DU-Uranium and the War: The effects of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq

It is estimated that 60% of Canadian Uranium exports are used in the manufacture of U.S. depleted uranium weapons. The Final Judgment of the Tokyo Tribunal for War Crimes in Afghanistan found that the U.S. use of Depleted Uranium Munitions constitutes war crimes under international law.

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Afghanistan-Criminal-Tribunal10mar04.htm

Uranium and the War

The effects of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq

By John Williams

In five billion years our sun will explode into a white dwarf and envelope the earth, according to NASA projections.

The half-life of uranium 238 is 4.5 billion years.

This means that by the time the Earth ceases to be a planet, only a little more than half of the depleted uranium (DU) that the United States Army is firing into Iraq and other countries around the world will be gone. The rest of the radioactive material will still be poisoning the Iraqi people.

The U.S. Army revealed in March 2003 that it dropped between 320 and 390 tons of DU during the Gulf War—the first time the material was ever used in combat—and it is estimated that more still has been dropped during the current invasion, though there have been no official counts as yet.

Depleted uranium munitions are extremely dense, toxic, and mildly radioactive. And despite mounting evidence of DU’s negative health affects for combatants and civilians alike, their use is increasing.
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