How can America justify using depleted uranium ammunitions?

Question

The amount of birth defects in Iraq has gone up by something like 600% since the first gulf war, and yet the US military still used depleted uranium. How can this be justified?

Im interested in getting a perspective FOR the use of this ammunition that doesn't involve - "cause we want to kill lots of those sand *******" which is a pretty pathetic argument.

Sorry, to people asking for source - here's a good article - just the first result I got from googling it. There's a lot more.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml

My point is, with all of this rhetoric about "dirty bombs", how can DU be justified?

I'm not sure if DU is still being used in this war because there's no armour, but I assumed it was still used against buildings etc.

Maybe the 600% is an exaggeration, I did read that somewhere, but I'm not trying to present scholarly evidence or anthing - just to get opinon. (the article says birth defects have risen to 117 per 100,000 in 2001 - which is up from 11 in 1989. What percentage is that?

And to witwwats - oh yes you do! If you attacked iran tomorrow, DU would be used against armour.

Answer 1

Your rant is amusing... and as you point out in your OWN additional comments based soley on rumor, hearsay, and innuendo.

Don't blame it JUST on the USA: It is thought that between 17 and 20 states have weapons incorporating depleted uranium in their arsenals. They include the USA, the UK, France, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, Iraq and Taiwan. DU ammunition is manufactured in 18 countries. Only the US and the UK have acknowledged using DU weapons

FACT: The International Atomic Energy Agency, for example, reported in 2003 that, "based on credible scientific evidence, there is no proven link between DU exposure and increases in human cancers or other significant health or environmental impacts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Health_considerations)

YES, we used DU rounds in our tanks and certain other anti-tank weapons. WHY? Because it PENETRATES like a hot-knife through plastic.

The US has switched for the MOST part to Tungsten rounds now.

Answer 2

Depleted Uranium is pretty hard stuff. It penetrates just about anything...
... like armored vehicles and tanks the Iraqis had in desert storm.
...like vehicles which are d useby those peace-loving terrorists to blow up non-combatants...
... like buildings where those brave terrorist "freedom fighters" hide and take pot shots at anything or anybody they see.

We have used it. I don't know if we still do, but if we do, the idea is to convince the terrorists that they really have no place to hide. The goal is to get them to stop fighting and crawl back into the woodwork like good little cockroaches.

Compared to OIF, during Desert Storm we hardly fired a shot.. and that was 20 years ago. However, Hussein did use his Scud missiles to launch believed chemical/biological agents. Many of these were intercepted by Patriot missiles.... but quite a frew got through.

As far as statistics... I can makes statistics say say almost anything.... I'd need the source of your claim... and I'd want evidence that the birth defects were due to radiation poisoning. For example, Since the Great Wall of China was built, the world has become over populated, over developed, and over polluted... as if one has anything to do with the other.

Answer 3

We use it because it's there; it's left over from making uranium 235 for reactors etc, it is heavy like lead, but very hard like steel, so would make a good projectile for armor-piercing ammo. Just because birth defects are up does not mean that the ammo is the cause; a positive correlation does not necessarily mean cause & effect! If birth defects are up how do you know it isn't from better reporting, or from all the pollution that was produced when they blew up several hundred oil & gas wells and let then burn during the first war!

By the way, these people have been trained since childhood; all they undertsand is hatred and killing; their hatred for us is so great that they will not hesitate to kill themselves if they could take a few of us with them. They think nothing of killing civilians so, we don't owe them any favors in terms of what we are shooting at them!

Answer 4

Now can you prove those birth defect numbers? And can you prove a positive link between them and US munitions? Can you say they aren't related to burning oil wells or the detenation of chemical weapons stores during the gulf war, or any number of other events?

The US has depleted uranium armor on our tanks, they don't shoot the stuff. The only thing I know that does shoot it is the gun on an A10, and we only used that stuff when trying to knock holes in tanks. Now they just use tungstin penetrators & explosive shells.

So, you kind of don't know what you're talking about, and\/or you're listening to others that don't.

Answer 5

Reading only a portion of reports or relating only portions of reports is deceiving when dealing with complex issues. While DU is a "possible" cause, there are many other "possible" issues. The mass burning of the Kuwait oil wells, malnutrition, Saddam and his bag of chems. The Hospital in Basra where the study was done is in the Shiite area. Remind what Saddam was doing to Shiites and Kurds, I seem to be having a senior moment...........wait.....it's coming back.......it's on the tip of my tongue.......Oh yeah, gas, chems, only Allah knows for sure.

What is known is that DU does not pose a radiation risk. Handling the rounds seems to be safe. Spending lots of time in an Abrams that has DU armor seems to be safe.

AND your answer...They work!

Read up!

Answer 6

Depleted uranium rounds are used in anti-tank SABOT rounds fired from an Abrams tank. As there are no tanks facing our troops in Iraq, I doubt there are used any more. In fact, they probably have not been used since Baghdad fell in 2003.

Can you justify your connection of the "600%" increase in birth defects to depleted uranium?

Answer 7

DU rounds are used purely for anti-armor purposes. in the first gulf war, multipe air assets used DU rounds to destroy Iraqi tanks and APCs so that dumb grunts such as myself wouldn't have to face them later down the line. the ability of a DU round to penetrate and neutralize nearly any type of armored vehicle is its main staying point ifor the military. however, in my experience, we haven't been using them much lately because of the fact that the in the current conflict we haven't been going up against many enemy armored vehicles, so its utility is slim to none.

Answer 8

Put the bong down, cut the gray poney tail off, and get a life.

Answer 9

We don't use depleted uranium munitions.

Any where.

How can you justify propoganda?