The extremely destructive effects of the American military's use of cluster bombs, the 15,000 pound "daisy cutter" explosives in Afghanistan, the Israeli military's use of dumdum bullets and CS gas in the occupied Palestinian territories are immediate, easily shown and obvious. However, the use of radioactive and toxic depleted uranium "DU" weapons has an insidious long-term effect, not only on combatants and civilians in the vicinity, but on the general environment, as has been shown by the Pentagon's massive use of D.U. weapons in Yugoslavia and especially in Iraq.

Depleted Uranium… the Super Weapon of the '90s

Depleted uranium is not a weapon itself, but is a heavy metal used in the production of armaments. DU is a rather benign-sounding name for uranium 238, the trace elements left behind when the fissionable material is extracted from uranium-235 for use in nuclear reactors and weapons.

For decades, this refuse was a radioactive nuisance, piling up at plutonium processing plants. By the late 1980's there was nearly a billion tons of this material – called tailing – left over in U.S. dumps. Then Pentagon weapons' designers camp up with a use for the tailings: they could be molded into bullets and bombs. DU is 1.7 times denser than lead, and this means that it can form the core of a shell that will easily penetrate the steel armor of tanks and other military vehicles. It was a triumph of military technology. At high speed, it slices through tanks like a hot knife through butter.

DU Health Hazards… another Hiroshima

Although "depleted" of its powerfully radioactive component, DU still contains minute traces of radioactivity. When a hardened missile strikes a target and explodes, around 70% of the DU burns and oxidizes, bursting into minute particles that can be inhaled or ingested as dust. This can be inhaled or ingested as dust. This can be harmful not only because of the residual radioactivity of the DU, which possibly could lead to cancer, but also because uranium itself, as a heavy metal, is toxic and can lead to kidney failure and other problems.

DU is toxic only if the dust is inhaled or ingested, or if DU-contaminated shrapnel enters the body. The inhaled lethal dust sticks to the fibers of the lungs and eventually begins to wreak havoc on the body: tumors, hemorrhages, ravaged immune system, and leukemia often result.

Un-oxidized DU metal – in downed aircraft and in unexploded ammunition, rockets, bombs and missiles – rusts away into a very fine black dust. This dust, too, spreads around via air, water, people, animals and mobile objects that move over it.

Although the U.S. government and military continue to deny or minimize the environmental and health dangers from depleted uranium weapons in order to be free from any liabilities, they themselves have to admit these dangers exist. A 1995 report from the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute, entitled the "Health and Environmental Consequences of Depleted Uranium in the US Army" stated, "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with DU in the body are both chemical and radiological… personnel inside or near vehicles struck by DU penetrates could receive significant internal exposures."

War Syndromes... From the Gulf and the Balkan to Afghanistan

The amount of DU used in the Gulf War in 1991 was approximately 100 times greater than the amount used in Kosovo. In all, about 970,000 rounds with DU were expended in the Gulf War against Iraq, for a total of over 300 tons. In southern Iraq, where allied bombing was concentrated, an epidemic of carcinomas has erupted in that area.

There are reports that the U.S. fired 10,800 DU rounds in Bosnia during the air campaign in 1994 and 1995. As a result, the leukemia rate in Sarajevo has tripled in the last five years. 

During the 78-day Kosova War in 1999, the US fired 31,000 rounds of DU at Yugoslav armored vehicles and tanks, approximately 10 tons of DU and about 3% of what was used in Iraq. Now fears of a "Balkan Syndrome" are raging across Europe. Medical teams in the region have already detected cancer clusters near the bombsites.

As the U.S. continues bombarding Afghanistan with depleted uranium as part of missiles, projectiles and bombs in battlefield, people of Afghanistan are likely to savor a more modern mode of death: death owing to radioactive materials pulverized over barren mountains and harsh plains in modern world's war on terrorism. In addition, the wind and rivers could take DU across the borders, making it likely that people in Pakistan and other neighboring countries will also be exposed to this health hazard. In other words, "Afghan War Syndrome" will appear soon.

The radioactive and toxic DU-oxides do not disintegrate. They are practically permanent. DU has a half-life of more than 4 million years, approximately the age of the Earth. It means thousand of acres of land in the Balkans, Kuwait, southern Iraq and Afghan terrain have been contaminated "forever".

Is Israel using Depleted Uranium against the Palestinian People?

A 1995 report from the U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute asserts that Israel is one of the countries with DU in its arsenal. Given Israel's own nuclear program and well-developed military industry, the International Action Center (IAC) believes Israel is quite likely a manufacturer of its own DU ammunition as the firm Rafael of Israel is named in numerous reports as being such a manufacturer. But even if this were not the case, Israel has been able to import DU weapons from the United States. These U.S. weapons include the M1 Abrams tank – which fires DU shells and is armored with DU-reinforced metal. In addition, the "Apache" and the "Cobra" helicopter gun ships – both used by the Israeli armed forces - are also equipped to fire DU shells.

Whether from shells or from the scraping from tanks moving around the countryside, radioactive materials enter the land, the water and the whole food chain, contaminating the densely populated West Bank and Gaza, where water is a scare resource.

Sources:

• Catalinotto, John & Floubders, Sara."Is The Israeli Military Using Depleted-Uranium Weapons Against The Palestinians?" International Action Center. January 2001.

• International Action Center. "The Truth About The US War Against Afghanistan."

• Kirby, Alex. "Israel Denies Depleted Uranium Use." BBC. January 8, 2001.

• Rind, Ali. "Central Asia Concern Grows That US Has Used Depleted Uranium." Baltimore Chronicle. December 2001.

• Sawahel, Wagdy. "Technological War To Suppress the Palestinian Intifada….From Depleted Uranium To Gene bomb." Arab Media Center. Egypt, Cairo, 2001.

See also:

Cluster Bombs.. The Hidden Dangers

The Science Behind the Air Strikes

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