Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Iran Slams US as 'World's Only Atomic Criminal'
TEHRAN -- Iran appealed on Saturday for "atomic criminal" the United States to be suspended from the UN nuclear watchdog at a disarmament conference it is hosting.
HIROSHIMA 1945 -- On August 6, 1945, 8.15 am, the uranium atom bomb exploded 580 metres above the city of Hiroshima with a blinding flash, creating a giant fireball and sending surface temperatures to 4,000C. Fierce heat rays and radiation burst out in every direction, unleashing a high pressure shockwave, vaporizing tens of thousands of people and animals, melting buildings and streetcars, reducing a 400-year-old city to dust. At the opening of the two-day meeting, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out any use of atomic weaponry as "haram," meaning religiously banned under Islam.
Iran also called for changes to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Iraq, Lebanon and Syria voiced support for Tehran's "peaceful" nuclear program and demanded Israel join the NPT "without conditions."
Khamenei branded the United States an "atomic criminal" in a message read out by an aide at the nuclear disarmament conference, Tehran's answer to a summit held in Washington earlier this week.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went a step further and called for Washington's suspension from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) along with all other nations which possess nuclear arms.
"Only the US government has committed an atomic crime," said the message of the all-powerful Khamenei who formulates Tehran's foreign policy, including its nuclear strategy.
"The world's only atomic criminal lies and presents itself as being against nuclear weapons proliferation, while it has not taken any serious measures in this regard," he said.
Ahmadinejad, under whose presidency Iran has defiantly pushed ahead with its controversial nuclear program despite three sets of UN sanctions, attacked the present structure of the UN Security Council, the IAEA and the NPT.
"An independent international group which plans and oversees nuclear disarmament and prevents proliferation should be set up," he told the conference attended by several foreign ministers and UN officials.
He said those countries which "possess, have used or threatened to use nuclear weapons should be suspended from the IAEA and its board of governors, especially the US."
Ahmadinejad's remark was expected to irk allies Russia and China, two nuclear states with veto powers in the Security Council that have so far hesitated to back a fourth set of sanctions against Tehran.
"The right to veto, which is undemocratic, inhumane and unfair, should either be annulled, or if some insist on having this right, then some countries from Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe should also have the right to veto in order to reduce its negative outcomes," he said.
Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have been angered by Washington's new nuclear policy unveiled last week.
The policy limits the countries against which Washington might use its nuclear arsenal but singles out Iran and North Korea as exceptions for flouting Security Council resolutions over their nuclear programs.
Ahmadinejad also called upon "independent countries" to review the NPT, of which Iran is a signatory and as such considers it has the right to enrich uranium, the most controversial part of its nuclear program.
"The presence of those possessing weapons, especially the US, prevents the drawing up of a fair treaty," he said.
Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi later in an interview on English language Press TV channel demanded that "a clear date be mentioned for global nuclear disarmament."
Before the first day ended, the foreign ministers of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq jointly blasted Israel, Middle East's sole but undeclared nuclear weapons power.
"The major threat in the region is Israel which has nuclear warheads. Israel must join this treaty and take quick steps to destroy its nuclear weapons," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said.
His Lebanese counterpart Ali al-Shami said Israel should be "stripped" of its arsenal "since the atomic weapons of the Zionist regime are not inspected, there is a danger of these weapons being used in the future."
"This regime must join the NPT without any conditions."
And Hoshyar Zebari, the foreign minister of Iran's former foe Iraq, said: "We reject any threat against Iran and insist on Iran's rights to use peaceful nuclear energy."
The Jewish state, which has never publicly acknowledged having atomic weapons while maintaining a policy of deliberate ambiguity, has not ruled out a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to halt its atomic program.
72 Comments so far
Show AllNow, lets see...Iran makes sense...check! Iran is a signatory to the NPT and has every right to develop (although it's really stupid to do it) peaceful nuclear technology and energy generation.
Israel is a non-participant in the NPT and is a nuclear rogue...check! The U.S.A. is the only state to ever have used nuclear weapons against people and yet sits on the moral high ground...WTF?
Why hasn't the world invaded the U.S. on the grounds of the clear and present danger that this country presents to the world?
Because the rules (and history) are written by and for the "victors."
Don't give the world any big ideas.
The only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons to kill innocent civilians should forever be barred from ever having nuclear weapons. History proves that the USA cannot be trusted as a nuclear power.
I second that.
I third it.
I go forth.
I plead the fifth.
6th and counting.
No argument here!
I don't know if this is significant, but either it's a slow day or the CD commenter population is really changing.
Time was that comments giving a "thumbs down" to the heinous US use of atomic weapons would prompt learned objections from a number of resident military historians. Intentionally or not, they dominated-- not to say "hijacked"-- the discussion by more or less waving away moral, spiritual, or intuitive/emotional objections.
Instead, the historians reduced the question to so-called "pragmatics", which opened the floodgates to a tsunami of logistical military minutiae. Perhaps I ought to tweak this metaphor by saying that such minutia is the microscopic plankton upon which the more ponderous military-historian whales feed.
In their view, no one else knew what the hell they were talking about. Which is true enough, provided one accepted their deterministic perspective in the first place. Mind you, this isn't a case of superior knowledge appropriately driving out ignorance or irrationality; it was more a case of pre-empting the general discussion with a spiral of esoterica that left general commenters at an insurmountable disadvantage.
I could never remember the actual details, of course, not being an aspiring Military Historian, but once they got going, one was given to understand that Truman HAD to drop those bombs because The Soviets deployed seventeen new IS-3 tanks with improved torsion bar suspension to positions outside Minsk.
Such discussions are self-sealing, like visits from Hasbara spin doctors on Israel threads or sparring with tedious devil's-advocate type trolls who show up to amuse themselves.
One time I just couldn't stand it anymore, and in effect reached in and knocked all the little tank models and pushpins from their virtual War Room table with a rant that denounced their utter shallowness and technical myopia. It wasn't one of my better-honed rants, and it was particularly unwelcome because it was like a screech in a library reading room; I was, in fact, mostly Making a Disturbance.
Thus, I was gravely and frigidly informed by one of the group that I was Only Embarrassing Myself.
Well keep in mind the alternative to the a-bomb would of been to let the USSR invade the north of japan .
Looking at how many people are starving in N. Korea right now that wouldn't of been too much better.
Keep in mind Japan was in no way a victim in WW 2, any Korean or Chinese person will tell you this. When you think about it, the fire bombing of Dresdin was horrible too, but without the fire bombings of German cities WW 2 would of continued a lot longer. Hindsight is 20/20 ... If Truman would of allowed Japan to negotiate a peace treaty that was anything less then unconditional there's the chance Japan would of tried to keep hold of it's pre-war colonies, not very fun for the Koreans who were treated very badly by the Japanese. Likewise an invasion of Japan would of killed far more people then the atomic bombs did .
What about the war on the eastern front. The Russian's had crushed the German army before Dresden, and were steamrolling all the way to Berlin.
The truth is much, much uglier. Japan had been negotiating for surrender for 6 mos. All they wanted was to protect the honor of their emperor. The US demanded an unconditional surrender, nobody in their right mind would agree to that. The dropping of the bomb had nothing to do with ending the war in the Pacific, and it certainly didn't have anything to do with "saving American lives." The war was ending anyway. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan were the first shots of the cold war. The US had the bomb and they wanted to show the world. Everything else is propaganda. Read Joseph Gerson's "Empire and the Bomb."
I'm not saying Nakisaki was right, but when After seeing Germany come back after WW 1 , unconditional surrender was the way to go. Think about this from say a Chinese point of view, would you want japan to be able to keep it's advance army so it can try to conquer you again in the future .
France and the UK *allowed* Germany to break the rearmament and "repositioning" parts of the Versailles Treaty. If they had enforced those provisions, the European aspect of that time period would be vastly different. Only one actively hegemonic Empire would be of concern--Japan. And without a Tripartite Pact to rely upon, I really doubt Pearl Harbour would have occured. So, yes, I'm saying that the "second-round" of WW1 was the fault of France and the UK, and so one must look at their politics during the 1930s to understand why they AVOIDED/REFUSED to enforce their RESONSIBILITY for keeping Germany in check. Hint: They wanted a strong (read militarilly) Germany to act as a bulwark to what they viewed as the REAL threat--the USSR.
If the weather had been better over Kokura, Japan, Nagasaki would have been spared annihilation at the expense of the residents of Kokura.
The squadron whose mission was to drop a second atomic bomb on a Japanese city had at first intended to annihilate Kokura, but by the time they reached there, the city was covered with clouds. That, together with incoming ground fire and approaching Japanese fighter planes, forced the pilot of the U.S. strike plane to change course to Nagasaki. But Nagasaki, too, was clouded over. However, on the second run over Nagasaki, the clouds parted for a few moments. The opportunity was seized, and the residents of Nagasaki were turned to ashes.
William Laurence, a science reporter for the New York Times, who was on board one of the squadron's planes, described the explosion poetically:
"As the first mushroom floated off into the blue it changed its shape into a flower-like form, its giant petals curving downward, creamy white outside, rose-colored inside. It still retained that shape when we last gazed at it from a distance of about two hundred miles. The boiling pillar of many colors could also be seen at that distance, a giant mountain of jumbled rainbows, in travail. Much living substance had gone into those rainbows."
When I first read that account, I imagined a mother walking in Nagasaki with her young daughter, and I imagined the daughter, at the moment the clouds parted, saying "Look mommy! The sun is coming out!" A few moments later, they were reduced to shadows burned into the ground.
Successful Soviet invasion of the islands or the necessity of US invasion was by no means guaranteed. In fact, it could quite simply have been avoided, though the method would have caught a lot of Americans off guard, given the good press Stalin was getting in the US at the time: Russia would likely have been as easily to intimidate as Japan; neither had an atomic weapon, and it would have been considerably easier to demonstrate its use to an ally than to the Japanese. Americans had a pretty good idea what they had at Alamagordo, before they dropped it on a Japanese town.
The weapon could as easily have been exploded with a smaller population under it as a demonstration. It might have taken a couple extra tries.
Actually, the same kind of act could have resulted in a different division of Europe as well. Reports usually depict the US government as rejecting this by rejecting the cruel betrayal suggested by MacArthur, to incinerate Moscow. But it seems far more likely that the US strategists did not see the Russians in the same light that they saw and see nationalist populist movements, as a threat to imperial control.
Saving the Japanese from Russian control was not likely the major issue. Nor was saving the lives of the many Americans that would have died in the land invasion that would have been unnecessary in all cases.
The genuine horror of Japanese mistreatments of Chinese and Koreans in no way means that the Japanese were not victims. For that matter, the authenticity and horrors of the holocaust do not mean that Germans were not victims, either.
In terms of immediate death and property damage, the bombings at Hiroshima and Nakasaki were not the worst of the war. That may have been Dresden, though there was quite a bit of HE bombing of the continent for a couple years.
Right on!
I am glad that Iran made these requests and denounced the United States' crimimal nuclear weapons' use and hypocritical nuke policies.
It is about time the nuclear status quo (a holdover from the Second World War) be questioned loudly and clearly.
I agree with all the above. You know it's kind of funny if it weren't so sad because this is where I live--I wonder if the president of Iran would be accepting any political refugees from the United States of Israel--I can't speak Persian, but I can sail vessels and shoot straight, and I really love Iranian dates--It sure would be nice not to have such a violent government that really doesn't care for the health and welfare of it's citizens. I also have a great respect for this brave president of Iran--if anybody knows how to get in touch with him, please let me know.
Go to the nearest Iranian consulate or embassy. They'll be only too pleased. But beware the police or other agents of the US empire once back out on the streets...
The (first) Persian empire (550-330 BC), of which Iran is a remnant, stretching from Indus to Greece and encompassing today's Israel, was a highly cultured society when the European ancestors of US were still hunter-gatherers.
We should definitely show some respect. Instead of playing stupid power-games.
Iranian Embassy US
Islamic Republic of Iran
Google it for address & phone #
Good one. Fighting back in words and relating to truth is the most powerful weapon there is - in the long run.
Iran has every moral right to call the USA and Israel on their nuclear weapons arsenals, especially in light of the pressure being put on Iran by them for seeking to produce its own nuclear fuel for peaceful use.
USA and Israel are the transgressors here. The rest is propaganda against Iran for wanting to stay independent.
Nuclear power, nuclear energy, nuclear anything, with all the destructive possibilities and detritus, is the scourge of humanity. It's the destructive "gift that keeps on giving." Hardly ever do we hear about the birth defects, the cancers, etc. in Japan, Iraq, the former Yogoslavia and other places where some form of nuclear and/or radioactive weaponry has been used. A corrupt and shameful use of science & power that will ultimately backfire in all their karmic inevitabilities.
You go Ahmadinejha!!!Sock it to us. Ya, know this county "Can't handle the truth", too many American idol watchers.
Thanks for the embassy idea, but that's a little to difficult where I live--how about an address or telly #.
Once I wrote a letter to Fidel Castro, which I doubt he ever received--but after that I realized we live in a nation of pure bull shit politics, and it is not a free and open society at all. Plus as a VVAW member, I thought the Gestapo was watching--later the Church Committee verified my suspicion.
Luckily, things weren't so degraded as they have now become.
http://www.president.ir/en/
Click "Mail to President".
The website is listed on Wikipedia "Iran" under "External links".
Good luck to you. Beware: It's NOT going to be popular with the US gov't.
See my note above.
sawa, I agree with you regarding NE--I myself prefer solar and wind, or any other natural energy conversion that has minimal negative effects--right at this moment am putting together a 3,000 w turbine in my yard (this gov. isn't moving fast enough on renewable energy--so we have to do it ourselves)--I have already rigged my sailing vessel with a smaller version of the permanent magnet generator that I designed for my house. Man is it cool not to have to come ashore to charge my batteries(I don't like fuel aboard "JAHMOVEME"), also I have a solar panel on board.
Sounds great, capt.
Limited energy sources is all a hoax to keep people under control and extort money and labor.
NE is in fact BS. And poisonous.
But denying Iran NE under threat of war when that's the energy technology and infrastructural components that's been made most available and easiest to build, is still not right.
Iran has lots of desert. It should invest in solar power. Plus the West should help. But if there was a whole country running on solar power (PV) somewhere, while selling oil, it would set a bad example of abundance and be bombed back to limited energy sources pretty soon by Penta-gone-amok.
Onecaptjim - I wish there were more people with your initiative, knowledge and resources. Maybe you can write an article for Common Deams or a web page how one can do this at the cheapest way, if such a thing exists. Why isn't our govt. subsidizing this? Strictly a rhetorical question. We all know the answer to that.
PS to Smarter below - You're right. Iran has as much a right to nuclear energy as any other country, and it's all political drivel so many are indulging themselves in. However, humanity would be totally better off without such an imminently dangerous source.
black....''Why hasn't the world invaded the U.S. on the grounds of the clear and present danger that this country presents to the world?'
It will. Give it time.
Right! Other Nations are finally getting the courage to actually verbalize out loud that the U.S. Emperor has no clothes!
The rest of the world and the US are about equal in military strength. But the US has the upper hand by 2/3 of annual investments in R&D, meaning the US arsenal is the most modern. The rest-world would probably lose against US, for not having a unified military command. Plus some of the coward NATO countries would stay out, and be sanctimonious whoever won.
Then - after such a conflict of the World vs. US - there would be no holding back on US military rule of the world, with formal slavery brought in and a brutally class-divided world without the current pretence of equality. The pretext would be that the world had to be subjugated because it attacked the USA and couldn't be trusted with independence. The world would be a threat to "stability" and "freedom". "Slavery is good for you" would make a fine slogan then. "Trust in the Masters, they know best" and "In God we trust", supported by the Pope, would be of use, too. - Maybe that's closer than comfort would have it...
>>Then - after such a conflict of the World vs. US - there would be no holding back on US military rule of the world, with formal slavery brought in and a brutally class-divided world without the current pretence of equality.
Half the world's population lives on $2 a day or less. Take a look at the shirt on your back, the shoes on your feet. All made by wage slaves. Your doom and gloom is here and now.
I know a number of Iranians who have some definite problems with Ahmadinejad. The Revolutionary Guard is, to a large extent, thugs. But all that pales in comparison to the grand ol' US of A,(the Dark Lord) and it sick offspring Israel (Golum). Even though Iran hasn't attacked a country in over 100 years, our good ol' Secretary of State- Hillary C. is itching to "wipe Iran off the face of the earth" should it lift a finger against Golum. So don't be surprised if Israeli proxies embedded in Iran lob a missile into Tel Aviv. I mean what's a thousand Israeli deaths if they're sacrificed for the greater good of getting Hillary to take out Iran? I personally believe that the US played that card in the 9/11 event.
I read the letters Ahmadinejad sent to GW and I dare say, they probably went way over his head. OK. I know that's not saying much. But they were coherent, intelligent, and reflected concern for people- as opposed to the Corporatocracy. And the speech above places him way above Obama, as well. Obama's a puppet, folks. No less than GW was. You simply don't get to be President unless they know you'll tow the line. They made a mistake with JFK, and won't make it again.
If you just look at a world map, it's obvious that the wagon trains have almost completely surrounded Iran. And so it's not a matter of IF, but WHEN and HOW. A self-inflicted shot in the foot by Israel is a likely HOW. But there are other ways for the setup to play out. And Iran knows this all too well. Every leader with a socialist agenda has be scuttled by the US and her proxy butchers. Chavez is in a bind in no small part because of the CIA's efforts to undermine everything he tries to do to help people; to the point where he has to start banning the press, etc. and be made out to be a self-serving hypocrite. Same ol' same ol'!!!
One last thing: until the recent economic meltdown and the dollar's free fall from its status as the singular currency for oil, I would have said- no way will any major country begin to call the US on it self-declared Exceptionalism. But you know, money has a way with people. Even when you're a jerk, having a lotta money will get you a lotta friends. So let's see how many true friends the US really has. The only friends who will remain loyal are its companions in crime. But even those companions walk eventually when things get too hot- or insufficiently lucrative. We'll see.
IN one thing the Iranian Khamenei is correct:
naming the USA as the "world's only nuclear criminal" - and also , of course, stating the OBVIOUS which the USA habitually obfuscates with its own orwellian language:
that the USA wants "non proliferation and control" for OTHERS but not ITSELF.
that is really the bottom line of ALL US policy ..whether it's in economics, military issues, politics, culture, resources.
they are simply pointing out that the USA demands and concocts all kinds of complicated "alliances", "global consensus", "laws and regulations" about exercise of power or national sovereignties.....
BUT holds itself EXEMPT from all and any of those things.
here is an example, a recent one:
the USA announces and profers to Russia a "treaty" - signed - of dismantling or diminishing existing nuclear weapons,...BUT NEVER says the USA's plans of how much for itself.
it wants the world to forgo Nuclear weapons , knowing that its "conventional warfare weapons" are VERY advanced in comparison -- removing the DETERRENT capacity of other nuclear states AGAINST the USA "lightning force" globally invalidated...in other words --
telling them to NOT avail themselves of what the USA insists IT has to retain:
Nuclear Weapons...AS WELL as its advanced conventional weaponry.
what is that underlying motive?
it is the same as ever:
TO REMAIN as the world's UNchallenged Hegemon, abrogating to itself the right to ATTACK ANY country on earth , under ANY reason the USA deems proper.
THAT is the behavior of a criminal and thug who demands others should NOT defend themselves FROM the THUG himself.
and THIS is the same Thug whose Imperial Behavior and Assaults against the sovereignties of dozens and dozens of countries, big or small, is the ROOT of the very same Weapons and Warfare ESCALATION and "competition" that this same Thug DEMANDS ought to be stopped
EXCEPT for ITSELF running a "race of one" .
Iran has attacked Israel repeatedly through its proxies, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas. What? You think only the US has used proxies?
The strange thing about the far left is how they throw away all they (and I) hold dear for a few strange conspiracy theories. Women's rights? Gay rights? Democracy? Blech! Let's demonize the US and Israel.
"Iran has attacked Israel repeatedly through its proxies, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas." - What a strangely lopsided, weird claim. Verbal "attacks" by Iran on Israel, maybe. But through "proxies, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas"? - Nonsense.
Another propaganda victim...
Well, you did turn around and say that, but that doesn't make what you're saying true and what I'm saying false. Democracies make terrible proxies as they are beholden to their citizens, far unlike Hamas, Hezbollah, and the governments of most Middle Eastern nations.
Iran supplies cash and weaponry to Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas. What's the confusion?
I think you need to look up the definition of "theocracy". There are definite religious influences on government, mostly out of the parliamentary procedures empowering small minorities. It's not a non-religious democracy, but it's still a democracy.
I also think you need to look up the definition of "apartheid". Israel is far from an apartheid state, despite the various accusations by actual apartheid states such as Saudi Arabia.
So now you're comparing me to Hitler? That was quick. It makes it hard to take you seriously. The ad hominem attacks certainly flow easily.
The majority of the alledged 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, not Iran. The Saudis have just announced their intentions to develop a "nuclear energy science center," http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-47779720100417?rpc=401&feedType
=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401
Where are the howls of outrage from Faux, CNN, WaPost, and other memebers of the Propaganda System? Jordan, with its very high population of displaced Palestinians, has announced its intentions to develop neclear power--and it borders Israel--Where's the outrage that's directed at Iran? In fact, every one of the Persian Gulf countries has publicly announced their plans to develop nuclear power, as per the NPT. I ask again--Where's the outrage.
I think that's clear proof that the outrage and threats of war directed at Iran are not about nuclear power at all, and substantiates the Iranian argument regarding the US, UN and Israel.
Israel is pissing in the wind. If they think they can make the rules in regards to nuclear proliferation while they themselves are not signatories of the NPT, they are in for a rude awakening. As you point out, there are a lot of countries waiting in the wings and Israel will not be able to stop the unstoppable.
Iran is right. The headline should read "Iran points out that US is the world's only atomic criminal," with no quotes around the last phrase.
The media continues using the US/Israel talking point that it is unknown whether Israel has nuclear weapons since Israel doesn't make a public statement admitting it. It is all a charade as Israel had previously imprisoned one of its own citizens for exposing Israel's nuclear program and publicizing photos the weapons factory at Dimona. M$M conveniently fails to mention this.
No not forget the 'little' nuclear war crimes commited with Depleated Uranium which will continue to produce horribly deformed infants for the next ten thousand years and more....
The half life of Depleated Uranium (DU) is over 500,000 years, not 10,000 years Humbaba.
"The half life of Depleated Uranium (DU) is over 500,000 years, not 10,000 years Humbaba."
Try about 4.5 BILLION years.
" Now we are facing the specter of Depleted Uranium, which is turning up in atmospheric filters around the world. Depleted Uranium is a nuclear byproduct of the nuclear industry. It is a low level radioactive material of extreme density. The half life of DU is 4.5 billion years. Workers in DU have to wear full protective equipment and respirators. DU ammunition is extremely hard and dense. It penetrates armor like tissue paper, vaporizing and burning, leaving dust and particles as shrapnel to be ingested or breathed. DU is not what the public thinks of as a radioactive material. It only emits alpha and beta radiation. A piece of paper will stop it. However, when it is in the lungs or elsewhere in the body, it is in contact with living tissue, bombarding that tissue with low level radiation for the rest of your life and beyond. That radiation can lead to cancers, genetic damage and eventual death."
From http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2093
As a nuclear veteran (Operation Redwing, Bikini Atoll, 1956) I must agree. We need a TOTAL ban on nuclear weaponry, a ban on the use of DU, followed by a severe cutback in the development of nuclear energy. The main thrust should be to the generation of "green power" i.e. solar, geothermal, wind and water.
There aren't too many of us left, but I've never met or corresponded with a nuclear veteran who thought nuclear weaponry is acceptable. Radiation poisoning is a horrible thing! I was fortunate. I recovered and have survived so far. Many did not and have succumbed to terrible cancers, have had their children born with defects, mental and physical.
Iraq and, I imagine Afghanistan and Pakistan, are suffering the same thing, seldom covered by the MSM, as tons more DU is spread upon those countries. The natives of the Marshal Islands still give birth to "squids," babies born with no skeletal structure, not to mention other less obvious abnormalities. Those people have been guinea pigs for study of long term effects of radiation.
As I have said so many times, "No nukes is good nukes."
Steve Osborn
"A nuclear Veteran Remembers"
http://steveosborn.blogspot.com/2010/02/only-some-of-names-have-changed.html