Depleted Uranium

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Quote
However, the nature of war has changed in this last century to involve more and more civilian targets,

Infanteer is just being nice about his answer, personally unless you have never opened a history book, I believe you are just trolling now.
Bruce

 

[Infanteer]

If you look at the change in the nature of war over the last century, from the battles of attrition during WWI through to the present shock and awe campaigns in Iraq in March 2003, you cannot deny that the type of warfare occuring is not radically different, and that there are not more civilian casulties in ratio to military personnel...

Besides absolute numbers (there are more of us to fight) and technolgical affects on matters of time and space, please enlighten us to the "radical changes" in war.

How is an Assyrian army putting a city to the torch and every civilian to the sword any different then a 1,000 bomber raid over Dresden?

 

[48Highlander]

Quote
However, the nature of war has changed in this last century to involve more and more civilian targets,

Infanteer is just being nice about his answer, personally unless you have never opened a history book, I believe you are just trolling now.
Bruce

I think you've accidentaly hit the nail on the head.  The fact of the matter is this individual clearly doesn't know much about history, physics, military strategy, politics, or any number of subjects neccesary to understand the topics he's attempting to discuss.  The reason for this is that the rhetoric being perpetuated amongst students has nothing to do with education and everything to do with indoctrination.

 

[McG]

WARNING! WARNING! SENSORS DETECT USE OF A RANDOM TANGENT DEFENCE!

However, the nature of war has changed in this last century to involve more and more civilian targets, whether intentionally through carpret, fire or shock and awe bombing or ostensibly unintentionally, through depleted uranium, etc.

Should the role of militaries in this day and age, with the advancement of weaponry and technology that we know possess, not look to try and maximize military targets while limiting civilian ones?

How is this related to DU?  You can't argue the science of your claim that DU is some "horriffic" weapon, so you've launched out and accused modern information aged forces of increasingly targeting civillians.  I'd suggest we've come a long way since Dresden, but that is neither here nor there.

So, I'll put this question out again.  What makes DU so disproportional as to constitute â Å“horrificâ ? and what makes fired DU munitions worse than all other war pollution?

 

[Infanteer]

WARNING! WARNING! SENSORS DETECT USE OF A RANDOM TANGENT DEFENCE!

LOL, that's been pretty common these days.

Just like a weak position on the Iraq War suddenly changing into an attack on U.S. policies towards Latin America in the 1970's.....

 

[Slim]

civilian targets

Pretty hard NOT to hit a Mosque, hospital, holy place when the other side insists on using them as pionts to strike from.

My two cents

Slim

 

[48Highlander]

WARNING! WARNING! SENSORS DETECT USE OF A RANDOM TANGENT DEFENCE!

LOL, that's been pretty common these days.

Just like a weak position on the Iraq War suddenly changing into an attack on U.S. policies towards Latin America in the 1970's.....

Yeah.  Thanks for moving this to a new thread too, but with the way Civ is playing at kangaroo debating I don't think it'll make much of a difference.

 

[Dogboy]

OK after a quick Google I'v come to the conclusion that.
DU thou made of Uranium is in fact less radioactive then natural uranium.
and DU is not rely dangerous to the people using it, and if you get hit by it your dead, or you'll live but not in that much danger.

BUT their is no real long tearm effects known yet, and their is no long term documented effects known for civilians living in a area that DU was used.
also it dose produse DU dust when used, and their is no long term effects know for that yet ether.
so who knows you all might be right.

 

[Infanteer]

I'm still trying to figure out what the long-term affects of trying to understand your posts are going to be....

 

[a_majoor]

Honestly, why are we bothering? We live and work with much more dangerous, toxic and carcinogenic substances every day, but because they are used in a non military context, there is little or no outcry.

Partial list: NiCad rechargeable batteries are full of Cadmium, a fairly toxic metal. Computers, like the one you are sitting in front of (yes YOU!), are made of a wicked mix of metals and plastics, and the monitor of the vast majority of PC's have a lot of leaded glass. The heat from the CPU tends to volatilize the plastics in the computer, and the metals oxidize (turn to dust), which is that smell when you are booting up. Cars, buses and most motorized vehicles use toxic chemicals for their operation, and guess what you breath when a car or bus passes by. Don't forget peanut butter has known carcinogenic compounds in it as well. (That reminds me, I need to get a sandwich.)

As has been pointed out, you were probably exposed to DU the last time you went to the dentist, so it is time to fold up this tent and do something productive.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

OK after a quick Google I'v come to the conclusion that.
DU thou made of Uranium is in fact less radioactive then natural uranium.
and DU is not rely dangerous to the people using it, and if you get hit by it your dead, or you'll live but not in that much danger.

BUT their is no real long tear effects known yet, and their is no long term documented effects known for civilians living in a area that DU was used.
also it dose produse DU dust when used, and their is no long term effects know for that yet ether.
so who knows you all might be right.

I have less worry about Depleted Uranium than your grasp of the English language. DU is only deadly to the f****r's on the receiving end. That's where it counts.

 

[George Wallace]

Honestly, why are we bothering? We live and work with much more dangerous, toxic and carcinogenic substances every day, but because they are used in a non military context, there is little or no outcry.

Partial list: NiCad rechargeable batteries are full of Cadmium, a fairly toxic metal.

Not to mention Lithium Batteries.   I would not like to be in the same room as one of those, should it break or explode.   Instant death.

CivU does need to read more History and News.   The after affects of any war are around for a long time.   Having lived in Northern France, where there have been centuries of conquering Armies marching through, there have been centuries of innocent civilian deaths centuries after major battles.   In the area around Vimy Ridge, there are deaths every year, from unexploded munitions now 100 years old.   There are perminant UOD teams there still working at making the countryside safe.   DU is no different than any other munition fired on the battlefield in this sense.  

As for the matter of civilian deaths as a result of "collateral damage", it is a sad fact of life.   If an innocent bystander is in the wrong place at the wrong time, then they will suffer the consequences.   Any suggestion that "Smart Bombs" are, is just plain dumb.

GW