Depleted Uranium... is radiating our soldiers equal to treason?

Mrs. Charity Sweet | 02.04.2008 10:03 | Iraq | London

If you read through to the text at the bootom, you will see that the site on the card is named in the document below.

I found the cavalier attitude quite shocking, to say the least.

you decide...

this is the real deal

everyone o.k. with this?

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Canberra PR9

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost is of the Canberra PR9 reconnaissance aircraft; and if he will make a statement. [67142]

Mr. Ingram: For the last financial year 2001–02, the total resource running costs of the five Canberra PR9 aircraft in 39 Squadron was approximately £15.5 million.

9 Jul 2002 : Column 853W

Army Vehicles

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the content of British manufacturing in vehicles used by the Army. [67140]

Dr. Moonie: Information relating to a selection of vehicles used by the British Army (Warrior Armoured Personnel Vehicle (APV), Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank

9 Jul 2002 : Column 854W

(MBT), Landrover and the Demountable Rack Off Load and Pick up System (DROPS) vehicle) is set out in the table.

Information on the content of British manufacturing for every vehicle used is not held centrally and as such an overall assessment could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The British manufacturing content of each of the vehicles, set out in the table, is 85 per cent. or more.

Vehicle Manufacturer
Warrior APV
Vehicle design authority Alvis Vehicles Ltd. (UK owned)
Hull manufacture Alvis Vehicles (UK manufactured and owned)
Engine and transmission Perkins (UK manufactured—now owned by Caterpillar, a US company)
Turret design authority Vickers Defence Systems (UK manufactured and owned)
Track William Cook Defence (UK manufactured and owned)

Challenger 2 MBT
Vehicle design authority Vickers Defence Systems (UK owned)
Turret design authority Vickers Defence Systems (UK owned)
Track William Cook Defence (UK manufactured and owned)
Engine Perkins (UK manufactured—now owned by Caterpillar, a US company)
Transmission David Brown Defence (US owned and UK manufactured)
Laser Range Finder Simrad (Norwegian owned and manufactured)

DROPS Vehicle Medium Mobility Load Carrier (IMMLC)
Parent company PACCAR (US owned)
Vehicle design authority Foden (UK owned)
Manufacturer Foden (UK owned and manufactured)
Engine manufacture (UK manufactured now owned by US company—Caterpillar)
Transmision manufacturer ZF (German owned and manufactured)

DROPS Vehicle Medium Mobility Load Carrier (MMLC)
Parent company PACCAR (US owned)
Vehicle design authority Leyland (UK owned)
Manufacturer Leyland (UK owned and manufactured)
Engine manufacture (UK manufactured now owned by US company—Caterpillar)
Transmission manufacturer ZF (German owned and manufactured)

Landrover
Parent company Ford (US)
Vehicle design authority Landrover (US owned)
Manufacturer Landrover (US owned, UK manufactured)
Engine manufacture Landrover (US owned, UK manufactured)
Transmission manufacturer Landrover (US owned, UK manufactured)

Armed Forces Pension Scheme

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the proportion of the rise in Government liabilities resulting from unfunded parts of the armed forces pension scheme in the last five years due to (a) wage inflation, (b) longevity, (c) extension of the rights of part-time workers and (d) other factors; and if he will make a statement. [67023]

Mr. Ingram: A detailed breakdown of reasons for the increased liabilities of the armed forces pension scheme cannot be provided. However, the most significant factors in the increase from 43.7 billion at 1 April 1997 to 51 billion at 1 April 2001 have been price inflation and real wage increases. Trends in pensioner longevity will also have had an impact but the effect of rights of part-time workers is considered to have been minimal.
Tank Warfare

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to conduct a cost and effectiveness comparison of alternatives to using depleted uranium in gun-launched Kinetic Energy penetrator projectiles to defeat threats from tanks; and if he will make a statement. [67840]

Dr. Moonie: Operational analysis (OA) studies into the cost-effectiveness of tank-launched depleted uranium ammunition have taken place since the 1970s when it was assessed that the existing tungsten Kinetic Energy (KE) projectile for our main battle tank would not be able to penetrate the frontal armour of the next generation of battle tanks. OA and scientific research showed that a battle winning UK capability against emerging armour technologies could be achieved by replacing the tungsten penetrator with one made from DU.

Although research to identify more effective alternative KE tank rounds has been undertaken, no satisfactory alternative to DU has yet been identified which achieves the level of penetration needed to defeat the most modern battle tanks. At this time, the use of DU ammunition remains the most operationally effective capability and the

9 Jul 2002 : Column 855W

use of non-DU ammunition would significantly threaten operational success and potentially could lead to increased UK casualties.

We will, however, continue to carry out work on alternatives to DU. The DU research proposal which was announced earlier this year, 14 March 2002, Official Report, columns 1177–78W—also published on the web at www.mod.uk/issues/depleted_uranium/du_research.htm— includes, at section 2.5, OA studies on the types of engagement where DU ammunition is required and the consequences of not using DU, together with cost-effectiveness studies into other means of defeating heavy armour. The proposal also includes, at section 2.6, work into radical alternatives (for example, guided missiles) to DU KE penetrators to defeat heavy armour.

Mrs. Charity Sweet
e-mail: charitysweet@hotmail.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Should we care

02.04.2008 11:01

Its the people who didnt ask to live in a war zone (and dont get paid to kill) who we should care about being exposed to situations such as these and not the paid killers who are the army, the navy and the airforce. Soldiers are unimportant to us and lack of respect is all they deserve.

A21

I care about the troops and the civilians

02.04.2008 11:55

brainwashed into believing you were fighting for justice?

economically abused so that the only way out of poverty was to join the military?

ever not know what you were getting into?

would it not interest you to know that of all the soldiers that were in this platoon that were given this card, not one of them wanted to go to Iraq.

would it interest you to know that soldiers are real people too and the media failed to report that the bus loads of them were all singing a tune from John Lennon - all's we are saying... is give peace a chance...

can you imagine feeling that song in your heart and being ordered to break international after national after moral law... over and over, again and again?

Lt. Watada faces 7 years in America for refusing to kill and disobeying illegal orders.

Unless you have walked a mile in a soldiers shoes, you really have not got any understanding. They are also victims of this illegal war.

My daughetr is Iraqi... so don't think I don't have a heart and justified righteous anger for what is being done to my daughetrs peoples and homeland...

I also have compassion for those who got a lot more than they bargained for - DUM

people are people and no one deserves cancer for their ignorance.

i am merely highlighting the crime of teason our government is committing against our sons and daughters, something my son pointed out to me, a few years back.

When he was 14, he asked if shooting your own troops was treason in the movie Braveheart when Sir Bruce turned funny and allowed the English to massacre his Scots, then surely it must be teason for Tony to nuke our sons and daughters ...as well as his crime of genocide against the Iraqi people.

Charity
mail e-mail: charitysweet@hotmail.co.uk

All we are saying

02.04.2008 15:25

Soldiers sing for peace while shooting at people. Sounds a bit like Bush advocating democracy while funding dictatorships. The excuse "They didnt know what they were getting into" is not valid or sane in any way. Its not like a garbage collector finding himself in a pile on crap and wondering why he/she ever agreed to go for this job. This is a person agreeing to get paid to slaughter an innocent peoples, and protect their pillagers. This is peoples lives were talking about. Your argument will never stand. Its no different to a hitman accepting money to 'off' someone. Only the army has been 'legalised' by the same institutions that order the bloody execution of men women and children all over the world. At the end of the day they could leave if they wanted to, be it go to prison. Theyd obviously kill and colelct their pay cheque at the end of the month

A21

good find

02.04.2008 15:42

Great find Charity. All DU use is scandalous. We can't try the government for treason for using it on Iraqis but possibly on our soldiers. All war is immoral and illegal. I support humanity which means supporting all those effected. Social backgounds often dictate that a lot of soldiers have little choice between the army or the dole queue. Society is in a mess and we shouldn't have a go at the soldiers for this. At the end of the day if we do ever get our revolution we'll need the soldiers and police on our side and not the states.

Andy

What about the Iraqi

02.04.2008 23:10

who live permanently in the theater of operations where DU has been used and remains ?

Isnt't the use of those weapons an act of deliberate genocidal warfare targeting the entire population ?

skunk

Hmm,

05.04.2008 15:52

I see where you are coming from, Andy, but I remain unconvinced (as yet). Why should revolutionaries NEED the military and Police on their side? Isn't that just asking for trouble?
I guess I suspect that the Police and Military are a major part of the problem, and NO part of the solution.

Maybe it's just me....

freeluncher
Homepage: http://talkingliberties.wordpress.com/

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