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Iraq
Radioactive US weapons taking toll in Iraq
2009-08-25
Years after the US attacks on Iraq, people in the Persian Gulf state are suffering form the consequences of radioactive contamination caused by the use of depleted uranium.
Not this again ...
Iraq's Environment Minister, Narmin Othman Hasan, said Monday that depleted Uranium (DU) weapons used by US-led troops against Iraq during the1991 Persian Gulf War and the 2003 invasion still blight the country.

Othman Hasan said the use of super-tough weapons by the US-led forces had a devastating impact on the nation and has become a serious environmental challenge since they have contaminated several parts of the country.
Hasan needs to be taken aside and given a basic education as to why it's called depleted uranium ...
Armor-piercing shells made of depleted uranium were first used in warfare by US-led troops during the1991 Persian Gulf War and then during the 2003 invasion, turning many parts of Iraq to radioactive toxic wastelands.

Depleted uranium --a radioactive metal twice as dense as lead-- has been blamed for a number of health problems, from cancer to birth defects. DU remains radioactive for about 4.5 billion years.
Except of course that it isn't radioactive ...
According to the Iraqi minister only a fraction of tanks and other wartime vehicles contaminated with depleted uranium -- which are radiating nuclear energy-- have been successfully treated and disposed of.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion, over 140,000 cases of cancer has been reported in Iraq, which are believed to be caused by toxic weaponry used by the occupying troops. It is reported that 2,000 tons of (DU) expenditure were used during the invasion of Iraq.

Several idiotic Human rights groups have called the US use of the toxic weapons against the people of Iraq as crimes against humanity since they are causing grievous harm and suffering to civilians in contaminated areas.

They have also accused the US-led troops of covering up and denying the damaging health effects of the DU's and blamed them for refusing to release information on the amounts, types and locations of these weapons in Iraq.

Iraq's Environment Minister also warned about the danger posed by the tens of millions of landmines strewn across the country. "For one person we have one mine planted. We have 25 million mines in Iraq -- one quarter of the world's mines," she said.
Posted by:Fred

#27  Steven Den Beste dealt with with this pretty thoroughly several years ago. link
Posted by: Cromert   2009-08-25 23:01  

#26  Or your salt.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2009-08-25 20:06  

#25  check out your milk and bananas if you want a scare
Posted by: Frank G   2009-08-25 19:58  

#24  AlmostAnonymous5839: but U238 is reactive but to only very energetic neutrons. When an H-bomb explodes (US and Russian anyway), there is a casing of U238 surrounding the trigger and TN device to focus gammas on the TN pencil. The fission trigger emits high energy neutrons and they will cause the casing to detonate.

Well, if you're going to post nuclear pr0n, then ...
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia   2009-08-25 19:34  

#23  It's said that coffee from certain areas is low level radioactive.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2009-08-25 19:26  

#22  I'm willing to bet that your granite counter-tops are more radioactive than DU.
Posted by: Mitch H.   2009-08-25 17:43  

#21  And to continue, in commercial nuclear reactors, U-238 absorbs neutrons and eventually turns into Plutonium 239. In the later stages of core life, a very large percentage of the fission occuring is from Pu-239.

U-238 would also be used in breeder reactors, if we had such things in this country.

Our friend U-238: helpful, but misunderstood.
Posted by: Dreadnought   2009-08-25 17:34  

#20  Glenmore, thanks for allowing me to be pedantic, but U238 is reactive but to only very energetic neutrons. When an H-bomb explodes (US and Russian anyway), there is a casing of U238 surrounding the trigger and TN device to focus gammas on the TN pencil. The fission trigger emits high energy neutrons and they will cause the casing to detonate. Thus in US and Russian H-bombs there are three distinct spikes (fission-fusion-fission) that can be detected by high speed sensors.
[/pedantic mode]
TeeHee!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839   2009-08-25 17:28  

#19  Thanks, Glenmore.

Came back for the explanation, left satisfied.

Once got to rub an Abrams tank in a carrier vessel in the Baltic Sea; apparently their shields are also made of DU. No wonder it gets about 50 gallons to the mile.
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia   2009-08-25 16:44  

#18  Yah, but the Tort Litigators are in excellent health.

Remember the riots when ambulance chasers went for Bhopal money? That is not to deny legitimate compensation.
Posted by: Spanky Slamp9315   2009-08-25 16:22  

#17  Quick summary, Mizzou-
Uranium can occur in different isotopes (same number of protons, so all are Uranium, but different number of neutrons, so different atomic weights - 'isotopes'). U238 is the more common and more stable isotope, U235 is scarcer and much more unstable. Unstable is just what you want if you are trying to make a nuclear reaction, so we work very hard to separate the U235 from the original mixture of Uranium - that is, we 'enrich' it. What is left behind after we collect the U235 is U238 - Uranium 'depleted' of its reactive isotope. It won't make a nuclear reaction, it won't emit significant radiation, it's just a not-particularly-useful heavy metal.
It does have one notable use - for armor-penetrating ammo. It is very dense, so when you get it moving really fast it packs a real whallop.
As far as your observation that lead is the end product - well, yeah, it is an end product of the chain of radioactive decays, but not of U238, because it doesn't really decay.
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-08-25 16:06  

#16  Okay, so ... what IS depleted uranium.

Why isn't it called ... lead, which I believe uranium decays into?

/Genuinely curious
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia   2009-08-25 15:34  

#15  And don't forget your ceramic dental fillings!
Posted by: gorb   2009-08-25 14:47  

#14  Not mentioned is that cement sidewalks, streets and buildings are more radioactive that depleted uranium.

Posted by: Frozen Al   2009-08-25 11:18  

#13  I was in Basrah last year doing Civil Affairs work. Once the Iraqi Army cleared out a neighborhood, we'd follow in behind and spread some bucks around for removing debris, hauling away burned-out cars, etc. (Lest you think this a horrible waste, remember that the fewer wrecks in the road, the fewer places to hide IEDs).

We developed a good working relationship with the IA brigade commander and several local business leaders. One day we sit down and ask them about their priorities now that the Shia militias were gone. One of them trots out the "Your depleted uranium has caused many birth defects. You must give us money." So I ask them to bring me some of the kids who are suffering so that I can see. The gentlemen just smiled at me and changed the topic to what we could do about improving the sewer system.

In short, the Iraqis themselves probably don't believe this crap, but they know they have a decent shot of getting $$$ from some gullible graduate of the American public education system.
Posted by: Dreadnought   2009-08-25 10:21  

#12  Yeah yeah. Sure pal. Whatever you say...
Posted by: mojo   2009-08-25 10:14  

#11  Uranium is radioactive, albeit weakly. Here is an article from the World health Organization on depleted Uranium. If even WHO is not alarmed, why should anyone else be?
Posted by: Spot   2009-08-25 08:19  

#10  0.01%/year

Sorry, typo. That's 0.10%/year.
Posted by: ed   2009-08-25 08:19  

#9  Getting shot by it is harmful enough.
Posted by: Eric Jablow   2009-08-25 08:17  

#8  Although punching a hole in a body has the same effect with either element.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck   2009-08-25 08:16  

#7  Let's see. The US has 1.5M cancers each year or 0.50%/year. If Iraq had 140,000 over 6 years, that's 0.01%/year. So either the Iranians are lying their asses off again or DU is very, very good for you.
Posted by: ed   2009-08-25 08:16  

#6  As a heavy metal, it is toxic -- similar to though less toxic than lead. Appreciable exposures do cause kidney failure.
Posted by: Steve White   2009-08-25 08:06  

#5  "For one person we have one mine planted"

So, all you Iranians, go stand on your personal land mine.
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-08-25 07:58  

#4  Though depleted Uranium is not significantly radioactive, it is a heavy metal, and as such I would suspect it had some unhealthful effects. Doctor Pink Salmon - any comments on those potential effects?
Posted by: Glenmore   2009-08-25 07:57  

#3  We have 25 million mines in Iraq
And who planted them? The Allied troops tended to be mobile - you don't want to plant mines when you are moving around, cuz you might forget where you put them.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2009-08-25 07:28  

#2  But it doesn't become pure lead for a gazillion years.

Source: Press TV. Isn't that the Iranian mouthpiece?
Posted by: Bobby   2009-08-25 06:05  

#1  Except of course that it isn't radioactive ...

But, it's Uranium for gawd's sake! ;-)
Posted by: gorb   2009-08-25 02:57  

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