Depleted Uranium

[Hayabusa]

agreed with boycotting. If there`s some useful tool, ban for some materials or technologies that strictly link with military is better solution.

[drowst]

Trust me, I fully agree about boycotting, but just for a different reason. That is, if it isn't 100%, ie nothing gets in at all, it doesn't work. If you don't stop everything, than the stuff the people with money want gets in, and the people who don't have money suffer. Thats basically what happened in Iraq. It wasn't a full blockade, and the haves got pretty much whatever they wanted and the havenots got nothing. A lot of that was still do to the government not wanting to give anything to the havenots anyway though.

[hundinman]

The US Army uses depleted Uranium rounds in almost all of its weapons. When a round impacts a target dust is emmitted. This dust is highly radioactive and gets all over tanks, which village children play on. Also, it being the dessert, the dust can travel great distances; it is in the air that both Iraqi citizens and US troop breath. It also seeps into the ground and gets into the aquafer which later infects water sources.

 

The US didn't find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq yet they are using the very component in their ammunition. Who is more evil now? The Iraqis or the US for not only killing 'terrorists' but also infecting an entire population with radioactive material which gets into respiratory tracks, the air they breath, their water sources and the ground they plant their crops which feed their population?

 

I got this information when someone told me about an article in a recent Christian Science Monitor that discussed this topic. I, for one, was shocked, ashamed, and disgusted that the US is using depleted uranium for ammunition. Lead bullets kill just the same, and without radioactive dust as a result.

All I have to say is this:

 

Maybe my views are a little screwed up but you say that America is doing wwrong by killing innocent children who play on........ARMY TANKS!!!! We need to use bullets that can penetrate our enemy tanks and it is by no means our falt that little Iraqi children run around playing on tanks. War is War. We do not go out of our way in order to kill innocent people. Iraq does. They purposefully killed thousands of people on Sept. 11th 2001 when they attacked our W.T.C. Let me ask this, what did the people in the W.T.C ever do to Iraqis? My answer= nothing!

 

My 2 cents.

[ThetaOrionis01]

What did the Iraqis ever do to the people in the WTC?

 

Answer: nothing

 

As far as I am aware no link has been found between Al Quaeda and Iraq.

 

However, there is a link between the US and Osama bin Laden - bin Laden actually received US support while fighting with the Mujaheddin (sp?) against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan....

 

 

And how do the army tanks get near the innocent children? Because the children's country was INVADED.

 

 

As for depleted uranium - depleted or not, uranium still remains a radioactive material, with the associated risks. Uranium also has a particularly long halflife, which means that any areas contaminated with it remain contaminated for a very long time.

 

Just look at the precautions taken when using any radioactive materials in non-military situations - medicine, education etc. If you have ever carried out any experiments with radioactive samples you will be aware of the safety equipment you have to use (lead aprons, gloves, dosimeters etc), the minute amount of radioactive material in the samples used etc. All to minimize health risks.

It seems therefore highly unlikely that contaminating an area with radioactive material, in particular dust you breathe in, which brings the radioactive material into your body in an uncontrollable amount, does not carry health implications with it.

 

Also, can someone tell me whether the 'depleted' is depleted by comparison with naturally occuring uranium or the enriched uranium which is used in nuclear fission?

[Shakkara]

About 30% of the Americans believe Saddam Hussein or Iraqi terrorists were behind the 9/11 attacks I read... Absolutely shocking... What the hell is wrong with their long-term memory?

[drowst]

Depleted uranium cannot be used as part of fission. As far as its effect on the environment, I'm not sure there have been any studies, probably have if you do some searching. Radioactive materials used in medicine are far stronger than depleted uranium. DU rounds can be handle as any other normal round, it is just a far stronger metal than steel, iron, etc. The dust it gives of on impact, explosoin etc is what is at issue. Realistically, the amount of radiation we recieve in our daily lives from xrays (both medical and natural), radon, oh and lets not forget the toxins in our food and water like lead, platinum, mercury, etc which are gradually building up in our bodies... well they are probably more hazodous than exposure to DU dust, but that is just my opinion.

[Breton Thief Oriana]

About 30% of the Americans believe Saddam Hussein or Iraqi terrorists were behind the 9/11 attacks I read... Absolutely shocking... What the hell is wrong with their long-term memory?

and what is wrong with them that they have a need to post in the wrong thread? Good golly gosh, I guess im at a loss for words. There must be like 90% or something that do that!!! This isnt just shakkra...hes just the first one I saw because I didnt keep up with this topic. But you guys should know that this is about the depleted uranium bullet, not the U.S. foreign policy.

 

 

Maybe we could use a different meterial than uranium...lets use corundum bullets, they are much harder and dont need to grow naturally (IE, they can be snthesized. For those of you who dont know what corundum is, it is a precious mineral that is the familly that rubies and saphires are under...They have a nine on the hardness scale.