- Such data is extremely easy to obtain and at the same
time one can readily obtain the munitions request from Israel that pass
through Congress for approval. It is then simple to track the shipment
to its final destination. One has to understand that it is not in the US
government's best interest for the public to monitor such activity.
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- As you can see from the above table it clearly shows
the many applications of DU weapons that were used during the initial start
of Operation Desert Storm. We now have to look at the magnitude of the
entire war effort since the start of the conflict and imagine the DU contamination
that has not only injured the health of all troops that took part but all
the thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians and of the contamination
that has been left behind.
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- Before coming back to the question of regional and world
contamination let's just take a visual look as to what some of these weapons
look like. What stands out in DU weapons in comparison to normal weapons
are the predominant spikes in the head of the munitions. As we have already
discussed this is the DU Penetrator or Rod which is also accompanied by
the Sabot.
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- Depleted Uranium Weapons being used at the
current time
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- We can also see the military aircraft and machines that
use these weapons in the pictures below. Hopefully this will give a better
insight to those that are not so technically minded and to those no believers.
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M2 and M3 Bradley Fighting
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- Vehicles M1A1 Abrams Tanks
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- A10 being loaded up with DU
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- A-10Thunderbolt II Aircraft
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- Cruise Missile
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- DU penetrator up close
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- Phalanx Munitions
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- Phalanx Gun
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- A-10Thunderbolt II Aircraft
- Photo courtesy
- http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=apache-
- helicopter.htm&url=http://www.army.mil" U.S.
Army
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- Obviously there many more applications using a variety
of Missiles, Bunker Bombs, Smart Bombs, Small Diameter Bombs, DIME bombs,
Cluster bombs and last but not least the terrible new range of Thermobaric
Missiles. This particular missile is totally different to the weapons described
above but I feel it is my duty to pass the horrible consequences of using
such weapons. The description is as follows:
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- Apache attack helicopters have fired the thermobaric
weapons against fighters in buildings and caves, to create a pressure wave
which sucks the air out of victims, shreds their internal organs and crushes
their bodies.
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- These weapons are so controversial that experts spent
18 months debating whether troops could use them without breaking international
law. One such technical term for this missile is the AGM-114N. It is believed
that President George W Bush said: "There are going to be some awfully
surprised terrorists when the thermobaric Hellfire comes knocking."
What makes the use of this terrible weapon questionable is the fact that
it can be fired from almost any helicopter or unmanned drone. It can and
does sometimes miss the target or go straight through the building to hit
adjacent buildings or innocent victims.
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- AH-1W Super Cobra firing the AGM-114.
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- I would now like to finish this article with an image
of the areas that has been contaminated by the current wars and also the
extended contamination further afield. Below is a map which shows an area
1000 miles centred on Iraq and Afghanistan which has been contaminated
with DU since 1991.The DU dust will continue to circulate in this area,
especially during dry periods. The levels recorded in the UK during the
Iraq "Shock and Awe" campaign and the major thrust in Afghanistan
reached a totally unacceptable level that resulted in an urgent alert to
the British Environmental Agency. Aspects of that report are given below
the map.
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- Map showing locally contaminated area
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- During the peaks of both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
the United Kingdom recorded some alarming rises in the level of DU in the
atmosphere. The data was collected at the Atomic Weapons Establishment
(AWE) at Aldermaston. Many special air filters had been placed some years
before as a monitoring mechanism for the facilities and its surrounding
environment. Regular checks were made and filters removed for testing.
At the height of the onslaught in both Iraq and Afghanistan observations
revealed some extremely high readings.
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was carried out but the findings remained within the establishment. A Dr
Chris Busby decided to challenge the system and under The Freedom of Information
Act he requested the contents of the document. Unfortunately the running
of this government establishment had been taken over by an American company
and although the findings were eventually released the data he was looking
for was missing. He again applied via another channel and managed to obtain
the full findings, some of which is reveal below.
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- Extracts from Dr Christopher Busby BSc, PhD, C.Chem,
MRSC dated January 2006:
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- Did use of Uranium weapons in Gulf War 2 result in contamination
of Europe?
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- Evidence from the measurements of the AWE, Aldermaston,
Berkshire, UK
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- Uranium weapons have been increasingly employed in battle
action since their first use by the US and UK forces in the Persian Gulf
War in 1991. Since then they have been used in the Balkans in the late
1990s, then Kosovo in 2000, probably in Afghanistan in 2002 and then also
in the 2nd Gulf War (GW2) in March and April 2003.
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- On impact, uranium penetrators burn fiercely to give
an aerosol of sub micron diameter oxide particles which are largely insoluble
and remain in the environment for many years. There is considerable public
and scientific concerns that these radioactive particles may remain suspended
for long periods, or may become resuspended and are therefore available
for inhalation by non combatants at some distance from the point of impact.
Little research seems to have been carried out on the distance travelled
by the uranium aerosols. The military maintain that the uranium remains
near the point of impact, and the Royal Society report (2002) also states
that the material does not travel more than some tens of metres. On the
other hand, measurements of uranium in local populations in Kosovo some
nine months after the use of uranium weapons all tested positive for depleted
uranium in urine (Priest 2004) and The United Nations (UNEP) found uranium
particles in air filters in Bosnia some years after its use. The question
of the dispersion of uranium aerosols from the battlefield is of significant
legal interest, since if a radioactive weapon resulted in the general contamination
of the public in the country of deployment or elsewhere, the weapon would
be classifiable as one of indiscriminate effect.
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- Dr Busby reported that at the start of Gulf War 2 a significant
increase in uranium in all the filters Levels in the town of Reading
exceeded the Environment Agency Reporting threshold of 1000nBq/m3 twice
during the period.. He went on to say that On the basis of the mean increase
in uranium in the air of about 500nBq/m3 we use respiration data on
standard man to calculate that each person in the area inhaled some 23
million uranium particles of diameter 0.25 microns. As far as we know,
this is the first evidence that uranium aerosols from battle use have been
shown to travel so far.
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- Evidence is revealed (DU Rods and Sabots survived
the inferno at Camp Doha)
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- Peter Eyre - Middle East Consultant
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