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Depleted uranium

Depleted uranium weapons, or du as they are commonly referred to, have been a major part of the us arsenal since the first gulf war. du was also used by several airplane manufacturers, including boeing, as a ballast. a study on the effects of du was commissioned after an el al passenger jet crashed into an apartment complex in amsterdam (1). this is cause for some concern, as the planes that collided with the world trade centers in new york could have contained some amount of du, although new planes use tungsten instead. contrary to common belief, du is not lead, or some harmless uranium byproduct, du is specifically a high concentration of the element uranium 238. while nato and the us military have claimed that du poses no significant risk (2), a quick look at the facts behind du weapons suggest a very different story(3).

naturally occurring uranium is made up of u234, u235, and u238, with u238 in the greatest quantities. naturally occurring uranium must be enriched to be effectively used in nuclear fission applications; nuclear power and nuclear warheads (4). the enrichment process concentrates the u235 from the natural uranium and leaves a waste product of u238. this 238 has had the 235 removed, therefore it is “depleted”. uranium 238 is therefore, a nuclear waste product, and, like any other nuclear waste product, there is no safe way to permanently dispose of u238 (5).

depleted uranium is a heavy metal with armor piercing capability. du weapons are most commonly used in tank rounds and ammunition for the a10 “warthog” tank-destroying plane. in a du round, a bar of du is placed in the center of the round. when the round hits a target, the round pierces the armor, because of the weight of the round, (u238 is extremely heavy), and explodes. it is for this reason that the us and nato armies find these weapons so valuable, but du has serious side effects. the us army acknowledged these side effects and considered them so damaging that it encouraged it’s own investigators to downplay any negative health effects caused by du in a document called the los alamos memo (6). the danger is depleted uranium lies in it’s ignition. when a du round explodes, much of the du becomes an aerosol smoke and tiny particles of du saturate the air in the immediate vicinity of the impact area. this aerosolized du can then travel miles on wind currents (7).

according to the us military, du used in weapons only emits alpha particles, the least powerful form of radiation. alpha particles can be stopped by paper, or even human skin, so as long as the alpha-emitting material remains outside the human body, the risks should be limited to skin burns and increased risk of skin cancer. the problem is that aerosolized du can be absorbed into humans through breathing, eating, drinking, and through cuts or any openings in human skin. once du enters the body, it wreaks havoc throughout the internal organs of the victim. the du emits alpha particles and causes genetic damage as it moves through the body. since du particles are very small and do not dissolve, they stay in the body for extended period of time (8). some gulf war vets had high levels of uranium in their urine as much as 8 years after initial exposure.

du has been named as a primary cause of gulf war syndrome, and, since it is radioactive, has been connected with cancers and other radiation-related illnesses. in iraq after the gulf war of 1991, leukemia rates skyrocketed as well as other rare forms of cancer and birth defects (9). recently, the use of du was deemed a violation of several international laws including the geneva convention (10). the lives mutilated and destroyed by “coalition” forces illegal use of depleted uranium is just another legacy of our liberation of iraqi oil.

speaking of the geneva convention (11)

there has been some discussion since the war started of the violation of the geneva convention by iraqi forces as they paraded captured us forces on iraqi state television (then re-broadcast by al-jazeera as well as several international news stations). defense secretary donald rumsfeld went as far as to claim that al-jazeera was violating the conventions by re-broadcasting the images (12). al-jazeera has been targeted by the us military, both verbally and militarily as when the us bombed their offices in afghanistan (13). while certainly the exhibition by the iraqi government of these soldiers was a violation, it pales in the face of us and us-supported violations of the geneva convention. it’s for this reason that all of the excitement generated in the us media about the iraqi treatment of soldiers falls a little flat.

the us does not have a good relationship with international law, specifically human rights law. the us has been found guilty of war crimes by international bodies for its disrespect of international law, and the us has trained human rights violators the world over (14). it was us policy in the 1980’s to train the military human rights violators of latin america in specific torture techniques and special operations that specifically violated the geneva conventions as well as other international agreements on war crimes (15) , (16).

the us has used proxy militaries for decades as a way of keeping its hands clean of violations, all the while directing the operations through the state department, the cia, and other agencies. the current war in colombia is a perfect example of war crimes by proxy, as the us spends literally billions of dollars in training and weapons for the worst human rights violator in the western hemisphere, the colombian armed forces and their associated paramilitary organizations (17). the indonesian invasion of east timor and the resulting human rights catastrophe were funded and equipped by us military aid, that only was cut in the last years of the suharto regime (18). the united states also supported the government of sonny abacha in nigeria for years, long known for its abuse of human rights workers from various nigerian communities (19). saddam hussein himself was aided throughout the 1980’s by the us government and even met with donald rumsfeld as he was in the midst of violating the geneva conventions with chemical weapons attacks against iranian soldiers (20). the us went so far as to advocate for the iraqi regime for credit from world lending agencies while the iraqis were gassing the iranians and the kurds. the doctrine of plausible deniability is alive and well, and haunting the civilian populations of underdeveloped nations the world over. as you can see, the us has committed these violations regardless of whether a republican or democratic regime controlled the white house. human rights violations have been a central aspect of us foreign policy for over 100 years.

the us does not operate solely by proxy in its disregard for human rights law and specifically the geneva convention. the independent media has given some airtime to commentators who specifically address the issue of camp x-ray at guantanamo bay in us-occupied cuba. in camp x-ray, suspects are held incommunicado indefinitely without access to legal resources in small cages, all violations of the geneva convention (21). to allay fears of human rights violations, the us government has created a new designation for those held in guantanamo; enemy combatants, who by some act of fantasy by the bush administration are not pow’s, and therefore are not party to the protections of the geneva convention (22), (23). apparently the us believes that it can go so far as to allow prisoners to be tortured, somehow without violating international law(24). i don’t know where the geneva convention mentions that if you don’t want to follow international law you can opt out by creating new bogus classifications.

these facts don’t make the violations of international law any less illegal by any party, especially the iraqi regime, but merely serve to highlight the blatant hypocrisy of the us government in its claims about iraqi violations. when the most powerful force in the world violates international standards on human rights, why should any smaller nation attacked by the us be held to a higher standard? it’s this quagmire that us policy drags us into and as us policy makers ignore the consequences of their actions, it’s the people of the us that will suffer from the callous actions of our governments.