ALANI, DR. SAMIRA (redacted), doctor and human-rights activist. Dr. Alani is a pediatrician in the birth-defects unit at Fallujah Maternity and Children Hospital in Iraq. For more than a decade she was the only doctor in Iraq recording the incidence of congenital birth defects. Dr. Alani’s work has established a likely correlation between the unprecedented occurrences of congenital birth defects in Fallujah and the type of weapons deployed by the United States during the Iraq War.
Samira wished to be a doctor from an early age. After her studies she worked at Fallujah General Hospital as a pediatric specialist from 1997 to 2013, and in 2009 she began focusing on congenital abnormalities at birth. As there was no system in place to keep records at the time, Dr. Alani was the first doctor in Fallujah to log and track congenital birth defects and anomalies. She has published dozens of case reports documenting incidences of congenital abnormalities and infant and neonatal death rates, as well as numerous studies attempting to ascertain the source of the problem. Although most of her studies on congenital abnormalities were performed during her time at Fallujah General, after moving to Fallujah Maternity and Children Hospital in 2013 she continued to publish research and case reports on the subject.
In 2004 Fallujah was the site of two major battles initiated by the United States military, during which it deployed both depleted uranium and white phosphorus, neither of which should ever be used in civilian areas, according to the UN’s rules of engagement. A study conducted by Dr. Alani and her colleagues found residual toxins from these weapons in both environmental and hair samples sourced in Fallujah. The study concluded that an unprecedented exposure to weapons using depleted uranium was the primary cause of the increase in congenital anomalies in Fallujah.
The genetic repercussions of genotoxic elements in such weapons last long after the war’s end. These pollutants, inscribed in the DNA of innocent civilians and unborn children, continue the work of war for generations. Despite a lack of recognition, numerous bureaucratic challenges, and the widespread suppression of her findings by those who would prefer that such anomalies go unrecorded, Dr. Alani has devoted her life to sharing the truth of this war’s legacy of suffering.