The Student Room Group

Depleted Uranium bombs dropped on Libya?

'US drops uranium bombs on Libya'

The Stop the War Coalition says the bombs and missiles that the US-led military alliance has dropped on several Libyan cities contain depleted uranium (DU).


The report recently published on the Coalition's website said that in the first 24 hours of the war on Libya, dozens of bombs and cruise missiles were launched by US, British, and French forces -- all with depleted uranium warheads.

US B-2 aircraft dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs on key Libyan cities, it added.

DU munitions are controversial because they raise long-term health concerns like kidney damage, cancer, skin disorders and genetic defects.

"[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way... I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people," said Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd.), Lawrence Livermore Lab in California.

The report comes as the Western forces claim the operation in Libya is aimed at protecting civilians.

Director of the US military's Joint Staff Bill Gortney has told reporters at a Pentagon briefing that he is not aware of any use of depleted uranium munitions in Libya.

Libya says at least 114 people -- many of them civilians -- have been killed in US-led airstrikes in the country.

"We are losing many lives, military and civilians," Libyan government Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said in Tripoli.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in Libya since US-led forces launched aerial and sea attacks on the North African country.

Libyan troops have also killed thousands of civilians since a revolution started against Colonel Gaddafi in mid-February.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what do you make of this? An odd way of protecting civilians don't you think?
If your initial thought is that it's absurd, consider that Depleted Uranium bombs have been used heavily in Iraq-- another war in which one of our objectives was a humanitarian one. Why drop such dirty bombs that will have devasting effects for thousands (scratch that, billions) of years? The US has also been known to use phosphorous bombs and cluster bombs in recent wars. Any nation that employs such disgusting weaponry is capable of anything?

DU is the waste product from the process of enriching uranium ore. It is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Because it is a very heavy substance, 1.7 times denser than lead, it is highly valued by the military for its ability to punch through armored vehicles and buildings. When a weapon made with a DU tip strikes a solid object like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it, then erupts in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor settles as dust, which is not only poisonous, but also radioactive.

An impacting DU missile burns at 10,000 degrees C. When it strikes a target, 30% fragments into shrapnel. The remaining 70% vaporises into three highly-toxic oxides, including uranium oxide. This black dust remains suspended in the air and, according to wind and weather, can travel over great distances. If you think Iraq and Libya are far away, remember that radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales.

Particles less than 5 microns in diameter are easily inhaled and may remain in the lungs or other organs for years. Internalized DU can cause kidney damage, cancers of the lung and bone, skin disorders, neurocognitive disorders, chromosome damage, immune deficiency syndromes and rare kidney and bowel diseases. Pregnant women exposed to DU may give birth to infants with genetic defects. Once the dust has vaporised, don't expect the problem to go away soon. As an alpha particle emitter, DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years.

In the 'shock and awe' attack on Iraq, more than 1,500 bombs and missiles were dropped on Baghdad alone. Seymour Hersh has claimed that the US Third Marine Aircraft Wing alone dropped more than "five hundred thousand tons of ordnance". All of it DU-tipped.

source

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
How do they know DU bombs were used?
Reply 2
Original post by Pukhtun
How do they know DU bombs were used?


I don't think they KNOW, but suspect based on past campaigns like this. For instance, in Iraq they don't KNOW (no military will admit it) but the incidences of deformed babies and so on has increased dramatically.

Full article
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2321/27/

In the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, US B-2s dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs. We do not know if these massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads. But if past evidence of their deployment by the US and British military is any guide, they may well be part of the bombardment Libya is now experiencing....

...The tragedy is that we will only know years after the bombing has stopped, as the people of Falluja in Iraq are now discovering from the horrific consequences of the depleted uranium and white phosphorous weaponry the US used on the city in 2004.


DU bombs have never been ruled out.
(edited 13 years ago)
Already posted here:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1586991

Your link goes to a IRANIAN news website which is notoriusly known for posting propaganda.

.ir = IRAN

Original post by Clip
How dumb are you people?

Depleted Uranium munitions are not "nukes" and they're not bombs.

What are they?

What's a characteristic of Uranium? It's very heavy.

What's a characteristic of tanks? They have a lot of thick metal armour.

How do you shoot through that armour?

You put something very heavy on the end of your bullets.....like depleted Uranium.

It's been part of anti-tank weapons for decades, used by dozens of nations.

It does not blow up, and it's about as radioactive as the smoke detector in your hallway.

But you don't care about that, do you? All that matters to you is that in some way, shape or form, America is wrong.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by silent ninja
I don't think they KNOW, but suspect based on past campaigns like this. For instance, in Iraq they don't KNOW (no military will admit it) but the incidences of deformed babies and so on has increased dramatically.

Full article
http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/2321/27/



DU bombs have never been ruled out.


Thread has been done. Conclusion was that DU is not very dangerous and is a common warhead type due to its heavy nature.
They've been using depleted uranium rounds in their Close air strike aircraft. The A-10 warthog fires into targets that friendly ground forces will then advance into.The radiation isn't as significant as you may think.
do they even bother to use DU in bombs, its density and weight wouldn't be very efficient unless used as a bunker buster as you could simply use a greater amount (instead of using DU) of explosive if you wanted to take out an armoured vehicle.
Reply 7
Original post by A.galloway
do they even bother to use DU in bombs, its density and weight wouldn't be very efficient unless used as a bunker buster as you could simply use a greater amount (instead of using DU) of explosive if you wanted to take out an armoured vehicle.


DU is used in a lot of armour piercing weapons. A lotttt.
Reply 8
This is yet another thread that has multiple quotes, mostly stemming from the "Stop the War" coalition.

The wrongs and rights of the whole situation? I don't care. Why not? Because for any given situation, there are so many people who will for purely ideological reasons rush to put their weight of opinion against the United States (and to a lesser extent Britain), for no other reason than that they have made it their mission to do so.

Perhaps the US does things for self-interest. Name me one state that doesn't.

Some of the sources from Stop the War are really quite laughable. The Iranian government. The Libyan government.

At what point was Iran a peace loving, reasonable nation, whose statements are to be taken as the voice of moderation? Is this the same Iran that only a couple of years prior to the First Gulf War (which was apparently more American evil-ness) had only just finished a decade long war of attrition with that other peace-loving nation, Iraq.

You're taking on board the comments of the Libyan government? Hello? They're the enemy. All this "the Americans have bombed a school" is straight out of the first page of the dictator's handbook. Just like when Gadaffi said he'd stop attacking the rebel cities - and then steamed in all guns blazing a few hours later. That's on page 2 of the dictator's manual, by the way. Sound familiar? Of course, because we've seen it before from Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic.

On the depleted Uranium:

Please stop. It's inane nonsense.

Yeah, of course it's dangerous. It's a weapon. Sure , the UK and the United States have DU rounds in their tanks, helicopters and ships. That's because being liberal democracies, they are relatively open about it. I guarantee you that every modern armed forces on earth has the same weaponry, as well as Russia, Pakistan and most of the Middle East, and when they Middle Eastern states shoot this ammo at one another, it's not very sexy for Stop the War to start railing on them is it?

It wouldn't surprise me if Col. Gaddafi's forces are using the exact same ammunition to shoot at the rebels. But that's not very interesting for Stop the War, is it?


One more thing - these roadside bombs in A'Stan and Iraq that are the weapon of choice against British and American troops - what do you think they are made from? Russian 155mm rounds perhaps? Some of which will have DU sabots? So when the Taliban go detonating these things all over the shop (in their own country no less) who has a problem with that?
Original post by Wookie42
DU is used in a lot of armour piercing weapons. A lotttt.


That is the thing, with bombs dropped from strategic bombers they could simple use a greater amount of explosives instead of DU. they could use explosive force instead of armour piercing weapons. Still they probably didn't use the stuff anyway, bull**** propaganda.
Reply 10
Original post by A.galloway
That is the thing, with bombs dropped from strategic bombers they could simple use a greater amount of explosives instead of DU. they could use explosive force instead of armour piercing weapons. Still they probably didn't use the stuff anyway, bull**** propaganda.


I think they're mainly used for armour piercing rounds rather than gravity bombs.

Interestingly, I wipe-tested some DU a few weeks ago to see if any of it was dispersing radioactivity.

Happily, it wasn't.
Reply 11
Original post by A.galloway
That is the thing, with bombs dropped from strategic bombers they could simple use a greater amount of explosives instead of DU. they could use explosive force instead of armour piercing weapons..


And these bombs do not contain depleted uranium. Its all about using the correct tool for the job. If they want to blow up a building its pointless using something like DU as it will punch straight through it.
All you posters claiming DU is harmless? That's not conclusive.

Wikipedia has a good summary of all the claims. That's enough to at least question whether DU is in fact harmless. Long-term affects are apparent (esp in reproduction).

How is Press TV the Iranian government? They get some funding from them, it doesn't mean we rule them out completely. The BBC gets funding too via the government (through our license fee), yet you'd never question their impartiality. The claim was by the Stop the War Coalition, not the Iranian government.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 13
Original post by silent ninja
All you posters claiming DU is harmless? That's not conclusive.

Wikipedia has a good summary of all the claims. That's enough to at least question whether DU is in fact harmless. Long-term affects are apparent (esp in reproduction).

How is Press TV the Iranian government? They get some funding from them, it doesn't mean we rule them out completely. The BBC gets funding too via the government (through our license fee), yet you'd never question their impartiality. The claim was by the Stop the War Coalition, not the Iranian government.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_TV_controversies
Original post by silent ninja
All you posters claiming DU is harmless? That's not conclusive.

Wikipedia has a good summary of all the claims. That's enough to at least question whether DU is in fact harmless. Long-term affects are apparent (esp in reproduction).

How is Press TV the Iranian government? They get some funding from them, it doesn't mean we rule them out completely. The BBC gets funding too via the government (through our license fee), yet you'd never question their impartiality. The claim was by the Stop the War Coalition, not the Iranian government.


Stupid, stupid idiot.

Words simply fail me
Original post by Riddle Me This
Stupid, stupid idiot.

Words simply fail me


In case your simple mind couldn't understand the point, ever news channel has an agenda. So bloody what you're gonna dismiss them without looking at content? Beyond the BBC (which is not impartial in any case) corporations (usual single powerful men) have a huge say in our news. Don't pretend it's unbiased. Fool.

There is nothing wrong with the content in this report.
Original post by silent ninja
In case your simple mind couldn't understand the point, ever news channel has an agenda. So bloody what you're gonna dismiss them without looking at content? Beyond the BBC (which is not impartial in any case) corporations (usual single powerful men) have a huge say in our news. Don't pretend it's unbiased. Fool.

There is nothing wrong with the content in this report.


You CANNOT compare BBC to Iranian Press TV.

You Utter MONGO
Original post by Riddle Me This
You CANNOT compare BBC to Iranian Press TV.

You Utter MONGO


Quiet down clown.
This thread isn't about Press TV. I have no problems with this report. I think I can judge propaganda, I bet you turn a blind eye when it features in Western news outlets...oh no that never happens(!)
Get on topic or get lost.
Original post by silent ninja
Quiet down clown.
This thread isn't about Press TV. I have no problems with this report. I think I can judge propaganda, I bet you turn a blind eye when it features in Western news outlets...oh no that never happens(!)
Get on topic or get lost.


To be fair you can't make claims then back them up with utterly biased ****, find something detailing this on BBC, CNN or if you are utterly adversed to the minor bias of a respected national organisation give me links from Al Jazeera or Reuters.

And clearly you can't judge propaganda, if Gaddaffi shot someone head while you watched you would still believe him when he tells you it was shrapnel from missile fired a crusading Zionist state, but I have no proof so I won't claim that statement as fact.
Original post by A.galloway
To be fair you can't make claims then back them up with utterly biased ****, find something detailing this on BBC, CNN or if you are utterly adversed to the minor bias of a respected national organisation give me links from Al Jazeera or Reuters.

And clearly you can't judge propaganda, if Gaddaffi shot someone head while you watched you would still believe him when he tells you it was shrapnel from missile fired a crusading Zionist state, but I have no proof so I won't claim that statement as fact.


Stop the War Coalition isn't the Iranian government. That is what this particular article is based on (post #3). Secondly, as I pointed out, long term effects of DU have been disputed.
(edited 13 years ago)

Quick Reply

Latest