Israel Detonates Dirty Bombs Near Palestinian Bedouin Communities
by Stephen Lendman
Dirty bombs are radiological weapons combining radioactive material with conventional explosives. On detonation, they contaminate the affected area. The US Energy Department says radiation exposure is "fairly high" but not fatal.
Nuclear expert Helen Caldicott explains no amount of radiation is safe and amounts exposed to are cumulative. Cell mutations result causing cancer and other diseases.
The difference between dirty bombs and nuclear ones is latter ones are hugely destructive and kill large numbers of people instantly.
The harmful effects of dirty ones take time to develop making it easy to attribute later illnesses and deaths to other causes.
Haaretz then other Israeli media reported IDF-conducted dirty bomb tests in the Negev desert to test their impact. Possible harmful effects on nearby Bedouin Arab communities weren't mentioned.
The Negev is home to about 200,000 Bedouins. Communities close to where detonations occurred were subjected to low-level radiation exposure leaving them vulnerable to later diseases and possible death.
Tests conducted followed a similar so-called "Green Field" project at Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor - used to produce nuclear weapons.
The whole world knows what Israel won't officially acknowledge. Recent Israeli dirty bomb tests involved 19 open-air detonations and one at a closed facility.
They tested 250 grams to 25 kilograms of explosives mixed with radioactive material called 99mTc (trade name Cartiolite), used for medical imaging.
Drones were used to measure radiation. Sensors measured blast impacts. Haaretz said tests followed public concern over possible radiological attacks. The IDF Home Front Command web site explains how to react if one occurs.
Israeli tests showed high-level radiation amounts at the center of explosions. Winds dispersed lesser amounts of radiological contamination over a wider area.
A code-named "Red House" test examined the effect of an undetonated dirty bomb found in a public area. Israel's Homefront Command Site understates the dangers of dirty bomb detonations.
It claims it's "hard to design a radiological bomb that will create so great an exposure to radiation that it will cause immediate harm to health, or even death, to a large number of people."
It ignores the potentially serious longterm effects. It bears repeating. No amount of radiation is safe. Cumulative exposure risks cancer and other diseases.
Israeli researchers quoted said tests were for defensive purposes only. They claimed the main danger from dirty bomb detonations is psychological.
The report made no mention of Israel's unacknowledged nuclear weapons program and whatever tests are conducted to upgrade it.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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