7/13/17–Post #5: The Communist States of America(?)

While I was working on my reflection on the Fourth of July, and as I was attempting to demonstrate the decline in American freedom for the last two centuries, I was struck by the thought that in many ways the United States is progressively heading towards a socialist or communist system of political economy. Certainly I am not original in this thought, many on the Right have made similar arguments over time; but I will be among the first to admit that some such arguments are poorly constructed and poorly delivered. But I do believe that the sense behind the arguments are nevertheless correct, we have been moving towards a more and more socialist country and very often people have argued that we should go even farther.

 

In terms of this post I want to look at the socialist program straight from the horse’s mouth and see where the United States today stacks up to that platform.

 

From the Man From Trier, Karl Marx and his book The Communist Manifesto, that font of insanity, here is the platform of the Communist Party:

 

“1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.*
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production,”[1]

 

 

I wonder to what extent the United States has at this point in time adopted the platform of the Communist Party as put forward by Karl Marx.

 

1. Abolition of Property. Private Property still exists, one can of course buy land and homes and the like and have legally protected claims upon such property. However, throughout the United States Americans have to pay property taxes, the on average American households pay $2,149 every year to the government; this even applies to persons who rent apartments.[2] Of course if these taxes are not paid, the owners of such property will be seized by government force. The median household income in the United States is $55,775 as of 2015.[3] This means that on average Americans pay roughly 4% of their annual earnings in order to ask permission to live in their own homes. “If it please the Crown, may I keep living in the property that I have already purchased.” On top of this, the Federal Government of the United States “owns” roughly 640 million acres of land throughout the United States; this constitutes 28% of all land in the United States. This is egregious in the Western United States in particular with 46.4% of the land in 11 Western states being owned by the Federal Government, in Alaska 61.3% of land is owned by the Federal Government.[4]
2. Progressive Income Tax. As of 2013 the average Federal Income tax that people in the United States paid was 20%, the top 1% of income earners were taxed at 34%; ever since 1979 these rates have remained relatively the same.[5] The top 1% of income earners are forced to “contribute” 39.48% of the Federal Government’s operational budget every year; the top 5% “contribute” 20.49% of the government’s budget.[6] On average Americans pay $11,155 of their $55,775 in Federal Income Taxes. Of the fifty states, forty-three levy income taxes upon their citizens, seven do not (WYOMING!). These tax rates range from as low as 3.07% in Pennsylvania to as high as 13.3% in California, regardless of these varying rates, states on average receive 27% of their budgets from these income taxes.[7] These rates once more being added on to the 4% property tax and the 20% average Federal tax. (Our average of $55,775 is starting to feel a bit tight). Again, if these taxes are not paid, Americans can expect to hear a knock on their door from their local law enforcement.
3. Abolition of Inheritance. In the United States people are still able to leave money for their family members when they pass away…but only after the heirs pay somewhere between 18-40% of that gift from their loved one away to both Federal and state entities.[8] (If it please the Crown, may I leave some of my own property to my children after I die and rot in the ground?).
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. This is a part of the platform that I don’t believe has been implemented in the United States (good), in the context of Marx’s writings this essentially would have stripped property from people deemed to be “counter-revolutionaries” and anyone fleeing the Red Terror. Thankfully we have not seen much along these lines and if I wanted to include this as something the United States has engaged in I would have to do some stretching. For the sake of argument let us look at it anyhow. For instance, soon after the Revolutionary War concluded the property of people who supported the British was seized from them as they fled the newly formed country.[9] Similarly during the Civil War “The confiscation acts of the Union government providing for the judicial seizure of ‘rebel’ property in federal courts formed only an ineffective part of a larger policy of virtual confiscation which contemplated the employment of an elaborate machinery for appropriating the goods of the enemy.”[10] These two examples particularly involve the persecution of “counter-revolutionaries” to use the Marxist phrase, but it does not quite meet what Marx meant. Another example Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 sent 110,000 Japanese-American citizens to “relocation camps” while also seizing their assets and properties to sell to other private citizens.[11] An interesting abuse of power but not quite what Marx meant. For Americans that wish to renounce their U.S. citizenship and live elsewhere in the world, particularly for the wealthy, there is a hefty fee from the Federal Government in order to do so.[12] In pursuance of the War on Drugs the DEA has seized $4,000,000,000 in cash assets from persons being investigated for drug crimes since 2007 in what are called “Civil Asset Forfeiture.” 81% of that money was seized without formal criminal charges being levied against the persons in question. These statistics only include the actual currency seized from such persons and does not include the value of other assets seized like cars and other forms of property.[13] These are all interesting examples of power abuse by the Federal government, however, they do not quite meet what I can presume Karl Marx meant, i.e. the seizures being part of a wider Red Terror to assert the power of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat whilst they seize the Means of Production.
5. Centralization of Credit. There are certainly private banks that are allowed to operate in the United States and work for profit. Banks like Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, CitiGroup, Capital One Financial among many others. That being said, they are among the most heavily regulated industries in the United States.[14] Among the “watchdogs” in the Government that regulate the banking industry in the United States are: The SEC, the CFTC, the FDIC, FinCEN, FINRA, the OCC, the NCUA, the CFPB, the NAIC, The NFA, on top of that each state has its own banking authority.[15] Despite this fact the myth still exists and is propounded by many politicians and ideologues that “deregulation” of the banking industry lead to the Housing Crash in 2008.[16] Outside of straight forward regulations and regulatory agencies the United States itself has a Central Bank, the Federal Reserve. Founded on December 23, 1913 the Federal Reserve’s primary function, in their words, “to provide the nation a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.”[17] Which is ironic since they oversaw 19 separate recessions over the last century[18] including the Great Depression and the Great Recession while also dropping the value of the dollar by 96%.[19] Much evidence has been presented that the Federal Reserve is largely responsible for not only starting the Great Depression but also for continuing it for 17 grinding years. This has been noted by both Milton Friedman but also by former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke among many other historians and economists.[20] Further there is much evidence from various economists that the Federal Reserve itself is responsible for the Great Recession as well.[21] The previous article largely works to identify immediate causes and consequences, but there has been widespread financial intervention into the economy from both the Federal Reserve and the Federal government for decades. For instance, since 1971 there have been at least six major financial interventions or “bailouts” to save particular sectors of the economy because they have been deemed to be “too big to fail,” essentially the government has been picking winners and losers in the economy for decades.[22] (Note: the previous article did not include the Bailouts under both Bush and Obama at the height of the Housing Bubble Crash). Not only does the Federal Reserve directly regulate banks in the United States, but it also has an exclusive monopoly on printing U.S. dollars as well as largely controls interest rates for lending and borrowing.[23] Essentially, it is a government created cabal with little to no oversight that controls the direction and growth of the national economy (bubbles galore!) whose director is appointed by the President of the United States and approved by the Senate. For more reasons why the Federal Reserve is terrible read the article cited here.[24]
6. Centralization of Communication/Transportation. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) was founded on New Year’s Eve 1899 and maintained a national monopoly until 1984 when it was broken up into eight separate companies following anti-trust litigation.[25] While certainly AT&T held a monopoly over national phone communications for decades, it was only possible through government favors in order to keep out competitors. We should remember what Ayn Rand wrote on the issue: “no coercive monopoly has ever been or ever can be established by means of free trade on a free market. Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy…”[26] Telecom companies throughout the nation face massive regulations from both Federal and State governments. The Federal Communications Commission heavily regulates all transmissions on radio and television and for a time enforced what was known as The Fairness Doctrine on political commentary.[27] Now progressives want the FCC to regulate the Wild West of the Internet.[28] For more on why the FCC is a problematic regulatory agency you can read this article here.[29] The United States Postal Service has a monopoly on the delivery of letters; current laws prevent competitors from delivering letters and in fact people have been prosecuted for attempting to compete with the USPS.[30] As nearly everyone who has driven a car in the United States the state governments throughout the country have dozens upon dozens of laws and regulations upon who can drive, how they drive, and what they drive. Further, with the railroads the initial spread of railroads, particularly the Northern Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads, were heavily funded by the United States Federal government. While trains today are generally used to transport freight rather than passengers, Amtrak has a monopoly on passenger transportation endorsed by the Federal Government; an organization that has been given $22.5 billion from 1971 to 1997.[31]
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. As I noted above I am not entirely sure what Marx meant by this part of his platform. It may be merely an extension of point 1, if so you may look back to the evidence I brought up in that section, particularly with the Federal ownership of vast swaths of land. But further in this point is the development of such land for centralized economic planning. If I read this point correctly then it seems as if the Federal government is doing the opposite of this point, i.e. seizing vast swaths of land and then doing nothing productive with such land. Particularly when agencies like the BLM actively block development of this land and continue to expand its holdings. This represents a very different but arguably just as concerning Left-Wing doctrine other than the point that Marx wished to impose upon society.
8. Establishment of industrial armies especially for agriculture. During the Great Depression there were two million young men in both the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Public Works Administration.[32] The Federal Government spent roughly $10 billion in funding these projects, which was seen by many as not actually helping the economy as a whole but merely to be a vote-buying project.[33] The program was “open to unemployed, unmarried U.S. male citizens between the ages of 18 and 26,” essentially it was open only to young men without families. Furthermore, rather than characterize joining the CCC as entering a contract it was referred to as “enlistment,” the minimum length of enlistment was 6 months.[34] Recruits were usually sent to Army Posts for physical examination, lived in Barracks, were required to wear old WW1 army uniforms, and were drilled with military discipline.[35] Professor of History John A. Garraty likened “the Civilian Conservation Corps to the Nazi youth camps, since both were designed to mobilize unemployed youth to keep them off the streets.”[36] We see here that the Federal Government actively organized young men in order to do fulfill make-work projects under military discipline all in pursuant of a government decreed economic goal.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. Attempting to prove this point as existing in the United States is an incredibly dubious notion. One could argue that the bussing of minority children to schools with a higher white population is part of this plank, but that would be dishonest since that is clearly not what Marx meant. One could argue that the rapid westward expansion and settlement would demonstrate this plank, but while there were government incentives to move west the migration was largely voluntary and not part of a particular economic plan, let alone towards a command-control economy.[37] Same can be said of the various other migrations in the past and future migrations, but nevertheless they are ultimately not part of an organized economic plan on the part of the government.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. This point is so obviously present in the United States that I won’t bother writing about it or utilize citations.

 

Now the purpose of this post is not to necessarily criticize every single law in the United States, this is not to say that for instance that we shouldn’t have schools or driver’s licenses.

 

Some of the things that I spoke about are supported by both Liberals and Conservatives, who in the United States would have the courage to suggest that we should not have public education and maintain their political career?

 

However, it should be instructive to note that while half of the platform is truly in force or had been in force in the United States, but also that arguments can easily be made that EVERY part of Marx’s platform is or has been instituted in the United States of America.

 

Certainly someone can say, “C.T. come on man, what are you complaining about. Certainly there are government regulations on many things but that doesn’t mean we’re a communist country. In fact, C.T., adding more laws and regulations will not plunge us into full Communism mode!”

 

That is true, and a fair statement. But my question and overall point is this: At what point would we be considered to be a socialist or communist nation? On a sliding scale, we aren’t at 100% communism/socialism. But where are we on that scale? And if each successive law and regulation move us along closer to that end of the scale, how many more laws do we need to pass? At what point will Conservatives say “enough is enough.” At what point will Liberals, since they claim not to be Communists, also say “stop!”

 

Every year we get closer, some times we take a step back away from that end destination, but nevertheless we are moving towards that ledge. At what point will we see we’re on that path, at what point will we turn back, and if we don’t turn back, at what point will we leap off?

 

Stay sane.

 

 

Works Cited

 

Allison, John A. “The Financial Crisis and the Bank Deregulation Myth.” Dec. 10, 2012. The Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/financial-crisis-bank-deregulation-myth

 

Amadeo, Kimberly. “How Does the Fed Raise or Lower Interest Rates?” June 14, 2017. The Balance. https://www.thebalance.com/how-does-the-fed-raise-or-lower-interest-rates-3306127

 

Borowski, Julie. “Top 10 Reasons to End the Federal Reserve.” Feb. 1, 2012. Freedom Works. http://www.freedomworks.org/content/top-10-reasons-end-federal-reserve

 

Feulner, Edward. “US Postal Service: A Government Protected Monopoly.” Sept. 2003. Capitalism Magazine. http://capitalismmagazine.com/2003/09/us-postal-service-a-government-protected-monopoly/

 

Frankel, Matthew. “2016 Estate Tax Rates.” Dec. 18, 2015. The Motley Fool. https://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2015/12/18/2016-estate-tax-rates.aspx

 

“Historical Average Federal Tax Rates for All Households.” Feb. 13, 2017. Tax Policy Center. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-average-federal-tax-rates-all-households

 

“Histories.” Telecommunications History Group. http://www.telcomhistory.org/vm/histories.shtml

 

Kaeding, Nicole. “State Individual Income Tax and Brackets for 2016.” Feb. 8, 2016. Tax Foundation. https://taxfoundation.org/state-individual-income-tax-rates-and-brackets-2016/

 

Kiernan, John S. “2017’s Property Taxes by State.” Mar. 1, 2017. WalletHub. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-property-taxes/11585/

 

Kupelian, David. “Bernanke: Federal Reserve Caused Great Depression.” March 19, 2008. World Net Daily. http://www.wnd.com/2008/03/59405/

 

Hansan, J. “Civilian Conservation Corps.” The Social Welfare History Project. 2013. http://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/civilian-conservation-corps/

 

Heaton, Andrew & Sarah Rose Siskind. “Net Neutrality Nixed: Why John Oliver is Wrong.” May 19, 2017. Reason. http://reason.com/reasontv/2017/05/19/net-neutrality-nixed-why-john-oliver-is

 

Higgs, Robert. “The Welfare State and the Promise of Protection.” Aug. 24, 2009. The Mises Institute. https://mises.org/library/welfare-state-and-promise-protection

 

Ingraham, Christopher. “Since 2007, the DEA has taken $3.2 Billion in Cash From People Not Charged With a Crime.” March 29, 2017. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/29/since-2007-the-dea-has-taken-3-2-billion-in-cash-from-people-not-charged-with-a-crime/?utm_term=.fb2034661978

 

“List of Financial Regulatory Authorities by Country.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_financial_regulatory_authorities_by_country#cite_note-3

 

“List of Recessions in the United States.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States

 

“Map: Median Household Income in the United States: 2015.” Sept. 15, 2016. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2016/comm/cb16-158_median_hh_income_map.html

 

Marx, Karl. ed. Frederic L. Bender. The Communist Manifesto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1988.

 

Matthews, Dylan. “Everything You Need To Know About the Fairness Doctrine in One Post.” Aug. 23, 2011. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-fairness-doctrine-in-one-post/2011/08/23/gIQAN8CXZJ_blog.html?utm_term=.f86e8253a70a

 

McLaughlin, Patrick & Oliver Sherouse. “The McLaughlin-Sherouse List: The 10 Most-Regulated Industries of 2014.” Jan. 21, 2016. Mercatus Center. https://www.mercatus.org/publication/mclaughlin-sherouse-list-10-most-regulated-industries-2014

 

Moss, Ephraim. “Exposing the Hidden Tax Costs of Renouncing US Citizenship.” May 17, 2016. CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/17/exposing-the-hidden-tax-costs-of-renouncing-us-citizenship.html

 

Noah, Timothy. “The Bailout Record.” March 31, 2009. Slate. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/07/trump_s_deregulation_efforts_are_great_for_the_rich.html

 

O’Sullivan, Andrea. “Denmark Proves We Don’t Need the FCC.” April 4, 2017. Reason. http://reason.com/archives/2017/04/04/deregulate-the-fcc

 

Rand, Ayn. ed. Harry Binswanger. The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism From A To Z. New York: Meridian Books. 1988.

 

Randall, James G. “Captured and Abandoned Property During the Civil War.” The American Historical Review. Vol. 19, No. 1. (Oct., 1913). pp. 65-79.

 

Rothbard, Murray N. “The Distinction Between Theory and History.” Jun. 23, 2010. The Mises Institute. https://mises.org/library/distinction-between-theory-and-history

 

Salmond, John A. The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942: A New Deal Case Study. “A Day in the CCC.” Durham: Duke University Press. 1967. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/ccc/salmond/chap8.htm

 

Schweikart, Larry & Michael Allen. A Patriot’s History of the United States. New York: Sentinel Books. 2004.

 

Smith, Michael. “Dollar Devaluation since 1913.” Dec. 4, 2015. Compare Gold and Silver Prices. http://www.comparegoldandsilverprices.com/news/economics-101/dollar-devaluation-since-1913/

 

U.S. Census. “Mean Center of Population for the United States: 1790 to 2010.” 2010 Census Results. 2010. http://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/cenpop2010/centerpop_mean2010.pdf

 

Vincent, Carol Hardy. et. al. “Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data.” March 3, 2017. Congressional Research Service. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42346.pdf

 

Vranich, Joseph. “Replacing Amtrak.” Oct. 1, 1997. The Reason Foundation. http://reason.org/studies/show/replacing-amtrak

 

“What is the Purpose of the Federal Reserve System?” Nov. 3, 2016. The Federal Reserve. https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_12594.htm

 

“Who Pays Income Taxes.” National Taxpayers Union Foundation. http://www.ntu.org/foundation/page/who-pays-income-taxes

 

Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins. 2003.

*Note, I am not entirely sure by what is meant by this part of the platform. If any reader can let me know what it means it would be greatly appreciated.

[1] Marx, Karl. ed. Frederic L. Bender. The Communist Manifesto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1988. pp. 74-75.

[2] Kiernan, John S. “2017’s Property Taxes by State.” Mar. 1, 2017. WalletHub. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-property-taxes/11585/

[3] “Map: Median Household Income in the United States: 2015.” Sept. 15, 2016. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2016/comm/cb16-158_median_hh_income_map.html

[4] Vincent, Carol Hardy. et. al. “Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data.” March 3, 2017. Congressional Research Service. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42346.pdf pp. 1, 20, 21.

[5] “Historical Average Federal Tax Rates for All Households.” Feb. 13, 2017. Tax Policy Center. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-average-federal-tax-rates-all-households

[6] “Who Pays Income Taxes.” National Taxpayers Union Foundation. http://www.ntu.org/foundation/page/who-pays-income-taxes

[7] Kaeding, Nicole. “State Individual Income Tax and Brackets for 2016.” Feb. 8, 2016. Tax Foundation. https://taxfoundation.org/state-individual-income-tax-rates-and-brackets-2016/

[8] Frankel, Matthew. “2016 Estate Tax Rates.” Dec. 18, 2015. The Motley Fool. https://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2015/12/18/2016-estate-tax-rates.aspx

[9] Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: HarperCollins. 2003. p. 84.

[10] Randall, James G. “Captured and Abandoned Property During the Civil War.” The American Historical Review. Vol. 19, No. 1. (Oct., 1913). p. 65.

[11] Schweikart, Larry & Michael Allen. A Patriot’s History of the United States. New York: Sentinel Books. 2004. pp. 608-609.

[12] Moss, Ephraim. “Exposing the Hidden Tax Costs of Renouncing US Citizenship.” May 17, 2016. CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/17/exposing-the-hidden-tax-costs-of-renouncing-us-citizenship.html

[13] Ingraham, Christopher. “Since 2007, the DEA has taken $3.2 Billion in Cash From People Not Charged With a Crime.” March 29, 2017. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/29/since-2007-the-dea-has-taken-3-2-billion-in-cash-from-people-not-charged-with-a-crime/?utm_term=.fb2034661978

[14] McLaughlin, Patrick & Oliver Sherouse. “The McLaughlin-Sherouse List: The 10 Most-Regulated Industries of 2014.” Jan. 21, 2016. Mercatus Center. https://www.mercatus.org/publication/mclaughlin-sherouse-list-10-most-regulated-industries-2014

[15] “List of Financial Regulatory Authorities by Country.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_financial_regulatory_authorities_by_country#cite_note-3

[16] Allison, John A. “The Financial Crisis and the Bank Deregulation Myth.” Dec. 10, 2012. The Cato Institute. https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/financial-crisis-bank-deregulation-myth

[17] “What is the Purpose of the Federal Reserve System?” Nov. 3, 2016. The Federal Reserve. https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_12594.htm

[18] “List of Recessions in the United States.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_States

[19] Smith, Michael. “Dollar Devaluation since 1913.” Dec. 4, 2015. Compare Gold and Silver Prices. http://www.comparegoldandsilverprices.com/news/economics-101/dollar-devaluation-since-1913/

[20] Kupelian, David. “Bernanke: Federal Reserve Caused Great Depression.” March 19, 2008. World Net Daily. http://www.wnd.com/2008/03/59405/

[21] Salsman, Richard M. “How Bernanke’s Fed Triggered the Great Recession.” July 17, 2011. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardsalsman/2011/07/17/how-bernankes-fed-triggered-the-great-recession/#522d1b7761d9

[22] Noah, Timothy. “The Bailout Record.” March 31, 2009. Slate. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/07/trump_s_deregulation_efforts_are_great_for_the_rich.html

[23] Amadeo, Kimberly. “How Does the Fed Raise or Lower Interest Rates?” June 14, 2017. The Balance. https://www.thebalance.com/how-does-the-fed-raise-or-lower-interest-rates-3306127

[24] Borowski, Julie. “Top 10 Reasons to End the Federal Reserve.” Feb. 1, 2012. Freedom Works. http://www.freedomworks.org/content/top-10-reasons-end-federal-reserve

[25] “Histories.” Telecommunications History Group. http://www.telcomhistory.org/vm/histories.shtml

[26] Rand, Ayn. ed. Harry Binswanger. The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism From A To Z. New York: Meridian Books. 1988. p. 308.

[27] Matthews, Dylan. “Everything You Need To Know About the Fairness Doctrine in One Post.” Aug. 23, 2011. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-fairness-doctrine-in-one-post/2011/08/23/gIQAN8CXZJ_blog.html?utm_term=.f86e8253a70a

[28] Heaton, Andrew & Sarah Rose Siskind. “Net Neutrality Nixed: Why John Oliver is Wrong.” May 19, 2017. Reason. http://reason.com/reasontv/2017/05/19/net-neutrality-nixed-why-john-oliver-is

[29] O’Sullivan, Andrea. “Denmark Proves We Don’t Need the FCC.” April 4, 2017. Reason. http://reason.com/archives/2017/04/04/deregulate-the-fcc

[30] Feulner, Edward. “US Postal Service: A Government Protected Monopoly.” Sept. 2003. Capitalism Magazine. http://capitalismmagazine.com/2003/09/us-postal-service-a-government-protected-monopoly/

[31] Vranich, Joseph. “Replacing Amtrak.” Oct. 1, 1997. The Reason Foundation. http://reason.org/studies/show/replacing-amtrak

[32] Schweikart. p. 564.

[33] Higgs, Robert. “The Welfare State and the Promise of Protection.” Aug. 24, 2009. The Mises Institute. https://mises.org/library/welfare-state-and-promise-protection

[34] Hansan, J. “Civilian Conservation Corps.” The Social Welfare History Project. 2013. http://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/civilian-conservation-corps/

[35] Salmond, John A. The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942: A New Deal Case Study. “A Day in the CCC.” Durham: Duke University Press. 1967. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/ccc/salmond/chap8.htm

[36] Rothbard, Murray N. “The Distinction Between Theory and History.” Jun. 23, 2010. The Mises Institute. https://mises.org/library/distinction-between-theory-and-history

[37] U.S. Census. “Mean Center of Population for the United States: 1790 to 2010.” 2010 Census Results. 2010. http://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/cenpop2010/centerpop_mean2010.pdf

7/11/17–Post #4: The Inheritors

 

“It is We who give life and death; it is We who inherit everything.”

            The Qur’an 15:23

 

On November 7, 2004 American and British forces surrounded the Iraqi city of Fallujah. The very next day they began Operation Phantom Fury and shelled the city. After the initial artillery bombardment, the Coalition forces entered the city and engaged in sweep and clear operations. The coalition forces were sent to secure the city from Iraqi insurgents and other Islamist forces that had controlled the city since April of that year. For the next month there was intense house-to-house fighting as the Coalition forces worked to secure the city. Roughly 100 Coalition soldiers were killed with 600 wounded, the Insurgents lost roughly 1,500 men and an estimated 800 civilians were killed.[1] It was the bloodiest battle of the Iraq War. Though it has been a decade since the battle ended, the people of Fallujah continue to suffer under the specter of war.

Dr. Christopher Busby in a July 2010 report claimed that there had been a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer in Fallujah since the 2004 attack.[2] In August of 2002 there were 530 births in Fallujah, 6 died and only one baby was seriously deformed. This statistic is unfavorably compared with birth rates five years after Operation Phantom Fury. In September 2009, 170 children were born; 24% of these babies died within a week, 75% of them showed deformities, the most egregious of which was a child born with two heads.[3] Between May and August of 2010 there were 547 babies born in Fallujah. A study conducted by Dr. Samira Abdul Ghani with the Fallujah General Hospital found that 15% of these babies had serious birth defects. 11% of them were born premature with less than 30 weeks of gestation; at the same time 14% of fetuses spontaneously aborted.[4] Ever since the end of the siege there has been 15% drop in the birth of boys, off-setting the standard gender ratio previously observed in Fallujah.[5] Dr. Samira Alani of Fallujah General Hospital told Al-Jazeera that, “We have all kinds of birth defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine.”[6] Since 2009 Dr. Alani has personally logged over 699 cases of birth defects.[7] According to Dr. Alani, the birth defect rate of Fallujah is 7 times that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[8] These increases of birth defects and child cancer rates are not solely limited to Fallujah. In what some Iraqi doctors have called “The White Death,” there has been a massive increase in birth defects and cancers all over Iraq since the 2003 invasion.[9] Lawrence Smallman reported an “explosive increase in leukemia among all ages” in Baghdad.[10] These increases are both statistically significant and troubling; doctors from around the world are scrambling to find out what would cause such a spike in such a short amount of time. Environmental Toxicologist Mozhgan Savabieasfahani stated that, “we suspect that the population is chronically exposed to an environmental agent, we don’t know what that environmental factor is, but we are doing more tests to find out.”[11]

At this point in time there is no definite cause for these defects, however, activists and toxicologists strongly suspect that the use of certain weapons systems by the United States military may be the causal factor. In particular, both white phosphorous and Depleted Uranium were prevalently used in Fallujah.

Depleted Uranium (DU) is a bi-product of the uranium enrichment process wherein U is separated from U; largely comprising the latter, DU has many civilian and military uses.[12] In particular, DU has been used to enhance the armor piercing capabilities of various munitions. Described as “steel-penetrating arrows,” DU is 2.4 times denser than iron and proved to be more effective than other metals, like Tungsten, at piercing armor.[13] DU ordnance is generally chambered for 20, 25, and 30 mm cannons; typically for gunships, attack helicopters, fighter jets, and for machine guns equipped to armored ground vehicles like the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and the M113 armored personnel carrier. These types of ground vehicles, equipped with DU ordnance, were used in close conjunction with ground troops in Fallujah for fire support.

Much of the scientific literature on DU does not consider soil, water, or dermatological exposure to DU to be of any particular danger, rather “inhalation of dust is considered the major pathway for DU exposure both in combat and non-combat situations.”[14] DU ordnance creates dust when the ammunition strikes hard targets, “the heavier the armor, the more aerosol will form as the DU penetrator expends its kinetic energy piercing the armor.”[15] The second major pathway for exposure is through wounds inflicted by DU ordnance. If a piece of DU is left embedded in a person it can cause perennial radioactive exposure, and because it is a slow solubizing metal it can mean that “several years after the war, blood and urine levels of uranium are elevated by up to two orders of magnitude.”[16] It is of particular interest to note that many American veterans of the First Gulf War were found to have elevated uranium levels in their urine several years after that war.[17] This has been key evidence by activists to support the existence of “Gulf War Syndrome” caused by DU.

DU ordnance was first used in combat during the First Gulf War, in the build up to that war an internal document of Britain’s Atomic Energy Authority was leaked. That document, in essence, stated that, “if the DU fired by US tanks during the 1991 war was inhaled, it could potentially cause 500,000 deaths. It added that it would be unwise for people to stay close to large quantities of DU.”[18] DU was further used in the NATO intervention in Kosovo in the late 1990s, and just as in Iraq there have been allegations of significant increases in cancer and birth defects in the Balkans.[19] The question of DU’s lethality and effects on civilian populations has not been fully investigated, however the increases of cancers and birth defects in both Iraq and Kosovo have raised significant concerns. Dr. Keith Baverstock, the World Health Organization’s chief expert on radiation and health, is one such scientist who ascribes lethal after effects to DU. In the late 1990s he alleged that his research on the subject was  “deliberately suppressed.”[20] In the years following the 2003 invasion of Iraq it is estimated that around 1,700 tons of Depleted Uranium has been used in Iraq since 2003.[21] While the use of DU tank shells has been shelved, the use of DU penetrators for large caliber cannons on medium and light vehicles have continued and was used to devastating effects in Fallujah. Ross Caputi, a former Marine who participated in Operation Phantom Fury, founded “The Justice for Fallujah Project” following the staggering statistics of birth defects in the city. Caputi alleges that American ground forces in Fallujah engaged the enemy with “indiscriminate weapons and indiscriminate tactics.”[22] He cited the use of White Phospherous as well as such tactics as “reconnaissance by fire.” Caputi explains this tactic thusly: “if you don’t know if there are fighters or anybody else in a house you fire into the house. Then if you hear, y’know, screaming…then you can be sure that there are people in there and we would probably assume they were combatants.”[23] Caputi alleges that this was standard operating procedure for the three weeks of the battle.

It is reasonable to speculate that such tactics over the course of three weeks of battle would produce massive amounts of DU dust as well as many wounds caused by DU tipped ammunition. Further, Caputi claims that “there were 50,000 civilians still in the city” at the time of the siege.[24] If this is true then that could mean that thousands of people had been directly exposed to dust created by DU ordnance. Only a few studies have been conducted upon the reproductive effects of DU, however a number of studies have been conducted on male uranium miners. It was found that there were fewer boys born to these miners than would have been predicted; likewise there have been “unexpected rates of chromosomal instabilities and alterations of hormone levels were also found in uranium miners.”[25] Other studies conducted on mice found that embryotoxic effects “would be attributable to a direct consequence of uranium-induced maternal toxicity.”[26] All of these causal links brought together it there is much evidence that the use of DU and other weapons in the course of Operation Phantom Fury has caused a society wide poisoning in Fallujah and other Iraqi cities. A poisoning of not only the current generation, but for generations yet unborn. If these allegations prove to be true, the fallout of these weapons would be one of the worst environmental injustices of our time.

If the allegations are true and this is an injustice, there is a problem of actually acknowledging it as an injustice. Unfortunately some of the more prominent conceptions of justice (i.e. Mill’s Utilitarianism and Rawls’s Distributive Justice) are not well equipped to address questions of justice in the international arena, let alone in times of war. Iris Marion Young in her seminal work, Responsibility for Justice observed this problem acutely:

[the] scope of obligations of justice is defined by membership in a common political community. On this account, people have obligations of justice only to other people with whom they live together under a common constitution, or whom they recognize as belonging to the same nation as themselves.[27]

 

This is a severe limitation upon what can be analyzed and considered within a framework of justice. It seems that if we are to have a consistent conception of justice it ought to be capable of handling even the most perverse of situations, it ought to include acts that occur across borders and acts within the context of war. It is folly to contain our analysis of justice to just within the borders of liberal democratic societies. As Young observes aptly, “Nation-state membership is somewhat arbitrary from a moral point of view; political communities have evolved in contingent ways that derive more from power struggle than from moral right.”[28]

Young wrote extensively about what she terms Structural Injustice, i.e. the injustices that arise out of the various interactions of many people acting towards their own self-interest. These individuals operate within the bounds of the law and often within the bounds of traditional morality, and yet these interactions often allow for injustices to take place. While no one person is to blame for these injustices, nevertheless all those who operate within the system that causes such injustice are responsible for said injustice. As Young writes, “those agents who contribute to the structural processes that produce injustice share responsibility for remedying that injustice.”[29] This is not constrained to one’s own community, or town, or country. Rather these interactions branch out wherever there is social interaction. She writes, “An agent’s responsibility for justice is not restricted to those close by or to those in the same nation-state as oneself, if one participates in social structural processes that connect one to others far away and outside those jurisdictions.”[30]

It is paramount, if we are to use Young’s framework, to demonstrate in what way the birth defects in Fallujah can be linked to a structural cause. DU ordnance has been in use since the late 1980s, it is the ammunition of choice for NATO and the United States. These weapon systems are produced by a handful of well-connected private corporations. Corporations like Honeywell, General Dynamics, and Alliant Tech Systems are among the largest producers of arms in the world. Another corporation, ATK is “the largest provider of ammunition to the U.S. military and its allies” and is able to produce up to 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition every year.[31] These companies are offered contracts by the United States valued at hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and among the weapons systems they produce are DU ordnance and the weapons to fire them. The people who work at these corporations profit greatly from the production of weapons systems; they receive money from congressmen that we have elected and keep in office, further the money that is granted to these corporations comes directly from the taxpayers themselves. Furthermore, the people who work at these arms manufacturing companies likewise live and operate within a wider civil society, they buy groceries, go to movies, got to dinner, they have their buildings air conditioned, they have access to internet and phone services, they utilize health and child-care. They utilize all of these institutions and more within the civil society, all the while coming into contact with many other people who help support their ways of life.

They operate within the bounds of the legal system, they do not do so with any underlying malice, rather they think of themselves as helping defend the country they love; they themselves did not intend for their weapons to adversely affect civilians nor did they themselves deploy these weapons. And yet, through their actions, and consequently the actions of others in society, the evidence seems clear that they have massively contributed to an environmental and health crisis in Fallujah and other cities in Iraq. While we all share some form of responsibility for this, it seems that these weapons manufacturers hold the lion’s share of the responsibility. As Young writes, “An agent’s position…carries with it a specific degree of potential or actual power or influence over processes that produce the outcomes…Their being privileged usually means, moreover, that they are able to change their habits or make extra efforts without suffering serious deprivation.”[32] The executives of these companies have the option to fund further testing of the embryotoxicological effects of DU, and yet they do not. They have the option to use other heavy metals that are less effective but are not linked to such dangerous effects on entire populations and yet they do not. Similarly, we as a society continue to vote for representatives who fund these corporations and do not ask for more comprehensive studies about the effects of these weapons systems. We do not petition for these corporations to conduct said studies, and we continue to operate in a civil society with the members of these corporations.

In a similar vein, the victims themselves have a responsibility for their victimization. Young writes, “victims of injustice should take some responsibility for challenging the structures that produce it. It is they who know the most of the harms they suffer, and thus it is up to them, though not them alone, to broadcast their situation and call it injustice.”[33] Unfortunately, due to socio-political factors, the people of Iraq who have suffered these defects have not done much to broadcast their grievances. Often it is only a minority of educated Iraqis or Western activists who make these issues known. Of course this is to be expected due to the poverty of Iraqi society and the ongoing civil war, however, according to Young, if these defects are truly an injustice then it is their responsibility to do more to raise awareness. Even if that is all they are able to do that is their responsibility. Just as it is my responsibility to write this paper.

However, scientists or activists have still not settled one key question. There is no definitive proof that Depleted Uranium is the source of these troubling increases in birth defects and childhood cancers. If anything, almost all of the scientific literature agrees that Depleted Uranium has very limited pathways into the human body. Most of the literature agrees that, “inhalation of dust is considered the major pathway for DU exposure both in combat and non-combat situations.”[34] Because of this, DU has relatively little radiological effects in ground soil, water, or food exposure. Whatever radiological exposure occurred in Fallujah, it would have had to occur in the midst of combat, the DU rounds creating dust as they struck hard targets (i.e. armor, concrete). In a similar vein, there have been few studies conducted upon the effects DU has upon reproduction and fetuses. What studies have been conducted are not conclusive. Because of these factors, no one can say for certain that DU is the direct cause of these birth defects. As Dr. Savabieasfahani said, “we don’t know what that environmental factor is, but we are doing more tests to find out.”[35]

While this is a severe limitation in calculating if this case is unjust, one could utilize the precautionary principle to find if the use of DU is unjust. The Precautionary Principle as expounded in the 1992 Rio Declaration holds that: “Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.”[36] The fact that DU ordnance has been in use for over two decades, in several conflicts, without any reasonable study into the potential birth defects and other profound health affects shows incredible irresponsibility on the part of decision makers and weapons manufacturers. Before DU can justifiably be used in combat operations these studies must be conducted, it must be proved that these weapons do not cause the harms that are alleged. Further, it is neither upon the public nor the affected parties to prove whether or not these weapons have these effects. According to the 1998 Wingspread Declaration, “the proponent of [such] an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.” [37] It is paramount for the safety of civilian populations, particularly the safety of unborn children, that these weapons be fully studied before they are used in future combat operations.

“We who share responsibility ought to take action,” writes Young, we should not be blamed or found at fault for the injustice we contribute to, and we should not be blamed or found at fault for what we do to try to rectify injustice, even if we do not succeed…We also have a right and an obligation to criticize the others with whom we share responsibility.”[38] The damage has been done in Fallujah, it would be nearly impossible to rectify the birth defects and the cancers, similarly it would be impossible to repair whatever genetic damage has been done to prevent future birth defects. However, Young’s conception of justice is to be forward looking, it is to be about finding a resolution and not a restitution. One thing that can be done, utilizing both Young’s framework and the precautionary principle, is to demand that further studies be conducted upon the effects of DU on reproductive health. To demand that these weapons never be used until it is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt whether or not these birth defects are caused by DU dust. This is the most that we can do, to work so that DU is not used in future combat operations, to work so that generations yet unborn will not be genetically compromised. The very least that we can do is to raise awareness for the plight of the babies of Fallujah.

Unfortunately, nothing can be done to restore the genetic integrity of the people of Fallujah. At this moment in time DU cannot be proven to be the direct cause of these birth defects; regardless these birth defects have occurred and there is an apparent environmental factor. Even if DU is not the culprit of these birth defects, these weapons were still used to destroy key infrastructure within the country and to destabilize the country as a whole. The children of Fallujah have inherited a bleak future. They have inherited a genetic pool that has been deeply compromised; they have inherited a poisoned society.    

Works Cited

 

 

Bleise, A. et. al. “Properties, Use and Health Effects of Depleted Uranium (DU): A General Overview.” Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. (2003); 64.

 

Chulov, Martin. “Research Links Rise in Falluja Birth Defects and Cancers to US Assault.” The Guardian. (Dec. 30, 2010). http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/30/faulluja-birth-defects-iraq?guni=Article:in%20body%20link Accessed March 7, 2014.

 

“Depleted Uranium in Kosovo: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment.” UNEP Scientific Mission to Kosovo. International Atomic Energy Agency. (Nov. 5-19, 2000). http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/features/du/finalreport.pdf Accessed May 1, 2014.

 

Di Salvo, C.J. Pereira and Leigh Raymond. “Defining the Precautionary Principle: An Empirical Analysis of Elite Discourse.” Environmental Politics. 19.1 (Feb. 2010).

 

Domingo, Jose L. “Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity of Natural and Depleted Uranium: A Review.” Reproductive Toxicology. (2001); 15.

 

Gordon, J.D. “Al-Qaeda Retakes Fallujah.” The Washington Times. (Jan. 6, 2014). http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/6/gordon-from-guantanamo-to-the-battlefield/?page=all Accessed Apr. 5, 2014.

 

Al-Hadithi, Tariq et al. “Birth Defects in Iraq and the Plausibility of Environmental Exposure: A Review.” Conflict and Health. (2012) 6:3.

 

Ismael, Shereen T. “The Cost of War: The Children of Iraq.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies. (Spring 2007) 38:2.

 

Jamall, Dahr. “Fallujah Babies: Under A New Kind of Siege.” Al-Jazeera. (Jan. 6, 2012). http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/01/2012126394859797.html Accessed March 6, 2014.

 

Karon, Tony. “The Grim Calculations of Retaking Fallujah.” Time. (Nov. 8, 2004). http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,768590,00.html Accessed March 7, 2014.

 

Katsuma, Yagasaki. “Depleted Uranium Shells, The Radioactive Weapons: Perpetuation of War Damage by Radiation.” World Uranium Weapons Conference, University of The Ryukyus. (August 2003). http://www.ratical.org/radiation/DU/KYagasakiOnDU.pdf

 

Lee, Eloise and Robert Johnson. “The 25 Biggest Defense Companies in America.”  Business Insider. (Mar. 13, 2012). http://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-us-defense-companies-2012-2?op=1 Accessed April 16, 2014.

 

Molyneux, Stefan. “The Truth About How the US Will Save Syria.” (Sept. 6, 2013). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-NIOthWsjk Accessed May 2, 2014.

 

The Qur’an. M.A.S. Abdel Haleem trans. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010.

 

“Ten Years Later: Feeling the Effects.” Huff Post Live. (April 18, 2013). http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/toxic-fallout-in-fallujah/516ee568fe344406360002ac Accessed March 6, 2014.

 

Young, Iris Marion. Responsibility for Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2011.

 

 

[1] Karon, Tony. “The Grim Calculations of Retaking Fallujah.” Time. (Nov. 8, 2004). http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,768590,00.html Accessed March 7, 2014.

[2] Jamall, Dahr. “Fallujah Babies: Under A New Kind of Siege.” Al-Jazeera. (Jan. 6, 2012). http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/01/2012126394859797.html Accessed March 6, 2014.

[3] Al-Hadithi, Tariq et al. “Birth Defects in Iraq and the Plausibility of Environmental Exposure: A Review.” Conflict and Health. (2012) 6:3. p. 5.

[4] Chulov, Martin. “Research Links Rise in Falluja Birth Defects and Cancers to US Assault.” The Guardian. (Dec. 30, 2010). http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/30/faulluja-birth-defects-iraq?guni=Article:in%20body%20link Accessed March 7, 2014.

[5] Chulov. “Research Links Rise in Falluja Birth Defects and Cancers to US Assault.”

[6] Jamall. “Fallujah Babies: Under A New Kind of Siege.”

[7] Jamall. “Fallujah Babies: Under A New Kind of Siege.”

[8] Jamall. “Fallujah Babies: Under A New Kind of Siege.”

[9] Molyneux, Stefan. “The Truth About How the US Will Save Syria.” (Sept. 6, 2013). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-NIOthWsjk Accessed May 2, 2014.

[10] Ismael, Shereen T. “The Cost of War: The Children of Iraq.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies. (Spring 2007) 38:2. p. 340.

[11] Chulov. “Research Links Rise in Falluja Birth Defects and Cancers to US Assault.”

[12] Bleise, A. et. al. “Properties, Use and Health Effects of Depleted Uranium (DU): A General Overview.” Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. (2003); 64. p. 94.

[13] Katsuma, Yagasaki. “Depleted Uranium Shells, The Radioactive Weapons: Perpetuation of War Damage by Radiation.” World Uranium Weapons Conference, University of The Ryukyus. (August 2003). http://www.ratical.org/radiation/DU/KYagasakiOnDU.pdf p. 2.

[14] Bleise. p. 101.

[15] Bleise. p. 101.

[16] Bleise. p. 102.

[17] Domingo, Jose L. “Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity of Natural and Depleted Uranium: A Review.” Reproductive Toxicology. (2001); 15. p. 604.

[18] Ismael. p. 340.

[19] “Depleted Uranium in Kosovo: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment.” UNEP Scientific Mission to Kosovo. International Atomic Energy Agency. (Nov. 5-19, 2000). http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/features/du/finalreport.pdf Accessed May 1, 2014.

[20] Ismael. p. 343.

[21] Ismael. p. 341.

[22] “Ten Years Later: Feeling the Effects.” Huff Post Live. (April 18, 2013). http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/toxic-fallout-in-fallujah/516ee568fe344406360002ac Accessed March 6, 2014.

[23] “Ten Years Later: Feeling the Effects.”

[24] “Ten Years Later: Feeling the Effects.”

[25] Domingo. p. 606.

[26] Domingo. p. 606.

[27] Young, Iris Marion. Responsibility for Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2011. p. 133.

[28] Young. p. 136.

[29] Young. p. 140.

[30] Young. p. 141.

[31] Lee, Eloise and Robert Johnson. “The 25 Biggest Defense Companies in America.”  Business Insider. (Mar. 13, 2012). http://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-us-defense-companies-2012-2?op=1 Accessed April 16, 2014.

[32] Young. p. 142-143.

[33] Young. p. 143.

[34] Bleise, A. et. al. “Properties, Use and Health Effects of Depleted Uranium (DU): A General Overview.” Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. (2003); 64.  p. 101.

[35] Chulov. “Research Links Rise in Falluja Birth Defects and Cancers to US Assault.”

[36] Di Salvo, C.J. Pereira and Leigh Raymond. “Defining the Precautionary Principle: An Empirical Analysis of Elite Discourse.” Environmental Politics. 19.1 (Feb. 2010). p. 88.

[37] Di Salvo. p. 88.

[38] Young. p. 141.