Iraq war leukemia rates worse than after Hiroshima bombing

[cbabe]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2023/apr/02/iraq-war-hiroshima-bombing-leukemia-rates

Mona Chalabi’s datablog: Iraq war leukemia rates worse than after Hiroshima bombing

Bombing of Falluja preceded 2,200% increase in leukemia rates, as well as 1,260% increase in childhood cancer

Mona Chalabi
@MonaChalabi
Mon 3 Apr 2023 01.00 EDT

The US assault on Iraq that began 20 years ago has left a toxic legacy worse than that of the Hiroshima bombing, according to a study that looked at cancer rates and infant mortality.

After the bombing in Japan, the rates of leukemia among those living closest to the detonation increased by a devastating 660%, about 12 to 13 years after the bomb (which is when radiation levels peaked). In Falluja, leukemia rates increased by 2,200% in a much shorter space of time, averaged just five to 10 years after the bombings. Anecdotally, doctors in Iraq began reporting a big increase in cancer rates as well as congenital anomalies (commonly referred to as “birth defects”) after the US began bombing the country. The research, led by Dr Christopher Busby while he was at the University of Ulster, showed that the doctors’ observations were backed up by data.

In addition to the huge increase in leukemia, Busby and his colleagues found a 1,260% increase in rates of childhood cancer in Falluja after the US bombing as well as a 740% increase in brain tumors. They also found evidence that Iraqis had been exposed to radiation, as infant mortality rates were 820% higher than in neighboring Kuwait.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States in 1945 was one of the worst atrocities in human history. When Dr Busby compared the numbers to those in Falluja, he found that “the cancer levels are astonishing”, adding: “The peak effect in those at Hiroshima who were most irradiated was less than the effect in all of Falluja.”

(We did this.)

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Was this due to depleted uranium use in warheads?

[cbabe]

2. Nuclear war in Iraq

https://www.theguardian.com › world › 2014 › jun › 19 › us-depleted-uranium-weapons-civilian-areas-iraq

US fired depleted uranium at civilian areas in 2003 Iraq war, report ...

Jun 19, 2014US forces fired depleted uranium (DU) weapons at civilian areas and troops in Iraq in breach of official advice meant to prevent unnecessary suffering in conflicts, a report has found....

Also Russia warns UK not to use du in Ukraine

https://www.bbc.com › news › world-65051330

Depleted uranium shells: Why are they used and are they harmful?

Mar 23, 2023Uranium is a very dense metal, so depleted uranium can be used to reinforce the armour-plating on tanks. It can also be put on the tips of bullets, mortar rounds and tank shells, to penetrate...

[Just A Box Of Rain]

5. The Guardian article was remiss in not mentioning the speculative cause of radiation exposure

and raising leukemia rates, but the study raises the possibility that the use of depleted uranium may be a factor.

Important to know, as depleted uranium based munitions are reportedly being deployed for use by UKR forces in the moment.

[hunter]

10. Uranium is a toxic heavy metal like lead or mercury.

Depleted uranium used in anti-tank weapons and similar munitions typically contains less than 0.3% radioactive U-235.

"Radiation" may not be worst of it.

War itself is a very toxic endeavor. More ordinary sorts of air and water pollution certainly killed a lot of people.

Not that's any excuse for recklessly contaminating the environment with uranium or lead.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

30. Did I suggest that polluting the environment should be "excused?"

I think it is important to know the long term ramifications associated with the use of depleted uranium. 100%

[hunter]

38. You did suggest it was "the radiation..."

... and the article makes direct comparisons to the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

The two situations are not comparable.

Toxins are toxins, radioactive or not.

It's incongruous to me that I should be especially upset about depleted uranium compared to lead and whatever toxins were released by burn pits, military vehicles lacking air pollution control devices, used motor oil, etc..

Every aspect of this war was unethical and stupid. We can't claim the war would have been any less unethical and stupid if only we hadn't used depleted uranium munitions.

[OhNo-Really]

18. Read: " The horrors of depleted uranium usage in Ira 2006 expose

The horrors of depleted uranium usage in Iraq

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2006/8/13/236443/-

“ What's surprising is that after seeing the effects (warning: link contains graphic photographs) of what depleted uranium did to innocent civilians - particularly children - after the first Gulf War, we used it again this time around.”

Snip

“ US and its coalition allies fired off 286 tons of depleted uranium-infused armaments in 1991, and an additional 130 tons in 2003. It's going to take a long time to clean up the radioactive 'hot spots' in Iraq:

Also the article mentions beginning in 1998, Depleted Uranium is used in manufacturing Abrams tanks.

[Victor_c3]

3. It wasn't so the bombs that were dropped, but the other munitions

Incendiary rounds of various sizes from small arms up to 155mm artillery were the real culprit. I’m sure bombs were dropped, but the quantity of non-bomb ordinances was significantly greater.

For what it’s worth, my company spearheaded the assault on Fallujah during operation Phantom Fury. I personally wasn’t there as my platoon was guarding a power transfer station outside of Baghdad, but I know a lot about the operation as I was present during numerous company level planning and debrief meetings before and after the operation. My neighbor and good friend of mine, 1LT Edward Iwan was, was killed during the battle as well as my boss, CPT Sean Simms.

[NNadir]

4. It would be useful to have a reference.

Without a reference it's just more bullshit innuendo of a type that is far too common.

[cbabe]

8. Reference:

From the article:

The research, led by Dr Christopher Busby while he was at the University of Ulster, showed that the doctors’ observations were backed up by data.

[NNadir]

11. I'm looking for the scientific reference, not something from a journalist.

[sl8]

14. Here's the 2010 article they refer to, with info about the survey(s) it's based on:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2922729/
Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009

[OhNo-Really]

27. Lots of links - DU suspected culprit for Gulf War Syndrome as well

The horrors of depleted uranium usage in Iraq

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2006/8/13/236443/-

Not just Fallujah, it’s the whole country

“ In 2005, the U.N. Environmental Program identified 311 polluted sites in Iraq. Cleaning them will take at least $40 million and several years, the agency said. Nothing can start until the fighting stops.”

2013 Guardian article

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/oct/13/world-health-organisation-iraq-war-depleted-uranium

“ How the World Health Organisation covered up Iraq's nuclear nightmare
Ex-UN, WHO officials reveal political interference to suppress scientific evidence of postwar environmental health catastrophe”

[NNadir]

50. I would like to suggest, that rather than embracing the hooha on Daily Kos, one call up the...

...original paper.

If one wants it to be depleted uranium, and nothing else will satisfy one, then of course, you can get one "science" from Daily Kos.

If however, one is interested in something called "reality," one may want to read the full paper.

It includes the following text, not that anyone at Daily Kos is likely to read it.

Studying the leukemogenic nature of wartime exposures is difficult in the chaotic situations that characterize warfare. It is known that the Basrah region was exposed to environmental insults including chemical weapons agents,24 pyrophoric depleted uranium,25 and the known leukemogen benzene,26 as well as ongoing undifferentiated water and air pollution, but no data are available on the doses of those exposures to the leukemia patients in our study. Our findings could also be consistent with a theory of an infectious etiology posited by Kinlen, who found elevated childhood ALL in occupational sectors where population-mixing (e.g., the level of contact with different people seen in construction and trucking) might have contributed to the risk.27,28

One (very well known) "leukemogen" is listed as such, benzene. It is a well known constituent of gasoline, and is why all the gas pumps in California describe gasoline as being a known carcinogen. I note that the purpose of the Iraq war was to control access to oil for the United States working with Halliburton, and that oil leaked widely in the war.

The paper, which does not draw conclusions about any etiology, reports (Table 2) that in 2003 there were a total of 93 cases of leukemia among children under 14 in Basra Iraq, out of a population of 763,268. The very next year, 2004, the number of cases fell to 33 out of a population of 767,944, fewer leukemia cases than were observed in 2000, the year before the war.

Given the difference between 2003 and 2004, one might be inclined to ask whether uranium or benzene evaporates.

If one enters the search terms benzene, leukemia in Google Scholar, one gets over 94,000 hits in 0.9 seconds.

If one enters the search terms uranium, leukemia in the same place, one gets 21,000 hits, including this one picked out at random from the first page when I entered the term:

Auvinen, A., Kurttio, P., Pekkanen, J. et al. Uranium and other natural radionuclides in drinking water and risk of leukemia: a case–cohort study in Finland. Cancer Causes Control 13, 825–829 (2002).

The abstract says this:

Results: The median activity concentration of uranium in well water was 0.08 Bq/L for the leukemia cases and 0.06 Bq/L for the reference group, radon concentrations 80 and 130 Bq/L, respectively, and radium-226 concentrations 0.01 Bq/L for both groups. The hazard ratio of leukemia for uranium was 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.73–1.13) per Bq/L, for radon 0.79 per Bq/L (95% CI 0.27–2.29), and for radium-226 0.80 (95% CI 0.46–1.39) per Bq/L. Conclusions: Our results do not indicate an increased risk of leukemia from ingestion of natural uranium or other radionuclides through drinking water at these exposure levels.

I added the bold.

(Uranium is a natural constituent of many groundwater sources since it is widely distributed in natural formations. The general term for this is NORM, Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material.)

Note I am not saying uranium is harmless; but I am saying that the attributions made here and at Daily Kos are not supported by reality. (For full disclosure, I was banned at Daily Kos for making a true statement based on a rather famous and widely cited scientific paper by a prominent climate scientist, James Hansen.)

My personal feeling is that we should avoid being reactive fools and leave that to Republicans.

My favorite joke is that one cannot get a degree in journalism if one has passed a college level science course with a grade of C or better. Kos is a journalist. It shows.

[OhNo-Really]

52. DailyKos is like Democratic Underground. People compose well-cited, in-depth articles.

Many Daily Mos articles are deep dives into a topic and are well-cited.

The 2006 article cited above uses credible sources.

I like the format better on Democratic Underground Easier for short attention span.

I remembered the above article because it was so horrifying to learn about.

[NNadir]

29. Thanks. I'll call the paper up.

In general, these hyperbolic headlines prove to be fairly absurd, but I'll check it out.

I see the Iraq war has already been declared a nuclear war by a correspondent.

One hears these sort of things, and one really can't believe one is hearing them.

We had similar hysteria a few weeks back in connection with the rail cars.

Any time I hear the word "percent" issued from a journalist, my bullshit alarm goes off. Our media is abysmal.

[womanofthehills]

33. Also, for 40 yrs Navajo men, women & children worked in NM uranium mines

“The U.S. government contracted private mining companies to blast four million tons of ore out of Navajo land with little environmental, health, or safety oversight.

For almost 40 years, Navajo women, men, and children worked in the uranium mines. Families, livestock, and crops used contaminated well water. Families built their houses out of radioactive materials, and children swam in open-pit mines filled with radioactive rainwater.
When mining operations ceased, the companies just walked away without sealing the mines or cleaning up the radioactive waste.

Most families here have lost a loved one to uranium-related cancer.
Today, 85 percent of all Navajo people are living in uranium-contaminated homes. Lethal and aggressive subtypes of cancer like myeloma and stomach, kidney, liver, gallbladder, and cervical cancer have become all too common. Yet, there is not one oncologist on the 27,000-square-mile reservation where 175,000 Navajo people live.” https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/uranium-linked-cancer-navajo-nation

30 yrs ago, I worked at an Albuquerque Childrens ortho rehab Hospital - Carrie Tingley. We had Navajo kids flown in sometimes with no parents. Some kids would stay for months at a time at the hospital & come back regularly. I was very close with a 12 yr old Navajo girl, Beverly, who had one leg amputated from bone cancer & would stay for long periods of time. All the docs were in agreement- uranium tailings gave her bone cancer. Her mother had died earlier of cancer so she lived on the reservation with her grandmother who could not accompany her.

[cbabe]

15. Research the person quoted for primary source.

[NNadir]

13. I'm looking for the scientific reference, not something from a journalist.

[Celerity]

22. Another study

Trends in Childhood Leukemia in Basrah, Iraq, 1993–2007

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2866604/

Abstract

Objectives. Through a sister-university relationship between the University of Basrah and the University of Washington, we analyzed Ibn Ghazwan Hospital's leukemia registry data to evaluate trends in childhood leukemia since 1993.

Methods. We documented leukemia cases among children aged 0 to 14 years for each of the last 15 years. Population data were obtained from a 1997 census and various subsequent estimates to calculate rates.

Results. We observed 698 cases of childhood leukemia between 1993 and 2007, ranging between 15 cases (2.6 per 100 000 annual rate) in the first year and 56 cases (6.9 per 100 000 annual rate) in the final year, reaching a peak of 97 cases in 2006 (12.2 per 100 000 annual rate).

Conclusions. Childhood leukemia rates in Basrah more than doubled over a 15-year period. The test for trend was significant (P = .03). Basrah's childhood leukemia rate compared unfavorably with neighboring Kuwait and nearby Oman, as well as the United States, the European Union, and other countries.

The hematologic malignancy leukemia is the most common childhood cancer. Incidence rates in higher-income countries range from 4.0 to 4.4 per 100 000 per year, typically higher than in lower-income countries (e.g., 0.9 per 100 000 per year in Vietnam),1,2 although these disparities may simply reflect the lack of cancer registries in low-income countries.3 The most common type of childhood leukemia is acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which makes up approximately 80% of leukemia cases, followed by acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), with relatively few in other categories.4 Childhood leukemia rates increased in Europe 1.4% per year from 1975 to 19955 while staying largely stable in the United States during this period.6 Males typically have higher rates of leukemia than do females.1 Although the etiology of most childhood leukemias7 is unknown, several factors in addition to socioeconomic status8 have been associated with the disease, including Hispanic population affiliation,1 ionizing radiation,9 environmental exposures including chemicals and infectious agents,10 chromosomal abnormalities,11 perinatal influences,12 birth weight,13 and parental exposure factors.14–17 The variation in incidence between countries is less for childhood leukemia than for adult cancers, which suggests the same or equipotent risk factors for childhood leukemia in different countries.2

Basrah is the most southern governorate in Iraq, containing the country's third largest city and its only major port. Its strategic location, on the Shatt al Arab waterway below the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and short distances from Iran and Kuwait, has made it a focal point for the last three of Iraq's major wars from 1980 to the present (see map, Figure 1). This study was initiated as part of a sister-university relationship between the University of Basrah and the University of Washington following reports by a University of Basrah pediatric oncologist (J. H.) of increasing rates of childhood malignancies in the Basrah oncology referral hospital. University of Washington researchers (A. H., T. T., and S. D.) then engaged an experienced Iraqi epidemiologist (R. L.) to assist in the assessment of the cancer rates in the governorate of Basrah. The purpose of this study was to assess changes in the rates of childhood leukemia in Basrah, Iraq, from 1993 through 2007.

snip

[OhNo-Really]

21. Lots of inks in this 2006 article: The horrors of depleted uranium usage in Iraq

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2006/8/13/236443/-

[NNadir]

32. If one wants to get a handle on grotesquely bad interpretation of...

...science, Daily Kos is a great place to get it.

[OhNo-Really]

51. Actually the article has many links to many reputable sources.

But would have to read the article to see them.

[NNadir]

53. Really? I spend almost every day of my life working on molecular biology projects involving...

...the use of the primary scientific literature.

I only check out "science" on Kos when, 1) I was to be amused, or 2) some really awful stuff leaches out of the popular ignorance there.

In fact, most of what I write here is involved with serious scientific literature, not entirely about my day job, but about other subjects as well: My Journal.

I don't have time to bother with what's published on Kos; I did however, publish some remarks on a particularly bad example of what trash gets handed out there, when I was directed to a post there from here:

Some remarks on purported fraud concerned with αβ oligomer hypothesis in Alzheimer's research.

It was a particular egregious example of ignorant hype. (For the record, I am involved, peripherally, in supporting Alzheimer's research.)

I really don't have time for that puerile stuff. We may have very different approaches to defining what is reputable and what is not.

If someone else values it, that's their business, but to me, it's uniformly mostly tripe. I don't take "science" on Kos seriously. It's a waste of time.

[Sneederbunk]

6. Looks like we brought the WMDs with us.

Last edited Mon Apr 3, 2023, 01:57 PM - Edit history (1)

[bif]

7. Just one more reason Bush should be behind bars

Frikken war criminal!

[hibbing]

37. I'll never ever forget

How damn evil to use the attacks as the excuse for that god awful war and occupation.

Peace

[OAITW r.2.0]

46. The irony of using WMD to justify our invasion/war against the Iraqi people.

It would appear that we brought the WMD into Iraq when we lied about the Causus Belli. Thanks W and Colin Powell for wasting trillions and killing millions in your misguided need to start a war tp protect SA and their right to gouge the American consumer today. O always wondered how much of the Bush family fortune is tied up in Aramco stock.

[Gaugamela]

9. The siege of Falluja was a major war crime. Collective punishment because

the local population spontaneously retaliated against four mercenaries who participated in an illegal invasion based on patent lies all to placate an emotionally damaged child-man who needed to impress his father. US snipers routinely fired on ambulances, hospitals, and anyone out in the open. People were stuck in their houses for days on end, and when they needed to come out to try to find food they would be shot on sight. Elderly relatives would try to come to their aid and they would get shot. US forces saturated the city with depleted uranium munitions and they dropped white phosphorus incendiary bombs.

Birth defects have been common in Falluja ever since. The U.N. needs another painting called “Falluja” to hang next to “Guernica”.

This is how empire operates, not “liberators”.

[Mosby]

12. This research data says the opposite.

Cancer Trends in Iraq 2000–2016


The prevalence of some cancer risk factors (obesity, smoking, unhealthy diet, diabetes) has recently changed in Iraq with no sufficient preventive measures been implemented. Iraq has high incidence rates in breast, lung, and bladder cancers, besides a growing burden of many others.5

....

Leukemia showed a non-significant increasing trend, started with a rate of 3.24/100 000 in 2000 and ended with a rate of 4.37 in 2016 with a peak of 5.9 in 2004, both genders were equally affected. Hodgkin disease also showed a non-significant increase (from 1.40 to 1.44/100 000), affecting both sexes equally, while non-Hodgkin lymphoma showed a significant increase in its rate from 2007 forward, affecting both genders equally [Figure 5]. Skin cancer showed a gradual decrease to 2008, followed by a gradual increase for both sexes.

....

The trend of total cancers in Iraq revealed a clear up slope especially after 2008, and particularly in the middle region, which might be attributed to the fact that this region was the main target during the 2003 war and exposed to a huge amount of bombing. However, cancer rates in Iraq seem to be lower than the regional and global rates.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7847549/

Chalabi has a degree in international security, no idea why anyone thinks she is competent when discussing research methodologies and statistics.

Note that my data comes from the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM), not some British paper obsessed with the US.

[Ferrets are Cool]

17. Just another reason he should be tried for War Crimes against Humanity.

GDMF'ing criminal. bush jr.

But hey, they have brown skin so it doesn't matter at all.

[womanofthehills]

35. Same with the Navajo- US needs to do more to clean up uranium tailings

Hopefully, Deb Holland can speed things up -

https://www.epa.gov/navajo-nation-uranium-cleanup/abandoned-mines-cleanup

“From 1944 to 1986, nearly 30 million tons of uranium ore were extracted from Navajo lands under leases with the Navajo Nation. Many Navajo people worked the mines, often living and raising families in close proximity to the mines and mills. Today the mines are closed, but a legacy of uranium contamination remains, including over 500 abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) as well as homes and water sources with elevated levels of radiation. Potential health effects include lung cancer from inhalation of radioactive particles, as well as bone cancer and impaired kidney function from exposure to radionuclides in drinking water. Learn more about health effects of uranium and how you can avoid contact with it.

EPA maintains a strong partnership with the Navajo Nation and, since 1994, the Superfund Program has provided technical assistance and funding to assess potentially contaminated sites and develop a response.

[usaf-vet]

19. Depleted uranium will be the Agent Orange of this generation the served in a war zone.

I predict that EACH and EVERY individual serviceman and servicewoman will have to fight their own battle to prove their illnesses are due to depleted uranium. While the VA will play exactly the same game they played post-Vietnam.

Some day 20,25,30, years down the road, with thousands of veterans already dead, the VA will finally buckle and admit that depleted uranium IS the causative agent at fault.

Of course, this will do nothing to help the veterans and those that have already lost loved ones and paid the financial price for the VA's denial.

Then, of course, this isn't addressing the Iraq families that will have to live forever with depleted uranium in their environment.

[barbtries]

20. i just kinda scrolled,

and from the first second my thought, and i said it out loud, was your last parenthetical sentence above. we did.

[machoneman]

23. And the Iraqi's didn't use similar weapons? How about Saddam's drive for nuclear weapons?

Did he not stockpile fissionable materials?

Anyone know?

[Botany]

25. "And the Iraqi's didn't use similar weapons? How about Saddam's drive for nuclear weapons?"

None found.

"Did he not stockpile fissionable materials?"

None found

[erronis]

31. Still only reading Judith Miller?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Miller

You might want to delve into some other reporting about "yellow cake" or centrifuges for enriching uranium in Iraq. There has been years of debunking or your assumptions.

[womanofthehills]

36. You guys also might want to delve into who was being exploited & poisoned

To supply all this uranium.

[erronis]

39. No disagreement at all. And it is continuing. I commented on the post about Iraq stockpiling uranium

That was a Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush red-herring to get us into destroying the people and the land of Iraq.

[womanofthehills]

40. Curious - US was buying 14% of it's uranium from Russia

Are we still?

[erronis]

41. Why don't you let us know your research since you seem so focused on this.

I'd actually like to know what you find out.

And while you're out there in research-land, there are lots of other chemicals/elements that should be looked into. Both radioactive and fatal (polonium - for the russo-lovers).

[Botany]

24. But Dick Cheney made a billion dollars

DUR

Depleted Uranium Rounds.

[erronis]

42. I don't know +/-, but a solid link to that information would be appreciated.

The Cheney's and many other wealthy families/oligarchies have made tons of money off any f'in war effort they can promote. Shielded behind lots of facades of fancy offices and spin-off corporations and legal teams.

Having worked around the DC beltway for many years in contracting roles to the US gov't agencies, I got a chance to see how wealth was accumulated far beyond what a typical GS-15+ could make.

[Botany]

43. Dick Cheney's portfolio had a 3,900 % up tick after we ...

... invaded Iraq. We pumped their oil with out metering
it and all of KBR's contracts were no bid cost + deals.

[OAITW r.2.0]

47. And remember, Dick, when CEO at Halliburton, was selling services to Saddam, using shell companiies.

Evading US government embargo. Profiting in and out of government....the Bush/Cheney way.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

26. How do we address this now in a bipartisan way?

We must address this.

[cbabe]

28. Good question. Ask anti war vets, red crescent, Red Cross, who, Doctors Without Borders...

[SleeplessinSoCal]

34. if we want to ever again claim moral authority...

...we need to apologize for the fallout and seriously aid with treatment.

[malaise]

44. One word

Genocide - and the war criminals are still free

Bush and Putin are no different and add Cheney.
That is all

[erronis]

48. Agree. Genocide seems a common theme among the RW groups

Whether trying to erase whole civilizations/cultures in the Middle East,
or native/indigenous groups in the occupied lands,
or marginalizing/exterminating non-white peoples in this country.

A few very good articles in the WaPo recently:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/03/kkk-midwest-jan6-indiana/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/03/tom-hanks-jeffery-robinson-1876-election-jim-crow/

[dembotoz]

49. leukemia has multiple causes

It killed my wife and she was not anywhere near a war zone

not saying it did not but other causes could be in play.

[NickB79]

54. Not much depleted uranium was used in the Fallujah siege though

DU is reserved for anti-armor use, primarily in 120mm anti-tank sabot shells fired from M1 Abrams tanks, and the 30mm Gatling cannon in the nose of the A-10 Warthog ground attack aircraft.

The majority of DU used in Iraq happened in the First Gulf War in 1991, when Saddam still had a sizeable armored force.

By the time the siege of Fallujah occurred, we were fighting insurgents with small arms and IED's.