Hi folks, DU-Watch gets a mention from Ian Frazer, of the South African
Mail and Guardian, Online.


Have a look at the fas site - while there is a limited spectrum of links
available, the text of the DU item is demonstrably one-sided.

cheers,
robert


Ruining your day, and an introduction to Planet X

Ian Fraser: FRASER'S RAZOR
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=264342&area=/insight/insight__col\
umnists/



15 February 2006 03:00



This week's column has two themes. One is a look over some everyday things
you might take for granted. And, for the hell of it, an introduction to one
of the many genres of weird subjects out there.

Stepping back from the big media-fed "Holy jihad, Batman!" wankfest that's
erupted recently over some arbitrary doodles that appear to infringe on some
people's "religious" ideas of reality, I can do no better than to point you
towards a United Kingdom Daily Telegraph article looking at the whole highly
suspicious charade. Read 'If you get rid of the Danes, you'll have to keep
paying the Danegeld'.

Also read the admittedly sometimes nutty thoughts of a Russian
ultranationalist politician, on the whole deliberate "stir up the
anti-doodles" brigade.

As the United States and its oil-hungry allies keep talking about weapons of
mass destruction (WMDs), it should be pointed out that they themselves are
using WMDs. Of course they call it "depleted" uranium or "DU". (This means
semantically pretty much the same as saying "not so deadly" cyanide.) It's a
radioactive weapon of mass destruction. Browse through info at Depleted
Uranium Watch and pause by the Campaign against Depleted Uranium. Then look
over some BBC links.

Naturally there's an opposing view -- read Military Analysis Network. [fas]


http://www.stopnato.org.uk/du-watch/

http://www.cadu.org.uk/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/europe/2001/depleted_uranium/default.stm

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/du.htm




All material copyright Mail&Guardian.


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Depleted Uranium
In military applications, when alloyed, Depleted Uranium [DU] is ideal for
use in armor penetrators. These solid metal projectiles have the speed, mass
and physical properties to perform exceptionally well against armored
targets. DU provides a substantial performance advantage, well above other
competing materials. This allows DU penetrators to defeat an armored target
at a significantly greater distance. Also, DU's density and physical
properties make it ideal for use as armor plate. DU has been used in weapon
systems for many years in both applications.
Depleted uranium results from the enriching of natural uranium for use in
nuclear reactors. Natural uranium is a slightly radioactive metal that is
present in most rocks and soils as well as in many rivers and sea water.
Natural uranium consists primarily of a mixture of two isotopes (forms) of
uranium, Uranium-235 (U235) and Uranium-238 (U238), in the proportion of
about 0.7 and 99.3 percent, respectively. Nuclear reactors require U235 to
produce energy, therefore, the natural uranium has to be enriched to obtain
the isotope U235 by removing a large part of the U238. Uranium-238 becomes
DU, which is 0.7 times as radioactive as natural uranium. Since DU has a
half-life of 4.5 billion years, there is very little decay of those DU
materials.





Sources and Resources
a.. 20mm MK149
b.. 25mm PGU-20
c.. 25mm M919 Armor Piercing, Fin Stabilized, Discarding Sabot, with
Tracer (APFSDS-T)
d.. 30mm PGU-14/B API Armor Piercing Incendiary
e.. 120mm M829 Armor Piercing, Fin Stabilized, Discarding Sabot-Tracer
(APFSDS-T)

f.. RAND REVIEW INDICATES NO EVIDENCE OF HARMFUL HEALTH EFFECTS FROM
DEPLETED URANIUM April 15, 1999 -- The Department of Defense announced today
the release of a RAND scientific literature review that indicates no
evidence of harmful health effects directly linked to depleted uranium
exposures at levels experienced by Gulf War veterans.
g.. DEPLETED URANIUM A Review of the Scientific Literature As It Pertains
to Gulf War Illnesses April 1999 --RAND Health's Center for Military Health
Policy Research and the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the National
Defense Research Institute, sponsored by the Office of the Special Assistant
h.. DoD News Briefing -- Bernard D. Rostker, Special Assistant for Gulf
War Illnesses April 15, 1999 - Natural uranium is 40 percent less
radioactive than depleted uranium, so any conclusions that you can draw on
natural uranium, say of a negative nature, can be applied equally well to
depleted uranium.
i.. FACT SHEET: DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DESCRIBES DEPLETED URANIUM USE Voice of
America 03 May 1999
j.. HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF DEPLETED URANIUM USE BY THE
U.S. ARMY U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute June 1994

k.. DULink provides information to Gulf War veterans concerned with
exposure to DU during service in the Gulf War.
l.. Depleted Uranium: agent orange of the 90's / another pentagon coverup
@ Military Toxics Project
m.. DEPLETED URANIUM EDUCATION PROJECT @ International Action Center --
Radioactive Battlefields--The Pentagon's New Weapon
n.. Metal of Dishonor - How the Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians
with Depleted Uranium Weapons
------------------------------------------


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To: <du-watch@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 1:13 AM
Subject: [DU-WATCH] Digest Number 1391


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