An increasing number of birth defects have been reported in Iraq following the U.S. detonation of radioactive weapons near homes and schools during the 2003 invasion, writes Dr Helen Caldicott.

* CONTENT WARNING: This article contains disturbing video footage

THE "SHOCK AND AWE" war crime initiated by George W Bush and his co-frères was both a nuclear and conventional war, initiating disastrous medical diseases and congenital abnormalities that will haunt the people of Iraq forever.

The U.S. deployed missiles armed with uranium 238 (half-life of 4.5 billion years) were dense with a unique armour-penetrating power. Bursting into flame on impact, they convert to microscopic particles - polluting the air and surrounding soil to be spread by the wind for the rest of time.

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Uranium is an alpha emitter with serious mutagenic and carcinogenic properties that become more radioactive over time.

A review by The Iraqi Commission for Human Rights stated:

Also, in the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, U.S. B-2 bombers dropped 45 2,000-pound uranium bombs.

According to Independent:

In Fallujah, where two massive U.S. military operations took place, 25 per cent of newborns were seriously deformed.

Journalist Tom Eley reported:

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Despite this article downplaying the source of rising birth defects in Iraq, nonetheless, it states:

Even the BBC was forced to acknowledge the reality.

Despite the fact that the U.S. war with Iraq came to a close on 18 December 2011, families in numerous Iraqi cities are now living with a dramatic rise in birth defects and cancer from radioactive weapons that were detonated near homes, schools and playgrounds during the nearly seven-year conflict.

These diseases will be perpetuated for the rest of time.

If you would like to speak to a counsellor about birth issues or need a mental health check-in, please call Beyond Blue.

You can follow Dr Caldicott on Twitter @DrHCaldicott. Click here for Dr Caldicott's complete curriculum vitae.

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