C. Schaffer
I find in the articles cited not the slightest evidence that DU projectiles either act like or are intended to act like nuclear weapons. Yes, they show indifference to post-battle environmental concerns but this is nothing new. I am more concerned over unexploded bomblets and buried anti-personnel mines (for which mines there is really no tactical excuse these days).
Moreover, of all the multitudinous indifferences the U.S. armed forces have shown for the post-war environment, I find this one at least eminently understandable. The people who use these things (our soldiers, 20-year-old kids from working-class backgrounds) desire very much that enemy armor should be destroyed so as to prevent it from killing them and armor-piercing technologies are essential for that. It is not as if these rounds are being substituted for regular rifle bullets or anti-personnel explosives. They are used for piercing armor.
Look, if tungsten rounds are nearly as good and less polluting, I'm for them. But you have to be willing to pay the cost in lives and treasure if they are less effective and more expensive.
This is an environmental issue and you are treating it like a secret government conspiracy to wage a concealed nuclear war. It's ridiculous.
peace,
boddi