Iraq by the US military since 2003, While other conservative estimates indicate the total amount of depleted uranium used by the US military in Iraq since 1991. at 440 tons.
The UK has also reported the release of 1.9 tons of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq since 2003. More than 300 depleted uranium contaminated sites have been identified in Iraq by the Iraqi Ministry of Environment's Environmental Radiation Protection Center (RPC) while all sites identified by the RPC have been Located south of Baghdad, additional research has reported high concentrations of uranium in soil samples from Mosul.In 2014, the Dutch NGO PAX published a set of coordinates for the release of depleted uranium for the United States in the Dutch area of operations in Basra which were provided at the request of the Ministry The Dutch Defense Ministry is motivated by concern for its military personnel serving in the region.
In addition, in 2016, George Washington University and the Dutch NGO PAX released data on the coordinates of depleted uranium releases obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The data contains locations accurate for 783 out of 1,116 airstrikes conducted by DU Armed A-10 Warthogs in Iraq between March 20 and April 15, 2003. While the data does not contain total amounts of depleted uranium rounds fired during each strike, it does indicate the use of Much more widespread use of depleted uranium during the 2003 Iraq War than previously indicated.
The target sites are spread all over Iraq, in every governorate It has resulted in its use wherever it is used, terrible environmental and health disasters, because it is manufactured from dangerous nuclear waste, which is radioactive and chemically toxic.
Therefore, international law experts consider its use an international war crime. Against peoples, it conceals the nature of these munitions, their components, and their biological damage to the military and civilians. However, independent scholars and people with a clear conscience have come up with and revealed many of its secrets.
In recognition of its damage, and after a very long and arduous struggle, the General Assembly of the United Nations, in its seventy-first session held in New York, on December 5, 2016, voted in a final vote, by a majority of the countries present, on a resolution calling on the governments of the world to ban the use of uranium weapons, and voted against it. 26 countries, led by America, Britain, France and the rest of the NATO countries.
Prior to that, the European Parliament voted in 2001 to stop the use of depleted uranium ammunition by NATO, and has always urged its members to support the United Nations General Assembly resolutions calling for banning the use of depleted uranium ammunition.
Following the high numbers of people with cancer and congenital anomalies among civilians and military personnel in the areas that were bombed with these munitions, campaigns against this weapon arose in many countries, and the International Coalition to Ban Depleted Uranium (ICBUW) was established in 2003, of which I am honored to be a member, and who is credited with issuing United Nations resolution to ban uranium weapons.
Some countries have banned the use of depleted uranium ammunition, such as Belgium and Costa Rica. In a provocative step, and considered aimed at escalating the Russian-Ukrainian war, and to perpetuate it, the UK government announced that it would supply Kiev with armor-piercing uranium missiles, along with Challenger 2 tanks for use in the war against Russia.
This announcement sparked a Russian protest, at a time when military experts warned of the repercussions of this step on the future of the current conflict, which might turn into a "Yugoslav scenario". In response to the British move, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to respond if London provided Ukraine with munitions containing uranium.
He accused the West of spreading weapons carrying a nuclear component. The British Ministry of Defense responded in a statement, justifying: "The British army has been using depleted uranium in its armor-piercing missiles for decades, and Russia knows this, but it is deliberately trying to mislead."
The Russian Foreign Ministry considered that providing Kiev with depleted uranium ammunition was a provocation to push the conflict to a new stage. Commenting on London's plans to provide Kiev with depleted uranium missiles, the United Nations expressed concern about the use of depleted uranium anywhere.
The British "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament" against depleted uranium weapons condemned providing Kiev with depleted uranium munitions, considering it would be an additional environmental and health disaster for those living in the heart of the conflict.
Retired Turkish General Erdogan Qaraqosh said that London's intention to supply Kiev with armor-piercing ammunition containing depleted uranium would not help it win the war, but would cause it serious damage, stressing that Britain aims to prolong the war. Qaraqosh told "Sputnik":
"Providing London, Kiev with armor-piercing ammunition containing depleted uranium is not considered an important step that would change the course of the war in favor of Ukraine. Rather, it will cause severe damage to nature and humanity, and lead to the spread of various diseases."
He described Britain's step as provocative, explaining that it "One of the western countries that wants to prolong the war in Ukraine, and this step aims to escalate the situation." Sending depleted uranium munitions to Kiev and using them in the ongoing conflict will be matched by the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, and this is inferred from the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who confirmed that his country would not initiate the use of nuclear weapons and would only use them in response to a nuclear attack, and pointed out that Russia It will defend itself with all available means.
Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation to the talks in Vienna on military security and arms control, said that "Moscow will consider the delivery of uranium bombs made in the West to Kiev as the use of dirty nuclear bombs." Commenting on Britain's intention to send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Britain is ready not only to bear the risks of this operation, but to violate international humanitarian law.
The rules of this law define the conditions and restrictions imposed on weapons and their use, and if they are violated, this will constitute a breach of the existing international custom that is binding on all countries. For example, Article 35 of Additional Protocol I of 1977 annexed to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 prohibits the use of weapons that do not discriminate between combatants and civilians, that cause unnecessary suffering, and cause widespread and long-term damage to the natural environment. On the other hand, the use of a depleted uranium weapon entails a violation of international human rights law.
Under the pretext of "supporting" the Bosnian people, NATO launched the war against Yugoslavia in 1999, during which it used munitions containing "depleted" uranium.
The same thing he did in 1999 on Serbia and Kosovo, dumping about 15 tons of "depleted" uranium, bombarding the region with about 3,000 cruise missiles, throwing 80,000 tons of various bombs, including cluster munitions and "depleted uranium" shells, which caused Pollution of the air, soil and rivers of Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia with toxic radioactive and chemical substances, and innocent civilians became the main victims, as the number of those killed was estimated at between 3,500 and 4,000 people and about 10,000 wounded in those strikes.
As a result of these munitions, Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia witnessed the highest rate of malignant tumors in Europe, with more than 30,000 cancer cases diagnosed in the first ten years since the bombing by NATO forces. Scientists from the Balkan countries found that the radioactive contamination resulting from depleted uranium munitions had reached many neighboring countries, such as Albania, Austria, Bulgaria and Greece, which were thousands of kilometers away from Yugoslavia.
Scientific studies confirmed the direct association of these munitions with dead and deformed births, injuries and deaths. Caused by cancers of the blood, lung, kidney, and others, which spread in the region among civilians and military personnel, and among Italian and Canadian peacekeepers and others.
And before Yugoslavia, the American, British, French and their allies bombed Iraq in 1991 with depleted uranium ammunition, and after Yugoslavia (1999) they bombed Afghanistan in 2001, and Iraq (for the second time) in 2003, after developing the destructive capacity and lethality of that ammunition by about 400 times, by increasing the heavy materials. manufactured radiation.
Today, the peoples who were bombed with this munition are suffering from the environmental and health repercussions, which America and Britain falsely deny.
Dr. Tamara Bazzo, a Lebanese researcher in arms affairs, confirms that the use of depleted uranium shells in Ukraine will harm not only Ukrainian soldiers, but also Russian soldiers, in addition to the Ukrainian and Russian civilian population, since the atomic dust that results when using uranium munitions is transmitted through Air, and it is likely to move to distant places depending on the quantity used and air movement.
Civilians will also be at risk, especially children, who will collect radioactive weapon scrap, as happened in Iraq, because they are not aware of the catastrophic effects of this weapon.
Kiev's use of depleted uranium weapons means that it will cause the slow death of its people, its soldiers, and even the decision makers who agreed to use depleted uranium munitions in the ongoing battles.
Many European countries are likely to be contaminated with depleted uranium radiation, depending on the amount of munitions used and wind movement.
Apart from this, if a British-Russian military conflict actually occurred, then this means that NATO will intervene on the side of Britain, which is a member of it, and thus things will develop into the outbreak of a third world war, during which all kinds of lethal weapons will be used, including nuclear weapons. ..