[CPEO-MEF] Depleted uranium shells propaganda target by Iraqis

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Pittsburgh, PA
Depleted uranium shells propaganda target by Iraqis
Iraq pushes health concerns about shells
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
By Michael Woods, Post-Gazette National Bureau

WASHINGTON --Iraq has tried to manipulate world opinion in recent months
in an effort to prevent the United States from using its most effective
armor-penetrating shells, the kind that decimated the Iraqi tank fleet
in the Persian Gulf War, U.S. military officials say.

The Iraqi government has been highlighting potential health consequences
for civilians if U.S. forces use shells made with "depleted uranium,"
blamed for causing a variety of ailments after the Gulf War, according
to Col. James Naughton, director of munitions for the U.S. Army Materiel
Command.

U.S. forces have refused to do without DU shells in the Iraq war, but
one reason they hope to avoid major battles in Baghdad, Basra and other
urban centers is to avoid claims that they have endangered civilians by
using DU ammunition.

Depleted uranium is regarded as one of the 21st century's biggest
advances in military technology, said Naughton and Dr. Michael
Kilpatrick, a military expert on depleted uranium, at a Pentagon
briefing. Some 640,000 pounds of DU shells were fired during Operation
Desert Storm, mainly by tank-hunting Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts, Marine
Corps AV-8 Harriers and Abrams tanks.

DU is a very dense metal, 1.7 times heavier than lead. It is a byproduct
of manufacturing fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors and material
for nuclear weapons. Processing leaves it depleted of radioactivity,
hence its name. It is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium.

DU has an advantage over special steels and tungsten, previous mainstays
in antitank armor-piercing shells. Tips of bullets made from those
materials blunt and mushroom after they strike armor plate, reducing
penetration.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.post-gazette.com/World/20030326depleted0326p7.asp

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