In case anyone cares about news from Iraq,

[DemBones DemBones]

I just watched "Mosaic" on LINK and saw a broadcast from ALSUMARIA TV Baghdad about efforts to clean up Depleted Uranium (DU) in one province of Iraq.

The United States has used weapons containing DU in our wars against Iraq, although, according to this broadcast, it is a violation of international law to use radioactive materials in military operations. One inspector mentioned it being a violation of human law, too, and it certainly is inhumane.

If I recall correctly, we use missiles coated with DU. In any case, Iraqis are having to go out to where Iraqi tanks were destroyed by American weapons and, dressed in protective gear and using radiation detectors, dig out all the contaminated pieces of metal and all the contaminated sand or soil in the area.

The broadcast attempted to be trying to reassure Iraqis that no one had been harmed by DU but I seem to recall that we found out years ago that Iraqi children had been poisoned by playing with pieces of exploded missiles and tanks. I guess no country wants to alarm its citizens, especially the ones fortunate enough to live in an area where the bombing has stopped and inspectors can search for DU. But what about all the areas in cities that are contaminated with DU and can't be decontaminated as long as the war continues? How many people will die of cancer because they were exposed to depleted uranium from US weapons? How many of our own soldiers will die of cancer because they, too, were exposed to depleted uranium? Just collateral damage, right?

We spend most of our time here talking about the presidential election, forgetting that only two candidates have said they would end the war immediately, and we all "know" that Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are just "fringe" candidates "without a chance of winning" because the corporate money is on others who won't rock the boat. It's also quite likely that Diebold can fix any future election unless citizens stand up and demand a return to hand-counted paper ballots. What a sad excuse for a democracy we have become.

[NYVet]

1. Depleted Uranium munitions

Ammunition
Most military use of depleted uranium has been as 30 mm and smaller ordnance, primarily the 30 mm PGU-14/B armour-piercing incendiary round from the GAU-8 Avenger cannon of the A-10 Thunderbolt II and M230 of the Apache Helicopter<9> used by the U.S. Air Force. 25 mm DU rounds have been used in the M242 gun mounted on the U.S. Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle and LAV-AT. The U.S. Marine Corps uses DU in the 25 mm PGU-20 round fired by the GAU-12 Equalizer cannon of the AV-8B Harrier, and also in the 20 mm M197 gun mounted on AH-1 helicopter gunships. The US Navy's Phalanx CIWS's M61 Vulcan gatling gun used 20 mm armor-piercing penetrator rounds with discarding plastic sabots which were made using depleted uranium, later changed to tungsten.

Another use of depleted uranium is in kinetic energy penetrators anti-armor role. Kinetic energy penetrator rounds consist of a long, relatively thin penetrator surrounded by discarding sabot. Two materials lend themselves to penetrator construction: tungsten and depleted uranium, the latter in designated alloys known as staballoys. Staballoys are metal alloys of depleted uranium with a very small proportion of other metals, usually titanium or molybdenum. One formulation has a composition of 99.25% by weight of depleted uranium and 0.75% by weight of titanium. Another variant can have 3.5% by weight of titanium. Staballoys are about twice as dense as lead and are designed for use in kinetic energy penetrator armor-piercing ammunition. The US Army uses DU in an alloy with around 3.5% titanium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Ammunition

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Thanks for that information, and for

showing some interest in the topic, which doesn't appear to be grabbing anyone else's attention.

As I understand it, we're not just endangering Iraqi kids (mostly kids because all kids will play around with interesting junk, though I think metal is also collected to sell), but also endangering our own troops by using depleted uranium. Not that that is surprising for a country that has cut veterans' benefits while we're fighting wars on two continents. :grr:

[NYVet]

3. With almost 17 years of active, reserve, and National Guard service

I jump up and down screaming over a lot of veterans related issues and stories. Most of the jumping is in the privacy of my own house as so I do not get tazered by the cops for disturbing the peace. (I'm 6'4", 270 lbs and a minion from hell if you listen to my neighbor who screams at her 16 yo daughter at 1 am and wakes me up.)



I also try to post "good" stories about the military and charities that help our wounded (insert shameless plug for Project Valor- IT http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=fundraiser here) as often as I can.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. Good for you. The vets are getting a raw deal, as

are the troops. My dad was a WWII vet and career military and he would be going ballistic over this war and over what has been done to veterans' benefits.

The military is like any other large group, there are good people and bad people in it and we always hear more about the bad in any group.

The troops didn't choose to use depleted uranium. That decision was made in the Pentagon, presumably, and whoever made it should be held to account. Maybe they didn't know better during the first Gulf war but they knew before this one.