U.S. blocks UN probe of depleted uranium bombs in
Yugoslavia
By John
Catalinotto
A United Nations official who chairs the task force
investigating the impact on the environment of the 78-day
U.S.-NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia said on Oct. 14
that NATO officials had refused to cooperate regarding their
use of depleted-uranium weapons.
Pekka Haavisto, task-force chairperson, said his team was
unable to determine the extent of pollution caused by
uranium-tipped weapons. He said NATO refused either to admit
using the weapons or to cooperate with the task force.
Sara Flounders of the International Action Center denounced
NATO's refusal to cooperate. The IAC has opened a Commission of
Inquiry to Investigate U.S.-NATO War Crimes Against Yugoslavia.
Flounders said that "given the refusal of NATO to cooperate,
the commission will have to look to Yugoslav reports of DU
contamination to establish the facts."
Depleted uranium--or DU--is the waste product of the process
to collect the enriched uranium used for nuclear weapons or
nuclear-power plants. It is radioactive and poisonous. And it
is so dense that when turned into a metal alloy it can greatly
increase the power of a shell to penetrate armor. DU was
heavily used in the 1991 Gulf war against Iraq, especially
against Iraqi tanks.
When the DU shell hits metal armor, it starts to burn and
releases tiny particles of the radioactive metal into the air.
When humans inhale or ingest these particles, the particles
lodge in lungs or other organs, becoming a long-term site of
radioactive contamination--a hot spot in the body.
Iraqi doctors have found high levels of leukemia and other
cancers and birth defects in the areas where DU was most used
during the war. In addition, about 100,000 U.S. troops have
experienced symptoms categorized as the Gulf War Syndrome,
which may be at least partially caused by DU.
"We did not find any evidence that depleted uranium was used
against the tanks and vehicles we inspected," Haavisto said. He
admitted, however, that only a small number of tanks had been
examined.
In its report, the task force says immediate action is
needed to obtain information from NATO confirming "if, how and
where" depleted uranium weapons were used.
NATO and Pentagon officers have publicly admitted using
depleted uranium weapons during the campaign against
Yugoslavia, but they claim it was only in small quantities. Yet
they used the A-10 fighter-bomber extensively. This plane,
known as the Warthog, can deliver thousands of DU rounds each
minute against a target.
Only U.S. planes fired DU weapons in the war against
Yugoslavia.
The UN report also recommends immediate action to clean up
four pollution "hot-spots"--at Pancevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad
and Bor. Toxic waste spills and other damage at these sites are
serious and pose a threat to human health, it stated.
Haavisto, a former Finnish environment minister, said an
urgent clean-up program would cost some $20 million. Yugoslav
reports stress that the environmental damage is much greater
and would require much more money to clear it up
adequately.
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