Temporary Housing Limbo & Grassroots Rebuilding in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture

On 3/11, tidal waves swept over 46% of Ishinomaki, killing more than 3,000  and destroying 20,000 homes. 400 people remain missing. The small coastal town of 164,000 (now 150,000), the second largest city in MIyagi prefecture, was one of the hardest hit two and a half years ago.

Many survivors are unemployed and homeless.   29,000 disaster survivors still live in temporary housing and rentals around Ishinomaki. About 80 households are still waiting for temporary housing units to become available.

"Elderly residents huddle against the cold on benches outside their temporary housing estate in Ishinomaki,
 the Tohoku region of Japan, in March 2012. They're among hundreds of thousands of people waiting for 
the government to build them new homes more than one year after the earthquake and tsunami."
 (Text and Photo: Alex Zolbert, CNN, Dec. 14, 2012)

Temporary housing in Ishinomaki in September, 2013. 

(Photo: Ted Chion Jun, Asia Report)

16,000 Ishinomaki residents are in their third year of living in cramped temporary housing. Permanent housing is still in the planning stage and mired in understandable controversy: the city wants to appropriate land for public housing from survivors without compensation for loss.  

In January of this year, Tokyo extended the number of years disaster victims could stay in temporary housing from three to four years. Under Japan's disaster relief law, residents are allowed to stay in emergency housing for only two years. 

Many locals think that the nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima has diverted the Japanese government's attention from supporting the recovery of survivors in Tohoku.

Ishinomaki used to house Japan's third largest fishing port; the battered industry will never recover completely; and is now under threat from repeated intentional radiation leaks from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean.

As with the rest of Miyagi, Ishinomaki lacks adequate medical services:

“Some people have stopped going to hospitals,” an Ishinomaki official said.

The city’s health consultation services have been concentrated mainly on preventive steps for evacuees living in temporary housing.

However, progress has been made in clearing disaster debris , as Ishinomaki Photo Blog's two-year comparison of landscape photos reflect:

1-Chome Center. 

 (Photos: Ishinomaki Photo Blog 

And, at the grassroots, locals and volunteers are moving towards reconstruction, albeit at a creeping pace.

Residents who can afford to, have rebuilt on the sites of their former homes, without government assistance; resulting in a boom for small construction companies.

The Ishinomori Manga Museum, which is dedicated to  manga creator Shotaro Ishinomori, has reopened. The museum was originally opened in 2001 to celebrate Ishinomori whose career spanned from 1954 until his death in 1998. Although the building was damaged by the earthquake, the museum’s collection of 90,000 pages survived,, and are now on display

Young small business owners who lost their businesses have created Ishinomaki 2.0 (post-3/11 junior chamber of commerce) lost their businesses together to consider the future of the town. At a space called "The Revival Bar," these entrepreneurs bring together resources, ideas and people from across Japan seeking to regenerate Ishinomaki's shopping district, much of which was closed because of economic malaise even before 3/11.

According to a National Police Agency  Sept. 10, 2013 report, 15,883 people in 12 prefectures died in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami and aftershocks;  2,654 people still missing in six prefectures; and 6,146 people were injured in 20 prefectures.

Background:

"Bureaucrat suspended for calling Tohoku reconstruction 'unnecessary' in 2011 blog post" (Asahi, Sept. 26, 2013) 

Disaster victims expressed anger when they were informed of the industry ministry bureaucrat’s remarks.

“They were uttered by someone who does not know anything about the disaster area,” said a 59-year-old man who lives in temporary housing in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. “He may be smart, but he does not have the mind and heart of man.”

A 60-year-old woman who runs a restaurant in a temporary shopping area in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, said: “We are trying to restore what we built over the years (and lost). As long as there is someone like him, reconstruction is impossible.”

"Tokyo puts Tohoku on games map, but will it be enough?" (JT, Sept. 24, 2013) 

With so many survivors still living in cramped temporary housing units, Yamada said, a lot of people aren’t happy to see the government spending so much cash on Olympic-related events.

"Fearing exodus, disaster-hit towns compete to offer highest subsidies" (Asahi, Sept. 22, 2013)

But the problem of solitary deaths among survivors could be more widespread, as many moved into accommodations rented by municipal offices over a broader area, potentially severing community links, the survey suggested Wednesday.

Complaints are also being raised over the differences in assistance levels in the Tohoku region. Many survivors are stuck in temporary housing because they lack the funds to rebuild.

"Nearly 290,000 people still living in shelters two and a half years after the Tohoku disaster" (Rocket News, Sept. 16, 2013)

"Tally of solitary deaths at 81 for 3/11 evacuees" (Kyodo via JT, Sept. 11, 2013)

At least 81 evacuees have died alone in temporary housing in Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures since the 2011 quake and tsunami, a survey says.

"Disaster areas critically short of manpower" (Jiji via JT, Sept. 10, 2013)

"Tohoku still in dire need of medical support" (Jiji via JT, Sept. 11, 2013)

Thirty months after tsunami devastated the Tohoku coast, residents are still facing a lack of medical services because of delays in restarting damaged hospitals and clinics and the closures of others.

"7 disaster-area municipalities show biggest increase in elderly needing living assistance" (Mainichi, Sept. 2, 2013)

"Tsunami victims still waiting for new homes" (Asia Report, Sept. 2, 2013) 

"Trillions for rebuilding Tohoku go unused" (Jiji via JT, July 13, 2013):

The Reconstruction Agency said Wednesday that ¥3.4 trillion — 35.2 percent — of the ¥9.74 trillion in the fiscal 2012 budget slated to rebuild areas hit by the March 2011 disasters went unused.

The year before, 39.4 percent of the reconstruction budget, or around ¥5.9 trillion, went unspent, indicating the recovery effort has suffered from poor planning...

Last year, ¥4.73 trillion was allocated to rebuild roads and embankments, as well as to relocate residential areas, but 43.9 percent in this category was unused.

Of the ¥655.6 billion earmarked for washing away contamination from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, 67.9 percent was unused, the agency said...

Unless rebuilding moves forward, devastated communities will keep shrinking, further slowing the process, observers said.

"Tohoku Has Been Rent Asunder for Future Generations" (Roger Pulvers, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, March 13, 2013)

"Quake victims allowed to stay in temporary housing another year" (Asahi, Feb. 25, 2013)

Victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake will be allowed to stay in temporary government housing for an additional year as new public housing construction lags in the three hardest-hit prefectures, sources said.

The central government's decision to extend the temporary housing limit to four years came after it was found that only 55 percent of the new houses planned in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2014.

The extension also means around 110,000 people still living in prefabricated temporary housing will have to continue to endure harsh living conditions.

About 300,000 people now live in temporary housing, including accommodations offered by the private sector and whose rent is subsidized by the government.

"Japan election a world away from tsunami-hit town" (Alex Zolbert, CNN, Dec. 14, 2012)

It's been nine months since I took the photos, but as the temperature drops below zero at the start of another Japanese winter, one image stubbornly dwells on my mind.

It's not of the tsunami-inflicted destruction -- the flattened homes, mangled cars or piles of debris -- in Ishinomaki, one of the worst-hit areas in the Tohoku region, in the country's north.

Instead, it is an image of retirees huddled on small benches outside their temporary homes...

Sixty-seven-year-old Katsuji Ogata lost his wife in the tsunami. He used to run a small restaurant in Ishinomaki. Now it's a simple food truck.

He is even more outspoken, saying "the government hasn't done a thing for us. They've only cleared the debris."

"City slowly returns to life ten months after disaster" (Kimberly Hughes, TTT, Jan. 21, 2012)

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Today is the last day of Washi Candle Garden decorated with washi (Japanese paper) 

illuminating messages from Tohoku residents and Tokyoites.

 ("Candles to remember Tohoku" by Magdalena Osumi, JT, Sept. 19, 2013)

First Slow Food International event opens in Asia; Can local, organic farming & food production be revived in South Korea? (90% of its food is imported; mostly from China & the US)

Via Slow Food International:

Just an hour outside of the chaos and pollution of Seoul, the city of Namyangju lies in an area known for its clean water, magnificent natural scenery and the health and longevity of its residents. It is here - where the long history of traditional handicrafts is still practiced by locals and an organic farming movement is growing rapidly - that small-scale producers from across Asia and Oceania have been arriving for AsiO Gusto,  what will be Slow Food’s first international event on the continent.

Asia is a continent where the issues that Slow Food is working on are highly evident: industrialization, monocultures, nutrition security…” said Paolo Di Croce, Secretary General of Slow Food. “South Korea imports 40% of its national dish, kimchi. It’s crazy that even a country with such strong traditions is still following the rules of the global market. Slow Food is less developed here compared to other parts of the world so AsiO Gusto is a great opportunity to bring together these delegates to share knowledge, build friendships and develop an understanding that farmers are facing the same problems everywhere.

---

Reading that South Korea imports more than 40% of its national dish, kimchee, was startling.  Where is most of South Korea's kimchee being made? China.

South Korea imports 90% of its food, much of it from China and the U.S. 

Seoul, the world’s second largest metropolitan area, is dominated by chain stores and franchises.  Seoul's restaurants serve kimchi made in China, vegetables from Australia,  fruit from Pakistan and the US, fish from Norway, rice from China and Thailand, and industrially farmed meat from the US.

Small-scale farmers and food processors are still a huge part of traditional Korean culture and an important part of food production.  The average farm is still between 2 and 5 acres and most food producers are family-run.

However local family farmers and food producers are under threat of "free trade" pacts (including with China) that have threatened their survival.  South Korean food self-sufficiency has dropped to the lowest level in history.  Farmland has dropped to the lowest level since 1970  because Seoul has incorporated vast amounts of farmland into commercial and industrial development projects and recreational “green spaces” for weekend urbanite tourists.  Namyangju, the "organic city," is one of South Korea's green travel destinations.

The Korean organic, slow, family farmer and food producer movement centers on food and cultural sovereignty and the survival of centuries-old food traditions. In parallel with the global movement, the movement is ultimately about democracy, environmental sustainability, simplicity, as well as safe and healthy food production.

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Background:

" Cooperative Small-Scale Farming Movements Make Strides Around the World"
(Food Tank, April 3, 2013)

The Korean Women Peasants Association (KWPA), a organization of women farmers in South Korea, gained recognition recently when it won the Food Sovereignty Prize in 2012 for its work to promote food sovereignty, defend small-scale Korean farmers, and end violence against women. KWPA created the Sister Gardens initiative, which supports local food production by linking women farmers directly with local consumers. KWPA also began the Native Seed Campaign to safeguard biodiversity within agroecosystems and preserve native seeds.

"Korean Food, Land and Democracy: A Conversation with Anders Riel Müller* (Christine Ahn, March 19, 2013, Korea Policy Institute)

South Korea has been experiencing declining food self sufficiency for the past 20 years, and it has worsened over the past 5-6 years largely due to the new Free Trade Agreements with the United States and European Union. South Korea is also now in negotiations with Australia. These large agricultural exporting nations view South Korea as a major market for their agricultural products.

Korean agriculture is in crisis. First of all 40 percent of the agricultural population is over 60 years old, and average farm household debt has been exceeding annual total income since 2003. They carry a very heavy debt load. And the South Korean government is very limited in terms of what it can do to help farmers because of the restrictions placed by the World Trade Organization (WTO). For example, because South Korea is a party to the WTO, it means that virtually all of the old support programs that once protected farmers have been dismantled. The government is trying new ways to support farmers by helping them convert to organic and by emphasizing the aesthetic value of the rural countryside.

The agricultural sector is in decline. The amount of farmland in use is in decline, as is the land ownership among farmers. More farmers are now farming on rented land—in fact, 50% are now leasing land. Development policy has also changed so that more agricultural land has been opened up for urban and industrial development.

"South Korea's Food Security Alarm" (John Berthelsen, Asia  Sentinel, April 29, 2011)

...South Korea...imports more than 90 percent of its food from overseas, including almost all of its wheat and corn.

The government recently bought more than 325,999 hectares in Mongolia as part of its effort to develop an overseas food base to procure more food resources. That is after the Daewoo chaebol was stymied in its effort in 2008 to lease 1.3 million hectares of Madagascar – almost half the country's arable land -- for 99 years....As many as 60 South Korean companies are involved in farming in 16 countries, harvesting some 87,000 metric tons of grain from 24,000 hectares of farmland, according to Anders Riel Muller, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Food and Development Policy, USA...

... Samsung Economic Research Institute... issued a 16-page report on food security. The report, titled New Food Strategies in the Age of Global Food Crises...advocates that "it is necessary to secure foreign bases for food production through overseas agricultural development," providing comprehensive support for domestic firms striving to build food production bases abroad," and pay for it through overseas agricultural development funds. Among other things, the report advocates that the government draw up a roadmap for agricultural cooperation to develop food resources in the starvation-ridden North Korea "through inter-Korean agricultural cooperation is useful in the context of building South Korea's overseas food base, while at the same time preparing for surging food demand upon unification."

Food stability in South Korea has experienced a continuous decline, caused by rapidly increased grain price volatility and intensified import source concentration as the western countries, particularly the United States and the European Union, devote more and more of their corn production to biofuels. It is estimated that 35 percent of corn production is now going into biofuels. In addition, the report says, "food safety fell to its lowest level in 2008...

The report notes with something akin to alarm that the international grain market "is subject to an oligopoly of the four major global grain conglomerates: Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, LDC, and Bunge," which have the power not only to perform grain trading functions but to "affect government policy with respect to international trade and agricultural markets using their massive capabilities to obtain information worldwide. South Korea imports 80 percent of its gran through the four. The four giants, the report continues, "exercise tremendous leverage over the worldwide food industry. Business for grain majors has expanded beyond traditional trading of crops to seeds, fertilizers, food and food processing, finance, and bio-energy production. At times, the four grain majors have encroached on consumer welfare by exerting their influence on agricultural producers, or by creating an oligopoly regime."

As food imports have increased, so has anxiety over agricultural product safety, the report notes, with "spiraling increases in the share of GMO food imports, which have risen from about 30 percent to over 50 percent in 2008, "posing a greater threat to food safety."

...South Korea's big problem, according to Anders Muller, is partly to history, in which Japanese colonizers'only interest was to convert Korea in to a supplier of food and other products to fuel their imperial ambitions. In doing so, the Japanese administrators allied themselves with the ruling landlord elite. By the 1920s, the majority of peasants in Korea had been reduced to tenant farmers delivering up to 50 percent of their harvests in taxes."

South Korea, Muller writes, "has historically shown little interest in its agricultural sector throughout the post Korean War period. The rural population and agriculture was primarily regarded as a source of cheap food and cheap labor for the country's dizzying industrial development." Agricultural investment dried up as successive dictators like Park Hung Hee neglected the countryside for industrialization...

"South Korean Food Imports At 80-90%" (Martin Frid, Kurashi, Oct. 6, 2011)

I was rather shocked to learn that South Korea imports almost all its food from China and the United States. Nearly 90% is imported, according to Asian Sentinel - and that includes almost all its wheat and corn, quoting a Samsung report from SERI World. Some 16 countries supply the country with other food items...

NHK: "Ainu Find Their Voice"

Via Jen Teeter and Aotearoa Ainumosir Exchange Programme アオテアロア・アイヌモシリ交流プログラム:

NHK World (日本語は以下）has put together a story about our Ainu revitalization initiatives and Erana Brewerton's visit to Japan. With the main focus of the story being scenes in Nibutani of applying the Te Ataarangi method for Maori language revitalization to the Ainu language, there are also interviews of Maki Sekine and Erana. Through this five minute story, we hope that many people will come to realize just how hard and persistently we are working at the grassroots level for Ainu language revitalization.

You can also catch glimpses of these people and more!

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/newsline/201309261624.html

私たちのアイヌ語復興の取組みがエラナさんの来日とともに、NHK 国際のニュースで取り上げられました。マオリ語復興のテ・アタアランギ教授法をアイヌ語に応用している北海道、二風谷でのシーンを中心に、エラナさんや関根真紀さんなどのインタビューを紹介してくれています。５分間のニュースですが、地道な取組みが、たくさんの方の理解につながることを祈っています

Still Praying for Tohoku: Little Change in Yamada, Iwate...

 Yamada in September 2013.  The small town in Iwate Prefecture 

was almost completely submerged by the 3/11 tsunami.  

(Photos: Scott Ree of Namida Project)

Map of Iwate Prefecture.  (Source: JNTO)

Map of Tohoku. (Source: Web-Japan)

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Background:

"Bureaucrat suspended for calling Tohoku reconstruction 'unnecessary' in 2011 blog post" (Asahi, Sept. 26, 2013) 

Disaster victims expressed anger when they were informed of the industry ministry bureaucrat’s remarks.

“They were uttered by someone who does not know anything about the disaster area,” said a 59-year-old man who lives in temporary housing in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. “He may be smart, but he does not have the mind and heart of man.”

A 60-year-old woman who runs a restaurant in a temporary shopping area in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, said: “We are trying to restore what we built over the years (and lost). As long as there is someone like him, reconstruction is impossible.”

"Tokyo puts Tohoku on games map, but will it be enough?" (JT, Sept. 24, 2013) 

With so many survivors still living in cramped temporary housing units, Yamada said, a lot of people aren’t happy to see the government spending so much cash on Olympic-related events.

"Fearing exodus, disaster-hit towns compete to offer highest subsidies" (Asahi, Sept. 22, 2013)

But the problem of solitary deaths among survivors could be more widespread, as many moved into accommodations rented by municipal offices over a broader area, potentially severing community links, the survey suggested Wednesday.

Complaints are also being raised over the differences in assistance levels in the Tohoku region. Many survivors are stuck in temporary housing because they lack the funds to rebuild.

Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, which hosts a nuclear power plant operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co., subsidizes payments for mortgage interest and provides assistance of up to 3 million yen to keep residents in the town.

The town’s population has fallen from more than 10,000 to around 7,700.

“The reason why we offer better subsidies than other municipalities is that we are more attentive to the issue,” a town official said

"Nearly 290,000 people still living in shelters two and a half years after the Tohoku disaster" (Rocket News, Sept. 16, 2019)

"Tally of solitary deaths at 81 for 3/11 evacuees" (Kyodo via JT, Sept. 11, 2013)

At least 81 evacuees have died alone in temporary housing in Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures since the 2011 quake and tsunami, a survey says.

"Disaster areas critically short of manpower" (Jiji via JT, Sept. 10, 2013)

"Tohoku still in dire need of medical support" (Jiji via JT, Sept. 11, 2013)

Thirty months after tsunami devastated the Tohoku coast, residents are still facing a lack of medical services because of delays in restarting damaged hospitals and clinics and the closures of others.

"7 disaster-area municipalities show biggest increase in elderly needing living assistance" (Mainichi, Sept. 2, 2013)

"Trillions for rebuilding Tohoku go unused" (Jiji via JT, July 13, 2013):

The Reconstruction Agency said Wednesday that ¥3.4 trillion — 35.2 percent — of the ¥9.74 trillion in the fiscal 2012 budget slated to rebuild areas hit by the March 2011 disasters went unused.

The year before, 39.4 percent of the reconstruction budget, or around ¥5.9 trillion, went unspent, indicating the recovery effort has suffered from poor planning...

Last year, ¥4.73 trillion was allocated to rebuild roads and embankments, as well as to relocate residential areas, but 43.9 percent in this category was unused.

Of the ¥655.6 billion earmarked for washing away contamination from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, 67.9 percent was unused, the agency said...

Unless rebuilding moves forward, devastated communities will keep shrinking, further slowing the process, observers said.

"Tohoku Has Been Rent Asunder for Future Generations" (引き裂かれた東北を後世に残す) (Roger Pulvers, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, March 13, 2013)

Quake victims allowed to stay in temporary housing another year" (Asahi, Feb. 25, 2013)

Victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake will be allowed to stay in temporary government housing for an additional year as new public housing construction lags in the three hardest-hit prefectures, sources said.

The central government's decision to extend the temporary housing limit to four years came after it was found that only 55 percent of the new houses planned in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2014.

The extension also means around 110,000 people still living in prefabricated temporary housing will have to continue to endure harsh living conditions.

About 300,000 people now live in temporary housing, including accommodations offered by the private sector and whose rent is subsidized by the government.

---

Today is the last day of Washi Candle Garden decorated with washi (Japanese paper) 

illuminating messages from Tohoku residents and Tokyoites.

 ("Candles to remember Tohoku" by Magdalena Osumi, JT, Sept. 19, 2013)

-JD

Naomi Toyoda: The Human Cost of Uranium Weapons

The destructive US legacy of "regime change" in Iraq has been foremost in the minds of those who joined the global outcry against the Obama administration's call to bomb  Syria.  Images of white phosphorus bombings; prisoner torture at Abu Ghraib; millions of Iraqi refugees; stories of young widows and children forced to prostitute themselves to survive; and reports of perpetual violence in Iraq are now imprinted in our collective memory.

Many in Japan are especially sensitive to the suffering caused by depleted uranium (DU) to Iraqi hibakusha: children born with mutations and Iraqis of all ages suffering from cancer.

 Naomi Toyoda has covered the human cost and environmental devastion of the US invasion of Iraq, depleted uranium weapons, Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombing survivors, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He is co-editor of The Unending Iraq War: Questioning Anew from Fukushima.

Toyoda's exhibition, The Human Cost of Uranium Weapons, toured Europe in 2006. The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons has an online gallery of the Japanese photojournalist's compassionate photographs which reflect the profound suffering caused by radioactive weapons in Iraq.

Depleted uranium (DU) is a radioactive heavy metal waste product of the nuclear power and nuclear weapons industry. Their nanoparticle fallout has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, and enters the body through inhalation and ingestion, where they pass through cell walls..  DU can cause or accelerate cancer, mutate genes, and affect the kidneys, immune system, nervous system, respiratory system, and reproductive system.  The United Nations Human Rights Commission considers DU munitions to be "weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect" incompatible with international humanitarian law.

The US is the largest producer and user of DU weapons. The US military has produced DU weapons from nuclear waste since the 1970's.  The US  used uranium weapons in Iraq in 1991; in Bosnia from 1994 to 1995;  in Afghanistan from 2001; and in Iraq from 2003. NATO used depleted uranium weapons in Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro in 1999. The US tested depleted uranium in Puerto Rico and Okinawa; the UK tested it in Scotland.

The UN General Assembly has twice called for greater transparency over DU weapons use. In December 2012, 155 countries voted in favor, however the US, UK, France and Israel opposed the text, which also acknowledged public health risks from DU use.

On the 10th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, Democracy Now! interviewed  Al Jazeera reporter Dahr Jamail who described the legacy of the U.S. military’s use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus (a chemical weapon) in Iraq and the ongoing plight of refugees in an interview,  "Ten Years Later, U.S. Has Left Iraq with Mass Displacement and an Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers":

...in 2005 we saw 1,600 Iraqis with cancer out of 100,000, so a massive escalation that continues.

 And going on to Fallujah, because I wrote about this a year ago, and then I returned to the city again this trip, we are seeing an absolute crisis of congenital malformations of newborn. There is one doctor, a pediatrician named Dr. Samira Alani, working on this crisis in the city. She’s the only person there registering cases. And she’s seeing horrific birth defects. I mean, these are extremely hard to look at. They’re extremely hard to bear witness to. But it’s something that we all need to pay attention to, because of the amount of depleted uranium used by the U.S. military during both of their brutal attacks on the city of 2004, as well as other toxic munitions like white phosphorus, among other things.

 And so, what this has generated is, from 2004 up to this day, we are seeing a rate of congenital malformations in the city of Fallujah that has surpassed even that in the aftermath of—in the wake of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that were—that nuclear bombs were dropped on at the end of World War II. So, Dr. Samira Alani actually visited with doctors in Japan, comparing statistics, and found that the amount of congenital malformations in Fallujah is 14 times greater than the same rate measured in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in the aftermath of the nuclear bombings.

These types of birth defects, she said—there are types of congenital malformations that she said they don’t even have medical terms for, that some of the things they’re seeing, they’ve never seen before. They’re not in any of the books or any of the scientific literature that they have access to. She said it’s common now in Fallujah for newborns to come out with massive multiple systemic defects, immune problems, massive central nervous system problems, massive heart problems, skeletal disorders, baby’s being born with two heads, babies being born with half of their internal organs outside of their bodies, cyclops babies literally with one eye—really, really, really horrific nightmarish types of birth defects. And it is ongoing...

Stunningly, as bad as things were under Saddam—and we have to keep in mind this perspective of Saddam in the wake of a brutal eight-year war with Iran and then the genocidal sanctions for 13 years, from 1991 up until the beginning of this invasion in March 2003—as bad as it was under Saddam, with the repression and the detentions and the torture and the killings, the overall feeling of Iraqis today, in Baghdad and other places in Iraq where I went this trip, was that things are much worse now...

Doug Rokke. who has a PhD in health physics, is one of the many people who have had direct experience with depleted uranium who advocate against it.  When the Gulf War started, he prepared soldiers to respond to nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare.  In "War Against Ourselves," a 2003 interview at YES! Magazine, he describes how DU caused deaths of his colleagues:

DU is an extremely effective weapon. Each tank round is 10 pounds of solid uranium-238 contaminated with plutonium, neptunium, americium. It is pyrophoric, generating intense heat on impact, penetrating a tank because of the heavy weight of its metal. When uranium munitions hit, it's like a firestorm inside any vehicle or structure, and so we saw tremendous burns, tremendous injuries. It was devastating.

The US military decided to blow up Saddam's chemical, biological, and radiological stockpiles in place, which released the contamination back on the US troops and on everybody in the whole region. The chemical agent detectors and radiological monitors were going off all over the place. We had all of the various nerve agents. We think there were biological agents, and there were destroyed nuclear reactor facilities. It was a toxic wasteland. And we had DU added to this whole mess...

The half life of uranium 238 is 4.5 billion years. And we left over 320 tons all over the place in Iraq...

 What I saw...led me to one conclusion: uranium munitions must be banned from the planet, for eternity, and medical care must be provided for everyone, not just the US...but for the American citizens of Vieques, for the residents of Iraq, of Okinawa, of Scotland, of Indiana, of Maryland, and now Afghanistan and Kosovo...

War has become obsolete, because we can't deal with the consequences on our warriors or the environment, but more important, on the noncombatants. When you reach a point in war when the contamination and the health effects of war can't be cleaned up because of the weapons you use, and medical care can't be given to the soldiers who participated in the war on either side or to the civilians affected, then it's time for peace.

---

More background:

Naomi Toyoda's website (The Asahi Shimbun)

"ICBUW-Japan commemorates 10th Anniversary - U.S. March 2003 Iraq Occupation"
(Int. Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW), May 9, 2013)

"A decade on and depleted uranium contamination still blights Iraq" ((Int. Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW), March 7, 2013)

"1/250th of a Second — Naomi Toyoda" (Peace Boat Voyage 62, June 7, 2008)

"Iraq – A Nuclear Polluted Land" (Naomi Toyoda, The Asia-Pacific Journal, 2003)

"A Speech by Naomi Toyoda at the EU Exhibition, The Human Cost of Uranium Weapons" (Int. Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, Hiroshima Office, May 14-16, 2007)

JIM-NET - Japan Iraq Medical Network (Japan-based network of NGOs, private medical clinics and private companies that provide technical, efficient and continuous support for Iraqi children with cancer)

Save the War Children: Ban Uranium Weapons (Website of Japanese photojournalist Takashi Morizumi)

"Discounted Casualties — the human cost of depleted uranium" (Akira Toshiro, The Chugoku Shimbun)

Child Victims of War (UK-based NGO that exposes the impact of modern warfare on children)

-JD

Pulling Back from Bombing Brink? Obama Face-Saving Solution on Syria Emerging...

"Obama Face-Saving Solution on Syria Emerging", via Naked Capitalism, (linking to WSJ, and Agent France Presse):

...Recall that the Pentagon Papers revealed that the US defense and intelligence communities had understood full well that America could not win [sic] in Vietnam, yet felt it could not withdraw for reasons of prestige...

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the US and Russia have agreed on a climb-down:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Monday backed a demand by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Syria put chemical weapons under international control and then destroy them, a rare sign of apparent agreement between Moscow and Washington…

Mr. Lavrov’s comments came hours after Mr. Kerry said Syria could prevent U.S. military action by handing over its chemical weapons to the international community, as President Barack Obama mounts an intensive campaign to promote a strike on Syria.

Agence France-Presse has tweeted that Damascus supports the proposal.

David Cameron, not surprisingly, is also on board.

While this is a very encouraging development, a sketchy proposal is a long way from a done deal...

Some background:

"The The Bill Congress Should Pass Instead of War" (David Swanson, Warisacrime.org, Sept. 6, 2013)

"Iran-Contra Redux? Prince Bandar Heads Secret Saudi-CIA Effort to Aid Syrian Rebels, Topple Assad" (Democracy Now!, Sept. 6, 2013)

"Al-Qaeda-linked rebels assault Syrian Christian Village" (CBS News, Sept. 4, 2013)

"With Focus on U.S.-Led Strikes, Global Failure to Meet Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis Goes Unnoticed" (Democracy Now! Sept. 4, 2013)

"Could U.S. Military Action Turn Syrian Civil War into a "Widespread Regional War"?" (Democracy Now! Sept. 3, 2013)

"Does Obama know he’s fighting on al-Qa’ida’s side? (Robert Fisk, The Independent, Aug. 27, 2013)

"As Foreign Fighters Flood Syria, Fears of a New Extremist Haven" (Anne Barnard and Eric Schmitt, NYT, Aug. 8, 2013)

Kelly Rae Kramer: "I am not ‘war-weary’; I’m hungry for peace."

Soulful anti-war poem by Kelly Rae Kramer via Common Dreams:

I am not ‘war-weary’; I’m angry

… angry at those who think more killing is the answer...

I am not ‘war-weary’; I’m sick

… sick at the thought of all those shot, bayoneted, bombed, gassed, and nuked in war...

I am not ‘war-weary’, but I am tired

… tired of the claim that war can be ‘humanitarian’
… tired of indoctrination into the false belief that war can bring peace...

...I am not ‘war-weary’; I am anti-war

… because war is always a failure
… a failure of diplomacy and understanding
… a failure of will and effort
… a failure of imagination and creativity
… a failure of ingenuity and investment
… a failure of compassion and morality
… a failure to invent and practice real, nonviolent humanitarian action.

I am not ‘war-weary’; I’m hungry for peace.

________________________________________

Kelly Rae Kraemer, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Peace Studies at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in central Minnesota

Read the entire poem here at Common Dreams.

Prayer for Peace in Syria: "Let the cry for peace ring out in all the world."

Via Time.com: "WATCH LIVE: Pope Francis’s Vigil for Peace in Syria"; and Catholic World Report: "Pope Francis’ Vigil for Peace homily [Full text]"

How many conflicts, how many wars have mocked our history?  . . . Even today we raise our hand against our brother... Even today, we let ourselves be guided by idols, by selfishness, by our own interests ...We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal, we continue to sow destruction, pain, death! Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of death! Violence and war are the language of death!

At this point I ask myself: Is it possible to change direction? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace? ...Yes, it is possible for everyone! From every corner of the world tonight, I would like to hear us cry out: Yes, it is possible for everyone! Or even better, I would like for each one of us, from the least to the greatest, including those called to govern nations, to respond: Yes, we want it!

...This evening, I ask the Lord that we Christians, and our brothers and sisters of other religions, and every man and woman of good will, cry out forcefully: violence and war are never the way to peace! Let everyone be moved to look into the depths of his or her conscience and listen to that word which says: Leave behind the self-interest that hardens your heart, overcome the indifference that makes your heart insensitive towards others, conquer your deadly reasoning, and open yourself to dialogue and reconciliation. Look upon your brother’s sorrow and do not add to it, stay your hand, rebuild the harmony that has been shattered; and all this achieved not by conflict but by encounter!

May the noise of weapons cease! War always marks the failure of peace, it is always a defeat for humanity. Let the words of Pope Paul VI resound again: “No more one against the other, no more, never! … war never again, never again war!” ...Forgiveness, dialogue, reconciliation – these are the words of peace, in beloved Syria, in the Middle East, in all the world! Let us pray for reconciliation and peace, let us work for reconciliation and peace, and let us all become, in every place, men and women of reconciliation and peace! Amen.

Via AP, "100K of all faiths rally to Pope's call for non-military response to Syria":

Francis spent most of the vigil in silent prayer, but during his speech he issued a heartfelt plea for peace, denouncing those who are "captivated by the idols of dominion and power" and destroy God's creation through war.

"This evening, I ask the Lord that we Christians, and our brothers and sisters of other religions and every man and woman of good will, cry out forcefully: Violence and war are never the way to peace!" he said.

"May the noise of weapons cease!" he said. "War always marks the failure of peace, it is always a defeat for humanity."

...leaders from a variety of Christian and non-Christian denominations joining cardinals, politicians and ordinary folk for the evening of prayer, hymns and meditation.

"This is already a success, the fact that all of us are here, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, atheists," a Hindu believer named Anata said. Pilgrims "made an effort to fast, not to do many things, and come here from all over Italy and Europe.

Via Waging Nonviolence, Ken Butigan of Pace e Bene, outlines the historical context of Pope Francis' appeal in "Peace on Earth lives on in Pope Francis’ call for nonviolent solutions in Syria":

John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris — Peace on Earth — was atypical in many ways, not least because it was intended not only for Roman Catholics...but to persons of good will everywhere. If peace was to be achieved, the letter implied, it naturally must be the work of everyone everywhere, and so the search for this elusive potential must include all of us. Thus the document was not weighted down with shrill dogma or theological obscurities. It was, instead, a gentle but determined plea for the world to come to its senses...

Pacem in Terris [published in 1963] was a love letter to humanity, but one that sprang, not from a sentimental naïveté or a groundless optimism, but from a profound meditation on the horrendous dangers that the Cold War in those days posed to all life, with which the pope had grappled in a direct way during the then-recent Cuban Missile Crisis...

As the historical record now shows, Pope John XXIII played a profound role in creating the conditions for an 11th hour agreement. The pope actively took part in back-channel communications, in which he agreed to deliver on Vatican Radio an urgent call for both parties to pull back from the edge. As historian Ronald J. Rychlak puts it, “With his plea, Pope John XXIII had given [Soviet Premier] Khrushchev a way out. By withdrawing now, he would be seen as a man of peace, not a coward.”

...In the spirit of the precedent of Pope John’s peacemaking during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I imagine Francis working tirelessly behind the scenes, offering his good offices to the actors on all sides of this conflict to negotiate a just and peaceful settlement.

I even dream of the pope audaciously traveling to Syria and staying put, in the spirit of spiritually grounded, nonviolent action, until this deadlock is broken and the potential for peace is established.

But I most vividly envision millions of people around the globe gathering this Saturday and beyond to say with one voice, “There are nonviolent options — let’s use them!”

We cannot predict what will transpire in the coming days. But, perhaps, the world will once again breathe a profound sigh of relief if millions of people of faith and conscience, including the pope, mobilize their spiritually-rooted people power to help create the conditions for pulling back from the brink — and for beginning to establish the foundations for a more just and nonviolent outcome.

Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire shares her account of what she witnessed in Syria

Via We Are Change:  Mairead Maguire tells her account of her visit to Syria where the Nobel Peace Laureate discovered that the "rebels" are mostly foreign jihadists ("terrorists who are murdering people") who do not want peace in Syria.  

Syrian Muslims and Christians are concerned that 40,000 foreign Islamist extremist "rebels" (affiliated with al Qaeda), will destroy their country. Syrians want to work towards nonviolent, peaceful resolution between the indigenous opposition and the Syrian government, which is supported by a majority of the population. 

Maguire's view is that normal political conflict in Syria is being escalated into a proxy war by outside interests (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France, UK, and the US) which are financially supporting and arming the foreign jihadists.

---

Some background:

"The The Bill Congress Should Pass Instead of War" (David Swanson, Warisacrime.org, Sept. 6, 2013)

"Iran-Contra Redux? Prince Bandar Heads Secret Saudi-CIA Effort to Aid Syrian Rebels, Topple Assad" (Democracy Now!, Sept. 6, 2013)

"Al-Qaeda-linked rebels assault Syrian Christian Village" (CBS News, Sept. 4, 2013)

"With Focus on U.S.-Led Strikes, Global Failure to Meet Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis Goes Unnoticed" (Democracy Now! Sept. 4, 2013)

"Could U.S. Military Action Turn Syrian Civil War into a "Widespread Regional War"?" (Democracy Now! Sept. 3, 2013)

"Does Obama know he’s fighting on al-Qa’ida’s side? (Robert Fisk, The Independent, Aug. 27, 2013)

"As Foreign Fighters Flood Syria, Fears of a New Extremist Haven" (Anne Barnard and Eric Schmitt, NYT, Aug. 8, 2013)

Mairead Maguire: "The World Should Join in Call to Stop US War in Syria"

Nobel Peace Laureate and Global Article 9 supporter Mairead Maguire, is calling for the Obama administration to rethink its plan to bomb Syria and is asking people everywhere to join her  in the September 7, 2013 worldwide day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria:

I would like to add my support to Pope Francis’ appeal and pledge to pray and fast for peace on September 7th. I encourage people of all faiths and none to join that global day of fasting and prayer for peace, and to act for peace and against U.S. military intervention by the United States in Syria.

...Every act has its consequences and every violent act, like the proposed U.S. military intervention, has its violent consequences which will cause the death of further Syrian civilians and result in many more refugees.

In the last decade, the world has watched in horror as the U.S., the U.K. and NATO have used military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and other countries. Now President Obama has promised a military intervention on Syria “with teeth.” In Iraq, we were promised military intervention with “shock and awe.” We have also been promised that he will continue to support the armed opposition in Syria (a majority of which are Jabhat al-Nusrah-Victory Front, and other such al Qaeda groups).

Such U.S. military action, which will probably involve trying to destroy the Syrian army, will leave the civilian population unprotected from the onslaught of armed opposition forces. It will embolden and strengthen the thousands of Islamic extremists from all over the world who have poured into Syria. They are financially supported and trained by some western governments, and their intent to remove the Syrian Government and kill all those who oppose them.

Their mission and aim coincides with that of the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Israel—all of whom refuse to support Geneva II and a peaceful solution to the proxy war being perpetrated for oil, resources and control.

There is still time to stop this mad rush to war. The people of America can do it. As the British people put pressure on their members of Parliament and insisted “enough is enough” and said “No to military intervention,” so too can the American people mobilize and act to stop this proposed illegal war. (Without a U.N. Security Council resolution, any U.S. government military action is illegal.)

...Together, let us fast, pray and send a clear message to President Obama, the U.S. Senate and Congress—“No war, no military attack, no support for armed opposition, no support for al-Qaeda, no bombings.”

Give peace a chance!

Read Mairead Maguire's entire statement at the Peace People.