Possible consequences. (5)

Besides in the grand scheme of things this really isn't that bad. What the report fails to point out is that Fallujah is a small city, about 300,000 people in total and there is no epidemic of birth defects, only a view that numbers are rising with no numbers to back it up. So in a small city there is a rise in the number of birth defects, even if that is true, on the scale of problems Iraq has it's nothing. This is a country that has spent the last six years in hell and is going to have to endure serious terrorism indefinitely from now on if it's lucky. If it's unlucky there could be war with Iran or Turkey.

I think it's a fairly typical Western media response to home in on stories like this but really Iraq is a country so rife with misery and tragedy that you can basically go anywhere and find people having to deal with appalling problems. The minutia of post-war Iraq (if we can call it that) are not nearly as significant as the bigger picture.

Science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: Why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: Why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired.

I think for the sake not only of the children that appear to be effected and no doubt suffering, there surely must be an obligation to the service people that are working in that area, there should be an independent investigation into the claims that have been reported.

I fully appreciate I have possibly focused on one small account of what is a much bigger picture.

I think that if this link is to be believed then the occurrence of documented cases of neonatal malformations is above any normal or acceptable level.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/854...

As to the future of Iraq and its relation to surrounding countries, I confess I have no idea, I can only watch and wonder.

I am in no doubt that people are suffering in many different ways in Iraq and I imagine that their situations could provoke many more topical post and media reports, what my post was trying to convey was the possible suffering of children who's lives will first and foremost be effected by their disability and also the reasons why this has occurred.

As I type I reach out my hand, so as you read, you are then touched.

It seems that toxic waste is the culprit rather than the depleted uranium from American weapons, as implied.

War is a very bad thing indeed.

"He took a single sip of her pain and found it exquisite"

The point that I was trying to make is that it doesn't matter. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the war, millions have been wounded, millions lost family members, millions have been displaced. Being born with birth defects is a horrible thing, but horror, grief and suffering have become pretty much ubiquitous to the Iraqi people.

It's all very tragic and so on but it's been inevitable and regrettable since the decision was made to invade. This is precisely the sort of thing that people who opposed the war knew would happen because it happens in pretty much every modern war zone once the USAF has worked it over. By my watch the time to be indignant about this sort of thing was about eight years ago when maybe there was a chance to stop it.

Science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: Why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: Why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired.

International man of mystery
Keep calm dear, its only a web post