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I am enclosing information about the use of depleted uranium during the Gulf War. This part of an investigative project that we are doing at The Edge. As well as summarising a lot of the existing information on DU, we have also gained new information from our visits to Iraq. Last May, during my visit to Iraq, I spoke to a number of doctors and environmentalists concerned about the possible hazards of DU weapons. These individuals are part of the Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement, who are attempting to investigate the possible effects of DU in Iraq.

As you will see, some of the information forms part of our current exhibition at The Edge, From Nuclear Bombs to Nuclear Bullets. The exhibition also features the work of Carole Gallagher, who has documented the effects of the US nuclear weapons testing program on the population of Utah.

Our part of the exhibition marks the beginning of our project to find out more about the testing, combat use, and possible health hazards of DU weapons. The exhibition will be added to as we get new information to present. We are also building up a collection of source documents and reports relating to DU. The possible hazards of DU use are a matter of considerable controversy - I would appreciate your comments on what we have managed to find out so far.

The next part of the project is to organise a symposium on the use of DU with doctors, scientists, environmentalists, and journalists in Britain. We plan to invite the Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement to contribute to the symposium. We believe that the hazards of DU can only be evaluated by free discussion and debate amongst scientists and doctors. Iraq's international isolation and the UN blockade is preventing that.

Other plans for the project include getting a filmed documentary on DU made, and the possibility of editing a book about DU, with contributions from other researchers, journalists, doctors, and environmental scientists to supplement our own work. We are also planningto put this information, as well as other details about the effects of sanctions on Iraq onto the Internet. Initially we plan to put our exhibitions about Iraq and the Gulf War, along with related material on the World Wide Web. Photographs and text can be shown, along with links to other parts of the Internet that are of interest.

We do not just want to record our exhibitions however. The Internet can also be used to link with other photography and documentary galleries across the world, to conduct further research on issues that we are working on, to initiate discussion and debate our work.

I hope that you are able to join The Edge in taking this important work further. I am very keen to hear of any information on DU you may be able to offer, such as further reports and documentation.

In particular, we want as many people as possible to be involved in the symposium we are planning. If thereis any way you can help - suggesting others to contact, helping with fundraising, publicising the symposium - please let me know. I would also urge you to work with The Edge to bring the documentary and book projects to fruition.

Note: If anyone has difficulty reading the attached files, please let me know. I look forward to hearing your input on this important matter. - Rania

The Edge Gallery is working on a documentary project about the use and effects of depleted uranium (DU) weapons. These new generation of anti-tank shells are made from the waste product of the nuclear industry, yet Britain and America have defined DU as a conventional firearm. The use of DU in weapons which can be spread around the test ranges and battlefields of the world is an ingenious solution to the nuclear industry's paralysing problem of what to do with nuclear waste. By any criteria they fit the definition of a chemical and radiological weapon. In Britain and America when DU is produced as a by-product of uranium enrichment it is classified as nuclear waste, yet as a weapon it becomes 'conventional'. Operation Desert Storm was promoted as a 'clean' war on the allied side yet these highly toxic and radioactive 'nuclear bullets' were used by the British and American armies. The Gulf War was the first opportunity that the US and British forces had to test their DU weapons in combat conditions. They have contaminated Iraq's soil and water table with toxic and carcinogenic dust that will last 4,500 million years. The dust released from these uranium tipped shells as they explode causes genetic damage and has been linked to rises in childhood cancers in Iraq since the Gulf War. The population of Iraq has never been informed of the hazard, nor offered compensation or measures to protect themselves. Britain and America have continued to cloak the development of these weapons and their hazardous nature in secrecy, and the facts about the impact of depleted uranium shells in Iraq remain hidden behind the system of United Nations sanctions which continue to cut off Iraq from the rest of the world.

We have collected documents and accounts from Gulf War veterans, doctors,scientists, and environmentalists from America, Holland, Iraq and Britain. We have made two field trips to Iraq to gather information. We are extending this exhibition by creating a Web page that brings together our work and that of people abroad. This presentation, the information we have collected, and the new material we are gathering will be put onto the Internet for international use.

The Edge gallery are also inviting the Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement to Britain, for a symposium to highlight the consequences of using DU weapons. Under UN sanctions it is difficult to accurately assess the extent of DU contamination and it's effects, let alone do anything about it. The pariah status of Iraq means that the findings of Iraqi doctors are never discussed, and remain within the country. In turn they have little access to international medical debate and innovation. The hazards of DU can only be evaluated by free discussion and debate amongst scientists and doctors. Iraq's international isolation and the United Nations sanctions on the country are preventing that. We welcome any assistance to our ongoing work on this subject.

The armour piercing capacity of DU munitions proved to be spectacularly successful in the Gulf War. USA- 10 'tankbuster' pilots who fired DU bullets on Iraqi tanks during the Gulf War called it 'plinking' - slang for shooting tin cans. The two main anti-tank weapons made of DU are the 120mm cannon shell used by the US armies M1A1 Abrams tank, and 30mm bullets used by A-10 anti-tank aircraft. DU weapons are also used by Britain's Challenger tank, and the US and British navies' Phalanx gun systems.

DU is two and a half times denser than steel and a DU projectile provides maximum penetrative power because it concentrates phenomenal mass onto a single point. On penetrating a tank or armoured vehicle, as James Ridgeway of The Village Voice explains, a DU shell 'bursts into flame and all but liquifies, searing through armour like a white hot phosphorescent flare. The heat of the shell causes any diesel vapours in the enemy tank to explode, and the crew inside is burnt alive'. DU weapons are also cheap to manufacture - the DU waste from the uranium enrichment process waste is practically given away to munitions manufacturers by the US Department of Energy.

In addition to its immediate destructive effects DU also creates long-term health problems. DU explosions create microscopic airborne particles which can spread across kilometre-wide areas. They are sufficiently soluble to contaminate soil, groundwater and surface water. When ingested DU accumulates in the bones and kidneys and like lead is permanently deposited. It causes irreversible damage to the kidneys and the growth of tumours. DU crosses the placenta during pregnancy - children are particularly vulnerable to it's toxic effects because their cells are dividing rapidly as they grow. When inhaled toxic and radioactive particles are trapped permanently in the lungs increasing the risk of cancer.

Interview with Dr. Layth Al-Kassab, President of the Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement. Dr. Layth Al-Kassab PhD. is an environmental engineer. In 1981 he joined the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). He was head of their regional body, covering the six Gulf states, Iraq and Iran, charged with protecting the marine life of the Gulf. After the Gulf War, he was part of the UNEP delegation of August 1991 that provided a rapid assessment of the effect of the war on the environment. He was author of Part 1 of their report, September 1991, covering Iraq. This section of the report was never published by the UN, although parts 2 and 3, on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, have been published. 'This report was stopped deliberately... by the UN itself' he told us. In June 1994 he wrote the Environmental Study of the Republic of Iraq for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This report has been published, a copy of which is available at The Edge.

'We have never been told that radiological weapons were used during the Gulf conflict. We only found out by reading reports in the foreign press - The Independent from Britain, an article by Eric Hoskins in the New York Times, and in the Harvard Study Team's report of public health after the Gulf War. We established a survey team at the beginning of 1993. But during 1993 we found no proof. We were interested in the road between Kuwait and Safwan, which was heavily attacked in the last 3 days of the conflict. But in fact most of the destroyed tanks were in Kuwait. It's hard to find where contaminated material could be found, after the war we moved the destroyed tanks and cleared a lot of the battlefield debris. At this time the Deputy Minister of Information in Kuwait announced that they had found DU shells. It was conveyed on the Middle East broadcasting agency. Then 2 weeks later he denied it. Although we hadn't found any proof of DU use, we knew that there was a problem that must have something to do with the war. Doctors were reporting seeing many new, strange diseases - especially in children. There was also a sharp rise in defects in sheep. Leukemia used to be the seventh most common cancer, in 1989. In 1993 it had become the fourth highest cancer. In September and October 1994 we looked again for DU. This time we looked in areas where there had been Republican Guard battles. This was further west than the main front-line battles. We found contaminated Iraqi tanks and unexploded DU rounds. Samples from destroyed tanks and armour were taken and analysed - they were found positive. We found DU bullets near an oil pumping station by the border with Saudi Arabia, and on the Iraqi side of the Demilitarised Zone. We now had proof that DU had been used during the war. No-one knows what the effect of these weapons are - when you fire one bullet, and when you fire 940,000 bullets on one road in three days, that's something different. In a battlefield, people are running around, everything is confused, inhaling this radioactive material. It is difficult to find a specific group who may be effected - the troops who fought in the war have now returned back into the civilian population. The soldiers of today did not fight in the war. Recently, your MP, [Sir] David Steel, sent a letter to The Ministry of Defence about the use of DU. He got a reply which says the British used 80 rounds. This is the first time they have admitted its use. We don't know what has been used, or where. If the [US] Department of Defense, or the Ministry of Defence told us, then we could begin to identify the problem. At the moment we just don't know.'

Collecting hard statistical evidence in Iraq has become increasingly difficult under sanctions. Health studies are made harder still by the fact that far fewer people seek medical care than before the war, when there was 97% urban and 70% rural access to modern healthcare. Today, sanctions have brought the healthcare system to the point of collapse. Nevertheless, Iraqi doctors have published medical studies which record a rise in cases of childhood cancers, birth defects and abnormalities, and increases in male infertility - especially in the contaminated south of Iraq. Dr. Selma Al-Taha is a Consultant Geneticist. The genetic clinic she works at, in Saddam Medical City, Baghdad, was set up in 1986 for people suffering malformations and genetic diseases. But, in fact patients with any malformations are often initially referred here. 'After the war we noticed two things, firstly that although we were receiving fewer patients we still had an increasing numbers of malformations and genetic disease. We were also s eeing the appearance of new cases, not seen before the war. Students, from Basra teaching centre, preparing paediatric dissertations were investigating malformations in the south of the country. They also noted an increase in these malformations. I prepared a paper which compared pre-war studies with post war studies. We also went back to the patients registries - despite the lower attendance at clinics today for non-medical reasons. My paper confirmed the students findings - there has been an increase in malformations since the war. Many of the new malformations, are defects in limbs [phocomelia]. These kind of cases were reported in the early 50's, as a result of pregnant women taking Thalidomide. But we hadn't seen cases since then. Since the war we are seeing these patients, but we cannot be sure why. We don't know what they have dropped on us - we are suspicious of everything now, wether it's the environment, our water, air, or earth.'

Another study by Dr. Barnouti and Dr Al-Tawil has identified a significant increase in seminal fluid abnormalities in a group of patients tested at their clinic before and after the war. We spoke to Dr. Al-Tawil to ask him if further medical studies were planned.

'There are many problems conducting a study into the long- term health effects of the war. We have no figures from the northern three governorates, which are out of central government control. There have been big population shifts since the war - many people from Basra have moved to Kerbala and Najav. The effect of sanctions means that it is very difficult to collect reliable figures. We have done a cross-sectional study - it is a snapshot of the incidence of diseases by comparing figures before and after the war - we started collecting data in 1993. Despite the lack of the north we are still seeing sharp increases in disease compared to before the war. We need to do a prospective study - to compare a group that have been exposed to these weapons and a group that have not been exposed. You then follow these groups for at least two years, assess who has what. This requires a lot of time and money, and we simply don't have the resources to do this, never mind overcome the obstacles thrown up by the war. We are hoping to do a case control study. This involves studying cases that are available - to go back through their history to find out if they were exposed or not, and compare to a control group. But still, resources are hard to find.'

There have also been increases in reported cases of leukemia. In Basra province for instance, in the south of the country where DU contamination has been found, leukemia rates have risen by 56%, according to a study by Dr. Muna Elhassani of the Iraqi Cancer Registry. Severe shortages in cytotoxic and most other drugs hampers the treatment of victims of leukemia and other cancers.

The Gulf War was promoted as a 'clean' war on the allied side yet highly toxic and radioactive 'nuclear bullets' were used by the British and American armies. These weapons are made with depleted uranium (DU), the waste product from the nuclear industry. They are a new generation of anti-tank shells.

Depleted uranium (DU) is two and a half times denser than steel, and one and a half times denser than lead. The density of DU makes it possible to have a smaller bullet with the same mass as before but with less air-drag, so giving a higher velocity and extended range. A DU projectile provides maximum penetrative power because it concentrates phenomenal weight onto a single point. It's armour piercing capacity was amply demonstrated during the Gulf War.

The two main anti-tank weapons made of DU are the 120mm cannon shell used by the US armies M1A1 Abrams tank, and 30mm bullets used by A-10 anti-tank aircraft. DU weapons are also used by Britain's Challenger tank, and the US and British navies' Phalanx gun systems. Depleted uranium is the waste product from the uranium enrichment process when producing reactor fuel and nuclear warheads. The stockpiles of DU built up by the nuclear industry provide cheap material for munitions production, whilst sparing the nuclear industry the headache and expense of long-term storage. Instead they are able to dump their nuclear waste on another country during wartime. DU weapons are also cheap to manufacture. The DU waste is practically given away to munitions manufacturers. The American Department of Energy says it 'is seeking expressions of interest from firms which would be interested in acquiring , at no cost for the material, depleted and normal uranium... that could be useful in other applications' 1 DU is both toxic and radioactive. In the United States, community and environmental groups have campaigned against facilities to manufacture and test DU weapons since the early eighties. The first use of DU weapons in combat during the Gulf War have raised fears about the long term health and environmental damage caused by DU in the Gulf region. What is Depleted Uranium ?

Naturally occurring Uranium is almost useless for industrial and military purposes because it contains only 0.7% of the fissionable U-235 isotope. Nuclear fuel requires about 3-4% of U-235, and weapons grade uranium requires a much higher content of U-235 - up to 90%. During the process of extracting the fissionable U-235 isotope, a large amount of waste is produced. This is depleted uranium, which has only a trace of U-235 left. It is 99.7% non-fissionable U-238. About 5-10 kg. of DU is produced for every 1 kg of low enriched uranium for nuclear power plants. Whilst less radioactive than natural uranium, it is pyrophoric (capable of igniting spontaneously) and of exceptional density. For decades scientists have debated what to do with this nuclear waste - it has been suggested that it should be sent into space or buried at the bottom of the sea. Current plans are to put DU into deep underground storage, such as the controversial NIREX dump at Sellafield. The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics notes 'new uses a re being found for depleted uranium... uranium and it's compounds are highly toxic, from both a chemical and radiological standpoint.'2 According to one writer, the use of DU in weapons which can be spread around the test ranges and battlefields of the world is, 'an ingenious solution to the nuclear industry's paralysing problem of what to do with nuclear waste'3.

In 1978, as America and Russia were meeting to negotiate a ban on radiological weapons of mass destruction, officials in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency said that depleted uranium (DU) bullets 'would not be radioactive enough to be considered a 'radiological' weapon.4 The US military has often claimed that DU is harmless and classifies DU weapons as 'conventional'. Yet Leonard Dietz, a former scientist at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in New York state says 'Contrast this belief with the fact that DU, or for that matter any uranium, in scientific laboratories is handled as a radiological and toxic material, yet is strewn about and exposed on the battlefield in a totally uncontrolled and irresponsible fashion.'5 Why is DU defined as conventional? By any criteria it fits the definition of a chemical and radiological weapon. In Britain and America when DU is produced as a by-product of uranium enrichment it is classified as nuclear waste. When it is turned into a bullet and fired at Iraq it becomes 'conventional'.

DU munitions proved to be spectacularly successful in the Gulf War. US A-10 'tankbuster' pilots who fired DU bullets on Iraqi tanks during the Gulf War called it 'plinking' - slang for shooting tin cans. A DU shell leaves the muzzle of a tank at over 5 times the speed of sound. This is double the range of conventional modern anti-tank guns. In one report during the Gulf War, three Iraqi tanks were destroyed at over 3000m. A captured Iraqi lieutenant exclaimed 'No tank exists that can kill a tank at that range!'. In fact, one British tank kill occurred at a range of 5100m, and in another incident, a DU shell penetrated one Iraqi T-72 tank, passing straight through to destroy it's neighbour.6 On penetrating a tank or armoured vehicle a DU shell 'bursts into flame and all but liquefies, searing through armour like a white hot phosphorescent flare. The heat of the shell causes any diesel vapours in the enemy tank to explode, and the crew inside is burnt alive'.7 How much depleted uranium was used may never be know n but it has been estimated that the Allies fired between 5,000 - 6,000 DU tank rounds and 940,000 bullets from aircraft such as the A10.8 A secret report by Britain's Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) , revealed by The Independent, estimated that the Allies had left at least 40 tonnes of DU, enough to cause '500,000 potential deaths'. Whilst stressing that this was only a theoretical figure, they say that the sheer volume of DU left in Kuwait and Iraq 'indicates a significant problem'. The report explains that 'There will be specific areas in which many rounds have been fired where localised contamination of vehicles and soil may exceed permissible limits and these could be hazardous to both clean up teams and the local population. Furthermore, if DU gets into the food chain or water this will create potential health problems'9. Using documents obtained under the American Freedom of Information Act, American Greenpeace estimate that there are over 300 tons of DU left in northern Kuwait and southern Iraq10, whil st the LAKA Foundation of Amsterdam sets the figure at 700 tons.11 It is claimed the dust released from these uranium tipped shells as they explode causes genetic damage. DU contamination has been linked to rises in childhood cancers in Iraq since the Gulf War. The population of Iraq has never been informed of the hazard, nor offered compensation or measures to protect themselves.

Environmental and community groups in the United States have been campaigning for the closure of DU facilities. In the early 1980's a DU munitions manufacturer, National Lead Industries of Colonie, New York was closed down by the state government. Citizens Concerned about NL had organised community action to get the plant closed down. As well as contamination of local land and it's own workers, airborne emissions of DU particles had been found over 26 miles away. Nuclear Metals Incorporated (NMI), in Concord, Massachusetts, is one of the largest DU weapons manufacturers. It is currently licensed to possess 3300 tons of DU. In April 1991 Citizens Concerned about NMI asked Radioactive Waste Management Associates to study the health and safety impact on the local population around the plant. Past operations at MNI had led to contamination of both surface and groundwater sources. Radioactive Waste Management Associates concluded that probability of cancer near the NMI facility could expected to be higher due to in halation of uranium. The AuSable Manistee Action Council (AMAC) has been trying to determine the level of contamination at a firing range used by A-10 aircraft at Camp Grayling, Michigan. They have not yet received a reply to their concerns from the state government. Citizen Alert, a Nevada environmental group, who have helped to produce the valuable report Uranium Battlefields Home and Abroad: Depleted Uranium Use by US Department of Defense have campaigned against the awarding of a licence to Nellis Air Force Base, in southern Nevada, to use DU weapons. Home on the Range Inc. a citizens group protesting at the expansion of military airspace in North Carolina forced the US Marine Corps to admit that between 1982 and 1986 over 300,000 30mm DU rounds had been expended in North Carolina alone. Other DU munitions plants in Ohio and Oklahoma have been scheduled for shutdown following community protests at release of DU contamination.12

Leonard Dietz, retired scientist, has estimated the radiation dose from a depleted uranium oxide particle in the lung as being 170 rem per year.13 This dosage from a 2.5 micrometers diameter particle - small enough to be passed into the lung - is 34 times the maximum permissible dose for radiation workers and 100 times the permitted dose for the general population. The dosage from a 5 micrometer diameter particle - still small enough to be inhaled - is 1360 rem, 272 times the maximum permissible dose for a radiation worker. He notes that 'Until these doses can be related to a cancer risk factor, they must be viewed as qualitative indicators of danger, as red flags... the younger the person exposed to alpha particle radiation, the greater the risk that cancer will develop.' In both 1987 and 1990, the US Army issued guidelines on the handling of DU munitions and DU contaminated vehicles. It includes instructions to fire-fighters that they must wear 'self contained breathing apparatus, protective clothing, and gloves when approaching a burning tank... to approach the tank it should be upwind of any smoke coming from the tank''14 No such guidelines have been passed to Iraq. (see DU use during the Gulf War) In July 1992, Professor Gunter of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, brought back to Germany a DU shell he had found in Iraq. He was arrested and accused of 'illegally releasing ionising radiation'. The radioactivity of the shell was confirmed by two laboratories, and it was sealed in a lead lined box. There are no lead lined boxes for the people of Iraq and Kuwait.

As well as the dangers from direct exposure to DU explosions there are long term health risks associated with the radiation and, in particular, the toxicity of depleted uranium. DU explosions create microscopic airborne particles which can spread across kilometre-wide areas. These particles are small enough to be inhaled and enter the lung. DU is also sufficiently soluble to contaminate soil, groundwater and surface water. When inhaled, tiny DU particles can lodge in the lung, causing cancers. 'Unlike an X-ray, which provides a brief exposure, the radiation from uranium continues to assault the body's cells and their nuclei'.15 When ingested DU accumulates in the bones and kidneys and like lead is permanently deposited. It causes irreversible damage to the kidneys and the growth of tumours. DU crosses the placenta during pregnancy - foetuses are particularly vulnerable to it's toxic effects because their cells are dividing rapidly as they grow. In May 1991 the US Defence Department admitted that the military u se of DU results in 'the potential to cause adverse impacts on human health, primarily through the water pathway.'16

The Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement (ISEPI) has verified the presence of DU contamination in the south of Iraq. They are trying to establish the long term health and environmental consequences of the Gulf War on Iraq. Collecting hard statistical evidence in Iraq has become increasingly difficult under sanctions. Health studies are made harder still by the fact that far fewer people seek medical care than before the war, when there was 97% urban and 70% rural access to modern healthcare.17 Today, sanctions have brought the healthcare system to the point of collapse. Nevertheless, there are published medical studies which record a rise in cases of childhood cancers, birth defects and abnormalities, and increases in male infertility - especially in the contaminated south of Iraq.

Dr. Selma Al-Taha, Consultant Geneticist at the University of Baghdad, says 'Limb reductional abnormalities [phocomelia - abnormalities which used to associated with Thalidomide] have not been recorded in the pre-war studies, but this study, as well as others, in 1994, have shown the occurrence of such cases in their results.'18 Her study, of babies up to 2 years old, shows an increase in genetic abnormalities in patients referred to the only two genetic clinics in Iraq. There have also been increases in reported cases of leukaemia. In Basra province for instance, in the south of the country where DU contamination has been found, leukaemia rates have risen by 56%, according to a study by Dr. Muna Elhassani of the Iraqi Cancer Registry. Another study by Dr. Barnouti and Dr Al-Tawil has identified a significant increase in seminal fluid abnormalities in a group of patients tested at their clinic before and after the war.

Britain and America have continued to suppress information about the development of these weapons and their hazardous nature. In particular, the facts about the effect of depleted uranium shells in Iraq remain hidden behind the system of United Nations sanctions which continue to cut off Iraq from the rest of the world. The dangers arising from the use of DU weapons are a matter of controversy. The Edge gallery are inviting the Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement to Britain, for a symposium to highlight the consequences of using DU. The hazards of DU can only be evaluated by free discussion and debate amongst scientists and doctors. Iraq's international isolation and the United Nations sanctions on the country are preventing that.

The use of DU weapons for the first time in combat proved to the allies how effective they were. One US military officer has said 'Desert Storm was a great advertisement for the DU penetrator'19. As a result the allied armies are stocking up on their DU weaponry. Shortly after the Gulf War one DU weapons manufacturer wrote to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission urgently seeking new supplies of DU : 'Aerojet produces 105mm and 120mm penetrators... delivered to the US Army to replace ammunition expended during Desert Storm. We are currently working around the clock, seven days per week, to fulfil US Army requirements for penetrators on these programs.' 20 Leonard Dietz writes: I believe it is accurate to say that the DU penetrator is the most significant battlefield weapon developed since the machine gun and its widespread use with devastating results to infantry soldiers during World War 1. Similarly, DU penetrators have revolutionised modern land warfare, which relies heavily on large numbers of tanks and armoured vehicles. The mechanised armies of all third-world nations now are potential scrap iron'21 DU weapons have become increasingly popular with Western armies. The International Defence Review reports that 'following a lead first set up by the US in the mid- 70's, the British, French and Russian development communities are becoming progressively more wedded to DU, though the Germans and Israelis have elected to stay firmly out.' 22

1 US Department of Energy, Potential Availability of Normal and Depleted Uranium, DP-273, Surplus Property Sales, March 8, 1994.

8 G Bukowski, D A Lopez & F M McGehee, Uranium Battlefields Home and Abroad : Depleted Uranium Use by US Department of Defense.

9 Nick Cohen, "Radioactive waste left in Gulf by Allies", The Independent, 10 November 1991.

10 William Arkin, The Desert Glows - with Propaganda, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 1993, p12.

12 G Bukowski, D A Lopez & F M McGehee, Uranium Battlefields Home and Abroad : Depleted Uranium Use by US Department of Defense.

13 L.A. Dietz , Estimate of radiation dose from a depleted uranium oxide particle, January 10 1991, reproduced in Appendix 11, Uranium Battlefields.

15 John M Miller, co-ordinator of the International Clearinghouse on the Military and the Environment.

16 Ian Doucet, Depleted Uranium, sick soldiers and dead children? Global Security, Winter 1993.

17 Medical Educational Trust Continuing Health Costs of the Gulf War, February 1992.

18 Dr. Selma Al-Taha, A survey of a genetic patients for chromosomal, genetic syndromes and congenital malformations as detected by clinical and chromosomal studies: 1989-1990 Vs. 1992-1993. Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement. 19 Quoted in DA Lopez, Friendly Fire , Pace & MTP March 1995.

21 Leonard S Dietz, Some Consequences of Using Depleted Uranium Metal, a talk at a public forum in Jonesborough, Tennessee, 12 November 1994.

The Gulf War of 1991 was presented as a war for democracy - a war for the liberation of Kuwait, and to oppose the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. Iraq was presented as well armed, ruthless, and a threat to peace and democracy throughout the Middle East, and indeed the entire world.

Far from being a war of liberation, the Gulf War was a contest for Western moral legitimacy that required the criminalisation of Iraq. Whilst setting up Iraq as the menace to peace and democracy the West was establishing it's own moral authority as the only force to ensure stability in the post Cold War world. Amid economic slump, the decline of traditional institutions, and the breakdown of the post-war order there is little more than moral authority for Western governments to turn to.

The scare stories, panics, and propaganda used to smear Iraq in most cases rest on little or no evidence. For instance, it was simply not true that Iraq possessed, or was about to get hold of, nuclear weapons. Inspection teams from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have never found a nuclear bomb, or evidence that one exists. Despite the large sums of money that Iraq spent on nuclear research, it was still many years away from producing even one small atomic weapon, and independent studies of Iraq's nuclear facilities point out that most assumptions of their future nuclear plans are improbably optimistic, based on the progress of America's Manhattan Project during World War 2, rather than the experience of a third world country, that has had to import most of it's technology from the West.(1)

However, facts did not prevent newspapers like the Sunday Times presenting a series of contradictory 'exclusives' claiming to reveal the hidden truth about Iraq's weapons. On the 28 November 1990 they headlined a story "Iraq may have a nuclear capacity in two months"(2). Three weeks later a front page article informed us "Iraq is Two Years away from Nuclear Bomb"(3). A curt dismissal of their previous projection was buried at the bottom of the article.

The tales of Saddam's nuclear arsenal came from American military intelligence reports, written for public consumption. As the Sunday Times itself freely admitted, an opinion poll conducted in America showed that only 31% of those interviewed would support a war to defend US interests in the region such as oil, but a majority thought the war would be justified to prevent Iraq getting the bomb.(4) From then on the nuclear, chemical, and military threat posed by Iraq became the No. 1 story of the Gulf War.

Despite the this lack of evidence there was very little criticism of the West's claims against Iraq, demonstrating the strength of Western chauvinism and the anti third world consensus that rules today. However bizarre and contradictory these stories became, people were prepared to believe anything about Iraq.

Even the critics of government policy accept the moral parameters set. In Britain, the Scott Inquiry is investigating government ministers at the highest levels for illicit arms sales to Iraq before the Gulf War. Yet all commentators, however critical, see the selling of arms to Iraq as the central problem, not Britains own arsenal, which it readily used during the Gulf War. Ministers are criticised for lying to Parliament, but not for bombing Iraq back to a pre-industrial age.

The need to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction became a central argument in the demonising of Iraq and justifying the Gulf War. Yet accepting the obsession with proliferation obscures who is really to blame for conflict and destruction in the Middle East. It is the West that has the real arsenal of 'weapons of mass destruction', and the ruthlessness to use them.

Radioactive 'nuclear bullets', made with waste uranium from the nuclear industry, were used during the Gulf War. They have contaminated Iraq's soil and water table with toxic and carcinogenic dust that will last 4,500 million years. The dust released from these uranium tipped shells as they explode causes genetic damage and has been linked to the rise in childhood cancers in Iraq since the Gulf War. The population of Iraq has never been informed of the hazard, nor offered compensation or measures to protect themselves.

In recent months the West has made clear it is prepared to drop the bomb on North Korea. As in the case of Iraq, the obsession with the possibility of North Korea developing a nuclear capability ignores both the massive nuclear arsenal possessed by the USA (the only country to have used the bomb), and Bill Clinton's threat to 'annihilate' North Korea with very real nuclear weapons.(5)

Having criminalised Iraq through the scare stories of proliferation, the West gained the moral authority to destroy it. Whilst Iraq was accused of a nonexistent nuclear arsenal, the West were using weapons such as cluster bombs, napalm, fuel air explosives, and depleted uranium in addition to it's awesome conventional firepower.

Depleted uranium is a low level radioactive heavy metal. It is the waste left from the enrichment process whereby the fissionable uranium-235 isotope is concentrated for nuclear weapons or reactor fuel. The non- fissionable uranium-238 isotope (depleted uranium) is left.

The development of DU weapons by the US military began in the 1970's(6), with Britain starting test firing of DU weapons in 1980(7). The most important quality of DU is it's extreme density. DU is two and a half to three times as heavy as steel. This density allows DU missiles to travel a 40-kilometre range at a velocity of 1500 meters per second - four times the speed of conventional large-calibre shells.

A DU projectile provides maximum penetrative power because it can concentrate phenomenal weight on a single point. It's armour piercing capacity is spectacular. US A10 'tankbuster' pilots who fired DU missiles on Iraqi tanks during the Gulf War called it 'plinking' - slang for shooting tin cans. DU is also pyrophoric - small particles of DU burn spontaneously in oxygen. On impact with a tank or armoured vehicle a DU shell fragments and ignites, enhancing it's destructive power - it sets the ammunition and fuel on fire burning tank crews alive.

An additional attraction of DU is it's cheapness. The stockpiles of DU built up by the nuclear industry provide cheap material for munitions production, whilst sparing the nuclear industry the headache and expense of long-term storage. Instead they are able to dump their nuclear waste on a third world country.

However, even more worrying than the immediate destructive effects of DU weapons, is the long-term health risks associated with DU and it's use in munitions.

Pyrophoric explosions create microscopic airborne particles which can spread across kilometre-wide areas. They are sufficiently soluble to contaminate soil, groundwater and surface water. These microscopic, radioactive heavy metal particles (DU and daughter products like beryllium) can enter the body through ingestion and inhalation. When ingested DU accumulates in the bones and kidneys and like lead is permanently deposited. It causes irreversible damage to the kidneys and the growth of tumours. DU crosses the placenta during pregnancy - children are particularly vulnerable to it's toxic effects because their cells are dividing rapidly as they grow.

When inhaled DU can also enter the body through the lungs. Some of these particles will be trapped there permanently and increase the risk of cancer. Others will settle in the bones and the bloodstream with the results mentioned above.

The toxic affects of DU are challenged by the military authorities, but in May 1991 the US Defense Department admitted that the military use of DU results in "...the potential to cause adverse impacts on human health, primarily through the water pathway."(10)

A secret report by Britain's Atomic Energy Authority, revealed by The Independent, estimated that the Allies had left at least 40 tonnes of DU, enough to cause "500,000 potential deaths", and that the sheer volume of DU left in Kuwait and Iraq "indicates a significant problem" (11). Other researchers have estimated that up to 300 tonnes of depleted uranium weapons may have been left on the battlefields.

The military refuse to classify DU as a 'radiological weapon' (12), claiming it is only slightly radioactive. Nevertheless, when Siegwart Gunther, medical director of the Albert Scheitzer Institute arrived in Berlin in July 1992, carrying a spent DU round retrieved from Iraq, he was charged with illegally "releasing ionising radiation". The shell, it's radioactivity confirmed by two independent German laboratories, was quickly sealed in a lead-lined box. There are few lead lined boxes in Iraq. Recent reports from aid workers and doctors working in Iraq have spoken of many new illnesses amongst children in Iraq. UN personnel and aid workers have seen children playing with empty shells and destroyed tanks in the former battlefields. These weapons have been linked to the rise in childhood cancers in these areas.(13)

During the Gulf War Allied tank crews were exposed to radiation the equivalent of a daily chest x-ray. This dosage is permissible, but not desirable, under current radiological health standards for civilians (14). The use, handling, and clearup of DU munitions has also been linked to the occurrence of 'Gulf War Syndrome', a mysterious illness, mostly affecting the immune system of which former soldiers who served in the Gulf have complained.(15)

Because their moral authority remains unchallenged, the West have been able to re-define DU as conventional weaponry, when by any criteria it is a chemical weapon, and arguably a low - level nuclear one.

There is no evidence that Iraq ever used chemical weapons during the Gulf War. Indeed, some Russian missile experts disputed whether chemical warheads could be fitted to the Scud-B missiles without seriously de-stabilising them.(16) Even the alleged gas attacks in the Southern Marshes, in the aftermath of the Gulf War, have been disproved by UN inspectors(17). However, Iraq's reluctance to use chemical weapons was not matched by the Allies. As well as the chemical and biological aftermath of DU - described as "The Agent Orange of the 1990's"(18) - the West was also using napalm.

Napalm is a sticky and highly combustible material which, when dropped in a bomb, disperses over a large area igniting anything in it's path. The Pentagon claimed it was only used to burn off oil in Iraqi defensive trenches. However The Washington Post reported it was used to reach 'entrenched troops'(19) and a US marine officer was quoted as saying "napalm was being used against Iraqi troops as it was against the enemy in Vietnam"(20).

Bombs containing fuel air explosives release a cloud of fuel vapours on impact which mix with air and detonate, causing a high pressure blast. A CIA report claimed that "the pressure effects of FAE's approach those produced by low-yield nuclear weapons at short ranges"(21) The Washington Post reported that the US had used BLU-82 bombs against Iraqi front line troops(22). These FAE bombs give an overpressure of 1,000 psi; humans can endure 40 psi. It was also reported that at least 11 of these bombs were used between 7 February 1991 and the commencement of ground hostilities.(23)

Cluster bombs break up into hundreds of bomblets which spread out shrapnel to maximise human injury and damage to machinery. Their use is "illegal under international law even for use against troops"(24). They were used mainly against civilian traffic, in the search for mobile Scud missile launchers, none of which were ever found. It is estimated that 60 - 80,000 cluster bombs were dropped during the conflict(25). They were used on the notorious 'Highway of Death' - the road from Kuwait to Basra in southern Iraq where a 7 mile long convoy of fleeing soldiers, civilians, and foreign workers were mercilessly bombed by allied forces. The US army estimated that 25,000 died in these highway attacks.(26)

The West presented the Gulf War as a 'clean war' which avoided civilian casualties, and damage. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. Much was made of the allies use of 'smart' bombs - weapons guided to their targets by radar, electro-optics, or laser systems. Allied media briefings tended to highlight the use of 'smart' weapons to give the impression of a war where the bombs almost invariably hit their intended military targets with little civilian collateral damage. It was not until after the war that the USAF revealed that 'smart' bombs made up only 8.8% of the munitions dropped.(27)

Far from these bombs being dropped on exclusively military targets, many civilian targets were attacked as well. A daytime air attack on a bridge in Nasiriya, southern Iraq, killed at least 100 civilians(28). On 14 February 1991 a 'smart' bomb attack by the RAF on a bridge in Falluja missed completely, hitting a market 1km from the bridge and killing over 200 civilians(29). A similar attack on a bridge in Samawa killed over 100 civilians.(30)

The entire city of Basra, Iraq's second largest with a population of 800,000 was declared a target by the Allies, despite the Geneva Convention prohibiting area bombing in cities. On 12 February 1991 the Pentagon were claiming there were no civilians left in the city, and that it contained only military targets(31). Nevertheless, reports of hundreds of civilian casualties in and around Basra have emerged since the war.(32)

Perhaps the best known attack on a civilian target was the bombing of the al-Amariyah air raid shelter in western Baghdad, at 4.30 am on February 13 1991. The number of civilians killed varies from the Iraqi governments 300-400, to the Gulf Peace Team's 1,500 (33). The allies claimed the shelter was a 'command and control centre'(34) or a 'leadership bunker'(35). However, it had been built as a civilian installation in 1984, and had been in civilian use for at least 2 weeks prior to the attack.(36)

The West didn't need to use it's nuclear arsenal to destroy Iraq. Approximately 89,000 tonnes of conventional ordnance was dropped by Allied forces during Desert Storm, with a further 20 - 30,000 tons of explosives launched by Allied warships(37), killing as many people as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Shortly after the war, a retired Israeli General wrote "The Iraqi Army was not an unknown quantity. After 8 years of war with Iran it was very clear that it was not a threatening army, it was not a first-class fighting force"(38). Far from being 'the world's fourth largest army' as it had been frequently described in the West, the Iraqi army turned out to be an army of conscripts who during the Gulf War never mustered a single offensive strike, or any effective defensive action. The Iraqi air force never engaged with Western forces - over 20% flew to Iran and never returned. Nor were the anti- aircraft defenses of any use. In sharp contrast to the Vietnam war, not one B-52 bomber was lost in combat. Allied aircraft loses were lower than the normal combat training rate(39). Between 100,000 - 120,000 Iraqi's were killed during the war, compared to the 147 Western casualties. Western troops reoccupied Kuwait in a ground engagement lasting less than 100 hours(40). Within 3 months of the war the death toll was between 144,000 and 181,000(41). The infant mortality rate in Iraq has tripled since the Gulf War, and life expectancy in Iraq has reduced from 68 to 47 since the war.(42).

References 1. D. Albright & M. Hibbs, Iraq's Bomb: Blueprints and Artifacts, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 1992, pp30.

6. G Bukowski, D A Lopez & F M McGehee, Uranium Battlefields Home and Abroad : depleted Uranium Use by US Department of Defense, p16

7. I Doucet "depleted Uranium, sick soldiers and dead children?", Global Security, Winter 1993, p10

8. G Bukowski, D A Lopez & F M McGehee, Uranium Battlefields Home and Abroad : depleted Uranium Use by US Department of Defense, p6.

9. I Doucet "depleted Uranium, sick soldiers and dead children?", Global Security, Winter 1993, p10

10. I Doucet "depleted Uranium, sick soldiers and dead children?", Global Security, Winter 1993, p10

11. Nick Cohen, "Radioactive waste left in Gulf by Allies", The Independent, 10 November 1991.

12. Dr. Eric Hoskins, "Making the desert Glow",New York Times , 21 January 1993.

13. Dr. Eric Hoskins, "Making the desert Glow",New York Times , 21 January 1993.

15. Soraya S Nelson, "Radiation, Storm illness link alleged" Army Times, 12 October 1992.

16. Associated Press, "Iraq - Chemical Weapons", 12 November 1991 ( quoted in D. Albright & M. Hibbs, Iraq's Bomb: Blueprints and Artifacts, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 1992, pp30.)

17. MEED: Middle Eastern Economic Digest, 11 March 1994, p13. & UNSOM Press Release 28 February 1994.

18. G Bukowski, D A Lopez & F M McGehee, Uranium Battlefields Home and Abroad : depleted Uranium Use by US Department of Defense.

19. Anne DeVroy, "Bush Gives until Noon Today to begin Withdrawal from Kuwait", Washington Post , 23 February 1991. (Quoted in, Ramsey Clarke, The Fire This Time, p45)

20. "Allies drop Napalm on Iraqi Lines", International herald Tribune, 25 February 1991

21. David Noble "Professors of Terror", Third World Resurgence (Penang, Malasia) 18/19 (Feb-March 1992)

22. Jeffrey Smith "U.S. Ground Plans Aims at Quick Strikes, Mass Surrender", Washington Post, 23 February 1991

23. Soldier of Fortune, July 1992 (Quoted in, Ramsey Clarke, The Fire This Time, p45)

24. Ramsey Clarke, The Fire This Time, p73 & Ramsey Clarke and others, War Crimes: A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq, p17.

25. W Arkin, D Durrant & M Cherni, On Impact : Modern Warfare and the Environment - A case study of the Gulf War. (quoted in Ramsey Clarke and others, War Crimes: A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq, p87)

26. W Arkin, D Durrant & M Cherni, On Impact : Modern Warfare and the Environment - A case study of the Gulf War. (quoted in Ramsey Clarke and others, War Crimes: A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq, p51)

31. R Atkinson & A DeVoy "Allies to Step up Gulf Air Offensive; Strikes Focus on Iraqis in Kuwait", New York Times, 12 February 1991

34. D McManus & J Gerstenzang "Structure Built to Shelter Iraqi Elite, US Says", Los Angeles Times, 15 February 1991

37. Ramsey Clarke and others, War Crimes: A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq, p87.

38. Matti Peled, "United States Irresponsibility" in Third World War, Summer 1991 (Quoted in, Ramsey Clarke, The Fire This Time, p39)

39. Antony Cordesman "The Persian Gulf War: An Analysis", in The World Almanac and book of Facts: 1992, p35 (Quoted in, Ramsey Clarke, The Fire This Time, p40)

41. I Lee & A Haines, "Health Costs of the Gulf War", British Medical Journal, 3 August 1991 (quoted in Mike Freeman,The Empire Strikes Back , p31.)

42. Dr. Eric Hoskins (draft report for UNICEF, Baghdad), Children, War and Sanctions.

The Gulf War of 1991 was publicised as a 'clean' war on the allied side yet highly toxic and radioactive 'nuclear bullets' were used by the British and American armies. These weapons are a new generation of anti- tank shells made from depleted uranium, a waste product from the nuclear industry. They have contaminated Iraq's soil and water table with toxic and carcinogenic dust which it has been estimated will last 4,500 million years.

The dust released from these uranium tipped shells as they explode is suspected of causing genetic damage. It has been linked to rises in childhood cancers in Iraq since the Gulf War. The population of Iraq has never been informed of the hazard, nor offered compensation or measures to protect themselves. Britain and America have continued to cloak the development of these weapons and their hazardous nature in secrecy. And the facts about the impact of depleted uranium shells in Iraq remain hidden behind the system of United Nations sanctions which continue to cut off Iraq from the rest of the world.

Depleted Uranium (DU) is the waste product from the uranium enrichment process which produces reactor fuel and nuclear warheads. The stockpiles of DU built up by the nuclear industry provide cheap materials for munitions production, whilst sparing the nuclear industry the headache and expense of long-term storage. Instead they are able to dump their nuclear waste on a third world country.

As well as being cheap, DU weapons have also proved to be extremely effective in destroying tanks. Indeed such is the capacity of DU shells to cut through conventional armour that one expert has compared the development of DU weapons with the advent of the machine gun in the First World War - "The mechanised armies of all third world nations now are potential scrap iron" 1.

A missile made of DU - which is two and a half times denser than steel - provides maximum penetrative power because it concentrates phenomenal mass onto a single point. It's armour piercing capacity is spectacular. US A10 'tankbuster' pilots who fired DU missiles on Iraqi tanks during the Gulf War called it 'plinking' - slang for shooting tin cans. On penetrating a tank or armoured vehicle a DU shell fragments and ignites enhancing it's destructive power by setting alight the tank ammunition and fuel, probably burning the crew alive.

The Gulf War of 1991 was the first opportunity that the US and British forces had to test their DU weapons in combat conditions. How much depleted uranium was used may never be known but it has been estimated that the Allies fired between 5,000 - 6,000 DU tank rounds2 and 940,000 bullets from aircraft such as the A103. A secret report compiled by Britain's Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) , revealed by Nick Cohen in The Independent, estimated that the Allies had left at least 40 tonnes of DU, enough to cause "500,000 potential deaths", and that the sheer volume of DU left in Kuwait and Iraq "indicates a significant problem"4.

In addition to its immediate destructive effects DU is also accused of creating long-term health problems. DU explosions create microscopic airborne particles which can spread across kilometre-wide areas. They are sufficiently soluble to contaminate soil, groundwater and surface water. When ingested DU accumulates in the bones and kidneys and, like lead, is permanently deposited. It can cause irreversible damage to the kidneys and the growth of tumours. When inhaled toxic and radioactive particles are trapped permanently in the lungs increasing the risk of cancer. DU can cross the placenta during pregnancy, and foetuses are thought to be particularly vulnerable to it's toxic effects.

Iraq has never been informed of the use of depleted uranium, nor given any advice about it's dangers, or how safely to clear it up. The consequences are only now coming to light. Since the Gulf War doctors in Iraq have noted increases in unusual diseases, especially among children. The suggestion that these findings are linked to the use of DU in the Gulf War was investigated by a group of doctors and environmental scientists who heard about the secret AEA report. The Iraqi Society for Environmental Protection and Improvement (ISEPI) has verified the presence of DU contamination in southern Iraq. They have also published medical studies which record a rise in cases of childhood cancers, birth defects and abnormalities, and increases in male infertility - especially in the contaminated south of the country.

Nevertheless, a study by Dr. Muna Elhassani of the Iraqi Cancer Registry claims that between 1989 and 1993 there has been a rise in reported cases of leukaemia in Al-Qadisyah province of 183%. In Basra leukaemia rates have risen 56% and in Al-Muthana a staggering 350% - these are all areas with DU contamination. By contrast cases in Najav and Kerbala, in uncontaminated areas nearer the centre of the country, remained steady. Another study by Dr. Barnouti and Dr Al-Tawil has identified a significant increase in seminal fluid abnormalities in a group of patients tested at their clinic before and after the war. Geneticist Dr. Selma Al-Taha has pointed to increases in genetic abnormalities in new-born babies since the conflict. In particular, limb reductional abnormalities once associated with thalidomide and eradicated in the 60's, are now reappearing.6

The Western allies are well aware of the potential health risks DU poses. In May 1991 the US Defence Department admitted that the military use of DU results in "the potential to cause adverse impacts on human health, primarily through the water pathway." In the early 1980's a DU munitions manufacturer, National Lead Industries of Colonie, New York was closed down by the state government after airborne emissions of DU particles had been found over 26 miles away. Other DU munitions plants in Ohio and Oklahoma have been scheduled for shutdown after contamination was discovered. In both 1987 and 1991, the US Army issued guidelines on the handling of DU munitions and DU contaminated vehicles. No such guidelines have been passed to Iraq.

This callous disregard for Iraqi civilians and their environment was part and parcel of the allied Gulf War strategy. To the American and British authorities the Iraqi population, and indeed their own troops who handled DU, were expendable. In October 1990, shortly after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the imposition of sanctions, and during the build up to the Gulf War, the US made clear it's plans for Iraq. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a political think tank that included Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Alexander Haig, and George Shultz on it's Board of Advisors, and whose Executive Director was Martin Indyk, published a paper by Patrick Clawson entitled "How Vulnerable is Iraq's Economy?". It examined how the UN could best undermine the Iraqi government.

In a chilling premonition of the war itself he writes "industry is not that vital to the economy... the industries which must concern the Iraqi government are those in which any shut down is felt immediately by consumers. Three principle industries fit this bill. First are the oil refineries, without which Iraq's transport system would come to a halt in weeks. Second are the dozen major electricity generating plants, without which industry will have to come to a screeching halt and food distribution will be complicated by a loss of refrigeration. Third and perhaps most sensitive are the water pumping/filtration stations in Baghdad, without which the cities population would be forced to spend many hours a day finding and purifying water."7

Within hours of the start of the air war on 17 January 90% of Iraq's electricity production had been destroyed. The allies bombed 4 out of 7 major water pumping stations and 31 municipal water and sewerage treatment facilities. Oil facilities were crippled - even food warehouses and grain silos were hit8. A US airforce planner was quoted as admitting that targeting civilians plants was intended to tell the Iraqi people that "we're not going to tolerate Saddam Hussein or his regime. Fix that and we'll fix your electricity."9What wasn't admitted was that the allies dumped nuclear waste on northern Kuwait and southern Iraq.

This approach continues with sanctions - spare parts to repair and maintain the water system have been blocked by the sanctions committee as recently as this year. The continuation of the UN embargo has blocked facilities for further study of the effects of DU contamination - there has been a 67% decrease from 1989 in laboratory investigations by the Ministry of Health10. Severe shortages in cytotoxic and other cancer drugs hampers the treatment of victims of this contamination. Sanctions are preventing Iraq from properly clearing up the contamination caused by DU weapons.

The dichotomy between the moral superiority claimed by the West, and the tragic reality of their actions is now slowly unravelling. Former American and British soldiers suffering from 'Gulf War Syndrome' have brought to light some of the barbaric consequences of the Gulf War. The consequences of continuing sanctions are becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Many UN aid organisations working in Iraq have deep reservations about sanctions, and UN policy towards Iraq. "I'm now ashamed to be in the United Nations" one head of agency told me, "I am embarrassed to be driving round Baghdad in a car with UN number plates". Another deputy from a UN agency told me how much he disagreed with the UN's latest 'oil for food' offer, resolution 986 "If Iraq had agreed to it, it would have set a precedent - that the great powers could dictate to smaller nations".

But though the moral high ground claimed by the West has been dented it remains intact. Although the US Department of Defense has been forced to admit the existence of Gulf War Syndrome the British government can still deny even its existence. Both can still ignore the suffering of Iraqis. They are even able to suggest that Iraq itself is to blame for the devastation caused by the embargo. Despite all evidence to the contrary they are able to continue raising the spectre of hidden caches of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to justify maintaining sanctions. The need to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is a central argument in the present demonising of Iraq and was key to justifying the Gulf War. While Iraq was and periodically is still accused of having a (non- existent) nuclear arsenal the real nuclear threat, the nuclear bullets the West fired during the Gulf War, is ignored. Because their moral superiority is still accepted the allies are still able to define DU as a conventional firearm with little challenge.