Is an Armament Sickening U.S. Soldiers? [Latest anti-war angle w/ PC photos]

AOL News ^ | Aug. 12,2006 | DEBORAH HASTINGS

[yankeedame]

The veterans, using their positive results as evidence, have sued the U.S. Army, claiming...

And that about says it all, folks.

[Riley]

He's got an awfully full head of hair for someone who claims to have been exposed to a lot of radiation.

[defenderSD]

Chemical and biological weapons used by Iraq may have contributed to this man's illness, but depleted uranium is not a signifcant risk to health. We use depleted uranium for armor in the latest M1 tanks and Bradleys. The AP strikes out here as usual. The writer needs to start over again and do research into low levels of chemical and biological weapons used by Saddam on our troops.

[FReepaholic]

...The veterans, using their positive results as evidence, have sued the U.S. Army, claiming...
And that about says it all, folks.

I'm not following you here. Are you dismissing out of hand their claims of illness simply because they've brought suit against the Army?

[Tinian]

When Bush 41 used DU in the Gulf War it was deemed evil.

When Clinton used it in Kosovo it was deemed harmless. NPR had an interview with scientist who used a lump of it for a door stop. It was a long interview that concluded that DU was totally benign. ABC, NBC, CBS and many major papers ran stories debunking the myth that DU posed any dangers.

But that was when Bill Clinton was using it.

Now that Bush 43 is using it, its suddenly poison again. Isn't that convenient?

[tet68]

It is 60 percent as radioactive as natural uranium.

!!! JEEPERS !!!

[SnuffaBolshevik]

thousands of shells and hundreds of tanks coated with the metal

This shows that the person who wrote this doesn't have a clue about DU. They sure seem to have an agenda, though.

[MichiganConservative]

Not having a clue about what they write about never stopped a journalist before, why should it now? Journalists aren't really that bright, in general.

[Rapscallion]

Are you dismissing out of hand their claims of illness simply because they've brought suit against the Army?

The motivation is purely money (greed) not a return to good health.

[demkicker]

Chemical and biological weapons used by Iraq may have contributed to this man's illness, but depleted uranium is not a signifcant risk to health.

The AP strikes out here as usual. The writer needs to start over again and do research into low levels of chemical and biological weapons used by Saddam on our troops.

Let's all recognize this article for what it is: An attempt to harm and disgrace the U.S. military.

[Humidston]

Reed says he unknowingly breathed DU dust while living with his unit in Samawah, Iraq.

This thread is way too serious to say it.

Nope.

[wita]

Have a good friend with Gulf War Syndrome. He woke up in a hospital in Germany, 5 days after lights out in Iraq. After he could walk, he was retired medically, but that was by no means the end of his troubles. He figures he was gassed by the Iraqis

[mylife]

crikee! I have some at the house!

[Gondring]

hehehe...went through my head, too. :-)

[defenderSD]

Based on everything I've read on this subject, I believe Saddam used low levels of chemical and biological weapons on our soldiers in Gulf War I. That's why we hit the Republican Guard so hard during the middle of the ground war and that's why we bombed the entire convoy of Iraqi vehicles fleeing Kuwait (ending in the famous "Highway of Death"). According to a FReeper named The Dentist, we even dropped a fuel-air explosive on the Iraqis, which makes the biggest explosion possible without using a nuclear weapon. Bush 41 might have even nuked Iraq if the war had lasted longer, but I think by the time we figured out conclusively what chemicals Saddam had used on us, the war was already over and the chem/bio threat was gone.

[Chode]

just exactly what part of DEPLETED don't they understand???

[mylife]

Civilian applications for depleted uranium are fairly limited and are typically unrelated to its radioactive properties. It primarily finds application as ballast because of its high density. Such applications include sailboat keels, as counterweights and sinker bars in oil drills, gyroscope rotors, and in other places where there is a need to place a weight that occupies as little space as possible. Other relatively minor consumer product uses have included: incorporation into dental porcelain used for false teeth to simulate the fluorescence of natural teeth; and in uranium-bearing reagents used in chemistry laboratories.

Uranium was widely used as a coloring matter for porcelain and glass in the 19th century. The practice was believed to be a matter of history, however in 1999 concentrations of 10% depleted uranium were found in "jaune no.17" a yellow enamel powder that was being produced in France by Cristallerie de Saint-Paul, a manufacturer of enamel pigments. The depleted uranium used in the powder was sold by Cogéma's Pierrelatte facility. Cogema has since confirmed that it has made a decision to stop the sale of depleted uranium to producers of enamel and glass. [5]

DU is also used for shielding for radiation sources used in medical and industrial radiography.

[mylife]

I have a friend who also has GWS, he is currently in Afghanistan.
He thinks it may have been the toxic air from the burning oilfields

[blanknoone]

half-life of 4.5 billion years.

Meaning that greater than 99% of its radioactive potential has already expired, and for the ~1% that could split, any given atom has a 50% chance of splitting sometime in the next 4.5 billion years (or another way to think of this is that 50% of the ~1% left will split sometime in the next 4.5 billion years. In other words, a whole lotta nothin' has happened in the last ten years. Or another way of saying this is that it not siginficantly more radioactive than the dirt in your front lawn.

[Ken522]

Reed says he unknowingly breathed DU dust ...

DemocraticUnderground dust??