Форумы Арктогеи (geopolitics): ГЕОПОЛИТИКА И ПОЛИТОЛОГИЯ (архив): Сопротивление глобализму: от Белоруссии до Балкан (архив тем): Италия против НАТО

3181: By фон Крейтор on Четверг, Январь 04, 2001 - 11:49:

ITALIAN PREMIER SEEKS NATO'S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR BALKAN SYNDROME ROME, January 3 (Tanjug) - The Italian Prime Minister is quoted on Wednesday as saying Rome would seek NATO's accountability for the growing number of soldiers who have fallen ill and died of leukaemia and other forms of cancer after exposure to depleted uranium. Giuliano Amato said he had instructed Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini to seek NATO's responsibility for all the necessary operations, including those in the health department, to establish the extent of the danger from exposure to depleted uranium. Speaking for La Repubblica newspaper in connection with an official report that six Italian soldiers have died of leukaemia after serving in the Balkan, Amato said the matter was getting increasingly serious and the fear was more than legitimate. He admitted, however, that the situation was extremely delicate. Just a few days ago, Amato had been assuring the nation there was no cause for alarm about the health of the soldiers who had served in Kosovo-Metohija or Bosnia-Herzegovina, territories against which NATO had used depleted uranium bullets and shells. The latest leukaemia case was reported in Pavia, where one Salvadore Carbonara died in November, after having served in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Six new "Balkan syndrome" cases among soldiers have been reported, and the total number is being put at 40. BOMBS WITH DEPLETED URANIUM CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, SAYS LISBON DAILY LISBON, January 3 (Tanjug) - The use of bombs with depleted uranium is a crime against humanity which can no longer be concealed and which cannot remain unpunished, said an editorial in the leading Lisbon daily Diario de Noticias on Wednesday, urging Defense Minister Julio Castro Caldas to devote himself to this problem. The irradiation of peacekeepers sent to Kosovo and Metohija province after the NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999, and confirmations that NATO aircraft used bombs with depleted uranium in Yugoslavia, have lately caused violent reactions in the Iberian peninsula. Chiefs of General Staff and Defense Ministers of Portugal and Spain are these days being addressed by MPs of their respective Parliaments since family members of troops who had been stationed in these contaminated areas and all those who are still deployed there have asked the respective organs for detailed explanations. "Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio has asked the Government of Prime Minister Guterres to replace Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, General Martins Barreto, and proposed that he be stripped of the rank of general," the daily Publico said today. The daily devoted three pages to the NATO bombs with depleted uranium and the tragic consequences of the radiation on troops of several European countries. The leading Spanish dailies El Pais and El Mundo also published extensive articles about "suspicions that the deaths of several soldiers were caused by radiation from bombs with depleted uranium used by NATO aircraft in their air strikes on Yugoslavia." The dailies also demanded "an urgent investigation and precise radiation measurements." El Pais was the only paper to pose another serious question, in reports by its correspondent from Yugoslavia - if the situation is so alarming among peacekeepers deployed in Kosovo and Metohija, what about the local population which was "showered with radiation."