Why Weapons Containing Depleted Uranium Are Illegal

[G_j]

www.bringthemhomenow.org/what/latest.html

A Bring Them Home Now! Special Report:

Why Weapons Containing Depleted Uranium Are Illegal

by Karen Parker, J.D.

There are two ways to determine if the use of a particular weapon in military operations is illegal. The easiest way is if the weapon is used in violation of a treaty that forbids its use and the State using it is a party to that treaty. If there is no treaty on a specific weapon, then one must determine if the use of that weapon would violate existing rules and principles of binding humanitarian (armed conflict) law. Under these rules (the "weapons test") derived from The Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions, and all other sources of military law, a weapon may be banned if: (1) it has harmful effects outside the legal field of battle (the "geography" test); (2) it has harmful effects after the war is over (the "time" test); (3) its use is unduly inhuman or causes undue suffering (the "humaneness" test); or (4) it has a harmful effect on the environment (the "environment" test). The first two tests arise from the requirement that weapons may not be indiscriminate. Because there is no specific weapon treaty forbidding the use of depleted uranium, the illegality of DU must be shown by the second method.

Weaponry containing depleted uranium (DU) fails all four tests. It is indiscriminate in geography as the effects of DU weapons cannot be contained to the legal military targets. Instead is air-born far afield of legal targets to illegal (civilian) targets: hospitals, schools, civilian dwellings and even neighboring countries with which the user is not at war. DU weapons are indiscriminate in time, and cannot be "turned off" when the war is over.

Even with rigorous clean-up of war zones, the air-born particles have a half life of billions of years and can keep killing and injuring former combatants and non-combatants long after the war is over. DU weapons "kill" in inhumane ways, causing cancers, kidney problems, eye problems, lung diseases, and according to the medical researchers who have investigated it, many other serious conditions. Additionally, DU weapons cause disabilities in the children of those exposed; cranial-facial anomalies, missing limbs, grossly deformed and non-viable infants and the like, so in this sense are tetragenic. As these conditions can occur to non-combatants or may arise long after military operations have concluded, DU weapons are necessarily inhumane. The tetragenic nature of DU weapons raises the possibility of a genocidal effect. Finally, DU weapons unduly contaminate the natural environment, including water and agricultural land necessary for the subsistence of the civilian population for beyond the lifetime of that population.
...more...

from, www.bringthemhomenow.org
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[LittleApple81]

1. Oh Humanity! forgive us for being part of those doing this to the world!

n/t

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

2. How Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU Weapons

http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/mettoc.htm

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

3. Depleted Uranium: The War Against Ourselves

http://www.yesmagazine.org/25environmentandhealth/rokke.htm

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

4. Depleted Uranium, Babies, and Iraq

http://csf.colorado.edu/envtecsoc/2001/msg00624.html

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

5. EXTREME BIRTH DEFORMITIES

http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/extremedeformities.html

EXTREME BIRTH DEFORMITIES
"Unborn children of the region are being asked to pay the highest price, the integrity of their DNA."

- Ross B. Mirkarimi, The Arms Control Research Centre, from his report: ‘The Environmental and Human Health Impacts of the Gulf Region with Special Reference to Iraq.’ May 1992

[G_j]

6. IRAQ: Experts Warn of Radioactive Battlefields

http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/NewsArticle.cfm?NewsID=627
Katherine Stapp, Interpress Service News Agency
09/12/2003

NEW YORK, Sep 12 (IPS) - Concerns are growing about the presence of depleted uranium and other toxins in Iraq following a rash of illnesses among U.S. troops and the discovery by a reporter that radiation levels in parts of Baghdad are extremely elevated.

So far, according to figures obtained by the 'Washington Post', more than 6,000 soldiers have been pulled out of Iraq for medical reasons since the start of the war. About 1,400 of them were injured in combat or non-combat incidents, such as vehicle accidents, meaning the majority were evacuated for various physical or psychological illnesses.

No further breakdown has been released. In July, the U.S. Army announced that two soldiers had died of severe pneumonia and more than 100 were hospitalised for the illness. The deaths are still being investigated
<snip>

These fears were heightened when a correspondent for the 'Christian Science Monitor' took a Geiger counter to parts of Baghdad that had been subjected to heavy shelling by U.S. troops. He found radiation levels 1,000 to 1,900 times higher than normal in residential areas where children were playing nearby.
One explanation is the presence of depleted uranium (DU), the trace element left over when uranium is enriched and the most radioactive types have been removed for use as nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. DU munitions vaporise on contact, dispersing particles over wide areas, where they settle as dust that can be inhaled or ingested.
<snip>
www.nuclearpolicy.org

[dfong63]

7. someone needs to ask Clark whether he'd support a ban on DU munitions

[FubarFly]

9. As of Spring 2001, Clark doesn't view DU as a problem.

http://www.digitalnpq.org/archive/2001_spring/little_risk.html

[dfong63]

11. thanks, that is very disturbing.

it's getting harder and harder for me to accept Clark even as an ABB candidate. he's either shockingly ignorant on this issue, or he's a liar. read the whole article, folks.

[IranianDemocrat]

12. For the record.

Dfong is just completely anti-military which ruins his credibility.

[G_j]

13. I'm hoping someone will ask

all the candidates about their stand on depleted uranium and 'small scale nukes' also.

[Loyal]

8. poor soldiers

:( And the Iraqi civilians too.

[leanings]

10. Up this pops again

DU has NOT been linked to any problems caused by radioactivity in studies conducted by the WHO, the Italian government, and Rand. DU particles are toxic, yes, especially when DU burns. So is everything else on the battlefield. Far more contamination and health problems are linked to the burning petroleum, oil and lubricants on the armored vehicles DU is used to destroy.

[MadHound]

14. Somewhat disingenous there leanings

Since the radiation DU emmits is very low level, and mostly alpha and beta waves, it is of little danger if you stand next to it for an hour or so. However if you inhale or ingest any particle of it then you can have major health problems. Alpha waves are blocked by the skin, beta waves by thick clothing. But once an emmitter is inside you there is nothing to block either alpha or beta waves. And while a particle of DU doesn't emit much, when it is inside you, especially your lungs, and localized, then even a small amount of radiation can play havoc with your health. No, you won't have external symptoms of radiation poisoning, but various virulent cancers are a definite possiblity, along with odd lung diseases etc.

The way the we are using DU converts chuncks of DU into large amounts of powder, dust and particles. This is the worst form that it can be in, for then it can easily be inhaled or ingested. With the large amounts of munitions that are DU tipped, we well into the process of creating a toxic wasteland. And DU is the gift that keeps on giving. With a half-life measured in the hundreds and thousands of years. Merry Christmas 3003!

There is another danger to consider with DU, the chemical danger. Like any other heavy metal, DU is toxic. Ingestion and inhalation can lead to both kidney and liver damage.

Yes, I agree, burning petroleum and other assorted materials are a hazard to our troops and Iraqi civilians. But due to it's insideous nature and long half life, DU should top the charts as the haz mat threat in Iraq. Unfortunately we are being fed BS and lies by the administration, while people continue to sicken and die.

[G_j]

15. as somone whose parents both worked at the Hanford nuclear plant

and who both died of lung cancer, I thank you for pointing out what breathing even the smallest amounts of radioactive particles can do.

[Llewlladdwr]

16. What a load of crap.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/

[G_j]

17. And I suppose that's the final word?

not all the 'experts' are in agreement with the WHO on this.