Friday, April 08, 2005

DU Death Toll Tops 11,000

"The 'malady [from DU] that thousands of our military have suffered and died from has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. . . . The terrible truth is now being revealed,' Bernklau said." (Via CP.)

I have to wonder if these "Support Our Troops" savants I see on a daily basis can even spell "depleted uranium." Have any of them campaigned against the military use of nuclear waste in Iraq -- which kills our own personnel as well as the brown-skinned people we're busy "liberating"?

If everyone with a yellow ribbon on his/her car would rally against the use of DU -- vocally and meaningfully -- thousands of lives might be saved. And maybe the true magnitude of the devastation we're inflicting might see the light of day. Of course, ultimately, "Supporting Our Troops" isn't about compassion at all, so I'm not holding my breath.

7 comments:

W.M. Bear said...

"Support Our Troops" doesn't mean support for our troops. It's code for "I voted for Bush."

Mac said...

You got that right.

Lyle762 said...

When you say: "thousands of our military have suffered and died" from depleted uranium (WOW look I CAN spell it), I would like to know exactly where you get this info from. Moreover what exactly is the danger DU poses?

Why would you think that the military would want to intentionally harm their members??

Just so you know, Depleted Uranium is NOT nuclear waste, it has a very low amount of residual radiation. If you watch much television, or play video games on a CRT (thats cathode RAY tube), and sit within 6 feet of the screen or suntan either naturally or in a tanning bed, you are absorbing more radiation than 99.5% of all soldiers are exposed to.

I tried to follow the link "DU Death Toll Tops 11,000", but it went nowhere, leading me to believe that its crap.

Instead try these links:

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/du.htm

Learn the facts before shooting off your mouth.

By the way I was an Aviation Ordinance Marine, handled 10s of thousands of rounds of DU. No ill effects......

PS: The support our troops BS is just that. "Code for I voted for Bush"... Good God!

Mac said...

"Just so you know, Depleted Uranium is NOT nuclear waste"

Depleted uranium is exactly and precisely nuclear waste by very definition.

"Why would you think that the military would want to intentionally harm their members??"

I never said they did and I don't think they do. DU makes great armor-piercing weapons. The problem is that a fraction of the stuff aerosolizes on impact, and soldiers inadvertantly inhale it.

The Pentagon seems to be willing to ignore the risk because of the tactical benefits -- a sort of Faustian pact.

"By the way I was an Aviation Ordinance Marine, handled 10s of thousands of rounds of DU. No ill effects......"

Yet.

Ever *breathe* the stuff?

Lyle762 said...

"I never said they did and I don't think they do. DU makes great armor-piercing weapons. The problem is that a fraction of the stuff aerosolizes on impact, and soldiers inadvertantly inhale it."

And because it is very heavy, MOST particles rapidly settle to the ground, so I suppose if you are lying face down in the dust you may inhale a small amount.

These people on the other hand had relatively large amounts of DU inside their bodies:

"Since 1993, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been
monitoring 33 vets who were seriously injured in friendly fire
incidents involving depleted uranium. These veterans are being
monitored at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. Many of these veterans continue to have medical problems, especially problems relating to the physical injuries they received during friendly fire incidents. About half of this group still have depleted uranium metal fragments in their bodies. Those with retained metal fragments have shown higher than normal levels of uranium in their urine since monitoring began in
1993. These veterans are being followed very carefully and a number of different medical tests are being done to determine if the depleted uranium fragments are causing any health problems.

The veterans being followed who were in friendly fire incidents but who do not have retained depleted uranium fragments, generally speaking, have not shown higher than normal levels of uranium in their urine.
(Though they would have HAD to inhale DU after the weapon strike.)

For the 33 veterans in the program, tests for kidney function have all been normal. In addition, the reproductive health of this group appears to be normal in that all babies fathered by these veterans between 1991 and 1997 had no birth defects."

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/docs/990503-du.htm

So I ask again, where do you acquire the info that states 11,000 people have died of DU poisoning. Or is this one of those things like the million Iraqis killed or is it 500,000 or 100,000?

Lyle762 said...

One other thing, by calling DU nuclear waste, you leave the impression of highly radioactive stuff. In reality DU has a very low amount of radiation.

Mac said...

"by calling DU nuclear waste"

It's not a matter of "calling" it nuclear waste; its *is* nuclear waste.

And while you are correct that its level of radioactivity is small compared to deadlier types of waste -- like the kind we bury in barrels in the ocean, where they can crack open when a tsunami hits -- it's still quite dangerous stuff.

Frankly, I find your need to apologize for the military's wanton use of DU at all costs a bit weird.