more depleted(not)uranium.....and Iraq

what kind of hell can we buy with $77million tax dollars........

ATK Bags $38 Million Tank Ammo Order

by UPI WireFeb 20, 2006

........The M829A3 specs show that the 22.3-kilogram round uses 8 kilograms of solid propellent to attain a muzzle velocity of 1,555 meters per second. While the velocity isn't as fast as other U.S. 120-mm rounds, the 10-kg projectile is heavier than the others. The projectile's use of depleted uranium shows continued confidence in the slightly radioactive but increasingly controversial depleted uranium. full article

and this......

The Sunday Times
February 19, 2006
UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells
Mark Gould and Jon Ungoed-Thomas
RADIATION detectors in Britain recorded a fourfold increase in uranium levels in the atmosphere after the “shock and
awe” bombing campaign against Iraq, according to a report.
Environmental scientists who uncovered the figures through freedom of information laws say it is evidence that depleted uranium from the shells was carried by wind currents
to Britain. full article

I sent this to my congressman who i heard on saturday....he believes we should "stay the course" and repeats the administration "training up the troops" rhetoric....i don’t think we can talk about Iraq and depleted uranium too much.………

I saw you in Bellingham today and appreciated much of what you had to say. I disagree with your position on Iraq. And I remember well your vote against the war in the beginning. That has sustained me through the some other votes. (Bankruptcy for instance) However, our staying in Iraq will just fuel the steady decline we have witnessed since the beginning of this disaster. The same inept, corrupt civilian leadership are running things. My favorite Iraqi voice, Riverbend, summarizes things pretty well in this post. She is well worth following. If the people of Iraq had water, electricity, jobs, and safety things could be different. Right now I think most Iraqis see us as the cause of the horrible conditions in their country. There cannot be an insurgency without the support of the people. Iraqis want us out of there!!! We have done nothing but make their lives a living hell. Iraq has turned into the quagmire credible people predicted. The Iraqis know how to rebuild their country. They do not need war profiteering contractors. Isn’t that against the law? We should be out of there and paying reparations to them. We cannot win anything there. And I have yet to know what our mission is there? Staying will only continue the financial and moral bankrupting of our nation. I don’t know if we will ever recover from the reckless foreign policy of the last 5 years. And the new branding this month of “the long war” says everything. The latest news about the training of the Iraqis to take this over is not good.

Pentagon: Iraqi troops downgraded No Iraqi battalion capable offighting without U.S. support

Friday, February 24, 2006; Posted: 8:29 p.m.EST (01:29 GMT)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday. full article

.........Another thing you mentioned was nuclear proliferation. I sure do agree this is a huge problem and look forward to real work toward solutions. How can we have any moral authority on this issue? We have the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet with plans for more. How can we ask the rest of the world to work with us when it seems we are saying one thing and doing the opposite? And the fact that we are spreading our nuclear waste all over the middle east in the form of depleted uranium is unconscionable. We are using this and selling weapons for others to use. Over 11,000 Gulf War1veterans, to date, have died and thousands more are disabled. DU has been definitely linked to Gulf War Syndrome. And the DU spread then is nothing compared to what has been done since march 03 and continues. We are leaving a gift that “keeps on giving” to the innocent people living there. Our veterans and their families are paying a horrific price. We face a worldwide health crisis from what we are doing right now.

Heads roll at Veterans Administration Mushrooming depleted uranium(DU) scandal blamed
by Bob Nichols
Project Censored Award Winner Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the reason Veterans Affairs
Secretary Anthony Principi stepped down earlier thismonth was the growing scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War. …..Arthur N. Bernklau, executivedirector of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, stated, “The real reason for Mr. Principi’s departure was really never given, however a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted uranium as the definitive cause of the ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ has fed a growing scandal about the continued use of uranium munitions by the US Military.” Full article

Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets A death sentence here and abroad

by Leuren Moret full article

This insanity has got to stop. I feel we must get out of Iraq. Until we are demonstrating the right behavior it’s hard to ask much of the rest of the world. Right now we are behaving as belligerent bullies instead of the good people I believe most Americans are. As you often say, we agree about most things. I really do appreciate the work you do. I sure wouldn’t be able to do what you do.