US Fired Depleted Uranium on Civilian Areas in Iraq: Report

October 14, 2020News

The United States fired depleted uranium weapons in Iraq during the 1991 and 2003 wars and failed to fully disclose information about contamination to Iraqi civilians or clean up the dangerous mess, a report released Friday by Dutch peace organization Pax reveals.

The information was obtained from the Dutch Ministry of Defense through a Freedom of Information Act request, and it shows the coordinates of where the UU.S. military forces fired DU weapons.

The report notes that the UK also had a hand in DU deployments. “Conservative estimates suggest that more than 440,000kg of DU was fired in both Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2003 by the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) armed forces,” writes report author Wim Zwijnenburg.

The report reveals that a “considerable number” of DU rounds were fired “in or near” areas populated with civilians, including Samawah, Nasiriyah, and Basrah.

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Zwijnenburg notes:

Furthermore, there is no long-term strategy for removing the highly toxic and radioactive material.

“Iraqi civilians have been forced to live and work in a contaminated environment. Communities and medical professionals have reported an increase in health problems, problems readily associated with exposure to conflict pollutants,” states the report. “What then, has been the impact of the use and inadequate management of DU on both the health and psycho-social well-being of Iraqi civilians?”

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