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US Invasion of Iraq Lead to Leukemia Rates Worse Than After Hiroshima Crisis

An Iraqi looks at the smoke rising from the bombing of a pipeline south of Basra in March 2004 (EPA)
An Iraqi looks at the smoke rising from the bombing of a pipeline south of Basra in March 2004 (EPA)
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US Invasion of Iraq Lead to Leukemia Rates Worse Than After Hiroshima Crisis

An Iraqi looks at the smoke rising from the bombing of a pipeline south of Basra in March 2004 (EPA)
An Iraqi looks at the smoke rising from the bombing of a pipeline south of Basra in March 2004 (EPA)

The US invasion of Iraq that began 20 years ago has left a toxic legacy worse than that of the Hiroshima bombing, according to a recent study.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in 1945 killed around 140,000 people, most of whom died instantly, while the others passed away in the weeks and months that followed.

The Guardian cited the study reporting that after the bombing in Japan, the rates of leukemia among those living closest to the detonation increased by a devastating 660%, about 12 to 13 years after the bomb (which is when radiation levels peaked).

In Falluja, leukemia rates increased by 2,200% in a much shorter space of time, averaged just five to 10 years after the bombings.

The research, led by Dr Christopher Busby was studying information and data provided by doctors in Iraq on the big increase in cancer rates as well as birth defects after the US began bombing the country.

In addition to the huge increase in leukemia, Busby and his colleagues found a 1,260% increase in rates of childhood cancer in Falluja after the US bombing as well as a 740% increase in brain tumors.

Busby said “the cancer levels are astonishing”, adding: “The peak effect in those at Hiroshima who were most irradiated was less than the effect in all of Falluja.”

Earlier last week, the Director-General of the Center for Radiation Protection, Sabah Al-Husseini, affirmed that the US military deployed depleted uranium (DU) weapons in Iraq's invasion.

He also pointed to the increase in cancer cases in areas where the US forces used excessive amounts of uranium in southern Iraq, especially Basra.

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Arab World

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.