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NEWS ... GLOBAL NEWS ... 10.1073/pnas.0830918 100). SADDAM HUSSEIN FLOWN OUT OF BAGHDAD BY USAF Team member Kai Rothkamm thinks this [pre independent filmmaker Patrick Dillon has returned from Iraq with some explosive apparent neglect might actually be a safety interview and film footage, including of an Iraqi Army officer describing how he saw a US measure, since poorly executed repairs can Air Force transport fly Saddam Hussein out of Baghdad. cause dangerous mutations. "If only one The officer, who commanded a special combat unit during the battle for Baghdad airport, had been entrusted with the near-impossible job of ensuring that one of the airport's runways would remain operational, no matter what. He goes on to report that there was a ferocious battle at the airport, with losses on both sides far worse than the mainstream news services acknowledge. He deviates even further from officially sanctioned accounts by stating that : : the battle for control of the airport actually lasted several days longer than commonly However, the opposite might be true: believed, culminating around dawn on the morning of April 9th. The officer adamantly unrepaired DNA could pose a cancer risk. | maintains that his combat/construction brigade, despite heavy casualties, managed to hold off Rothkamm says more experiments are —_ | Us troops and preserve a usable length of runway right through the night of April 8th. needed to resolve the issue. Then, early on the morning of April 9th, as the remnants of his unit were close to being overrun, Radiation authorities warn against read- _| a general ceasefire was unexpectedly declared for 6.00 am. According to the officer, shortly after ing too much into the finding. "We don't __ | this went into effect, and in broad daylight, a motorcade of 10 Mercedes stretch limousines sudden- feel it would have any immediate effect on _ | ly barrelled onto the airfield, carrying Saddam and his entourage. Almost simultaneously, what the our risk estimates for X-rays," says officer asserts were four USAF Hercules transports swooped down and landed on the lone stretch Michael Clark of Britain's National _ | of intact runway. All four C-130s dropped their rear loading ramps and the limousines drove up cell in every 10 has sustained DNA dam- age, it may be safer just to let that cell die," he says. But at higher doses, repair becomes vital. Radiological Protection Board. into the cargo bays of the waiting planes, which then took off. The officer insists he has no idea (Source: New Scientist, 5 April 2003) where Saddam or any of the other members of his party may have gone. Dillon says his film lends major support to what many have believed for years: that Saddam was little more than an American tool, a stage-managed "evil-doer"—just one in a long line of aarti Manes useful villains bought and paid for by the United States in order to better manipulate international politics and commerce. onsanto is suing Oakhurst Dairy of Portland, Maine, for labelling its milk |_| GRUESOME SECRET WEAPON USED BY US FORCES IN BAGHDAD "Our Farmers’ Pledge: No Artificial atrick Dillon also interviewed eyewitnesses to a nightmarish US superweapon employed Growth Hormones". by American ground forces during street fighting in Baghdad. The tank-mounted secret According to Monsanto, manufacturer of _ | Weapon was witnessed in all its frightening power by Majid al-Ghazali, a seasoned Iraqi infantryman who described the device and its gruesome effects as unlike anything he had ever encountered in his lengthy military service. In the film, al-Ghazali describes the weapon as reminiscent of a flame thrower, only immensely more powerful. He said it appeared to be shooting concentrated lightning bolts rather than just ordinary flames. a i" Drawing on his many years as a professional engineer, al-Ghazali speculates that radiation of milk 1s laced with GE hormones. Oakhurst some lend probably figures into re weapon's hideous capabilities. p says it's been labelling its products like this Like all men in Saddam's Iraq, al-Ghazali was compelled to serve in the Iraqi equivalent of the for four years, in response to consumer __| Army National Guard and fought in three wars over the past 30-odd years. He has seen virtually demand. every type of conventional weapon employed in battle, and is well acquainted with their effects on Although rBGH has been banned in _| people and machines. On April 12th, he and his family sheltered in their house while a fierce street every industrialised nation in the world __| battle erupted in his neighbourhood. In the midst of the fighting, he noticed that the Americans had except for the USA, Monsanto continues to _| called up an oddly configured tank. the genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (known as rBGH or rBST), Oakhurst Dairy does not have the right to let its customers know whether its claim that rBGH-derived milk is no differ- Then, to his amazement, the tank suddenly let loose a blinding stream of what seemed like fire ent from the natural stuff, despite docu- and lightning, engulfing a large passenger bus and three automobiles. Within seconds, the bus had mentation that rBGH milk contains sub- become semi-molten, sagging "like a wet rag" as he put it. He said the bus rapidly melted under this withering blast, shrinking until it was a twisted blob about the dimensions of a VW bug. As if that were not bizarre enough, al-Ghazali explicitly describes seeing numerous human bodies shriv- elled to the size of newborn babies. By the time local street fighting ended that day, he estimates between 500 and 600 soldiers and civilians had been cooked alive as a result of the mysterious tank-mounted device. stantially higher levels of a potent cancer tumour promoter called IGF-1. Monsanto sued two dairies and threat- ened several thousand retailers in 1994 for labelling or advertising milk and dairy In a city littered everywhere with burned-out civilian and military vehicles, US forces were products as "rBGH-free". Despite | abnormally scrupulous about immediately detailing bulldozers and shovel crews to the job of bury- Monsanto's intimidation tactics, more than _ | ing the grim wreckage. Nevertheless, telltale remnants remained, as Dillon found when al-Ghazali 10% of US milk is currently labelled as _ | Jater took him to the site. Dillon said they easily uncovered large puddles of resolidified metal and "rBGH-free", while sales of organic milk mounds of weird fibrous material that, al-Ghazali explained, were all that remained of the vehicles’ and dairy products (which prohibit rBGH) _ | tyres. are booming. Dillon, who accumulated plenty of battlefield experience as a medic in Vietnam, and has since In recent months, a Monsanto-funded covered a number of wars from Somalia to Kosovo, told me that he has witnessed every kind of front group, the Center for Consumer conventional ordnance that can be used on humans and vehicles. "I've seen a freaking smorgas- Freedom, has launched a smear campaign bord of destruction in my life: flame-throwers, napalm, white phosphorus, thermite, you name it. I know of nothing short of an H-bomb that conceivably might cause a bus to instantly liquefy or that can flash-broil a human body down to the size of an infant. God pity humanity if that thing is a preview of what's in store for the 21st century." (Source: by Bill Dash, August 25, 2003, via Jeff Rense website, http:/vww.rense.com) against organic dairies, claiming they are defrauding consumers. (Source: Organic Consumers Assoc., July 23, 2003, http://www.organicconsumers.org) 10.1073/pnas.08309 18100). Team member Kai Rothkamm thinks this apparent neglect might actually be a safety measure, since poorly executed repairs can cause dangerous mutations. "If only one cell in every 10 has sustained DNA dam- age, it may be safer just to let that cell die," he says. But at higher doses, repair becomes vital. However, the opposite might be true: unrepaired DNA could pose a cancer risk. Rothkamm says more experiments are needed to resolve the issue. Radiation authorities warn against read- ing too much into the finding. "We don't feel it would have any immediate effect on our risk estimates for X-rays," says Michael Clark of Britain's National Radiological Protection Board. (Source: New Scientist, 5 April 2003) MONSANTO ENGINEERS CONSUMER RIGHTS onsanto is suing Oakhurst Dairy of Portland, Maine, for labelling its milk "Our Farmers’ Pledge: No Artificial Growth Hormones". According to Monsanto, manufacturer of the genetically engineered recombinant bovine growth hormone (known as rBGH or rBST), Oakhurst Dairy does not have the right to let its customers know whether its milk is laced with GE hormones. Oakhurst says it's been labelling its products like this for four years, in response to consumer demand. Although rBGH has been banned in every industrialised nation in the world except for the USA, Monsanto continues to claim that rBGH-derived milk is no differ- ent from the natural stuff, despite docu- mentation that rBGH milk contains sub- stantially higher levels of a potent cancer tumour promoter called IGF-1. Monsanto sued two dairies and threat- ened several thousand retailers in 1994 for labelling or advertising milk and dairy products as "rBGH-free". Despite Monsanto's intimidation tactics, more than 10% of US milk is currently labelled as "rBGH-free", while sales of organic milk and dairy products (which prohibit rBGH) are booming. In recent months, a Monsanto-funded front group, the Center for Consumer Freedom, has launched a smear campaign against organic dairies, claiming they are defrauding consumers. (Source: Organic Consumers Assoc., July 23, 2003, http://www.organicconsumers.org) NEXUS +9 OCTOBER — NOVEMBER 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com