um this is nothing new. depleted uranium has been used as ammunition AND armour for tanks for a while.
it amazes me that the talk is of the dangers to iraq. well what about the thousands of US soldiers exosed to this on a daily basis even during peace time. if you get into an m1 tank with a rad meter it automatically will give you a reading. and this is something i know of from experience. wait i digress there was a couple sentances about th US troops but only about those who served in the wars
fact is DU has saved more lives than it has hindered. we were engaging and killing targets from 2-3 MILES away a feat that is unheard of in tank warfare. we were hitting them from so far away the iraqis thought they were bein hit with missles. not possible with out the DU pojectile. the DU armour effectivaly kept penatration to the point that they practicaly had to be within a few yards of us to be useful.
also DU is only used in weopons that are "tank killers" the ammo mostly used is still copper jacketed bullets.