Re: So, What IS a Fascist, anyway?

-- 
"In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the
sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law & order."

- Idi Dada Amin

"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of
Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in
midstream. .and would have incurred incalculable human and political
costs. .We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect rule
Iraq. .There was no viable 'exit strategy' we could see. .Going in and
occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate,
would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression
that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United
States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile
land. It would have been a dramatically  different -- and perhaps barren -- 
outcome."

- Elected President Bush

"Gunner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 07:06:40 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Fredric L.
> Rice) wrote:

> >You haven't bothered watching anything but FOX News, huh, buddy?  You
have
> >no idea what the latest reports about the unacceptably high levels of
> >radiation across Iraq means, huh?
> >
> Cites?
>
> And please post the rad/hr danger levels for DU exposure.

Rads haven't been used much since the 50s...

But a compendium of relevant cites:

http://www.llrc.org/du/subtopic/duparticletable.htm

http://www.spea.indiana.edu:8000/dhenshel/e311/rad.doc
(be patient, you do not need to sign in)

http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/air/Fact%20Sheet%2027.pdf

http://msds.pdc.cornell.edu/msds/msdsdod/a396/m197661.htm

http://impearls.blogspot.com/2003_08_10_impearls_archive.html#106096779727066488

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs257/en/

As of now, no one really knows the dangers, or lack thereof.  DU is
primarily an
alpha emitter, so external exposure is 'harmless' to the vast majority of
people.
Contaminants and daughter elements contribute a small, and probably
insignificant,
level of beta and gamma exposure.

However,
the use it is put to during conflict causes it to be generated in a form
that can easily
gain access to internal biology, where the normally present barriers are
fewer or
non-existent.  Estimates indicate that up to 80% of a munitions are
converted
to microscopic U3O8 (and other oxides) ceramic particles easily borne on the
wind.
Gross testing indicates that radiation levels near impact sites are not
significantly raised
beyond a few meters, but that aerosolized forms (5 microns and lower) spread
in small
but measurable amounts for long distances.   Particles as small as 0.2
micron, a size
which will pass through a sterilizing filter, can contribute an annual dose
to a point
location in the lung equivalent to the total average annual whole body dose
of
background radiation.

Uranium is a normal contaminant which levels vary greatly from place to
place on the earth.
There is no peer reviewed study to date, to my knowledge,
that can correlate a health risk to natural uranium exposure levels, but few
have looked at this detail
in modern war zones where temporary exposures to large doses are possible.
Non-reviewed studies have shown elevated levels of Uranium
and associated cancers in Iraqi citizens, but difficulties in performing
adequate research
in this area of the world historically preclude these studies from
definitive conclusiveness.

Although Uranium is a heavy metal, and thus associated with heavy metal
poisoning, the
levels expected in the war zone is not expected to generate more than an
insignificant
level of risk, at the levels of lead poisoning in the same areas.

You decide.

Dan