〔英文史料〕サマワ駐留オランダ軍は劣化ウラン弾の破片などを放置

［タグ］イラク。劣化ウラン弾。オランダ。サマワ。サマーワ。



オランダの報道NGO「RISQ」によれば、オランダ軍はサマーワの劣化ウラン弾の破片などを取り除く作業をせずに放置。


☆「DU Contamination in Iraq: Dutch troops refuse to remove radioactive debris」
（12 February 2004）

http://www.risq.org/article282.html

Residents of As Samawah in Southern Iraq are unduly exposed to radioactive debris as Dutch troops stationed in the area refuse to remove remnants of war contaminated with depleted uranium (DU).

This the principle finding of a report obtained by RISQ from Mamoru Toyoda, a Japanese researcher and journalist who has been investigating DU-contamination in Iraq, and who visited the town of As Samawah last month. Equipped with a Geiger counter, Mr Toyoda measured radiation levels 300 times higher than normal in town, at the site of an abandoned anti-aircraft artillery stand.

Responding in detail to questions raised by RISQ, Mr Toyoda says the traces he found on the guns render it more than likely that the radiation was due to the impact of depleted uranium ordnance. According to local residents, the area was a military target twice in 1991 and 2003, when it came under heavy fire from US aircraft.

Immediately after "the war of the invasion", as residents called it, US military cleared the area, picking up unexploded ordnance and other debris. However, they refused to remove the artillery pieces without any explanation. Later, when residents asked Dutch troops, stationed in the area since August last year, to remove the artillery, they too refused to do so.

To date, the site has not been fenced off or marked by warning signs. In fact, as Mr Toyoda conveyed to RISQ, "he was horrified to find that many children were playing near and around the abandoned guns".

（以下省略）