DU weaponry: a view on facts and deceptions

The paper summarizes the results of literature research conducted by the author on the use of depleted uranium (DU) weaponry. The research was initiated during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 with an objective of searching for facts in the presence of massive deceptions staged by the huge propaganda machinery of DU weaponry use proponents. The U.S. made use of DU penetrators in the Persian Gulf war as well as in the Balkan wars both in Bosnia and Kosovo. Brief science and history backgrounds are provided including overviews of DU uses and abuses in these three wars. The U.S./NATO public pronouncements have been centered around the theme that there has been no proven link between DU and cancers. In the author's view, these types of carefully word engineered statements are motivated by possible compensation and cleanup claims rather than supported by hard data and sound science. Since underlying causes of so called Gulf and Balkan syndromes have not been found despite a decade elapsed since conclusion of the Persian Gulf War, the DU must continue to be a front-line suspect. From the standpoint of public health and safety, it is prudent and responsible to call for a moratorium. DU use in the Kosovo war, which was not sanctioned by the UN Security Council, was reckless in the extreme. (author)