On March 24th 1999, the NATO alliance attacked Yugoslavia, breaking international
laws, regulations and norms of civilized behavior. Many innocent people
have been killed since then; many buildings, bridges, hospitals and schools
ruined and many families destroyed or displaced. In essence, the country
has been pushed into a deep disaster. We were incessantly bombed, staying
most of those days and nights in shelters.
Besides the country having been destroyed, the bombing has caused the largest
environmental catastrophe which Europe has ever known. See: Industrial
Targets
Depleted Uranium (DU) Weapons
NATO officials have admitted that they had used DU weapons in their attacks
on targets throughout Yugoslavia but failed to mention that under international
law, regulations and treaties, such weapons are forbidden as tools of war.
Officially, the tips of such weapons are made of depleted uranium because
in being quite dense (more so than lead), these bombs are better able to
penetrate the target. The real reason is that it is a way of getting rid
of the "waste" products from enriching uranium to use as fuel. Hence, the
more bombs one can drop elsewhere, the more nuclear garbage one can discard.
Thus, it is ideal for both purposes: solving the nuclear-waste-dumps problem
while developing the war industry introdicing, such, a new way of neclear
war. Pentagon officials point out one the benefit: the US has a stockpile
of 1.2 billion pounds of the radioactive waste left from commercial use
and gives it away for free to weapons manufacturers to make DU bullets.
Mass production of DU ammunition began in 1977. In the US it is made by
"Honeywell" and "Aerojet", among others. Britain and France also manufacture
it and DU shells are exported to other Nato countries and Japan, but also
to Australia and New Zealand, if and when required.
A more serious problem, however, arises as a consequence of the bomb's
design. When the bomb detonates, the ensuing explosion generates extremely
high temperatures which oxidize and evaporate the uranium. This process
develops fine radioactive mist , which, even without a wind, is capable
of spreading in a radius of up to 10 km from the impact site. About 98%
radiation from this Depleted Uranium ( U-238 ) is Alpha particles emission
that is 20 times more destructive to living tissue than Gamma rays ( major
radiation from enriched Uranium-235 ). By breathing contaminated air, drinking
contaminated water or eating polluted food, one exposes oneself from the
inside.
The particles
can then lodge in the lungs, kidneys or liver resisting the body's attempts
to flush them out, and can wreak havoc with the immune system. They can
migrate to any tissue, though they often make for the kidneys. Each ammunition
consist from 380 gr. up to several dozens kilograms of DU ( depending on
its size and type ) and produces at least 3,000 grams of fine uranium dust
up to several hundreds of kilograms for the big bombs ( cruising missiles
and "bunker busters" ). Aspirating over 0.002 grams a year causes serious
health consequences such as anemia, cancer, genetic malformation and so
on, all of which are disastrous.
For over 79 days of intense bombing campaign more than 15,000 tons of bombs
have been dropped on Yugoslavia, resulting in many thousands of civilians
having been killed. Most of the bombs were dropped on Kosovo which has
became a nuclear desert. Estimations, in accordance to Russian sources,
are that 30 - 40 tons of DU felt on FRJ during the campaign. Currently,
there is more radioactive residue from the depleted uranium ammunition
and ordinance used by NATO planes than was left over from the nuclear bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
That highly toxic metal is spread over fields throughout Yugoslavia and
will enter the food chain, first the crops and vegetables and then the
livestock, and will remain there for decades to come. It is highly unlikely
that NATO will supply safe “Ready to Eat” meals to expecting mothers in
Kosovo and rest of the Yugoslavia for that long.
Uranium and Cesium from the bombs stay in the air, water and soil for many,
many years ( decay half-time for U-238 is 4.5 billion years ).
A British biologist, Roger Coghill, says he expects the depleted uranium
(DU) weapons used by US aircraft over Kosovo will cause more than 10,000fatal
cancer cases (see the left picture of targets
in Kosovo).oghill said the maximum effect of the depleted uran
Coghill said
the maximum effect of the depleted uranium will be reached about six months
after the war, and he thinks the first cancers -- probably leukemia --
will start to show up about a year after that. Research from the department
of pathology at the College of Medicine at the University of Baghdad showed
a rise in the number of premature births. A
high percentage - 26.8 per cent - of babies born in the post-Gulf War period
had congenital abnormalities.
We believe that life time for the children born now on Kosovo will not exceed 30 years, however, with serious genetic malformations as well !
Destruction of chemical plants, petrochemical and electrical installations
During the NATO air campaign, several petrochemical plants and chemical
were hit and destroyed: in particular, during the early hours of
the morning of April 18th 1999, at 1:00 a.m., in Pancevo (a northern suburb
of Belgrade ), a petrochemical complex was struck and an Ammonia plant
("Azotara") and Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) plant ("Petrohemija") completely
destroyed. Huge quantities of toxic chlorine and ethylene dichloride were
released into the air ( benzene, toluene, xylenes, carbon monoxide, mercaptanes
and formaldehyde ) as a dark cloud which appeared over the city of Pancevo
and spread over the territory of southeastern Europe. VCM is a colorless,
odorless, and tasteless gas that is extremely carcinogenic. Increased atmospheric
concentrations, 10,600 times above the permitted limits, were measured
after the bombing.
Ammonia leaked into the Danube killing all life downstream. Fishing was
strictly forbidden.
Apart from that, Petrochemical facilities in Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina,
were severely bombed and burned down.
Also, the VCM plant “Prva Iskra” in Baric, some 20 Km from Belgrade was
bombed twice.
Petrochemical installations in Prahovo, on Danube river, was hit, burned
down and destroyed.
All of those installation are on riverbanks ( Sava, Danube) and huge quantities
of oil and chemical pollutants and heavy metals have leaked into them.
Moreover, large amounts of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, and the
acid gas, hydrogen chloride, were released into the atmosphere.
Huge oil slicks flow over Danube, the drinking water and food supply for
people downstream could be affected.
On May 16, two major transformer installations have been destroyed: one
with the steel mill in Smederevo ( SARTID ) and other in Bor, next to copper
factory. On May 22, another such installation of "Kolubara" Generating
Plant , some 50 Km from Belgrade was hit.
On May 23rd the high-voltage transformer installation of the thermoelectric
generating plant "Nikola Tesla" in Obrenovac (the second largest power
supply facility in Yugoslavia) was totally destroyed. Each transformer
(and there are at least two per installation) contains 10 tons of mineral
oil. The one used in SARTID, Bor and Kragujevac is especially toxic because
of the presence of PCBs in the transformer oil which are extremely toxic
and carcinogenic. One liter of Pyralene can poison 4,000,000 liters of
water! This oil also develops into highly dangerous gases when combusted;
however, in its oil state it is non-degradible, ensuring that the environment
is permanently polluted.
UN sources claimed that more than 135.000 tons of toxic chemicals has been
spilled one way or another during the NATO bombing campaign (only in Pancevo:
900 tons of VCM, 100 tons of liquid chlorine, 10,000 tons of ammonia, 1,400
tons of ethylene dichloride that disrupts hormone system, 1,000 tons of
caustic soda, 8 tons of mercury, 800 tons of hydrofluoric acid, dioxin,
phosgene...; In Baric huge quantities of hydrofluoric acid had leaked into
Sava river; in Lucani, where immediate effect to surrounding environment
were visible after destruction of chemical plant, chemical from nitroglycerine
production were released and people cleaning the area after bombing suffered
from skin burns and respiration difficulties... ).
Nuclear threats
Oil slicks on the Danube, besides seriously threatening all living species
in the river, also increase the risk of a disastrous nuclear accident at
the Kozluduy nuclear-power plant in Bulgaria which is downstream from Belgrade.
There are six pressurized-water nuclear systems, all of which use water
from the Danube river for their condenser cooling systems. The resulting
steam is condensed and discharged from the turbines which drive the electrical
generators. Four of the reactors are of the older VVER-440/230 design and
are regarded as particularly unsafe by international standards. Each does
not have any secondary containment structures. Safety concerns about the
design led Germany to shut down four reactors of this type in 1990 at Greifswald
in the former East Germany. If the condenser cooling water intakes, for
instance, become clogged or the pumps become
inoperable
due to the intake of petroleum or other chemicals, it would be necessary
to shut down the reactor in about 30 minutes to prevent overheating and
a serious accident, much more dangerous than Chernobyl was. If the operators
became confused or made mistakes, the same result would occur. In such
a case, a large radiological disaster is not out of the question, again
because two thirds of the reactors do not have any secondary containment.
Ozone layer destruction
According to NATO official statement, there were 35,219 sorties flown during
the 79 days of the air campaign. Warplanes fly at altitudes from
10 to 15 kilometers and they literally eat ozone. Due to that enormous
number of flights as well as burnt oil from bombed installations in the
area, the ozone layer over the Balkans and over the flight corridors (mostly
over Italy) has been heavily damaged ( http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/data
).
Furthermore, implementation of the HAARP project ( see
below ) may intentionally help
destroy the
layer.
The hole is, though, not stationary and is now moving north and northwest
and will very soon endanger the whole of Europe.
Soft bombs
During the bombing Yugoslavia became the testing ground for all kinds of
horrid killing accessories. The latest experiment was the so-called "soft
bomb," bombs with highly conductive filaments designed to disable the electrical
distribution system. An earlier generation of such weapons were used in
the Gulf War, made then of graphite strips which were dropped over high-voltage
power lines. There they demolished transformer plants by short circuited
the power system. Now we have a new version: cluster bombs containing a
number of small, Coca-Cola-sized cans. Each of those is filled with aluminum-covered,silicon-based
filaments about 11-15 microns thick -- similar in structure to the glass
wool which was previously used for thermal insulation ( glass is also made
of silicone ) and than forbidden as carcinogenic . Upon exploding above
ground level, the filaments are dispersed in a web-like fashion over an
area. Due to their highly electrostatic properties, when they cover an
electrical plant, they act as "solid water," literally adhering to contacts,
wires and so on, causing huge damage to the installations.
Besides destroying portions of the power grid, they pose a large threat
to people working or living in the area. Most of the filaments are dispersed
as a fine fog and are extremely carcinogenic. Many people living in the
areas which were bombed witnessed a thick fog which lasted for a long period
after the explosion, resulting in irritation to one's lungs when the particles
were aspirated. There is also some evidence that the composition
of the filaments
includes other elements which additionally endanger the living environment,
penetrating into the soil, water, air.... This materials do not degrade
and rest in the environment for good.
Apart from the physical pollution of the environment, a shortage of electricity
leaves hospitals, water treatment plants and other civil facilities without
power, fundamentally endangering those most at risk.
Indirect damage of destroying electro-energetic system could be seen, for
example, in Bor ( copper mine ) where lack of electricity disables proper
cleansing of outgoing gases from the copper mine installations. Those gases
consist huge quantities of sulphur oxides and sulphur acid is formed in
the air that people living in Bor inhale! Acid rains devastate not only
close surrounding but affect the whole Balkan region.
Manipulation with atmosphere and local climate
From the early May 1999, there has been several extremely bizarre climatic phenomena reported over the areas western, central and eastern part of Serbia: very intense lightening without thunderbolts, huge hail stones which destroyed all the crops in the area and rainfalls that exceeded 150 litres/m2 during the single night. Such weather patterns have been hitherto unknown to Yugoslavia and particularly not during this time of the year. Some indications point to possible use of tools to excite ionosphere in aim to cause enormous disturbances in the lower atmosphere. From the early 1960s, intense research has been conducted by the U.S. Army, especially on the HAARP project which is still very active. HAARP is designed to investigate possibility of using ionosphere for military purposes, i.e., by disabling communication systems, distracting parts of the ionosphere ( particularly ozone ) and radiating ultra dense energy. More of the HAARP project could be found on http://w3.nrl.navy.mil/projects/haarp/index1.html. Whatever reason is, depleted ozone layer strongly influence the climate because UV rays, now non averted, additionally electrically charge ionosphere and cause extremes in weather patterns.
Defoliants
It is still not precisely known which chemical compounds and their amounts had been dispersed over Yugoslavia. There are some reports that Kosovo had been particularly affected by defoliants, the chemicals which were used during in Vietnam to destroy the leaves on trees to uncover troops hidden beneath with long-lasting, disastrous effect upon the environment. Indeed, during the final 10 days of the bombing many livestock farms, agricultural fields and rural areas were especially targeted.
All of the existing international treaties, resolutions and legislative regulations strictly forbid such human and environmental destruction.
All this happened in the middle of Europe, proclaimed as the flag of civilization, where people are proud of their history, humanity, culture....
Yugoslavia is part of that and we are proud as well.
War, human disaster and suffering have never brought prosperity, happiness or benefit to anyone; just years, deep bitterness and hatred.
We appeal to you to apply all your capabilities and forces to influence
your governments to help Yugoslavia recovering endangered and heavily affected
environment.
GREEN TABLE
*********** ******************
War ravages Belgrade's Bengal tiger
By Siddharth Varadarajan - The Times of India - Thursday, June 3, 1999
BELGRADE: The
day after NATO bombs first roared menacingly in Belgrade, Prince, the local
zoo's favourite Bengal tiger, became so traumatised he started eating his
legs. Other animals reacted to the bombardment and air-raid warnings with
similarly destructive
pathologies.
A lion aborted, as did the constrictor, zebu and zebra. A tigress smothered her four-day old cubs, devouring two of them. Both the Canadian and European she-wolves killed and ate their offspring. Many birds, including a mother owl, also killed their young.
Vuk Bojovic, manager of the Belgrade Zoo, has never experienced anything like this. A balding but bushy-haired man, he throws his hands in the air as he describes what is happening to the animals.``It is horrible. There is no water or electricity for days on end. We cannot change the animals' water. Their meat is getting spoilt.''
However, it
is the infanticide and cannibalism that really disturb him. ``Because of
the noise of explosions, these animals have an inkling of impending doom.
They see that there is no future for their offspring''. Whenever the city
is bombed or the sirens sound, the
animals howl
-- a ``concert of screams'' is how one zoo worker described it -- while
the birds fall completely silent.
Slobodan, a pilot and volunteer at the zoo, wanted me to write about Prince. ``After he was born, I took him to my apartment and brought him up, '' he said. ``We went for walks in Belgrade and for rides in my motor boat. He had such a good nature. But now...''. We went to the shed where Prince was being kept in isolation. Slobodan stroked the tiger's face through the bars of the small cage in which he now lives, whispering endearments in Serbian. Prince, who is enormous, twisted in pleasure.
The ends of his rear legs were a hideous red, the flesh exposed. The zoo has tried everything to stop him but every time they put a bandage he would rip it off. ``I think it is his protest against the bombing'' said Slobodan, his eyes misting over. He quickly put on his dark glasses and motioned that we should leave.
As we left,
Prince roared in a way that I had never heard a tiger roar before. I have
seen many tragedies that this war has caused. But what broke my heart was
the sight of Prince, my proud compatriot, born and nurtured in a foreign
land, now reduced to gnawing at his
flesh because
he cannot cope with the savagery of a conflict more ferocious than any
beast of prey. It is the one image of this insane war that will stay with
me forever.
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