The Lone Star Iconoclast
May 30, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), a medical doctor, on May 17 introduced legislation with 21 original co-sponsors in the House of Representatives that calls for medical and scientific studies on the health and environmental impacts from the U.S. Militarys use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in combat zones, including Iraq. The McDermott bill also calls for cleanup and mitigation of sites in the U.S. contaminated by DU.

The need is urgent and imperative for full, fair and impartial studies, McDermott said. We may be endangering the health and lives of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. All weve gotten so far from the Pentagon are assurances. We need facts backed by science. We dont have that today.

By Greg Rollins
Christian Peacemaker Teams

Over the past several days I have spent time with a CPT delegation here in Iraq. We listened to a lot of different people speak. Because the people in Iraq, Iraqi or other wise, always ask us to tell people abroad what they have to say, here are some of their quotes:

“I am not special,” one of our translators told us as he talked about the violence here in Iraq. “Everyone has seen what I have seen.”

“It has been two years,” the psychiatrist said, “and not much has changed.”

“It is like trying to yell through concrete walls. The sound comes back and hurts your ears so you stop yelling; he has made the concrete that thick.” One of our translators said about Iraq under Saddam and why the rest of the world never paid attention to the cries of the Iraqi people.