On some lists are the various war crimes that have accompanied the war, including the targeting of civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, the use of antipersonnel weapons in densely settled urban areas, and the use of illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new version of napalm used in Mark 77 firebombs.
UK and US forces have continued to use depleted uranium weapons despite warnings they pose a cancer risk, a BBC investigation has found.
Scientists have pointed to health statistics in Iraq, where the weapons were used in the 1991 and 2003 wars.
A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2001 said they posed only a small contamination risk.
But a senior UN scientist said research showing how depleted uranium could cause cancer was withheld.
The UK Ministry of Defence said that there was no evidence linking depleted uranium use to ill health.
Depleted uranium is extremely dense and hard, and is used for armour-piercing bullets or shells.
Fears over health implications led to a study by the WHO in 2001.
There is no scientific or medical evidence to link depleted uranium with the ill health of people living in the Gulf region UK Ministry of Defence
Dr Mike Repacholi, who oversaw work on the report, told Angus Stickler of BBC Radio Four's Today programme that depleted uranium was "basically safe".
"You would have to ingest a huge amount of depleted uranium dust to cause any adverse health effect," he said.
'Risk from particles'
But Dr Keith Baverstock, who worked on the project, said research conducted by the US Department of Defense suggested otherwise.
DEPLETED URANIUM
Has a reduced proportion of isotope Uranium-235 Less radioactive than natural uranium and very dense Military uses include defensive armour plating, armour-penetrating ordnance Can be inhaled as dust or ingested in contaminated food and water near impact sites Used in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia
He described a process known as genotoxicity, which begins when depleted uranium dust is inhaled.
"The particles that dissolve pose a risk - part radioactive - and part from the chemical toxicity in the lung," he said.
Later, he said, the material enters the body and the blood stream, potentially affecting bone marrow, the lymphatic system and the kidneys.
The research was not included in the WHO report, and Dr Baverstock believes it was blocked.
Mr Repacholi said the findings were not corroborated by other reports and it was not WHO policy to publish "speculative" data. He denied any pressure was brought to bear.
But other senior scientists have pointed to worrying health statistics in Iraq, which show a rise in cancer and birth defects.
Prof Randy Parrish of the Isotope Geosciences Laboratory in the UK said environmental and health assessments were needed in Iraq to establish the facts.
Iraqi scientists trained by the UN are seeking to carry out such an assessment, but Henrik Slotte of the United Nations Environmental Programme said without clear information from the US on what was used and where, it was "like looking for a needle in a haystack".
He said there was "no indication" this information was forthcoming from the US.
A spokesman for the UK's Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, told the BBC that there was "no scientific or medical evidence" to link depleted uranium use to sickness in Iraq.
He said the MOD was aware of recent research into the effects of depleted uranium at cellular level, but that it had to be guided by "the professional advice of the Health Protection Agency and the International Commission on Radiological Protection".
By MARTIN J. KIDSTON - IR Features Writer - 03/06/07
Eliza Wiley IR Staff Photographer - "Chip Clawson of the Montana Depleted Uranium Education Project stands near the billboard he raised money to have installed for the month, in an attempt to increase public awareness of the dangers depleted uranium has on American veterans. The words are bright and unmistakeable, sitting high above Montana Avenue on the latest flashy billboard.
“Depleted uranium kills our troops,” the message says, depicting an Abrams tank firing its cannon, along with a warning for “ionizing radiation.”
The billboard doesn’t mention the Helena Peace Seekers, a local anti-war group that has called the current conflict “immoral and unjust.”
It does, however, list the group’s new subsidiary, the Montana Depleted Uranium Project, which hopes to use the billboard to raise public awareness on the use of DU, which it says threatens the health of both U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians.
“We have DU munitions being used by the military that are endangering our own troops,” said Chip Clawson, a Vietnam-era veteran who’s funding the billboard. “These radioactive weapons are certain to devastate the future health of many troops and many civilians in the countries where we’ve used them.”
The group’s members also want veterans returning from the war to get screened for the presence of uranium.
House Bill 288 sought to provide members of the Montana National Guard with a DU health screening upon returning home. The bill was tabled due to funding questions.
Clawson said the group has no current evidence that DU has adversely affected the health of any particular Montana soldier home from Iraq or Afghanistan. However, he said, he believes that will change in time.
“I have had some possibilities, but we’ve been unable to produce them,” Clawson said. “We have an incredibly high rate of veterans from the first Gulf War on disability. We believe DU is part of the problem.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs said DU possesses about 60 percent of the radioactivity of natural uranium. It poses a hazard if internalized, be it though shrapnel or inhalation.
Testing DU for military use began in the 1960s. The material was first used in combat by the U.S. in the first Gulf War.
Joe Foster, administrator of the Montana Veterans Affairs Division, said that in the four years the current war has been going on, no veteran health-care provider has filed a claim naming DU as the cause of illness.
“I sent out a memo a month ago, asking them if they’ve processed any claim based upon depleted uranium,” Foster said. “There were none. It doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to any of our soldiers. It’s just that we haven’t seen it here in Montana.”
Even so, Foster said the VA will place information on its Website about DU, particularly the three levels of exposure, which range from being hit by a DU round to being in the general area of a DU incident.
While veterans presented with level-one or level-two exposure to DU have that exposure documented in their medical records, those who experience a level-three exposure do not.
“I think what this group wants is to have anyone and everyone in theater tested for DU automatically,” Foster said. “That just can’t happen unless they want to pay for it themselves.”
The link on Clawson’s billboard sends viewers to the Gulf War Veterans Association.
According to the group’s own mission, its single goal is to obtain treatment for veterans who “experience symptoms collectively known as the ‘Gulf War Illness.’”
The group claims that the number of Gulf War veterans suffering from the mysterious illness “has spread to epidemic proportions.” The group also claims that the government has turned its back on the nation’s defenders.
Yet studies question whether the Gulf War Illness is even a real medical condition.
A November 1996 article in the New England Journal of Medicine found no difference in hospitalization rates or self-reported symptoms between Persian Gulf vets and non-Persian Gulf vets.
“U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians have been exposed to ionizing radiation as a result of the use of DU munitions in Iraq,” Clawson said. “But many of our troops haven’t been told about this, nor have they been trained to minimize the long-term health risks.”
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