25. Extension of DU to Libya

DU weapons are manufactured from radioactive waste generated during the enrichment process of natural uranium, as part of the nuclear fuel cycle. American and British armed forces fired DU bullets and projectiles for the first time against a human population in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. When DU munitions hit their target, they ignite prophetically and generate heat that reaches a temperature of 3000-6000 degrees Celsius. This heat causes the DU and other metals to form a gas or aerosol of nanoparticles. These nanoparticles cross the lung-blood barrier, gain entrance to the cells, and create free radicals. Some effects that the people are facing are immune and hormonal systems damage; disruption of thyroid function; and tetrogenic toxicity, as soluble DU oxides cross the placenta to the fetus, resulting in damages that range from behavioral problems to mental retardation and congenital malformations.

President Obama's undeclared and congressionally unauthorized war against Libya may be compounded by the crime of spreading toxic uranium oxide in populated areas of that country. Concern is being voiced by groups such as the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, which monitors military use of DU antitank and bunker penetrating shells.

As of late March 2011, the US has not introduced its A-10 Thunderbolts, known also as Warthogs, into the Libyan campaign, probably because these subsonic, straight-wing craft, while heavily armored, are vulnerable to the shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles that Libyan forces are known to possess in large numbers. Once the air-control situation is improved by continued bombardment, however, these specialized ground-attack aircraft will probably be added to the attacking forces. The A-10 has a particularly large automatic cannon, which fires an unusually large 30 mm shell. These shells are often fitted with solid uranium projectiles.

Sources:

Dave Lindorff, "Toxic Intervention: Are NATO Forces Poisoning Libya with Depleted Uranium as They 'Protect' Civilians?," This Can't Be Happening, March 23, 2011, http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/530.

Souad N. Al·Azzawi, "Crime of the Century: Contaminating Iraq with Depleted Uranium," BRussells Tribunal, September 19, 2010,
http://www.brusselstribunal.org/pdf/DU-Azzawi.pdf.

Student Researchers: Nathasha Terry-Ulett (Florida Atlantic University); Rosa Caldera (Sonoma State University)

Faculty Evaluators: James Tracy (Florida Atlantic University); Elaine Wellin (Sonoma State University)