Facts:—

Depleted uranium is very hard and very heavy. It is used to enhance the armor-piercing qualities of armor-piercing shells. When impacting metal at high velocities, it pulverizes into dust, which emits alpha particles. This dust can soar in the heat column of a burning tank or other vehicle and be blown for miles on the desert wind. It is not a health hazard unless inhaled or ingested, but the likelihood of that is very high. In the first case, lung cancer is highly probable, since it lodges in the lungs; in the second case, leukemia, since it is absorbed by the bones. The dust eventually settles into the soil, and any food grown in this soil is contaminated. It will be around for awhile, because the half-life of uranium is 4.5 billion years. "Depleted" is a relative term.

And uranium is an equal opportunity killer. It doesn't care about race, religion, nationality, or ethnic origin.

Don Firth