SDF will risk being exposed to radioactivity in Iraq

A Japanese photojournalist who has been recording the war damage in Iraq warned on December 15 that if the Self-Defense Forces are dispatched to Iraq, they will confront the danger of being exposed to radiation.

In his lecture in Sapporo City, Hokkaido, Morizumi Takashi, who returned from Iraq on December 11, reported on cases of radioactive contamination in Iraq caused by depleted uranium bombs which were used during the 1991 Gulf war as well as the recent Iraq war.

"Serious radioactive contamination is spreading in Iraq. It will persist for generations and may affect the whole world," Morizumi told an audience of about 600.

Morizumi also reported that he had measured levels of radioactivity in Samawah in southern Iraq, where the government plans to deploy Ground SDF units, and discovered that it was 20 times the level of natural radioactivity. "The Japanese government hasn't researched radioactive contamination in Iraq at all. If SDF personnel go there, they will face the risk of being exposed to radioactivity," he stressed. (end)