More Anti-Nuke Media Coverage....

[Robin_Siskel@notes.ymp.gov]

Here we go again guys.... Thought you all may be interested in this.  Hope
a number of you will use the contact information to flood these people,
particularly the Arts & Entertainment channel, with complaints.  From this
release it certainly promises to be an extremely biased presentation -- or
perhaps, hopefully, its just the press release that's biased!  The Arts &
Entertainment channel can be found on the web at:
http://www.aetv.com/index2.html

________


PRESS RELEASE:  Gabriel Films, Producer; 457 Washington St.; NY., NY.,
10013, (212)941-6200

October 17, 1997
Arts and Entertainment's Investigative Report series will be airing
DESERT STORM'S DEADLY WEAPON on November 8.  Check local listings for
time schedule.
Carol Picou, SFC(RET), a 15 year Army veteran nurse and member of Desert
Storm, takes us on her search to find answers to the strange assortment
of ailments which forced her out of the Army.  While the most popular
theory
focuses on chemical weapons, Carol's search uncovers a radioactive weapon
as one possible culprit.
Despite the heavy public relations efforts promoting the so called
'smart weapons', it was Depleted Uranium (DU) Penetrators that were the
'stars' of Desert Storm.  These weapons have been described by top
Pentagon officials as the most significant development in battlefield
weaponry since the machine gun.
The 41st Combat Support Hospital, a fast action response unit that moved
at the head of the attack, served as a front line medical team during
the ground war.  Carol and her female colleagues were among the first women
to ever serve as front line troops in the US Army.
Picou's unit witnessed first hand the full ferocity of the new DU
weapons.  Remembering how different it was to anything she had seen in
her 15 years of service, she states; "It just wasn't normal.  To me it
looked like we nuked them...The bodies were as black as black can be and
some of the bodies melted into the vehicles."
Until the Gulf War, Carol had been in excellent health, but today, like
tens of thousands of other Desert Storm veterans, she is seriously ill
with a range of debilitating sicknesses.  She sought answers at all
levels, but Pentagon and Government officials offered few.
Picou's husband Anthony has become a full time activist, working to
educate other vets, as well as the general public.  Based on various
government reports that confirm DU weapons as being hazardous, Anthony
asks, "If they knew of the danger of potential exposure why aren't they
trying to find out what happened to those who were exposed?" Presently
less than 100 Desert Storm veterans are being monitored for DU exposure.
The film takes the viewer on a journey across America to find answers to
these difficult questions.  In addition to the Picou's, we meet
scientist, Michio Kaku, veterans Jerry Wheat and Mike Flores, former DU
assessment leader, Doug Rokke, Dr. Terry Pelmar of the Armed Forces
Radiobiology Research Institute (A.F.R.R.I.) and Arjun Makhijani from
the Energy Institute.
The search for the truth takes Carol and Anthony back to the
battlefields of Iraq.  They encounter complete devastation as symbolized
by radioactive tank 'carcasses' left behind.  More tragically are the
number of children with strange deformities and illnesses, much like
many of the offspring of our own Desert Storm veterans.  Is it DU?
The military does not think so.
Tune in and form your own opinion.  If you would like more information
on DU contact Mission Project, Military Issues Surfacing In Our Nation,
the non-profit organization founded by Carol and Anthony Picou at
<missionproject@popalex1.linknet.net> and find out what you can do to
keep this important issue from disappearing.
Source:  Veterans News and Information Service [ http://www.vnis.com/ ]
__________


I found the description of the tank victims particularly strange.... does
this nurse think that people blasted by mortar, grenade, landmines, rifle,
etc. look "normal?"  Now, I'm no forensic expert, but it sure seems to me
that the remains nurse Picou describes would result from any extremely high
temperature fire...not from being "Nuked."

Also, from everything I've heard, epidemiological studies have found no
cluster illnesses among Desert Storm veterans, let alone any in children,
unless the data was skewed, similar to the Rocketdyne study we've all been
discussing.  Perhaps some of you have better/more information?

I don't know much about the some of the individuals mentioned in this
article, but the release itself indicates that the Picou's are obviously
biased, already convinced that their problems are probably from DU.  NEI
(Nuclear Energy Institute) information reports that Makhajani was
repeatedly corrected or called down for misquoting or misrepresenting CFR's
and other pertinent data in an attempt to decrease the 25 millirem
performance measure for the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository during a
recent Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board hearing.

Rokke apparently has an agenda to get broadest possible treatment for gulf
war veteran's regardless of cause -- DU is only being used to lever the
issue...  Rokke's biases are evident in a recent "Nation" article (July 14,
1997) on the DU issue.  Staff members of the "Nation" are identified by
Gabriel as consultants on this production.  The Nation Institute
(212-242-8400, extension 226) has recently published "The Medal of
Dishonor", an extremely biased and very "loosely" edited perspective on
U.S. Military use of DU.  I haven't seen it myself, but I heard that this
document has pictures of deformed children, that WERE NOT even involved in
Desert Storm, and who's parents weren't either, or in any other way exposed
to radiation (other than background of course & normal medical procedures
perhaps).

In regards to the military supposedly indicating that they don't think DU
was a health issue, its my understanding that the DU penetrator
developmental and fielding program included extensive research and reports
on potential hazards associated with use of DU.  Results were that the
extremely low specific activity of DU and the density of its particulate
oxides act together to result in extremely low exposure potentials.
Reportedly, the only individuals which might be at limited risk of low, but
perhaps detectable, respiratory intakes are damaged equipment recovery
crews (operating without precautions) and occupants of vehicles engaged by
DU penetrators.  I think that individuals of that sort may be the "less
than 100 veterans being monitored for DU exposure referred to in the press
release below.  Also, it's speculated that potential opposing forces now
have DU penetrators, so the U.S. military won't necessarily be the only
forces using them.



Robin Siskel
email:  Robin_Siskel@ymp.gov
The opinions expressed are strictly my own.