How to make the Iraq war even MORE unpopular

[Flagg]

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42762

Apparantly the US have been using depleted uranium as weaponary while being in Iraq, and supposedly the consequences are showing now. If true its quite laughable as one of the "legit" reasons for going into Iraq was because Saddam had chemical weapons??

Expect the UN to ask the US to appologize or shake their heads and condemn the US, I mean that's pretty much all they do do these days when it comes to dealing with anyone.

[gst528i]

Ridiculous. Karma's gonna be a bitch when it America's turn. For a country like this to act in this manner is sad. So many countries respected us for our moral actions in handling world situations. Hope full the next administration cleans up the mess.

[Tock]

I remember reading about this a few years ago. They add uranium to harden the case. The leftover radioactivity is unintentional. IMHO, it's irresponsible . . .

[gixxerboy1]

but hey we are the good guys

[Kratos]

idk, people hear the word uranium and freak out...not sure depleated uranium would be causing any problems. Like to hear karn comment on that one.

[Tesla]

I am highly skeptical of the authenticity of the information in this article due to the source.

[Fat Guy]

I am a Gulf War Vet from the first time we went in and they were using uranium casings then and continue to this day. The story is credible and there is much research to show that the cancer rates have increased significantly in Iraq from this. Just google it and you will see. They were worried about it for the American soldiers….

[inheritmylife]

I am a Gulf War Vet from the first time we went in and they were using uranium casings then and continue to this day. The story is credible and there is much research to show that the cancer rates have increased significantly in Iraq from this. Just google it and you will see. They were worried about it for the American soldiers….

During the Gulf they also started giving you anthrax and smallpox vaccines, right?

[Fat Guy]

During the Gulf they also started giving you anthrax and smallpox vaccines, right?

What’s your point?

Did you know that the British government came out publicly and acknowledged that Gulf War Syndrome was a real issue but the pentagon will not acknowledge it in any sense…?

Now I am not saying that Gulf War Syndrome is related to uranium but my point to this whole reply is to illustrate that this is another fact the top brass does not like to hear publicly

The uranium casings and all the uranium that is left over in Iraq is a serious public health hazard to everyone involved but I guarantee you won’t hear that on Fox News or the Armed Farces Network (AFN)….

[inheritmylife]

What’s your point?

Did you know that the British government came out publicly and acknowledged that Gulf War Syndrome was a real issue but the pentagon will not acknowledge it in any sense…?

Now I am not saying that Gulf War Syndrome is related to uranium but my point to this whole reply is to illustrate that this is another fact the top brass does not like to hear publicly

The uranium casings and all the uranium that is left over in Iraq is a serious public health hazard to everyone involved but I guarantee you won’t hear that on Fox News or the Armed Farces Network (AFN)….

My point is GWS could be from things other than depleted uranium, although I agree that depleted uranium is nasty stuff.

[Fat Guy]

My point is GWS could be from things other than depleted uranium, although I agree that depleted uranium is nasty stuff.

Watch this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...78547681767408

[Kärnfysikern]

Depleted uranium is NOT a radiation hazard, its extremely weakly radioactive. It is a heavy metall though and its not a nice idea to digest it just like you wouldnt want to digest lead or tungsten. You would be long dead from the chemical toxicity before you are even near getting radiation poisoning. Depleted uranium is not any worse than tungsten in ammunition from a health point of view.

Depleted uranium is acctualy often used as shielding against radiation. Containers made out of depleted uranium is common to transport very strong gamma sources.

No study has ever shown any sign that DU munitions are causing increased cancer rates, birth defects and all the other bs anti du crusades claim. Remember uranium is a quite comon metall and you can already find it just about everywhere. The ammounts added by the weapons are insignificant compared to the natural abundance.

Quote from the IAEA

Regarding exposures to DU, there have been studies of the health of military personnel who saw action in the Gulf War (1990-1991) and during the Balkan conflicts (1994-99). A small number of Gulf war veterans have inoperable fragments of DU embedded in their bodies. They have been the subject of intense study and the results have been published. These veterans show elevated excretion levels of DU in urine but, so far, there have been no observable health effects due to DU in this group. There have also been epidemiological studies of the health of military personnel who saw action in conflicts where DU was used, comparing them with the health of personnel who were not in the war zones. The results of these studies have been published and the main conclusion is that the war veterans do show a small (i.e., not statistically significant) increase in mortality rates, but this excess is due to accidents rather than disease. This cannot be linked to any exposures to DU.
********
There have been a number of studies of workers exposed to uranium (see question 8) and, despite some workers being exposed to large amounts of uranium, there is no evidence that either natural uranium or DU is carcinogenic. This lack of evidence is seen even for lung cancer following inhalation of uranium. As a precaution for risk assessment and to set dose limits, DU is assumed to be potentially carcinogenic, but the lack of evidence for a definite cancer risk in studies over many decades is significant and should put the results of assessments in perspective.

One more thing about uranium, uranium levels in phosphates are usually quite high. So in effect we are spreading tons and tons of uranium into our crop fields all over the world yearly. Far larger ammounts than what is used for ammunition in the iraq war. we are all constantly exposed to uranium.

[Kratos]

^Thanks Karn, that was my understanding as well^

As a side note I think DU was even used as counterweights in Boeing 747's up til the 1980's. Being a heavy metal though there were concerns it could be breathed in if there were a crash.

The word Uranium makes for nice headlines though.