Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Bastn Ozeti
suffering from leukaemia. Britain says depleted uranium rounds can produce small amounts of radioactive and
toxic particles on impact, but argues that it is unlikely anyone outside the target area could be affected. It said its
Challenger tanks had fired fewer than 100 new 120mm rounds with a uranium core against Iraqi forces and its
armoured forces operated well away from population centres.
In 1998 Iraq sent a formal complaint to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reserving the right to compensation for
the "appalling damage" caused by allied use of depleted uranium shells during the Gulf War.
Iraqi paper likens US to Dracula
January 10, 2001 Agence France Presse
BAGHDAD: An Iraqi newspaper on Tuesday compared the United States to Dracula, accusing it of resorting to
use of weapons of mass destruction and "crimes against humanity" in a drive for world domination.
"America is a country without roots which relies on terrorism - as did Dracula who sucked blood from humans
and pillaged their riches - to impose itself as a great power," the official AI-Iraq said.
"The leaders of this terrorist country commit the most atrocious crimes against humanity by using banned weapons
of mass destruction, not only with the goal of extending its colonial hegemony but also exterminating humanity
to impose its domination, as was the case with the Red Indians," the paper said. It was referring to reports that
depleted uranium (DU) ammunition used by US NATO forces in the Balkans may be to blame for a rash of cancer
cases among troops posted in the region.
In Brussels, NATO and EU officials on Tuesday examined calls for more probing into a possible link. According to
AI-Iraq, "America considers the world a dumping ground for its toxic rubbish and a laboratory for its fatal experiments".
Europe is now paying the price for having ignored the decade-old "Gulf War Syndrome" dating from
when US and British forces blasted Iraq with DU weapons, Iraq's ruling Baath party said Monday.
"It's the turn of the Europeans to pay the price for their follow-the-Ieader attitude towards the American bull," said
the party's mouthpiece, Ath-Thawra, referring to the "Balkan Syndrome."
Seven Italian soldiers, five Belgians, two Dutch, two Spaniards, a Portuguese and a Czech have died from cancer
since returning from tours of duty in Bosnia or Kosovo. Ath- Thawra said the symptoms in Europe were "no more
serious than the damage inflicted by the Americans and the British on the Iraqi people" during the 1991 Gulf War
over Kuwait. Baghdad, protesting that cancer rates have quadrupled in areas of southern Iraq bombed by the allied
forces, has said the United States and Britain fired more than 940,000 DU weapons during the conflict. DU emits
low levels of radiation, and is so far only considered to be dangerous if it is inhaled or ingested.
The material is used to penetrate armour and concrete bunkers because it is denser than other metals.
Reuters January 10,2001
Iraq has no great hopes for talks with UN
Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said yesterday that Iraq was not pinning any great hopes on high-level
talks with the United Nations to resolve an impasse over sanctions. "Iraq does not hold high hope for its dialogue
with the United Nations," Ramadan told reporters in Baghdad after attending a conference at the city's university
on Palestinians. "The American administration's hegemony over the (UN) Security Council does not allow the
council to do anything," he was quoted by the Iraqi News Agency as saying.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday that the talks would not begin until February at the earliest.
Annan had invited a delegation from Baghdad to try to break the impasse on weapons inspections, a precondition
to lifting sanctions, for a visit in January, but only had this week free because of a heavy travel schedule.
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