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Boycott USA

From Hiroshima to Baghdad

On August 6, 1945 the USA dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later the second bomb exploded in Nagasaki. Thousands died in the blasts, others died hideous deaths by burns and strange sicknesses. Those bombs still claim their victims; radiation caused disease and conditions are passed through generations, causing death, deformity and disability.

The nuclear age has continued since 1945. There are thousands of nuclear weapons in the world.

Depleted Uranium, a low grade uranium isotope, is a by-product of nuclear weapons manufacture. The USA give DU to arms manufacturers to use as a hardener for steel on bombs, bullets and tanks. It is also a toxic and radioactive metal. On impact small airborne particles are dispersed into soil, water, air - and into the lungs of living beings.

Twenty-two nations, including Canada, have DU weapons. These weapons have been used in Palestine, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. In the USA-led war, 500 tons of DU were dispersed in Iraq. Cancer rates have soared. Children are born with strange, usually fatal, deformities.

On August 6, 1991, the UN imposed harsh sanctions on Iraq, six months later Iraq was attacked. The ongoing sanctions cause incredible hardship on Iraqi people. The lack of medicines and medical equipment means that treatment of all diseases, including those caused by DU, is inadequate and often futile. Over one million people, mainly children have died in Iraq as a result of sanctions.

Today, in memory of the dead and dying of Japan, Iraq and other war zones, we call for an end to the production and use of all nuclear weapons materials. We call for an end to war. We call for an end to sanctions on the Iraqi people.

Contact your governments and your representatives. Please work for peace.

August 6, 2002, Hiroshima Day

This text was part of a three language brochure in English, Japanese and Arabic, prepared for public distribution in Victoria during Hiroshima week August 2002.

Victoria Peace Centre