In article <bgi4lv$2qpe$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, FedUpWithUSGov't! says...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/072303I.shtml

Warning of Toxic Aftermath from Uranium Munitions
 By Anthony Cardinale
 The Buffalo News

 Tuesday 22 July 2003

 The American use of depleted uranium munitions in both Persian Gulf
wars has unleashed a toxic disaster that will eclipse the Agent Orange
tragedy of the Vietnam War, a former top Army official said Monday
evening.

 Former Maj. Douglas Rokke, who was director of the Army's depleted
uranium project, spoke to 125 people at the Buffalo & Erie County
Historical Society. The Champaign, Ill., science professor was brought
here by the Western New York Peace Center.

 "I am a warrior," the 54-year-old Vietnam War veteran began. "The
sole purpose of war is to kill and destroy. There are no winners."

 Dressed in sneakers, blue jeans and a red polo shirt, Rokke fit the
image of an animated science professor, hair tousled, adjusting his
glasses and eager to impart his findings to the next generation.

 If what he says is true, students will soon have yet another chapter
of heartbreaking history to study in the schools. If he is wrong, it
will take years to disprove.

 Called to active duty in 1990, Rokke said, he was assigned to
develop procedures for cleaning up uranium contamination after "they
decided to use depleted uranium munitions" in the war to expel Iraq

>from Kuwait.

 "They didn't tell anybody what they were doing. Why would they?
Depleted uranium munitions are the ultimate weapon. Each round fired
by an Abrams tank (represents) 10 pounds of solid uranium-238. The
purpose of war is to kill and destroy."

 Rokke said his team in the gulf blew up vehicles and structures with
these munitions and then tested the wreckage for radioactive
contamination. He said they found that uranium dust is so fine that it
acts like a gas, seeping through the tiny pores of protective masks.

 The United States blew up Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, in Kuwait and on the Saudi Arabian border in the
first gulf war, Rokke said. As a precaution, American personnel were
inoculated before entering the field, but "we were told not to record
it, and it's not in the soldiers' medical records."

 Uranium munitions were also used during the recent war in Iraq, he
added.

 "It's like playing darts," he said, "except you're playing with 10
pounds of solid uranium and it catches fire immediately. You lose
nearly 40 percent of the round in uranium dust. It contaminates air,
water and soil for all eternity."

 Rokke said an "infamous memo" from the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico on March 1, 1991, warned of the "impact on
the environment" of depleted uranium rounds and suggested that they
"may become politically unacceptable." Today he interprets the memo as
"a direct order to lie."

 The memo from Los Alamos - where the first atomic bombs were
developed and tested during World War II - prevented the military from
acknowledging the danger of these munitions, Rokke said.

 "The United States used 375 tons in Gulf War I," Rokke said. "My
orders were to take care of U.S. casualties and vehicles" that had
been hit by "friendly fire.'

 "Myself and my team members started to get sick almost immediately.
It started with respiratory problems, then rashes."

 But the procedures developed by his team were never implemented,
Rokke said, despite a military order of June 1991 to treat these
personnel. Recalling a wounded friend who suffered tumors where
uranium shrapnel had been left in his body, he said the authorities
found "no compelling evidence" of a connection and refused to
authorize removal of the shrapnel or special treatment.

 In his own case, Rokke added, his body has six times the amount of
uranium that usually requires medical care but has received no help or
advice from the government.

 "The technology of war is out of control," Rokke concluded. "We
don't have the ability to clean it up (or) treat it. I'm a warrior,
but my conclusion is that war is obsolete. A U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs report says over 221,000 of our sons and daughters
are on permanent disability and over 10,000 dead - one-third of our
Gulf War I force. And they're coming back sick right now."

) Copyright 2003 by TruthOut.org