Special Report
Depleted uranium penetrators - A proliferating "conventional weapon"CONTENTS:
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What is  DU?
Impact of DU munitions
Other Factors - The Persian Gulf War -

Primary areas of DU Expenditure (map)


No protection from known danger

Impact of DU munitions

A 120 mm DU shell used in the Gulf War by the US military
Armor-piercing round with DU penetrator
Of the 696 thousand American soldiers who participated in the Gulf War, about 436 thousand entered areas contaminated by DU shells.

Dan FaheyDan Fahey (31, photo, based in Washington, DC) of the Military Toxicity Project, a civilian watchdog group investigating the environmental and health impacts of the use and dismantling of US weapons, studied material obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and announced in March 1998 that, "About 400 thousand soldiers may have been exposed to depleted uranium."

The US Defense Department (Pentagon) attacked this estimate, claiming that his figures were utterly groundless. About eight months later, under pressure from the National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC) (head office: Washington, DC) created by Gulf War veterans, their families and allies, the Pentagon published a map of the areas in which DU shells were used. At that point, they admitted that about 436 thousand ground soldiers had entered areas where DU munitions were used in Kuwait and Iraq.

The hazards of DU were known before the Gulf War.

A military report in 1974 evaluating the medical and environmental effects of depleted uranium noted, "In combat situations involving the widespread use of DU munitions, the potential for inhalation, ingestion, or implantation of DU compounds may be locally significant."

Another report issued in July 1990 by the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a company under contract to the military, identified the hazards even more clearly. Because depleted uranium is "a low-level alpha radiation emitter" it could be "linked to cancer when exposures are internal." It further warned, "Aerosol DU exposures to soldiers on the battlefield could be significant, with potential radiological and toxicological effects."

Thus, the Pentagon knew the dangers of DU well in advance, yet did nothing to inform or educate its soldiers about that danger and took no protective measures.
Highway of Death
Highway of Death: Destroyed Iraqi tanks, trucks and cars lie everywhere. This road runs from Kuwait to Safwan at the Iraqi border and on to Basra. The American soldiers called it the "Highway of Death." (Courtesy of Cassandra Garner, taken March 1991 in southern Iraq)
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No Protective Equipment
No Protective Equipment: These US soldiers are preparing to ship home US tanks destroyed by friendly DU fire. Here they are taking no measures whatsoever to protect themselves from radioactive contamination. All undoubtedly inhaled or ingested DU particles. (Courtesy of Douglas Rokke, taken May 1991, in Saudi Arabia)
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Investigation: These US soldiers are investigating radioactive contamination and potential protective measures after firing DU shells at this Iraqi tank brought to the US as a "spoil of war." They are wearing protective clothing and masks to prevent contamination. (Courtesy of Douglas Rokke, taken June 1995, at the nuclear test site in Nevada)
Investigation: These US soldiers are investigating radioactive contamination and potential protective measures after firing DU shells at this Iraqi tank brought to the US as a "spoil of war." They are wearing protective clothing and masks to prevent contamination. (Courtesy of Douglas Rokke, taken June 1995, at the nuclear test site in Nevada)
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In 1993, a report compiled by the General Accounting Office (GAO) stated, "The Army was not adequately prepared to deal with depleted uranium contamination." The reason given would be hard to defend to those who became casualties of this decision. "Army officials believe that DU protective methods can be ignored during battle and other life-threatening situations because DU-related health risks are greatly outweighed by the risks of combat."

This attitude cost thousands of young men and women in their twenties and thirties their health and even their lives long after the war.

Other Factors

DU munitions were not the only source of the health problems that emerged after the Gulf War. Many soldiers were given medicines never approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They were exposed to intense smoke pollution from oil field fires, post-war destruction of Iraqi chemical weapons storehouses, and various toxic substances released during the war. Thus, numerous factors may be involved.

Among the medicines the soldiers took under orders from their officers was an antidote to biological weapons called pyrisdostigmine bromide (PB). They also received a vaccine against botulinum and a drug to protect against anthrax. According to an investigation by the NGWRC, 250 thousand troops took PB, 8,000 received botulinum vaccinations, and 150 thousand took the anthrax medicine.

A total of 696 thousand American soldiers took part in the Gulf War from August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, until July 31, 1991, when the last of the soldiers came home after shipping home American tanks destroyed by friendly DU fire. Of these, 579 thousand had left the military and 117 thousand remained enlisted as of July 1999.


The Persian Gulf War

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded and conquered neighboring Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War.

Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, insists that Kuwait, one of the world's major oil producing countries, is actually Iraqi territory. Taking the move as a grab for oil fields and a more dominant role among the Arab states, the US and other Western nations reacted ferociously. US President Bush, obtaining assent from the former Soviet Union and China, created a multinational force of troops from 28 nations endorsed by the UN and led by the US. Air attacks began on January 17, 1991, the ground war on February 24.

With an overwhelming show of power, the multinational force freed Kuwait on the 26th. The fighting ended on the 28th. On March 3, Iraq accepted and signed a cease-fire designed by the UN Security Council. That cease-fire agreement prohibited Iraq from researching, developing, or possessing nuclear weapons, and required it to accept a survey team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Feature Series: Part I - On the wrong side of a superpower
1 Friendly fire - Body full of shrapnel and bone cancer
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