Upon impact, 100 grams of incinerated depleted uranium produces one kilogram of radioactive dust. This fine dust settles invisibly on the surface areas of tanks, homes and on the ground as far as the wind blows. Already entire countries are contaminated in the name of liberation. Radioactive dust does not liberate, it kills, painfully, slowly, eating away at the flesh and spirit of entire populations through the agony of birth defects and cancerous diseases. The dust is known as alpha radiation and in itself is not that toxic except when it is breathed into the body which is easy to do if you are in a contaminated area. Once in the lungs it becomes a destructive force on the cells (leukemia) and the DNA causing genetic mutations (birth defects). Radioactive weapons have been in use since the first Gulf War and include: Kosovo and Afghanistan. In order for our planet to survive, the people of the world must call a ban on their use by the UN and other allied organizations such as NATO, enforced by the International Criminal Court.

As I read the reports describing the horrors of modern warfare I find it difficult to continue reading. Have I reached my limit of what a normal human being can absorb? When I read that the bomb designers devise such inhumane devices such as cluster bombs to save lives, I said that's twisted. Each cluster bomb contains hundreds of bomblets with enough firepower and shrapnel in each one to cover a football field. 5% of these are duds to be exploded when stepped on or picked up for years to come. There are still cluster bombs in Laos and Viet Nam from the sixties. The bomb is loaded with pieces of shrapnel that is designed to maim more than kill and even penetrates adobe walls maiming people in their homes. Is the US loosing its moral high ground when it uses these bombs on civilians?

In the town of Al-Hillah, Khalid Hallil, 21, was inside his house three miles from the centre of town when the fighter unleashed his payload. His left thigh is torn from knee to crotch. His father Hamid speaks English: "Metal just came from everywhere. Believe me, there were no soldiers in the area. Only civilians. There was no reason for attacking us in our homes. No justification for this murderous act."

"Tell your countrymen what is happening. Let them see with their eyes instead of listening to Tony Blair's lying words. Look, this is reality-- not the make-believe world of Bush and Blair." Brigadier General Vincent Brooks acknowledged, "Our attacks against anything in Baghdad are precision attacks ... against a specific military complex, the regime has some different evidence, but it stems from what they've been doing to their own population".

So the civilian casualties are the Iraqi's fault? This gross denial is not making the people of Iraq feel liberated. This attitude of blaming others for our responsibility is that of a 10 yr. old child not world class leaders.

Then I ask why? Why are we fighting a war? War is the ultimate failure of diplomacy and if we have to resort to war to protect US interests then either our interests are not worth protecting or we must fire the diplomats for not doing their job. We the people need diplomats that can negotiate peace not find reasons to wage war. We are out of time, Bush has locked and loaded and ordered our armies to fire upon the cradle of civilization, home to the Garden of Eden. Iraq is gone, contaminated and it must be evacuated, civilization looses. Is humanity ready to denounce the horrors of modern warfare? Or is the lesson not driven home yet? Humanity must mature beyond blaming others for our troubles, beyond using weapons of mass destruction, beyond considering war as an instrument for peace.