Love for Life

An Interview With Amy Worthington The American Activist
The Idaho Observer - April 2005
An Interview With Amy Worthington The American Activist

On Thursday, April 7, 2005, Ingri Cassel interviewed independent researcher/writer Amy Worthington on The American Activist. Worthington's articles on chemtrails, vaccines, cell phones and depleted uranium munitions first appear in The IO and then go all over the world. The following interview is a discussion of what Worthington believes is the most horrible legacy our generation will be leaving for the next generations: A DU-contaminated world.

Ingri: HI, AMY, WELCOME TO THE SHOW AND THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE U.S. LEGACY OF DEPLETED URANIUM MUNITIONS.

Amy: It's really RADIOACTIVE WAR, Ingri. It's one of the most important topics of our day. Radioactive war has been raging since Bush-Cheney started bombing Afghanistan in 2001. And yet most Americans still don't understand that in THEIR name, and with THEIR money, this administration, the U.S. Congress and the Pentagon have committed nuclear war against both Iraq and Afghanistan, two non-nuclear countries whose citizens had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/1l.

Ingri: IF YOU TELL PEOPLE THAT THE U.S. AND THEIR BRITISH PARTNERS ARE USING NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, MOST ARE SHOCKED BECAUSE THE NIGHTLY NEWS HAS AVOIDED ALL MENTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONRY.

Amy: That's right. But tens of thousands of civilians and non-combatants in Afghanistan and Iraq have been killed with these horrendous, radioactive weapons. The U.S. military is using two kinds of uranium weapons--non-depleted and depleted--against these poor people and in the process we are nuking our own troops.

Ingri: WHY DO YOU CALL THESE WEAPONS NUCLEAR WEAPONS?

Amy: Experts says that any weapon which incorporates radioactive material can be considered a nuclear weapon under international law. Uranium weapons we are using in the Middle East are nuclear weapons because:

*they result in the same kinds of injury and death as the old type nuclear bombs that Truman dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.

*Both kinds of weapons release deadly alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

* Both the old and the new uranium weapons derive energy from the nucleus of the atom, thus the term "nuke."

Ingri: SO ARE YOU SAYING THAT THE U.S. IS DOING TO IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WHAT WE DID TO JAPAN IN WWII?

Amy: Yes, but in a cleverly subtle way. You see the old primitive nuclear and hydrogen bombs burn people from the OUTSIDE IN with gamma radiation, and then later with internal exposure from fallout. People hit by those weapons died in large numbers very quickly. Our modern uranium weapons are killing people slowly, from the INSIDE OUT when victims breathe and ingest the toxic radioactive gas and particles released as uranium weapons burn on impact. The deadly results are less conspicuous to public opinion. The further advantage of our new uranium weapons is that our troops can be used longer before they die. And make no mistake about it, the Pentagon Brass and the White House know very well that uranium weapons are killing our troops, but slowly.

Ingri: AND WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?

Amy: Sure, chunks of radioactive weaponry and equipment now litter both Afghanistan and Iraq. Contaminated tanks, unspent bullets and shells are lying in the sand leaching radioactivity into the water, the food, contaminating animals, insects even microbes, and making the playgrounds of children absolute death zones. Riding in with weapons-grade uranium is also radioactive tritium and plutonium, one of the most deadly toxins on the planet. And remember, the U.S. government has said that it has no plans to clean up these radioactive war zones.

Ingri: CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS WE ARE USING?

Amy: The Pentagon's non-depleted uranium weapons include a new experimental class of bunker busting bombs and missiles. Depleted uranium munitions, which are just as deadly as non-depleted, are deployed by: *naval missiles and machine guns *A-10 warplanes *army tanks *cannons mounted on the M2 Bradley *helicopter gun ships *the AV-8B Harriers used by Marines

Ingri: DO WE HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH OF THIS NUCLEAR WEAPONRY HAS BEEN USED SINCE THE WAR ON TERROR BEGAN?

Amy: Experts estimate is that at least 1,000 TONS of uranium weaponry has been used against Afghanistan. Researchers who recently took urine samples from sick people across Afghanistan found that they suffer the highest reading of non-depleted weapons-grade uranium ever measured in the bodies of a civilian population. The precious underground water of Afghanistan is now radioactive. These contaminated people are dying painfully of radiation side effect--raging cancers and Leukemia. Many children there are being born with hideous birth defects.

Ingri: BUT ON THE POSITIVE SIDE FOR BUSH AND CHENEY, THE AFGHAN OPIUM POPPY FIELDS ARE PRODUCING BUMPER CROPS NOW THAT AFGHANISTAN HAS A PUPPET GOVERNMENT INSTALLED BY THE U.S. MILITARY.

Amy: That's right. Afghanistan under the U.S.puppet government is a premier narco-state according to the United Nations. Bush-Cheney are now in control of 87 percent of the world's illegal production of opium. Just about every educated person knows that US. military and intelligence agencies have used the international narcotics trade to fund their black budgets for decades. After the Taliban so rudely terminated the opium industry in the late 90s, Bush-Cheney had to demonize Afghanistan as an excuse to invade and re-establish the lucrative opium industry. Remember the Bush dynasty has also been deeply involved with the international cocaine industry since Bush Sr. ran the illegal and sordid Iran-Contra project during the Reagan era.

Ingri: WHAT ABOUT THE RADIOACTIVE WAR IN IRAQ?

Amy: Iraq is a horrible killing field. During Gulf War I in 1991, the U.S. military used 350 tons of uranium weaponry in Iraq. This likely explains why 325,000 Gulf War I vets are now on permanent medical disability. Then, in 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq again, both the Pentagon and the United Nations admitted that coalition forces used another 2,200 tons in March and April of that year alone. So, at that point, Iraq--only 2/3 the size of Texas--was drenched in 2,500 tons of radioactive waste. According to calculations by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, that's enough radiation to generate over 20 million new cancers, or a case of cancer for about every citizen in Iraq. But the war and occupation have been roaring on for an additional two years and no one has yet calculated how many additional tons have been used against the insurgency and the civilian population since the invasion. Wherever our troops fight rebellious Iraqis, they use uranium weaponry, contaminating themselves and innocent civilians all over again. Uranium weapons were developed for use against hard targets like tanks, not for controlling crowds and pulverizing stone buildings.

Ingri: SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT THE LARGE BATTLES WE'VE HEARD ABOUT IN IRAQ LIKE FALLUJAH WERE CONDUCTED WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONRY?

Amy: Yes, indeed. The struggle for Fallujah began in the spring of last year and the final campaign, called Phantom Fury, was concluded by 10,000 marines last December. U.S. war planes and tanks spewed uranium weapons into that city for months. Fallujah, once a city of 350,000 people, is now just a pile of radioactive rubble. Thousands of its citizens are dead and the rest are living in destitute makeshift camps in the desert and reporting horrible illnesses. But it was not just nukes that Americans used against civilians of that city. Last month the Iraqi health ministry told international media that the Americans had used cluster bombs and hideous chemical weapons that burned people alive. These chemical weapons apparently included white phosphorous shells, propane bombs and napalm. Doctors saw victims with hideously discolored skin and huge burn blisters. Phantom Fury was a flagrant violation of Geneva conventions. It was pure savage barbarism.

Ingri: WHY DO THE PEOPLE OF NUCLEAR WAR ZONES NEED RIGGED ELECTIONS AND A FAKE DEMOCRACY IF THEY ARE NOT LONG FOR THIS WORLD?

Amy: Good point! The stacks of science data produced by the U.S. government for the last 60 years convinces us that all human beings--and sadly, all animals--still breathing in Iraq are the walking dead. Scientists from the Uranium Medical Research Center in Canada have produced scientific data confirming that the soil, the water and the people in Baghdad and Basra and in the farming areas are "hot" with radiation. The Iraqi people now suffer a rampant cancer epidemic and their genetic code is toast.

Ingri: SOUNDS LIKE GENOCIDE TO ME.

Amy: You hit it, Ingri. Bush-Cheney's radioactive wars are among the most abhorrent genocide projects in human history. The Iraqis are sitting on the second largest oil deposits in the Middle East. These brave and independent people are an impediment to plunder--so we just get rid of them by slow burn.

Ingri: EXPLAIN THE HEALTH RAMIFICATIONS TO AMERICAN FORCES WHO HAVE BEEN WADING AROUND IN ALL THAT RADIOACTIVE MUCK SINCE 2001?

Amy: Every uranium weapon that hits its target releases both radiation and chemical poisons in the form of gas and tiny ceramic uranium oxide particles. The lunatics in Washington could not have picked a more lethal place to use uranium weapons than the dry, dusty Arabian desert of the Middle East. Uranium and other toxic metallic particles spewed by burning weapons attach themselves electrostatically to the fine desert dust which coats and permeates everything in the environment.This dust is continually re-suspended by winds and traffic and it will never become less poisonous or less radioactive in the next four billion years. Our troops in Iraq have been breathing and eating millions of particles of this radioactive and chemically toxic dust. Their lungs, kidneys, blood, lymph and other tissues have to be full of it. Scientist say one single particle can generate cell changes leading to cancer, which has an incubation period of five to thirty years.

Ingri: BUT DEPENDING ON THE SOURCE AND AMOUNT OF RADIATION ENCOUNTERED, EVERY CONTAMINATED SOLDIER WILL DIE IN A DIFFERENT WAY.

Amy: Right! Some of our contaminated troops will die fast, smokers for example. But thousands of others will live with chronic illness for years. Contaminated troops now have internal organs being zapped with alpha and beta particles and gamma rays from the uranium particles trapped in their tissues. The radioactive uranium isotopes in their bodies will grow more lethal as time goes on because these isotopes decay and their decay progeny--including thorium and protactinium--are increasingly destructive to human health the longer they remain in the body. Uranium weaponry is the ultimate horror weapon because it makes people increasingly sick and there is no cure for those contaminated--no practical way to cleanse the tissues of trapped, non-soluble, radioactive particles.

Ingri: WHY CAN'T THE MILITARY SUPPLY PROTECTIVE GEAR TO U.S. TROOPS?

Amy: There is no suit or breathing apparatus that would protect U.S. troops against such fine radioactive dust. The military found in its own tests that trying to filter out such material is useless. It quickly permeates and clogs the most advanced HEPA filters. Putting troops in moon suits in hot dry climates in a battlefield environment would be ludicrous even if they were effective. Besides, our tank and transportation crews are exposed to huge doses of gamma rays from transporting and handling uranium weaponry. A tank crew inside an Abrams tank gets the equivalent of one chest X-ray a day. Handling penetrators gives them equivalent of 50 chest X-rays in one hour.

Ingri: ARE THERE ANY REPORTS YET OF RADIATION-SICK U.S. TROOPS? Amy: Yes, quite a few. The New York Daily News did a series late last year on Army National Guard soldiers coming back from Iraq suffering radiation poisoning. Those soldiers had to have their urine tested by private labs outside of the United States in order to confirm that they have uranium contamination. The Pentagon naturally refuses to use reliable, state-of-the-art testing equipment.

Ingri: BE MORE SPECIFIC ON THE SYMPTOMS THAT INDICATE URANIUM CONTAMINATION.

Amy: Well, uranium poisoning exhibits all the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome suffered by several hundred thousand Gulf War I vets. Uranium particles lodge in the lungs, causing severe damage, asthma and/or reactive airway disease. Soldiers who died from so-called atypical pneumonia in Iraq in the last two years displayed all of the symptoms of severe radiation poisoning to the lungs. By the way, Ingri, did you see that ABC's Peter Jennings has just been diagnosed with lung cancer and he is very sick? He's an ex-smoker and he has been to radioactive war zones to do news reports.

Ingri: YES!

Amy: Trapped uranium particles are especially hard on the kidneys, causing victims to excrete blood and often to become incontinent. Many of our macho troops will end up in diapers, a fact never mentioned in America's military recruiting centers. Contaminated troops get severe headaches and ugly rashes, fevers and night sweats. They suffer abnormal weight loss because uranium blocks metabolic processes. They suffer extreme joint, nerve and muscle pain, vision problems and multiple chemical sensitivities. They suffer thyroid dysfunction and cardiovascular symptoms. Their immune system goes haywire, they can't sleep, their teeth and hair fall out quickly. The final stages of radiation poisoning are multiple cancers and lymphomas.

INGRI: SO, THOSE MAGNETIC "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS" STICKERS OUGHT TO SAY "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS FOREVER." WE MUST ALSO REMEMBER THE DAMAGE TO THEIR BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM -- THIS IS HUGE!

Amy: You're so right, Ingri. Brain damage is a tragic side effect of uranium poisoning. Radioactive particles breathed through the nose can go right to the brain. Scientists have shown in recent studies that uranium isotopes easily cross the blood brain barrier and cause gross neurological dysfunction.

Scientists studying sick Gulf War I vets have found all kinds of brain dysfunction and chemical abnormalities in the nervous system of radiation-exposed vets. Radiation victims develop memory loss, confusion and life-threatening mental disorders. They often display impulsive anger, violent behavior, depression and phobias. Just two weeks ago USA Today reported that about one in four veterans home from Iraq and Afghanistan in the last 16 months have been diagnosed with mental disorders. And the New York Times tells us to expect tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental problems.

Ingri: COULD RADIATION-INDUCED MENTAL ILLNESS OF OUR TROOPS BE MANIFESTING IN THEIR BIZARRE BEHAVIOR INCLUDING THE TORTURING AND SODOMIZING OF IRAQI PRISONERS?

Amy: I think so. Cruelty to other humans has to be a form of mental illness. Through Freedom of Information, the ACLU has just obtained from the Pentagon many hundreds of documents and videos demonstrating not only widespread abuse perpetrated by our troops against wounded and unarmed Iraqis, but also demonstrating the perverse delight with which the abuse is rendered.

Ingri: THE WHOLE SITUATION IS GROTESQUE. MANY OF OUR TROOPS ARE ABUSERS WHILE AT THE SAME TIME THEY THEMSELVES ARE ABUSED BY THOSE WHO SENT THEM TO RADIOACTIVE WAR ZONES.

Amy: Exactly. Eyewitnesses have reported seeing our GI's actually laughing in the heat of battle. It is believed that our troops are issued hallucinogenic drugs to reduce their sense of fear in combat conditions. Add that to mind-bending, anti-malaria medications and throw in the squalene adjuvant used in military vaccinations--which is known to cause serious neurological damage [The Idaho Observer, March, 2005] and you have a pretty potent formula for creating a severely demented military population. And by the way, the British who have far fewer troops than we committed to the war, are now reporting that many hundreds of their troops are returning home with "severe" mental illness.

[Editor's note: Many of these Gulf War vets still well enough to work will come home and find gainful employment as policemen. DWH].

Ingri: HOW MANY TROOPS HAVE BEEN RADIATION-CONTAMINATED SINCE THE WARS BEGAN?

Amy: It is impossible to know exactly how many U.S. troops have been uranium-contaminated since the nuclear war on terror began with the bombing of Afghanistan. New figures released by the Pentagon show that 1,048,884 troops have been deployed to the war zones since 2001. If you factor in British troops, coalition forces, plus media personnel, diplomats, aid workers, civilian contractors, foreign mercenaries and support personnel in Kuwait, which is also very hot, we are looking at well over a million people involved in war-making and occupation activities who face serious health ramifications down the road from uranium and other actinide poisoning.

Ingri: AND OUR TROOPS WILL BE IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN FOR YEARS TO COME.

Amy: Tens of thousands of fresh U.S. troops are yet to be sacrificed in the radioactive war zones. U.S. officials say they will keep troops in Iraq at least three more years. Actually I think we will have troops there forever. There is no exit strategy because Bush-Cheney and their corporate backers want control of Iraqi oil and they will pay any price in human suffering to keep control of that oil.

Ingri: WHAT DOES NUKING OUR OWN TROOPS DO TO OUR NATIONAL SECURITY? Amy: The longer we nuke our own troops the happier China and Russia and their Muslim allies will be. Should they come to get us someday, our military could be decimated and our gates wide open. To my knowledge, Russia and China don't nuke their own troops. Someday we may face a Chinese Army of 2.5 million.

Ingri: SO IT'S LIKE OUR LAUNCHING RADIOACTIVE WAR IS NATIONAL SUICIDE.

Amy: You betcha. The Kamikazes of Japan and the suicide bombers of Palestine have nothing on us. U.S. troops flowing into radioactive war zones are suicide specialists in the first degree. It's amazing how these people--active duty troops, reservists and the Guard--have just marched off to their doom without a peep or mutter. Had they unified and refused to go to war with over-kill nuclear weapons, the warmongers in Washington would be forced to terminate the use of uranium weaponry.

Ingri: WHAT WILL BECOME OF OUR TROOPS AS THEY RETURN HOME SICK FROM RADIATION POISONING?

Amy: The very same things that happened to the hundreds of thousands of sick Gulf War I vets who are now on medical disability from THEIR war--or dead. Here are my predictions for how the Bush administration will handle their broken toy soldiers:

*The Pentagon will continue to insist that radiation contamination has no part in their illnesses. The Pentagon-- despite its own incriminating studies--will never in our lifetime admit that uranium weapons are deadly to our own troops because they do not want to pay compensation for radiation claims.

* Our new crop of sick vets will be given no therapy whatsoever for radiation poisoning. They will be improperly tested or not tested at all. Their medical records will be lost or destroyed. They will be told their ailments are all in their heads. They will be booted out of the military when they are too sick to be useful.

*If they make waves, they will risk being singled out for retribution and benefits reduction. Ingri: AND WHAT ABOUT THEIR WIVES AND CHILDREN?

Amy: Their spouses will be horribly impacted. Wives and girlfriends will be burned and chemically contaminated by radioactive semen and they will suffer abnormal numbers of miscarriages.

*Because uranium damages DNA, many of their children will be born with serious, disfiguring birth defects and impediments and then THEIR CHILDREN will be born with even worse defects because chromosomal damage caused by radiation gets worse in each successive generation.

Ingri: AND WE WILL NEVER KNOW HOW MANY DIED FROM RADIATION POISONING!

Amy: That's right. Our new crop of atomic vets will die alone, most of them in pain, poverty and bitterness because the truth is, the American people will have forgotten all about them. They will be non-entities who gave their short lives for oil and opium. Forty-three percent of our Marines are only 21 years old, or younger.

Ingri: WE HAVE NEVER BEEN TOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT AMERICAN CASUALTIES IN IRAQ, HAVE WE?

Amy: Never. We have always known that the Pentagon's number of war casualties is completely false. Especially in regards to the number of dead. Dan Rather confirmed last year that since the beginning of the war, the U. S. government has cooked the books by listing only those killed in actual combat, instead of the full number of troops killed for all reasons. Deaths in transit to medical facilities are not added to the official tally and neither are deaths that occur once soldiers return home. Americans will probably never know the true number of dead from the war on terror because, as our troops die from complications of radiation poisoning, they will simply fall off the charts.

Ingri: WHAT CAN CONCERNED AMERICANS DO AT THIS POINT?

Amy: Realistically we cannot save U.S. troops who are already contaminated. I foresee no cure in the near future. Bush-Cheney are now spending 6 billion dollars a month to wage their continuing nuclear holocaust and there is virtually no money for researching the treatment and cure for chemical and radiation damage suffered by the troops involved. In the 1990s, Congress allotted over $247 million for research into the causes of Gulf War Syndrome and the Pentagon wasted nearly every dime with useless studies designed to obscure the truth about the Pentagon's role in poisoning its own troops.

Ingri: BUT WE COULD WARN POTENTIAL RECRUITS ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE GETTING INTO IF THEY JOIN THE MILITARY NOW.

Amy: Yes, that is one of the most important things we can do. We can try to save lives of many young people who are being bribed with bait-and-switch financial incentives to get sucked into radioactive war zones. There are 6,000 military recruiters crawling through our high schools and colleges, mall parking lots and game parlors looking to put their hooks in the jaws of 17-year-olds slated to become the next crop of radiation fodder. These high-pressure war salesmen are turning many of our schools into military recruitment centers. And of course, there is always the possibility of a draft. All Bush-Cheney have to do is stage another 9/11 type terror incident and they will get draft legislation passed overnight!

Ingri: SO HOW DO WE GET TO THESE KIDS TO EDUCATE AND WARN THEM?

Amy: I think the best resource materials are two great new documentaries. I hope our listeners will grab a pen to write this down.

*A DVD titled "Beyond Treason," to be released summer, 2005, will fully document Gulf War Illness and uranium poisoning suffered by our troops. This documentary by Capt. Joyce Riley's group is being produced by The Power Hour in cooperation with the Gulf War Veterans Association. The website for information is www.gulfwarvets.com.

*The other documentary is a fantastic German film (in English) which takes the viewer right into radioactive war zones with researchers who actually film evidence of nuclear weapons used by coalition forces. They also interview Iraqi doctors working with people dying from radiation. Available in both video and DVD, this film is titled "The Doctors, the Depleted Uranium and the Dying Children." It is very graphic, showing horrible suffering, but it good for people who want to see and understand the science of radioactive war. This video would be fantastic to show at colleges and high schools in every community. You can call 413-773-7427 for information on obtaining this great film. Or go to: www.traprockpeace.org. This site is a treasury of information on uranium weaponry and keeps us abreast of what is happening in the fight to restore sanity to the world.

Closing comment from Amy: The Bush administration is positively obsessed with nuclear weapons. They are developing a new fourth generation of nuclear weapons and Bush's new Energy Secretary, Samuel Bodman, announced in February that preparations should be made to resume nuclear testing in Nevada. You know, Ingri, a resumption of nuclear testing will create a whole new generation of sick down winders throughout the United States. So everyone's life is on the line here. We either stick together in this fight against uranium weapons, or we are all going to fry separately.

Note - Non-depleted uranium is the highly-concentrated feed stock used for the enrichment process to create nuclear weapons and fuel for nuclear reactors. This material is stored and transported under lock and key in the U.S.

Depleted uranium is a waste product from the uranium enrichment process and during that process it gains a deadly man-made isotope called U-236. This material is stored and transported under lock and key in the U.S.

The Idaho Observer
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