[OldFriend]

Given the very public information that X42 had used depleted uranium against the Serbs, is it all that unsusual that SH would wonder if we were using similar material against his country?

[jveritas]

That can be his public excuse but no one knows. It can be also they were worried about destroyed WMD hidden in their palaces. You remember that Saddam was willing to be bombed in 1998, and he was bombed indeed, so he will not let the UN WMD inspectors search the Presidential Palaces.

[thoughtomator]

The tests for biological seem to make that an unlikely explanation.

[FreedomPoster]

Do you have any idea whatsoever in what sort of munitions DU is used? Or are you just running on media hysteria with that?

[Straight Vermonter]

DU is not very radioactive.

And Dr. Frank von Hippel of Princeton University has concluded that even if a ton of depleted uranium dust were spread all over Kosovo, the resulting radiation level would be within one one-hundredth of 1 percent of the normal level. In fact, the health risk from radiation emitted from depleted uranium is so low that it is used in radiation shielding for hospitals.

Source

[Enchante]

I believe that DU is only used for armor-penetrating rounds such as on the A-10's GAU-8/A, not for any kind of explosive bombs that I've ever heard of (it's purpose is to enable dynamic armor-piercing rounds to penetrate metal better). As such, DU is totally irrelevant to this discussion as far as I can tell (I'm no expert but my dad used to work with the A-10 as an Aeronautical Engineer for Republic Fairchild - I'll try to get more info from him).

The Navy and Army also have some DU munitions, but certainly not in the kinds of weapons that would have been used from the air against Saddam's presidential sites in the attacks in question.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/du.htm