The ends justify the means. Not only are our strongest and bravest asked to fight, bleed, and die in far away battlefields, but if they survive, they may face a future full of mysterious illnesses or cancer. What’s it matter so long as the industrial fat cats are fed and democracy spread? Our fighting men and women are, after all, expendable youth sworn to defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; youth who signed away their civil rights for a future they believe in, and sadly, a future that might find them in pain and dying slow, painful deaths from radiation or heavy metal contamination.]

While we flex our technological and industrial muscles to dominate an unconventional battlefield scattered with the machines of yesterday’s wars, our precious youth and innocent civilians inhale the poison dust of “depleted” uranium. Just as troops from another generation were unknowingly exposed to deadly radiation at the birth of the nuclear age, today’s troops are baptized in radioactive dust from what they are told is “depleted” uranium, but which, if you were to measure with a radiation detector, retains 60% of its radioactivity. “Depleted” is just more “spin” from a military industrial complex that thinks killing the enemy and winning more lucrative government contracts is more important than protecting our trusting soldiers’ future.

But why uranium? Uranium has unique properties that make it an ideal armor penetrator. Nearly twice as heavy as lead, almost as hard as tungsten, and more ductile than steel, DU is unmatched in its ability to penetrate the thickest armor or reinforced concrete at greater distances than its closest competitor, tungsten. Depleted uranium will grind down as it enters its target, effectively sharpening the projectile, unlike penetrators made from tungsten which tend to deform or shatter.

Another desirable feature, from a weapons manufacturer’s perspective, is that DU will ignite at 500 degrees centigrade and burn at 2000 degrees. This allows it to perform as an incendiary device once it enters its target. Unfortunately, it is this property that creates extremely fine uranium ash and dust particles that are easily inhaled or dispersed by the wind, and constitute the greatest threat to human health.

Because DU can not be confined to battlefields, continues causing harm after hostilities cease, kills by causing diseases and genetic defects, and causes undue harm to the environment, it violates humanitarian law and should be banned. The DOD claims that DU’s effectiveness has saved many American lives on the battlefield. Maybe so, but it’s costing thousands of Americans and Iraqi citizens their long term health and the health of their children and future generations. We can’t give everyone a Geiger counter to check their intake of depleted uranium, but we can try to contain and minimize its use and dispersal.

The DOD is a rich, powerful corporation completely committed to deploying DU munitions. Only equally powerful entities can affect a change in its script. We now have an open minded president who can comprehend complex issues and is sensitive to this country’s responsibilities to the global community. Support organizations who support DU research and assist victims, and who lobby politicians to release information or change policies regarding DU. And of course, please be sensitive to veterans whose lives depended on DU rounds killing the enemy before the enemy could kill them.