[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?

[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.

[Belasarius]

I would dismiss his claims because DU is not as hazardous as he claims. We have been using DU for years. Is there no DU used at all on the tank and aircraft gunnery ranges in the states?

Another thing. All those Iraqi tanks used radium in their gauges. Some of them also had radiation detectors inside which also contain a radioactive source.

"The AMCCOM personnel also surveyed captured Iraqi equipment being prepared for shipment to the US. According to the person in charge of the survey operation, the most acute radiological hazard on these Soviet-built tanks was radium used in their gauges, which were often leaking. These gauges had to be removed prior to shipping. One T-72 tank had substantial internal and external DU contamination.[103] It was not shipped, but its ultimate fate is unknown.[104] "

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du/du_tabg.htm

The anti-DU crowd want you to assume that any radiation present is a result of DU when it's not.

The other thing the author is using as a scare line is the fact that DU is 60% as radioactive as natural uranium. What do people do who live where they mine uranium? I see that as a plus. I worked around the stuff for ten years. I don't believe I ever got "dusted."

The army also identified about 120 people who had significant exposure to DU. They are being tracked. How many of these guys have developed problems? They worked extensively around these destroyed vehicles. If somebody was going to get sick what about these guys? It would certainly be more likely that these guys would experience a problem than somebody who passed through or camped in an area.

Here is the real word on DU in the gulf.

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du/

[yankeedame]

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?

No,no,no...sorry if I gave that impression.

When I read the line about them getting lawyers to sue the Army the word that jumped out at me was lawyers. Who, as we all know, are masters at setting the stage before they go in for the $$$ kill. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if this article was a plant (one of many) and the writer a stooge (ditto) for the lawyers on this.