Two Australian soldiers who served in the first Iraq war have tested positive to depleted uranium contamination, despite assurances from the federal government they had not been exposed, claims an anti-nuclear group.
Urine samples from each of the men, who served in different areas of Iraq, were sent last year for uranium isotope analysis at the JW Goethe University in Germany by the Depleted Uranium Silent Killer group (DUSK) and the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) in Canada.
The results, now being evaluated for publication next month in two scientific journals, showed both men had tested positive to depleted uranium contamination (DU) more than 15 years after their return from the first Gulf War.
Skip notes the above, from "Troops contaminated after serving in Iraq" (AAP via The Australian) and ask if we all remember when In The Toliet stabbed Dave Lindorff in the back?
Depleted uranium may remind some of white phosphorus and then remind them how wrong Scott Shane was on that in the pages of the New York Times. Today Shane teams up with War Pornographer Michael Gordon for "Gordo -- backed by the Times -- Tries to Sell War on Iran" aka "U.S. Long Worried That Iran Supplied Weapons in Iraq " wherein the two-some wants you to know about a cable that they somehow fail to inform if they saw it, if they heard of it, or if it came to Gordo in a wet dream?
It's full of the usual Gordo flourishes such as:
Some Democrats in Congress,
Some American officials
American intelligence analysts say
said one senior American official
[the above credit in full: "said one senior American official, who like several others would discuss intelligence and administration decision-making only on condition of anonymity."]
According to one military expert,
American intelligence officials say
American intelligence concluded
In the view of American officials
one official said.
According to officials involved in the discussion, who asked not be identified,
Other officials said
Some Democratic lawmakers
And most of all, we must note this, it's what Gordo will point to when critiqued (and buried near the end of the overly long piece that reads like a transcript of Gordo's idea of phone sex):
Some people who are experts on military matters but who acknowledge they do not have access to the classified intelligence have said the weapons could be made in Iraq. But American officials say they have not found any facilities inside Iraq where the high-quality E.F.P. components are being manufactured.
No evidence is evidence in the world of Gordo. Shane gets taken a long for the ride -- possibly because cleaning up the mess of others so often increased his forearm strength (all that mopping) and that's apparently a big bonus in a Gordo circle jerk.
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the new york times
michael r. gordon
