Campagin Against Depleted Uranium

NGO Committee on Disarmament in US

On October 26th, 1999, the NGO Committee on Disarmament hosted a panel discussion on depleted uranium weapons at the United Nations in New York. The Pentagon was well represented. They sent what they thought was a "Trojan Horse" in the form of Colonel Eric Daxon from the Army Medical Corps, but by the end of the night, he looked more like a sacrificial lamb.
Since the Pentagon admitted, in 1998, that "thousands" of Gulf War veterans may have been exposed to depleted uranium, Pentagon spokesmen have dropped back to their next line of defence; not one veteran was exposed to enough DU to cause any health problems. Of course, using such a definitive statement is problematic and indefensible, especially when you have no data to support your position. The Pentagon is enamoured with DU and its refusal to admit any adverse effects from its use had prevented veterans from getting health care and forestalled research on DU's health and environmental effects.
Overall the Pentagon came off looking extremely arrogant and lacking credibility. After Colonel Daxon admitted people should stay away from equipment hit by DU rounds, a journalist asked why the Department of Defence had still not passed this warning on to Kosov@ civilians. "Ask NATO," the Colonel responded tersely, to which the journalist stated "NATO won't answer that question either. " Unfortunately for the Pentagon, 60 Minutes taped the entire debate.
By Dan Fahey (in Veterans for Peace Newsletter, Nov 99)

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From CADU News 3: Winter 1999/2000

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