Theos-Talk Archives (September 2001 Message tt00160)

http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/Articles/Dead%20Children%20Sick%20Soldier
s.html

Depleted Uranium:

Dead Children, Sick Soldiers



A New Dawn Interview

The UN-authorised, U.S.-led war against Iraq officially ended in March
1991, or so it seemed. In previous issues of New Dawn we reported on the
genocidal effects of the continuing UN embargo on the people of Iraq. We
also drew attention to the plight of thousands of Iraqis and allied war
veterans who are victims of radiation poisoning. 

The use of Depleted Uranium (DU) armour piercing shells by U.S. forces
in the 1991 Gulf War was uncovered by the German professor, Dr.
Siegwart-Horst Gunther. A survivor of world war and internment in a Nazi
concentration camp, Dr. Gunther is a tireless campaigner in the struggle
to highlight the little-reported and ongoing human suffering resulting
from the Gulf War. 

Recently at an international conference David Muller, President of the
South Movement, Australia interviewed Prof. Siegwart-Horst Gunther,
President of Yellow Cross International, for New Dawn. 

DAVID MULLER: Professor, I gather that Depleted Uranium is a by-product
of the nuclear enrichment industry. Is this correct? 

PROF. GUNTHER: Uranium ore, as found in nature, is a compound which
consists for the most part, of the isotope 238 and about 0.70% of the
isotope 235. Now, as the isotope 235 alone is fissionable and hence of
use for the reactors, the uranium ore, poor in that element, must be
enriched. Such a process involves masses of material and creates
consequently huge quantities of depleted uranium (composed mostly of the
sole isotope 238). 

DAVID MULLER: Why did the U.S. use Depleted Uranium shells in the Gulf
War? 

PROF. GUNTHER: Depleted Uranium possesses characteristics which make it
very attractive for the weapon technology : 

It is the heaviest element occurring, so to say, naturally on earth: 1
cm3 weighs 18.95 grams; ...