Six years after the intense fighting began in the Iraqi town of Falluja between US forces and Sunni insurgents, there is a disturbingly large number of cases of birth defects in the town.
Falluja is less than 40 miles (65km) from Baghdad, but it can still be dangerous to get to.
As a result, there has been no authoritative medical investigation, certainly by any Western team, into the allegations that the weapons used by the Americans are still causing serious problems.
The Iraqi government line is that there are only one or two extra cases of birth defects per year in Falluja, compared with the national average.
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The true causes of the problem, and the question of the effects of the weapons the Americans used, can be resolved only by a proper independent inquiry by medical experts.
And until the security situation in and around Falluja improves, it will be difficult to carry that out.
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