US Admits Using Radioactive Weapons in Syria that Left Thousands of Iraqi Babies Deformed
One of the least talked about war crimes committed by the United States is the use of depleted uranium — a highly controversial radioactive waste that’s been dumped into Iraq by the ton. In spite of multiple international watchdog groups and health organizations pointing out the dangers of using DU, and in spite of the Pentagon claiming they wouldn’t use it, the United States just admitted to using it in Syria.
For those that aren’t familiar with the radioactive waste that is DU, it is the byproduct of the production of enriched uranium for use as fuel in nuclear reactors and in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. It is also the US military’s preferred material to use for armor plating and armor-piercing projectiles.
In the first three weeks of the conflict in Iraq in 2003, the US Military dumped more than 2,000 tons of this chemically toxic and radioactive waste onto the Iraqi people.
Because the half-life of DU is millions of years, the massive quantities dropped in Iraq over the course of the invasion continue to pose a serious health risk to those exposed to it. Amounts in bullets, shells, and bombs vary from 300 grams to 7 tons in the bunker-busters missiles — which rained down from the skies over Iraq — for years.
In the course of the two US-led wars in Iraq, it is estimated that tens of thousands of tons of DU have dropped from the sky onto the people.
The admitted use of DU is solely reserved to the United States and the United Kingdom. Since its adverse effects first began appearing, there’s been a massive effort to conceal the true and horrifying impact it’s had.
However, on Monday, a spokesman for the US Central Command (CENTCOM) told Foreign Policy that 5,265 armor-piercing DU rounds were used in November 2015, during two air raids against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) oil tanker convoys in the Deir ez-Zor and Hasakah provinces in eastern Syria.
A-10 ground attack aircraft fired the projectiles from their 30mm rotating cannons, destroying about 350 tanker trucks, according to CENTCOM spokesman Major Josh Jacques.
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http://thefreethoughtproject.com/us-admits-using-radioactive-weapons-syria-du/