Iraq asks AL help against uranium used by US, UK forces

The Iraqi Health Ministry's secretary, Shawqi Murqos, has called on the Arab League and the Arab ministers of the environment as well as concerned regional and international organizations to preserve the environment and human hygiene through maintaining joint cooperation with Iraq to deal with the adverse health and environmental consequences resulting from depleted uranium use by the countries of the western alliance against Iraq during the Gulf War.

In a press conference he held in Cairo on Tuesday in the framework of his participation in the meetings of the Arab ministers of the environment, Murqos asserted that several "unfamiliar diseases" have been spread in the Iraqi areas where battles took place and uranium bombs were used according to the Iraqi official. He added that among the most common of those diseases are cancer and birth defects.

The Iraqi official said the US will not be able to hide the destructive environmental consequences in Iraq that resulted from using bombs containing uranium. He called for banning the use of these weapons in international conflicts.