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09/22/2004:
"Depleted Uranium, weapons of war - the Pandora's box"
The US is the largest single user of depleted uranium (DU) in weaponry. It is also the largest seller and exporter of depleted uranium weapon technology.DU is used in smart bombs, bunker busters, anti-tank weapons, and the tow missiles. All very highly effective. As we saw in Gulf War I, the US bunker buster bombs tipped with DU were penetrating concrete shielding up to 10 feet thick.
The bunker buster"s effectiveness is that it can penetrate and then explode - raising the destructiveness and a higher body count than convention bombs. Cruise missiles can penetrate deeper before the explosion happens. As an anti-tank weapon, rounds tipped with DU can penetrate the tank"s hull and then do its dirty deed.
Deplete Uranium is actually a misnomer. It is uranium, incredibly hard and a very dense metal, yes. But it is still very much radioactive. The US is quick to defend the use of DUs and scorns all scientific finds that indicate there might be serious lingering problems. Weapons using DU can be rightfully called a "dirty bomb". The US classifies a "dirty bomb" as an explosive device that permeates the surrounding area with radioactive/biological/chemical material. Such is the fears of the US homeland Security. The bomb itself is not the object of fear; it is the spread of the radioactive/biological/chemical material that encases the bomb that brings Homeland Security the night sweats.
In the mechanics of DU tipped weapons when the device explodes, the force of the blast breaks the DU tip into a cloud of dust that coats everything within the target, and as with all explosions, there is the dust and debris that is jettisoned outward - this includes the dust from the DU. As the dust settles, the contaminated material also settles to earth or becomes airborne and drifts to other parts of that country. Now we have radioactive material spreading over a large area.
The US has moved away from the term DU, and has come up with a more polite term of "dense metal" - but it is still DU and still a dirty bomb.
Full Article: Pravda
