Iraq Condemns US, British Use of Depleted Uranium ShellsAn official Iraqi daily on Sunday condemned the use of depleted uranium shells by the United States and Britain in the 1991 Gulf War, and demanded those responsible be brought to trial for "perpetrating crimes."In an editorial, Ath-Thawra, mouthpiece of the ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party, said that the U.S. and Britain dropped a total of 944,000 depleted uranium shells in Iraq during the six-week Gulf War. "The radiation of these fatal shells has caused 120,000 cancer cases and other diseases in Iraq," the editorial said. Iraq has long blamed the radioactive shells for a sharp increase of cancer cases in the country since the Gulf War. It urged the international community to move quickly to bring to trial related U.S. and British officials "for perpetrating crimes against humanity" and ban the manufacturing, marketing or use of this kind of bombs. Baghdad repeatedly condemned the US-led Western allies for dropping depleted uranium shells in the south and other parts of the country which caused an environmental disaster. As early as in 1998, Iraq filed a formal complaint to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1998, reserving the right to demand compensations from the U.S. and Britain for the use of depleted uranium shells during the Gulf War. It said those shells had caused harm to the health of people and contaminated the environment. |
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