[ RadSafe ] Iraq War records reignite debate over US use of depleted uranium

[Maury]

*https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2016/10/06/exclusive-iraq-war-records-reignite-debate-over-us-use-depleted-uranium

*

  * Environment and Disasters
    <https://www.irinnews.org/environment-and-disasters>


  EXCLUSIVE: Iraq War records reignite debate over US use of depleted
  uranium


    Data to be made public this week reveals the extent to which the
    weapons were used on “soft targets”

By Samuel Oakford <https://www.irinnews.org/authors/samuel-oakford>

  * <https://twitter.com/@samueloakford>

Freelance journalist based in New York, and regular IRIN contributor

NEW YORK, 6 October 2016

Records detailing as many as 181,000 rounds of depleted uranium 
munitions shot in 2003 by American forces in Iraq have been unearthed by 
researchers, representing the most significant public documentation of 
the controversial armament's use during the US-led invasion.

The cache, released to George Washington University in 2013 but until 
now not made public, shows that a majority of the 1,116 sorties carried 
out by A-10 jet crews during March and April of 2003 were aimed at 
so-called “soft targets” like cars and trucks, as well as buildings and 
troop positions. This runs parallel to accounts that the munitions were 
used on a wide array of targets and not just against the tanks and 
armoured vehicles that the Pentagon maintains super-penetrative DU 
munitions are intended for.

The strike logs were originally handed over in response to a Freedom of 
Information Act request by George Washington University’s National 
Security Archive, but**were not evaluated and analysed independently 
until now.

Earlier this year, the Archive provided the records to researchers at 
the Dutch NGO PAX, and an advocacy group, the International Coalition to 
Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW), who were fishing for new information. IRIN 
obtained both the data and analysis done by PAX and ICBUW, which is 
contained in a report that will be published later this week.