----- Original Message ----- From: "MH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 09:42 Subject: [biofuel] Dirty Bombing
> > Depleted uranium, or DU, is a highly toxic heavy metal that continues > to emit low levels of alpha radiation. It is a byproduct of nuclear power > plants and various military activities. > > The United States has hundreds of thousands of tons of DU lying > around, and for the Gulf War it developed a new use for the stuff: load it > into warheads. > Lets get it right, DU, ammunition was not made for the Gulf War. It was developed during the Cold War for dealing with heavy Soviet armor, to give a higher percentage of one shot tank kills, because it was heavy and hard, the right combination needed to penetrate thick advanced armor. It is not loaded into warheads, it is a solid peace of metal that is milled in to a very precise shape. > Though not technically "nuclear," because the material is not really > fissionable, uranium is a heavy metal ideal for lethally effective "warhead > penetrators" that can pierce through armored tanks and fortified positions. Generally fortified positions are going to be attacked with a HEAT type of round which is explosive, but, is not the SABOT ( non-explosive ) round that is being talked about in conjunction with DU. > When the munitions explode, the area is bathed in a fine dust of DU that can > be easily inhaled. These aerosols also taint soil and water and pollute > ground water. > This DU SABOT ammunition type is not made to explode, but, just punch through the armor. On the other hand the Uranium is pyroic like common cigarette lighter flints, and when struck hard ( like when it hits armor ), it will give off a spark in the same way ( just allot bigger spark ) this encourages fuel and ammo to burn, some alloys of zirconium do the same thing, in fact, other types of ammunition ( generally small caliber ) is made with zirconium alloys because of this. Not all SABOT used in the Gulf War was DU, nor, were all tank attacks made with the SABOT, the farthest confirmed tank to tank kill in the Gulf War was made by the Brits., and it was made over 5 km, with 2 HEAT rounds. The dust is a by product of the hit, and is for the most part uranium oxide, and was never figured to be a factor in the attack. > > DU warheads are essentially dirty bombs -- not very radioactive, but > poisonous, and this is why there is an increasing global outcry against > using DU in combat as tips for armor-piercing rounds as well as in artillery > shells and Tomahawk missiles, among others. The last part is pure propaganda BS. DU has only been used ( and is only useful ) in defeating armor and in making tank armor. DU has no place in Tomahawks, artillery shell or any other exploding ( chemical explosion ) type of munitions, because, despite this persons claims, DU is not an explosive. > > Such warheads were used very successfully by the U.S. in the Gulf War, > when more than 350 tons of depleted uranium were dropped on Iraq, and later > in Kosovo when about 13 tons of DU were exploded in the conflict there. > To claim that "350 tons of DU was dropped on Iraq", and "about 13 tons exploded in Kosovo" when DU in not used by dropping or is exploded, is cast doubt on some of the other "research" this person has done in this area. Indeed I doubt that the US even had 350 tons of DU Sabots in the entire theater, let alone in the was able to drop on Iraq. Consider that each Anti-Tank round weighs under 100 lbs. and only a portion of that is the DU Sabot. If you take divide 100 lbs ( for each Anti-Tank Sabot round ) into 350 tons, and figure in each attack had better than a 80% first shot tank kill, this means that a hell of a lot of BS is being passed around, because Iraq never at any time had enough tanks for 350 tons to be used ( let alone the tanks that got away ), especially when you consider that many of the tanks were killed with conventional explosives. > The "Balkan syndrome" that emerged among the military and civilians > after the U.S. bombing there bears a similarity to the Gulf War syndrome. > > Though the findings are controversial, many scientists now see these > afflictions as the result of heavy metal poisoning and possibly exposure to > very low levels radiation. > While heavy metal poisoning is a possibility, the Alfa rays that DU gives off are the weakest of all radiation, and a piece of paper can block them, let alone the clothing that people wear. As to DU causing Gulf War syndrome, consider that some scientist have been finding similarities of GW syndrome with symptoms of Vets from other wars including the US Civil War > DU is implicated in respiratory and kidney problems, rashes and, > longer-term, bone cancer, as well as damaged reproductive and neurological > systems. > As are other things. > Iraqi civilians -- many more than the 100,000 who died in the conflict > or as a result of the war -- also suffer from a range of similar health > problems. > > Families of soldiers should be very worried. > > A huge amount of ordnance has already been unleashed in Iraq, and > there is no way of knowing how many thousands of tons of depleted uranium > will find "permanent storage" in the rubble of Iraq, its soil and the bodies > of its people and U.S. occupying forces. The only use, for DU, is Tank to Tank fighting, the 25 mm chain gun on the Bradley and the 30 mm gatling gun on the A-10 Warthog, and DU is not the only option for those uses, other metals are available and have been used for making SABOTs. Since the majority of the fighting and ordinance is not being used on Anti-Tank fighting, then it is more than safe to say only a fraction of it may be DU, even if the US even is using it. > > The rosy fantasies of a democratized Arab world might make for good > sound bites. But the reality of widespread DU use brings to mind the epitaph The only known wide spread use of DU in this war so far, has been in the e-mail that this post is responding to, and much of it, is fiction. > > Susanna Hecht is a professor in the School of Public Policy and Social > Research at UCLA. She is head of the environmental analysis and policy > program. > A professor knows to do research. If she had checked her facts about DU, how it is used, and the type of ordnance used in both Gulf wars, she could not have made as many phony/fake claims as she did. Greg H. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Make Money Online Auctions! Make $500.00 or We Will Give You Thirty Dollars for Trying! http://us.click.yahoo.com/yMx78A/fNtFAA/i5gGAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
