Re: Costly Withdrawal Is the Price To Be Paid for a Foolish War

In article <ep%if.43835$2k6.19108@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, harinam108@xxxxxxxxx
(Acharya) wrote:

> < Alan's ignorant insurgent propaganda and disinformation cut >

http://www.nukewatch.com/du/index.html

Depleted Uranium: Weapon of Mass Destruction

In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, U.S. forces used depleted uranium as both armor
piercing bullets and as tank armor for the first time. These weapons are both
radioactive and toxic. Uranium Oxide particles formed during production,
testing, and battlefield use pose a long term threat to human health and the
environment.

Uranium weapons are effective antitank "penetrators" because they are extremely
dense. A slug of uranium weighs twice as much as a piece of lead the same size.
When alloyed with titanium, uranium is extremely hard. Uranium is also
"pyrophoric", which means it burns upon impact.

The U.S. Military chose to develop uranium weapons not only because they are
promised to be effective, but because the metal itself is very cheap. Depleted
uranium is material that remains when enriched fissionable uranium- that is,
capable of generating a nuclear explosion or nuclear power- is separated from
natural uranium. The U.S. stockpile exceeds a billion pounds. Uranium weapons
production is the nuclear bombmakers' idea of "recycling".

The Agent Orange Of the 90's

Depleted Uranium is not capable of an atomic chain reaction. It is not
considered a high-level radioactive material. As a metal slab, like the armor
plates in the U.S. Army's M1 Abrams tanks, it is a relatively harmless. Though
constant exposure could cause problems. But especially in particulate form, it
can be extremely hazardous.
When uranium weapons burn, when they corrode, and when they are machined,
uranium oxide dust is created. When inhaled, small particles-those less than 5
millionths of a meter-can lodge in a human lung tissue, exposing the host to a
growing dose of alpha radiation. This can cause lung cancer in people of all
ages, and is particularly hazardous to children.

Uranium, like lead and other heavy metals, is a chemical poison. The ingestion
of minute quantities of uranium in food or drinking water can cause irreparable
damage to the kidneys. Some experts consider this is a greater risk than
radiation from depleted uranium.

Uranium weapons may be the "Agent Orange of the 90's" because large numbers of
people, friend and foe are being exposed to uranium oxide dust. We won't know
for 20-30 years the full significance of that exposure, but by then it will be
too late.

Here are a few examples of that exposure:

The U.S. Military, which fired thousands of uranium shells during the Persian
Gulf War, left at least 387 tons of spent uranium munitions in Kuwait and
southern Iraq after the war. The U.S. Government believes, based upon weapons
tests in the U.S. and general knowledge about wind patterns, that there is no
health or environmental hazard, but it has not undertaken any study of
battlefield areas.

After the Persian Gulf War, contaminated U.S. armored vehicles were prepared for
disposal in the United States. The U.S. soldiers--at least 25-- who handled
those vehicles were not warned of DU hazards or wore any protective gear.

Army weapons testers at the Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana fired DU rounds
at soft targets-cloth or plywood- to avoid combustion. Still, only 22,000kg of
the 91,000kg fired there between 1984 and 1992 were recovered in biannual
clearance operations. The Army will have to strip away several feet of soil
during decontamination. This will increase soil erosion and the migration of DU.

The NRC permitted Nellis Air Force Base to receive and process up to 77,000 lbs.
of DU rounds. These rounds were used in testing on the base's Range 63 using
tanks as targets.

In 1980, NL Industries Uranium Weapons factory in Clonie, New York was forced to
close. Uranium particles were found as far as 26 miles downwind.

In 1981, workers at Aerojet's TNS Uranium Weapons Plant in Jonesborough,
Tennessee went on strike because of plant conditions that caused an epidemic of
uranium poisoning.

At Nuclear Metals Inc., which manufactures uranium weapons in Concord,
Massachusetts, radioactive materials have contaminated surface water, ground
water, and land.

Independent testing done by Citizens Research and Environmental Watch(CREW), a
local grassroots organization, found DU 18 times the background level and up to
9/10ths of a mile away. Concord has the second highest level of thyroid cancer
in the state, 2 1/2 times the state average. -- Military Toxics Project


http://www.nukewatch.com/du/links.html


Alan

"Can't you see we're still here,
Can't you see we're still here,
Singing loud; Singing clear,
We shall not go under,
We're still here."

Nemesis Peace Centre

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk/protector.html

Abuse of Women and Children

http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/

Nemesis News

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/

Absolute Anarchy

http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/

http://www.john-lennon.com/

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: KNOW_YOUR_ENEMY: Americas Enemies!
    ... > Affairs over medical coverage because the government insists that its studies ... > screened and treated for depleted uranium contamination. ... a $2.4 billion weapons giant headquartered in the Minneapolis ...
    (sci.med.diseases.hepatitis)
  • Re: Another "Secret"
    ... Depleted uranium is now used on all modern shells for a starter. ... What weapon is this "highly toxic weapons component known as DEPLETED ... Of the 580,400 soldiers who served in Gulf War I, 11,000 are now dead, ...
    (soc.senior.issues)
  • How to Identify Communist/Extreme Leftist/Terrorist Misinformation
    ... but the following clues can help indicate if a story or allegation is true. ... Another example of a highly controversial issue is depleted uranium, a relatively new armor-piercing substance that was used by the U.S. military for the first time during the 1991 Gulf War. ... Another highly controversial issue is that of forbidden weapons, such as chemical or biological weapons. ... Because weapons did not appear in the initial photographs, but did appear in later photographs, some observers believed this was evidence that the weapons had been planted and that the boys who had been killed were not armed insurgents. ...
    (soc.culture.iraq)
  • Europe "poisoned" - hot stuff
    ... U.S. Weapons Poison Europe ... Radiation from Iraq war detected in UK atmosphere ... “Did the use of uranium weapons in Gulf War II ... In the 1950s the British government had established an air monitoring ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
  • Re: WHICH SCIENCE OR SCIENTISTS CAN YOU TRUST?
    ... >>Uranium exists in topsoil to the extent of about 10 tonnes per sq km. ... > Munitions used by US troops on a massive scale in the Iraq ... > manufacture of weapons. ... > world during the first Gulf War. ...
    (sci.chem)