Depleted Uranium is WMD

[urbsdad6]

this article and all links can be found at:

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0809-33.htm

Published on Tuesday, August 9, 2005 by the Battle Creek Enquirer (Michigan)
Depleted Uranium is WMD
by Leuren Moret

My grandfather, U.S. Army Col. Edwin Joseph McAllister, was born in Battle Creek in 1895. He does not know that his first grandchild is an international expert on depleted uranium. I have worked in two U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories, and in 1991 I became a whistleblower at the Livermore lab. Depleted uranium is very, very, very nasty stuff:

Depleted uranium (DU) weaponry meets the definition of weapon of mass destruction in two out of three categories under U.S. Federal Code Title 50 Chapter 40 Section 2302.

DU weaponry violates all international treaties and agreements, Hague and Geneva war conventions, the 1925 Geneva gas protocol, U.S. laws and U.S. military law.

Since 1991, the U.S. has released the radioactive atomicity equivalent of at least 400,000 Nagasaki bombs into the global atmosphere. That is 10 times the amount released during atmospheric testing which was the equivalent of 40,000 Hiroshima bombs. The U.S. has permanently contaminated the global atmosphere with radioactive pollution having a half-life of 2.5 billion years.

The U.S. has illegally conducted four nuclear wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and twice in Iraq since 1991, calling DU "conventional" weapons when in fact they are nuclear weapons.

DU on the battlefield has three effects on living systems: it is a heavy metal "chemical" poison, a "radioactive" poison and has a "particulate" effect due to the very tiny size of the particles that are 0.1 microns and smaller.

The blueprint for DU weaponry is a 1943 Manhattan Project memo to Gen. L. Groves that recommended development of radioactive materials as poison gas weapons - dirty bombs, dirty missiles and dirty bullets.

DU weapons are very effective kinetic energy penetrators, but even more effective bioweapons since uranium has a strong chemical affinity for phosphate structures concentrated in DNA.

DU is the Trojan Horse of nuclear war - it keeps giving and keeps killing. There is no way to clean it up, and no way to turn it off because it continues to decay into other radioactive isotopes in over 20 steps.

Terry Jemison at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs stated in August 2004 that over 518,000 Gulf-era veterans (14-year period) are now on medical disability, and that 7,039 were wounded on the battlefield in that same period. Over 500,000 U.S. veterans are homeless.

In some studies of soldiers who had normal babies before the war, 67 percent of the post-war babies are born with severe birth defects - missing brains, eyes, organs, legs and arms, and blood diseases.

In southern Iraq, scientists are reporting five times higher levels of gamma radiation in the air, which increases the radioactive body burden daily of inhabitants. In fact, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan are uninhabitable.

Cancer starts with one alpha particle under the right conditions. One gram of DU is the size of a period in this sentence and releases 12,000 alpha particles per second.
Before my grandfather died, he told me that his generation had made a mess of this planet. I wonder what he would say to me now I would tell him to see "Beyond Treason" (www.beyondtreason.com), a new documentary about the history of treason by the U.S. government against our own troops: Atomic veterans, MK-Ultra, Agent Orange and DU. After Vietnam, Henry Kissinger said, "Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy. . ." (from Chapter 5 in the "Final Days" by Woodward and Bernstein).

Leuren Moret is an international radiation specialist, with a B.S. degree in geology from University of California at Davis, a M.A. degree in Near Eastern studies from University of California at Berkeley and has done post-graduate work in the geosciences at UC-Davis. She is environmental commissioner for the City of Berkeley, Calif.

? 2005 Battle Creek Enquirer


Doc Urb



(P.S. Should have put this in when originally posted.-Doc Urb 11/27/06)

Leuren Moret was an Expert Witness at the International Criminal Tribunal For Afghanistan At Tokyo.She is an independent scientist and international expert on radiation and public health issues. She is on the organizing committee of the World Committee on Radiation Risk, an organization of independent radiation specialists, including members of the Radiation Committee in the EU parliament, the European Committee on Radiation Risk.She is an environmental commissioner for the City of Berkeley. Ms. Moret earned her BS in geology at U.C. Davis in 1968 and her MA in Near Eastern studies from U.C. Berkeley in 1978.She has completed all but her
dissertation for a PhD in the geosciences at U.C. Davis.She has traveled and conducted scientific research in 42 countries.She contributed to a scientific report on depleted uranium for the United Nations sub commission investigating the llegality of depleted uranium munitions.Marion Fulk, a former Manhattan Project scientist and retired insider at the Livermore Lab, who is an expert on radioactive fallout and rainout, has trained her on radiation issues. Leuren Moret has conducted research concerning the impact on the health of the environment and global public health from atmospheric testing, nuclear power plants, and depleted uranium.She has helped collect and measure radiation in 6000 baby teeth from children living around nuclear power plants, and helped The State of Louisiana (USA) pass the first state depleted uranium bill for mandatory testing of soldiers. Articles she wrote on DU were translated into Indian languages to increase awareness.Her article
"Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War" in the June 2004 WORLD AFFAIRS JOURNAL was translated at the request of the Kremlin for distribution throughout the Russian government.The LONE STAR ICONOCLAST, hometown newspaper of President Bush, interviewed her for a series of interviews, "What is depleted uranium?", which are now attached to US Congressman McDermott's 2005 depleted uranium bill HR 2410 in the US Congress.The newspaper did a second issue, March 1, 2006, titled "Have DU Will Travel".Her City of Berkeley 2003 resolution banning weapons in space was followed by a Space Preservation Treaty Resolution adopted by seven sister cities in British Columbia, Canada, contributing to Prime Minister Paul Martin's decision in February 2005 to abandon his secret agreement with President Bush to allow NMD in Canada. Her research on divestment of pension funds from US weapons manufacturers was discussed on a Vancouver radio station in April 2005.The interview helped to make divestment, of $4.6 billion (in 251 US weapons
manufacturers) in British Columbia (BC) pension funds, an issue for the May 2005 election platform in BC. Leuren Moret is a Livermore nuclear weapons lab
whistleblower, an Environmental Commissioner in the City of Berkeley, and testifies as a depleted uranium expertin the new documentary film BEYOND TREASON.

Leuren Moret Testimony:
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-ICT13dec03.htm

DEPLETED URANIUM ? Research Resources Recommended by
Leuren Moret

Best Photos:
LIFE photoessay:
The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm
http://www.life.com/Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html
Iraq: babies, children, adults exposed to depleted
uranium, and Sandstorm April 26, 2005:
http://www.zlocinac.org/du_effects [link not
working]

Best book:
Discounted Casualties: The Human Cost of Depleted
Uranium
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html

Best films:
BEYOND TREASON
http://www.beyondtreason.com
BAGDAD RAP
http://www.bagdadrap.com/eng/bagdad.html
BLOWIN' IN THE WIND
http://www.bsharp.net.au/htm/the-film.htm
INVISIBLE WAR: DEPLETED URANIUM AND THE POLITICS OF
RADIATION
[contact me for the films <leurenmoret@yahoo.com>]

Ten Minute Clips from Best Video Interviews (one
hour):
?Global Nuclear Coverup? Series, Berkeley Community
Access TV
#1 Interview with Leuren Moret on global fallout
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1407594719544307232
#2 Interview with Leuren Moret on global diabetes
epidemic caused by depleted uranium
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1144673265921073656

?LOOSE CHANGE? first internet blockbuster video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1840058038507754977
[see 13:39 to 19:20 for interview with Leuren Moret]

Best DU Conference:
World Depleted Uranium Weapons ConferenceHamburg,
October 2003
http://www.uraniumweaponsconference.de

Best articles:
LONE STAR ICONOCLASTCrawford Texas
"What is depleted uranium?"
http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/xArchives/2005/19_Issue/Default.htm
SAN FRANCISCO BAY VIEW
"Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty
bullets: A death sentence here and abroad"
http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml
AL-JAZEERA NEWS
"Washington's secret nuclear war"
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B2E2DF9B-1E0C-43F4-BBF6-74C1367E27C.htm
WORLD AFFAIRS - The Journal of International Issues
"Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War"
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Trojan-Horse1jul04.htm
VANITY FAIR -December 2004
?Weapons of Self-Destruction?
By David Rose
http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/041115roco04?print=true

Best Letters:
Letter to Congressman McDermott from Leuren Moret
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Groves21feb03.htm
BATTLE CREEK ENQUIRER ? Letter to Editor/Opinion
August 9, 2005
Depleted uranium is WMD by Leuren Moret
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050809/OPINION02/508090332/1014/OPINION


Newest Article about Global DU Pollution:
?The Queen's Death Star
Depleted Uranium Measured in British Atmosphere
from Battlefields in the Middle East? by Leuren Moret

http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2006/DU-Europe-Moret26feb06.htm
http://www.rense.com/general69/deathstar.htm

Dr. Chris Busby Report on DU in British Atmosphere
http://www.llrc.org/aldermastrept.pdf

"Have DU Will Travel" Lone Star Iconoclast 3/3/06:
http://lonestaricon.com/2006/Archives/09/news03.htm

Video presentation by Leuren Moret to Therapistsfor
Social Responsibility 9/11/05
?CONNECTING THE DOTS 9-11 Four Years Later: From the
A-Bomb to Depleted Uranium and Beyond?
Download at http://www.art101.com/radiation/index.html

?WEAPONS TO DIE FOR: FROM THAT PENTAGON DEATH STAR,
AND THE UNIVERSITY THAT POISONED THE WORLD
By LEUREN MORET. April 24, 2006
http://lonestaricon.com/2006/CurrentIssue/17/14guest.htm

http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=2445

[colmurph]

Horse Hockey! DU radiation is about the same level as "Background Radiation" from plain old soil. The reason it's used is because it's twice as heavy as lead and is about as hard as iron. It knocks holes in armor like a hot knife through butter.
I'll bet your cellar gives off higher readings on a geiger counter than DU. Remember, Radon gas is given off by the decomposition of radium which can be found in granite rock which underlies most of the US. It percolates upwards through the cracks in the bedrock, through the soil and into your cellar through cracks in the concrete. If your cellar and house isn't properly ventillated to get rid of the Radon Gas you will probably die of lung cancer from inhaling it. Get your cellar checked for Radon then come back and lecture us about DU.

[urbsdad6]

Dear Murph,

Let me get this right. DU which is the radioactive waste from the manufacture of uranium rods used in nuclear power plants and has a half life of at least 3.5 billion years and is stored in barrels in deep underground waste vaults only puts off background radiation. Talk about HORSE PUCKY!!! Maybe the stored round only puts off backgrouond radiation because of protective layers in the outer casing of the sabot so they can keep it safe enough to handle, but upon impact, it has been proven that the sabot will vaporize, blowing dangerously radioactive particles into the air to be breathed in, saturating the soil when it settles with radioactive particles (half life 3.5 billion years) and in essence salting the earth. The increase in birth defects and leukemias and other cancers in the middle east has increased exponentially since Gulf War I where DU was first used in the middle east. Same thing occurring in Bosnia and Afghanistan. The studies are pretty dramatic in pointing to DU as the culprit. Better get a hold of your nuclear physics professor because he lied to you! Better get your Mancub scanned for radioactive particles that might be lodged in his lungs or anywhere else in his body because already the VA and our wonderful government have denied the existence of Gulf War Syndrome. I wonder why? Could it be that they'll wait untill enough Vets have died (like Agent Orange) so they won't have to pay out massive quantities of benefits to the men and women that have served their country so valiantly? Oh wait a minute, you used to shower in Agent Orange in Nam and it never caused you any problems so it's not up to the Va and government to take care of it's veterans after they poison them (like the radiation exposures of the fifties)? The troops and populations are being used and have many times been used in the past for medical experimentation. Get your facts straight and get your kid checked.

Doc Urb

[39mto39g]

Hears an idea for enemies of the United States, Don't give us an excuse to use an Apache against you and we wont leave Depleted uranium on your vehicles/ground.

[SuperScout]

Don't think Apaches carry DU rounds - too friggin' heavy for a helo. But they are in tank rounds, M108A2, and are designed to be an anti-armor round. They ar every effective, able to completely penetrate any known armor. I saw Russian T-55's, T70's, etc, that had the turret completely blown off compliments of the DU round. Within 1500 meters, it has the abililty to enter an enemy tank at the front, where the armor plating is the thickest and the sloep is the greatest, traverse the entire crew compartment, and exit out the rear of the tank without too much deceleration. The tank becomes an instant fireball, and will continue to burn and have 'cook-offs' for as long as there is ammo on board.

I find it difficult to swallow that DU is the buggerbear that has been reported. Whatever 'Gulf War Syndrome' there is, has been traced back to other chemicals, or combination of chemicals, but DU ain't one of them.

[urbsdad6]

Super Scout,

As far as I know DU comes in as small a size as 7.62 rounds. Read anarticle of a single 7.62 DU round disabling an Abrahms tank. Lucky shot? Probably hearsay. I agree that DU is not the only contaminent in GW I, oil fires, saran gas exploded by EOD, biologicals, etc are part of the scenario. Met a Navy EOD in line at the disability office from the first gulf war and he was disabled from all the shit they handled and said you don't wanna know what we found.

Disagree with your opinion about DU being non consequential in GWS. VA says it (Gulf War Syndrome) doesn't exist and they also belong to the Military Industrial Cabal that says DU is safe. I guess (not counting all those children born dead with horrible and disfiguring birth defects and those that die from leukemias and cancers directly related to DU in study after study) 665,000 dead Iraqis can't all be wrong. The amount of DU being used in the current conflict is many more times the amount used in the previous arena. After the initial Shock and Awe campaign radioactive particles in the air samples in England were kept mum by guess who__a HaliBurton operation. When eventually made public the samples were not considered to be safe in most of the samples taken if I remember correctly. I'll have to back track that one down. Don't know the exact ppm. You failed to mention in your very exacting description of what a Sabot does that as it enters a vehicle it sprays a fiery shower of toxic radioactive particles all over. Fire enough of those rounds and you get a lot of fallout. That's where the contamination comes from. I just don't get what part of RADIOACTIVE WASTE people are having a difficult time with? I mean would you go to bed with a barrel full of the crap they make DU with in your bedroom? I wouldn't! Would you let your children play in a field marked off as containing toxic radioactive waste with out at least giving them a modicum of protection? Nobody is doing that for our troops. Sure we have given them a killer weapon that can clean the enemies clock but at what short and long term effects to them? They are our children after all. For them to come home and to have to go through the nightmare that our brothers did when Agent Orange was a non issue is just all wrong. I mean really messed up.

Check this out:

YouTube

Thanks for your input.


Doc Urb

[colmurph]

No such thing as a DU 7.62 round. The only ammo to use DU was the 120 MM sabot round for the Abrams Tank. Do some homework!

[urbsdad6]

colmurph,

Thanks for watching my six and keeping me honest. This is where I got some of my info. Maybe I extrapolated test data into real time field use?

http://deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_lib...du_ii_tabe.htm

"In addition, the Army has tested limited quantities of small caliber DU ammunition (5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50 caliber).[213] However, the Army produced these rounds in limited quantities for developmental testing only and evaluation and never type-classified them for standard use. Some veterans claim to have fired 50-caliber DU sniper rounds during the Gulf War, but this claim could not be supported after numerous interviews with the manufacturer of the 50 caliber sniper rifle, with ammunition suppliers, and with the DoD logisticians responsible for small caliber ammunition.[214] The 50-caliber sniper rifle did fire an API (armor piercing incendiary) round, but the round did not contain DU."

"^7
"Depleted uranium is employed in the following types of ammunition: 7.62-mm rounds, .50 caliber ammo, 20-mm MK149 with 70 grams of DU, 25-mm PGU-20 with 148 grams, 25-mm M919 with 97 grams, 30-mm PGU-14 (298 grams of DU), 105-mm M774 with 3364 grams, 105-mm M833 with 3668 grams, 120-mm tank gun rounds with around 4000 grams of DU, 155-mm Special Artillery rounds."

"Today British and Americans are working on DU rounds for small firearms, designed to penetrate various new types of body armor."


http://gulflink.osd.mil/du/du_tabe.htm

"Army Special Forces also use small caliber DU ammunition on a limited basis."



Doc Urb

[Jerry D]

The USAF uses some DU rounds in the A-10 here is the article from http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8.htm

GAU-8 Avenger
The AN/GAU-8 30mm Avenger seven-barrel gatling gun, mounted only on the A-10 attack jet, is a 30mm, 7 barrel gattling gun used primarily in the air to ground role as a soft target killer and tank buster. This aircraft is used for close-air support in attacking ground threats such as armored tanks and vehicles, and also serves as a forward air control observer for sighting ground threats and directing air strikes against enemy targets. The gun, mounted in the fuselage nose of the A/OA-10 Thunderbolt, is produced by [ex General Electric] Martin Marietta Armament Systems.

According to some sources, the GAU-8 fires 1,800 rounds per minute, with the higher 4200 rd/min rate having been deleted in the 1980s. However, the A-10 can only fire in high rate, which is 3900 rounds per minute. Low rate went out with the use of the batelle gas diverting device, and although the A-10 no longer uses the batelle device, the limit on high rate only has remained, since it made no tactical sense to fire in low rate and have to spend that much more time on final to get the same number of rounds on target.

The gun fires a mix of both high explosive incendiary (HEI) and armored piercing incendiary (API) ammunition. The PGU-13/B HEI High Explosive Incendiary round employs a standard M505 fuze and explosive mixture with a body of naturally fragmenting material that is effective against lighter vehicle and material targets. The PGU-14/B API Armor Piercing Incendiary round has a lightweight body which contains a sub-calibre high density penetrator of Depleted Uranium (DU). In addition to its penetrating capability DU is a natural pyrophoric material which enhances the incendiary effects. The PGU-15/B TP Target Practice projectile simulates the exterior ballistics and provides a ballistic match to the HEI round and is used for pilot training.

A typical combat load for the GAU-8 would include 1,100 rounds of 30mm high explosive or armor piercing ammunition. The 30mm API is mixed with 30mm High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) at the factory and is called Combat Mix Ammunition. The ratio of API to HEI rounds in the Combat Mix is 4:1. Combat mix is a sequential mixture of DU and HEI rounds in which 1 HEI round followed by 4 DU rounds are fired by the AN/GAU-8 gatling gun. DU is the primary munition for the A/OA-10 in a combat environment.

Depleted uranium results from the enriching of natural uranium for use in nuclear reactors. Natural uranium is a slightly radioactive metal that is present in most rocks and soils as well as in many rivers and sea water. Natural uranium consists primarily of a mixture of two isotopes (forms) of uranium, Uranium-235 (U235) and Uranium-238 (U238), in the proportion of about 0.7 and 99.3 percent, respectively. Nuclear reactors require U235 to produce energy, therefore, the natural uranium has to be enriched to obtain the isotope U235 by removing a large part of the U238. Uranium-238 becomes DU, which is 0.7 times as radioactive as natural uranium. . Since DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, there is very little decay of those DU materials. When manufactured as 30mm rounds, each DU projectile contains approximately 4,650 grains [0.66 pounds (lbs)] of extruded DU, alloyed with 0.75 weight percent titanium. The projectile is encased in a 0.8 mm-thick aluminum shell as the final DU round.

During Operation DESERT STORM the Air Force fired 30mm Armor Piercing Incendiary (API) munitions using a depleted uranium [DU] penetrator slug from the GAU-8 Gatling gun mounted on the A-10 Aircraft. The 148 A-10s that deployed to Saudi Arabia flew 8,077 combat sorties. The Air Force fired a total of 783,514 rounds of 30mm API in the Gulf War. Since each round contains approximately 0.66 pounds of DU, the Air Force expended a total of 259 tons of DU in the Gulf. The armor-piercing capability of the DU projectiles fired from A/OA-10s proved exceptionally effective in countering threats from the Iraqi tanks so that a successful ground offensive could then be achieved.

At times 30mm DU rounds misfire in the A-10?s GAU-8 cannon. These "hangfires" have to be cleared and removed from the gun barrel, potentially exposing ground crews to airborne DU. Technical data available to maitenance crews does not provide an accurate means for determining the status of rounds in an unsafe/jammed gun, and revisions are in progress.

[SuperScout]

Let's see: for a typical munitions manufacturing plant, there must be 100 - 300 workers. Add in the standard mix of admin pukes, janitorial folks, and maintenance junkies, brings the total to 200 - 450. This is for a small plant. Then you have to factor in the handlers and/or load crew and transportation people. That has to amount to another 50 - 75. So we're talking a fairly large number of people. Along the route from the munitions plant to the Class III yard at Fort Bugtussle, say, the trucks pass by several hundred thousand people in several burgs, large and small. Even taking into consideration that the trucks have to use the HC route (Hazardous Cargo to those folks in Rio Linda), by the time the rounds get to the end use, hundreds of thousands of people have been exposed to the dastardly effects of DU.

Where's the medical evidence of how bad this stuff is supposed to be?

And please don't use youtube.com as an authoritative source of information. Neither you nor them can be taken seriously.