"BAGHDAD (AFP) - Thousands of people were left suffocating as a massive sandstorm brought life in the war-torn Iraqi capital to a virtual standstill. Nearly 1,000 cases of suffocation were reported at the city's Yarmuk Hospital which saw one 60-year-old woman die. Hundreds of other people visited private clinics and family doctors as a fog-like cloak of orange dust sat over the city. Traffic came to a virtual standstill as commuters stayed at home, while those who dared step out wore masks or covered their mouths with piece of cloth to keep the dust out. The capital's main airport was also shut with no flights taking off."

" 'You can barely see 15 meters (yards) ahead', said police Captain Ali Hussein as he struggled to cope with the sandy onslaught at his traffic post in a central Baghdad square ... I have never seen anything like this before," Hussein said, wearing dark sunglasses and a mouth-cover, but his uniform covered in dust. They (the police department) have not given us anything to protect us from such weather. I bought this mask on the street and need to buy some more for my colleagues'."

While residents are used to wearing masks to offer some protection against these routine dust storms, but what they do not realize is that Depleted Uranium dust is usually so small that it passes right through masks. These protective devices are absolutely no protection against DU-contaminated dust.

Notice that this news story says that many people are literally "suffocating" in this sandstorm. While this sandstorm was so unusually heavy that this article described it as a "freak", normal sandstorms which blow throughout Iraq and the Middle East are nearly as bad. During the first three weeks of fighting after our invasion of March 20, 2003, battles were abandoned on both sides at least twice if my memory serves me correctly because sandstorms whipped through the area.

We have kind of gotten ahead of ourselves here in describing the lethal nature of Depleted Uranium dust, so let us now speak to its scientific nature. Only then can you understand how a sandstorm like the one pictured above could become such an instrument of death -- so deadly a weapon you can only think of Seal #3 in Revelation 6.

Definition of Depleted Uranium -- DU

"Depleted uranium is what is left over when most of the highly radioactive types (isotopes) of uranium are removed for use as nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. The depleted uranium used in armor-piercing munitions and in enhanced armor protection for some Abrams tanks is also used in civilian industry, primarily for stabilizers in airplanes and boats. Depleted uranium is a heavy metal that is also slightly radioactive. Heavy metals (uranium, lead, tungsten, etc.) have chemical toxicity properties that, in high doses, can cause adverse health effects. Depleted uranium that remains outside the body can not harm you." [Department of Defense, Frequently Asked Questions, Depleted Uranium]

As far as this statement goes, we have no trouble with the facts DOD is setting forth, as it is virtually inert before it is fired off; however, once Depleted Uranium is used in battle, the dangerous contamination begins. This is the essence of this article.

Why and How Depleted Uranium Is Used By Our Military Machine

Almost 15 years ago, the Pentagon decided to start using Depleted Uranium extensively in our munitions. Depleted Uranium (DU) was dirt cheap, since it was the left over material from processing Uranium into nuclear weapons and was normally just being thrown away -- in specially built containers in which all handling was done with men wearing special radiation protection suits, because in the commercial field, this stuff is considered "toxic waste"!

Depleted Uranium also possessed several one other characteristic that made it very useful to a modern fighting force. It is extremely dense and pyrophoric, which enables it to punch and burn its way through hard targets such as tanks. Therefore, DU is used extensively in all armor piercing munitions. ["Depleted Uranium: America's Military 'Gift' That Keeps on Giving", By Dan Fahey, L.A. Times, 2/18/01.]

DU has proven so effective, the United States is using it also in the following weapons systems:

1. Navy ships carrying Phalanx rapid fire guns are capable of firing thousands of DU rounds per minute. [."DOD Launches Depleted Uranium Training," Linda Kozaryn, American Forces Press Service, 8-13-99]

2. Some Tomahawk missiles launched from U.S. ships and subs are DU-tipped. [."Nukes of the Gulf War," John Shirley, Zess@aol.com. See this article in archives at www.gulfwarvets.com]

3. M1 Abrams tanks are armored with DU, as are British tanks. [BBC News, "US To Use Depleted Uranium," March 18, 2003; U.S. General Accounting Office, Operation Desert Storm: "Early Performance Assessment of Bradley and Abrams," 1-2-92; covered also by Shirley, op. cit]

4. The A-10 "tank buster" aircraft fires DU 30-mm shells at machines and people on the battlefield. [Shirley, op. cit.]

"When a DU shell is fired, it ignites upon impact. Uranium, plus traces of plutonium and americium, vaporize into tiny, ceramic particles of radioactive dust. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit radiation indefinitely. A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire immune system according to British radiation expert Roger Coghill." ["US Shells Leave Lethal Legacy," Toronto Star, July 31, 1999; also "Radiation Tests for Peacekeepers in the Balkans Exposed to Depleted Uranium," www.telegraph.co.uk, 12-31-02]

Did you catch the critically important portion of this article, above? Let us repeat it for you:

"When a DU shell is fired, it ignites upon impact. Uranium, plus traces of plutonium and americium, vaporize into tiny, ceramic particles of radioactive dust. Once inhaled, uranium oxides lodge in the body and emit radiation indefinitely. A single particle of DU lodged in a lymph node can devastate the entire immune system ..."

Once exploded, DU munitions turn instantly into fine dust. This dust then mixes with the dust on the ground and starts to kill civilians who breathe it into their lungs. If people could avoid breathing this dust, they could avoid contamination and prevent the onset of slow, agonizing radioactive death.

SANDSTORMS IN IRAQ - SPREADING RADIOACTIVE POISON TO EVERY SOLDIER

Most of the warhead becomes either extremely small fragments -- though larger ones are possible -- and a whole lot of radiation dust. Thus, when a person travels through the battlefield, they breathe in the particles that are now lingering in the air, plus they get a lot of radiation on their clothes. Let us hear from an expert on this type of exposure.

"The Royal Society of England published data showing that battlefield soldiers who inhale or swallow high levels of DU can suffer kidney failure within days. ["Depleted Uranium May Stop Kidneys In Days," Rob Edwards, New Scientist.com, 3-12-02; also "Uranium Weapons Too Hot to Handle," Rob Edwards, New Scientist.co.uk, 6-9-99]

Other soldiers that breathe in lesser amounts do not suffer immediately, but have a high chance of breathing in enough to cause serious problems later on. How many of the ground soldiers are contaminated enough with Depleted Uranium residue?

"Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled lethal radioactive dust is not breathing." [Death By Slow Burn - How America Nukes Its Own Troops", Worthington, Amy The Idaho Observer, 4/16/03]

Did you catch this statement? ""Any soldier now in Iraq who has not inhaled lethal radioactive dust is not breathing."

This means every single soldier -- and every single civilian -- has tiny particles of Depleted Uranium dust lodged in their lungs, emitting radioactivity throughout their body 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.