Iraq: A Depleted Generation
Photographs and text by J.B. Russell
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Dr. Selma al-Taha, who did her medical studies at Edinburgh University in Scotland and is director of Iraq’s only genetic laboratory at Baghdad University Medical Hospital, told me that beside the numbers, US soldiers, European soldiers in the Balkans, Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi civilians in the south are all being stricken by many of the same ailments. She said, "they come from different cultures, they live in different places, they eat different food. The only thing they all have in common is exposure to these weapons. Iraq was at war with Iran for eight years and we never had this problem because we didn’t have depleted uranium weapons. These illnesses must be connected to depleted uranium."

Next I went to the heart of the problem, Basrah, Iraq’s southern most city near the Kuwait border and at the head of the Persian Gulf. This region was heavily bombed during the war and is therefore hardest hit by the effects of depleted uranium contamination. I visited Basrah’s hospitals.

Index | Reportage | Conceptual | Projects | Links | Search | Support | About
All Rights Reserved. © foto8 2001