It has been 16 years since the occupation of Iraq, in which the imperialist US caused more than a million Muslims to die, millions to leave their lands and a great history to be destroyed.

This occupation, which began in 2003 and culminated in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, has also ignited conflicts in the country that will continue to this day.

Since the US invasion began, the Iraqi people have been subjected to human rights abuses including torture, mass murder, bombardments targeting civilians and systematic rapes.

Over the past years, more than a million people have died. Women have been widowed, children have been orphaned. Millions were displaced due to the occupation.

The city of Fallujah was one of the strongholds of the resistance

The city of Fallujah was one of the strongholds of the resistance during the occupation that began 16 years ago. The Iraqis organized the resistance in Fallujah to protect their cities, homes and honors. The city, where violent clashes took place, was subjected to heavy bombardment by the invading US Army.

On 31 March, 4 soldiers from the Blackwater Group, a group of US mercenaries, were killed. Images of the dismembered bodies of these 4 killers hanging on a bridge have been circulated and propagated around the world.

The local people paid the price for this action following "Operation Phantom-Fury". According to the Pentagon, this operation was the largest urban battle since "Operation Hue" in Vietnam in 1968

 

"After house raids, intense shelling was carried out at night"

The first attacks began in April 2004. Random house raids were followed by intense night bombardments. Thousands of U.S. troops destroyed Fallujah with heavy weapons from the air and land. The city remained under the influence of heavy chemical weapons such as white phosphorus, napalm and depleted uranium. The United States, on the other hand, said they were using white phosphorus because of "being able to locate targets at night."

But in 2004, war correspondents began reporting that U.S. troops had used chemical weapons against civilians in Fallujah. The army lied first and explained that they only used white phosphorus to create smoke curtains or illuminate targets. He then admitted to using this volatile chemical as a burning weapon.

Fallujah: Secret Massacre

At the time, the Italian television broadcaster RAI released a documentary entitled "Fallujah, the Secret massacre". The documentary featured video footage and photographs, as well as interviews with witnesses. It showed the world how U.S. troops and his government were indiscriminately firing chemicals into this beautiful Iraqi city, melting women and children with chemical weapons.

The narratives of an American soldier involved in the massacre proved the allegations to be true. The U.S. soldier named Jeff Englehart said: " We were blasting chemical bullets right over the city. The fireballs were burning all the Iraqis in the city to their bones The streets were filled with the bodies of Iraqi women and children. Their clothes are intact. But their bodies melted to their bones. I understood that we were no better than Saddam."

Despite all this evidence, the imperialist United States, which at every opportunity spoke of freedom of press and expression and claimed that it advocated the free and widespread use of communication, continued to mislead public opinion with lies in Iraq.

Babies are born with missing organs due to chemicals used by the U.S.

The world public, who watched the destruction of Fallujah with chemical weapons on TV at that time, is now appallingly learning the lasting diseases of those massacres left to Iraqi society. Babies are born with missing organs due to chemicals used by the U.S.

A group named Fallujah B. Defects is sharing the photos in its twitter account, showing this lasting effect on newborn babies. The most common abnormalities are disorders of the nervous and spinal cord system, heart disorders and vision disabilities. Some babies are born with two heads and multiple tumors.

Babies with abnormalities are born every day in our hospitals

According to Samira Alaani, the Chief Physician of Fallujah Hospital at the time, who participated in a study conducted in cooperation with the World Health Organization, various tests conducted in London found an extraordinary amount of uranium and Mercury in the hair follicles of the victims. This may be evidence that the extent of innate problems in Fallujah is related to the use of banned weapons.

Hüdayr Khalaf Şelal, the provincial Health Director of Al-Anbar at the time, said: "In our hospitals, there are no days when babies with abnormalities are not born. Sometimes, in the same day, more than one babies with abnormalities are born. Increase in number of babies with abnormalities unsettles newlywed couples."

Noting that after operations by U.S. troops, babies with abnormalities began to be born across the province, Şelal: " When American forces invaded Iraq, they used the weapons that were harmful to human health, such as phosphorus, poison gas, depleted uranium, which were forbidden to be used. All those are known by everybody, it's no longer a secret."

Most babies born between 2007 and 2010 had congenital anomalies

A study by the World Health Organization found that most babies born between 2007 and 2010 had congenital anomalies.  Similar cases have been found in the cities of Basra and Najaf, where violent clashes have taken place.

According to a report published by the Institute of Digital Publishing, Fallujah has a higher rate of cancer, leukemia and infant mortality than it did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Between 2007 and 2010, one-sixth of pregnancies resulted in miscarriages. In addition, infant mortality in Fallujah has increased since 2006.

This report shows that young women in Fallujah are afraid to have children because of the rise in congenital anomalies. Children in Fallujah are battling different types of cancer including leukemia, according to the report. There has been a 38-fold increase in leukemia cases, a 10-fold increase in breast cancer, and a significant increase in lymphoma and brain tumor.

 

There has been a drastic increase in infant mortality

According to the report based on field research published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Fallujah has seen a significant increase in infant mortality during childbirth, especially since 2006.

Infant mortality after every 1000 births was 4 times greater than infant mortality in Egypt and Jordan and 9 times greater than in Kuwait.

This rate increased markedly after 2009. These results support other reports about congenital diseases and birth defects in Fallujah.

 

There is a 15 per cent reduction in baby boy births

These studies also show that there is a change in the birth rates of boys and girls after the use of chemical weapons.

Banned weapons, bombs, ammunitions, chemical gases used in the region during the occupation, and environmental problems that have increased recently, are considered to have affected people's health.

Birth defects are directly related to the use of thorium and uranium.

According to the article published by Mozghan Savabieasfahani University in "Environmental Pollution" magazine, heavy bombings and environmental problems in the region increased the death rates during the birth.

Among the children living in areas close to Fallujah, individuals with abnormally sized hands and feet were found. The study states that there is a direct relationship between birth defects and thorium and uranium substances.

Doctors say a large number of babies are born with various tumors and disorders of the nervous system at an unprecedented rate. These cases include babies born with double heads.

A social media account named Fallujah B. Defects proves the effects of banned weapons used in Iraq

Doctors working in Fallujah share photos of babies with birth defects with the world via social media. In the images shared by doctors, babies with birth defects or stillbirths, with missing organs in their bodies and the babies whose bodies do not resemble a human body can be seen.

These photos prove the effects of banned weapons used in Iraq.

 

Weapons that destroy the genetic intact of Iraq's population

Speaking about the chemical weapons used by U.S. troop, Christopher Busby, Scientific Secretary of the European Radiation Risk Committee, said: "Those are certainly weapons that destroy the genetic intact of the Iraqi population."

After writing two of the 4 reports published in 2012 on health crises in Iraq, Busby describes Fallujah as "the one with the highest rate of genetic damage among all populations that have been studied so far."

The effects of chemicals are genetically passed down from generation to generation

White phosphorus, which the U.S. used in Iraq in 2004, can burn the person it hits to the bones at extremely high temperatures. The number of deaths and injuries caused by the use of white phosphorus in the area is not known.

The effects of depleted uranium and heavy metals are genetically passed down from generation to generation, leading to miscarriages, an increase in the number of babies with birth defects and fatal diseases such as cancer.

The United States has paid compensation to tens of thousands of its soldiers affected by chemical weapons.

U.S. Department of Defense officials say they have not received an official report on an increase in birth defects in Basra or Fallujah, but this statement is incompatible with the facts.

US authorities' indifference towards victims of banned weapons used in Fallujah is described as "frivolity"

Meanwhile, US soldiers who have committed a great barbarism have also suffered serious illnesses due to their presence in places where chemical substances have been used.

According to United Presse International, tens of thousands of U.S. troops affected by chemical weapons have been paid billions of dollars in compensation by defense companies.

Silent killer who kills constantly

Many cases have shown that apart from white phosphorus, depleted uranium, a radioactive element that significantly increases the penetration capacity of the ammunitions, has been used by the US in Iraq.

Depleted uranium is believed to have a lifespan of 4.5 billion years, and this uranium is described as a " Silent killer who kills constantly"

Depleted uranium ammunitions were first used during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 1991. Although the damage of these ammunitions, which were initially used against Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles, was not known, it was later discovered that they contaminated soil, air and water sources with radiation.

Radioactive materials can pass to plants through soil, air and water then they can easily pass from plants to humans and animals through the food chain very easily and very quickly.

Iraq and Kuwait territories adversely affected by radioactive materials

U.S. and coalition forces intensely used depleted uranium ammunitions in Iraq for the first time in the first Gulf War.

The United States, which fired these ammunitions from A-10 aircraft and M1A1, M1A2 Abrams tanks, did not only leave behind radioactive war scrap; but also it affected the territory of Iraq and Kuwait with radioactive pollution spreading in the form of dust. The amount used was estimated to be between 315-350 tons.

After the war, a large number of U.S. soldiers who had participated in the operation fell ill; the cause of this situation was not immediately understood then it was revealed that it was due to depleted uranium ammunitions used by them. The soldiers had severe respiratory diseases, skin rashes, kidney diseases.

It was documented that depleted uranium was used

The Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, reached out to reports of the invasion of Iraq with information provided to George Washington University in 2013.

Reports said the United States used depleted uranium (DU) ammunitions against targets described as "soft targets" such as cars, trucks and military positions 116 times in its airstrikes in Iraq using A-10-style jets.

These ammunitions were used against buildings at 16.5 percent, soft targets at 35.6 percent, soldiers at 4.2 percent, cannons at 10.4 percent, and tanks at 33.2 percent.

Highlighting that in the US Air Force's legislative proposal in 1975 it was stated that depleted uranium ammunitions could only be used against difficult-to-destroy targets, such as tanks and armored vehicles, the documents noted that a gross violation of international laws, introduced to prevent the US military from targeting civilians and soldiers with such weapons, took place.

It was underlined that Depleted uranium ammunitions have affected the health of the Iraqi people, particularly cancer and birth defects.

The civilian population continues to pay the price for the occupation in Iraq

The price for the occupation of Fallujah, launched 16 years ago, is still being paid by the civilian population. However, those responsible have not paid any price for this human rights violation and war crime, and are unlikely to pay it in the near term.

Doctors at Fallujah Hospital are having difficulty accessing the necessary medical devices. Only in the capital, Baghdad, there is treatment, but most families are unable to get their children treated, let alone hospital costs, because they cannot even afford to pay for the road. Somehow those who make up the money have to wait months for their turn that doesn't come.

There are treatment facilities only in Baghdad but let alone the hospital costs, most of the families cannot even afford the carfare. Those who somehow could find the money for treatment have to wait months for their treatment.

Some of those who are financially capable are going out of the country for treatment. The amount paid for treatment outside the country is up to 7 thousand dollars in Syria and 12 thousand dollars in Jordan. In Iran, where the cheapest treatment is available, patients have to pay an average of 5 thousand dollars.

Prohibition of the use of chemical weapons

According to the 1993 International Treaty on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the use of those weapons is prohibited and is contrary to international law.

Despite numerous international initiatives, the use of these weapons has not been completely prevented.

Finally, 192 countries signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, which came into force on 29 April 1997. The Zionist terror gang, Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan, did not agree to sign the agreement.

The convention prohibits the production, storage and use of chemical weapons. Countries also have to report their stockpiles of chemical weapons and where they can be produced.

The US has consistently breached the conventions

The United States has consistently violated international conventions on the use of chemical weapons. The United States is the country that abuses chemical weapons the most, both in terms of deaths, birth defects and crises leading to public health, and in terms of their impact on the environment.

Efforts have been made since 1907 to ban chemical weapons. But the U.S. has either deliberately not signed conventions on the use of chemical weapons or simply ignored them. Moreover, the US continues to increase its spending to develop more chemical weapons.

Such weapons were used by Saddam in Halepçe

Such weapons were used in Aleppo by Saddam, with the support of the United States. That was an excuse for the United States to attack Iraq and change its regime. However, it was later revealed that the Americans also used these weapons in Iraq. Had some U.S. soldiers not made confessions, it would not have been known that U.S. troops used chemical weapons in Iraq.

 The deadly silence of Arab countries and other countries of the world

The deadly silence of Arab countries and other countries of the world caused human dignity to be trampled in Fallujah. The Organization of the Arab League and the United Nations did not take any initiative on this matter. However, newspapers and news agencies writing about the atrocity in Fallujah and the facts there were pressured.

Local people will suffer the pain of the occupation for generations

The price for the occupation of Fallujah, launched 16 years ago, still continues to be paid by the Muslim civilian population. In other words, the advanced weapons used by the United States for the rapid destruction of Iraqi cities and cities have achieved their goal.

Local people will suffer the pain of the occupation for generations.

Babies born after the "withdrawal" of occupation troops will continue to die because of the impact the occupation has had on their parents. (ILKHA)