IRAQ

Csmonitor: Remains of toxic bullets litter Iraq

Erlich is a longtime foreign correspondent who reported from Iraq for
the San Francisco Chronicle and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is
co-author of "Target Iraq." Erlich said today: "A recent Christian
Science Monitor story revealed the U.S. expended no less than 75 tons of
depleted uranium in Iraq [this spring]. The Monitor 'found significant levels of
radioactive contamination from the U.S. battle for Baghdad.' Depleted
uranium is a toxic and radioactive heavy metal used as a highly
effective penetrator in U.S. machine gun and tank shells. When it hits a hard
target ... the dust can settle on the ground and get into the food chain.
Today in Baghdad, children are playing on tanks destroyed by DU ammo and the
dust may be settling on nearby food markets." Erlich visited Iraq and Bosnia
to investigate the U.S. use of DU and its long-term health dangers. "At a
minimum, the U.S. should clean up the sites where DU was used in Iraq,"
Erlich says.