Galway City Council Honours 'Dirty Nuke' Terrorists

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday July 04, 2002 14:37 by Eoin Dubsky - Refueling Peace info at refuelingpeace dot org 087-6941060

Two US Airforce F 16 Fighting Falcons will star in this Sunday's line-up at the Salthill Air Show 2002, supported by Galway City Council. What the organizers haven't said though is that these F 16's have dropped countless "dirty nukes" during NATO operations in the Balkans - Depleted uranium that will keep harming people and the environment for decades after the conflict.

The F 16's are from the 555th Fighter Squadron, a unit of the 31st Fighter Wing stationed at Aviano, Italy which has helped NATO dump tons of Depleted Uranium in Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia since 1994. DU is both toxic and radioactive. It is also pyrophoric, meaning that it burns fiercely on impact and is transformed into a fine uranium oxide powder or dust. The dust particles measure less than 1.5 microns--small enough to lodge in the lungs and other internal organs. This radioactive dust can be carried on the wind. It enters the ground water and food chain.

The U.S. government's own studies have again and again warned of the health risks of DU exposure. A 1990 report warned, "Short term effects of high doses can result in death, while long term effects of low doses have been implicated in cancer." The study added, "Aerosol DU exposures to soldiers on the battlefield could be significant with potential radiological and toxicological effects."

"One of the greatest absurdities marking the end of the millennium is the use of depleted uranium as an instrument of humanitarian intervention (i.e. prevention of humanitarian catastrophe)." says student and member of Refueling Peace, Eoin Dubsky. "In the name of these superior principles of civilisation ten deadly tons of depleted uranium has been dumped in the former Yugoslavia."

Some F 16's in the 31st Fighter Wing are even assigned to drop B61 tactical nuclear weapons. In contrast to conventional nuclear weapons though, DU is extremely cheap to produce and less likely to land a soldier before the International Criminal Court. While Americans depend on spooks and satelite intelligence to find terrorists who might have a "dirty nuke" aboard a bus or boat, this weekend in Galway people simply need to look up to find the culprits.

Refueling Peace is a campaign to minitor and stop US military stopovers in Ireland.