Does the United States still use depleted uranium ammunition?

Yes, it is very much part of the US arsenal and was used extensively in Iraq during the First (Operation Desert Storm) and Second Gulf War. Depleted uranium (DU) shells were also used in Kosovo and Bosnia.

Uranium is a metal and is about 1.7 times as dense as lead. It can be made into a very hard alloy, well-suited for use in artillery shells. Because of its density, it is particularly effective for penetrating the heavily-armoured hulls of tanks. A 120mm shell, a standard NATO shell size used in many tanks, contains about 10 pounds of DU alloyed with other metals. DU is cheap and plentiful, a by-product of the nuclear power industry and weapons programs. The US began testing DU weapons in the mid-1950s and DU ammunition first entered service in 1978. It was not used in combat until Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

During Desert Storm, some 14,000 DU shells were fired by US tanks: 7,000 during training in Saudi Arabia, 4,000 in combat, and 3,000 lost in accidents of one type or another. 654 of the 2,054 US tanks deployed during Desert Storm were equipped with DU armour, exposing their crews to whole-body gamma radiation. The A-10 Thunderbolt tank killer aircraft also uses DU shells and some 940,000 30mm rounds were fired during the action.

On impact, up to two-thirds of a DU shell vapourizes and is converted to particles of oxidized U238. More than half of the debris is light enough to be carried on the wind and can be distributed over a large area. The biological half-life of U238 in the human body is 300 days. It is deposited in the brain, kidney, muscle tissue, spleen, and reproductive organs of humans. U238 crosses the placenta in pregnant women. Uranium is also a toxic heavy metal and can cause kidney disease in humans.

Saudi Arabia demanded that the US collect all materiel that was exposed to DU and remove it from their territory. This request by the Saudis, a key US ally, was met and all such materiel were transported back to the US. All DU-contaminated equipment is stored in the Savannah River Nuclear Facility in Georgia. The US has made no commitment to decontaminate Kuwait and Iraq in the same manner.

The cause of the condition commonly known as "Gulf War Syndrome" is presently unknown, but may be related to exposure to DU weapons and debris. A former colleague of mine suffered from this condition - he was exposed during the First Gulf War and afterwards, as a military officer with the UN weapons inspection teams.

This is now 2006 and another Gulf war has been waged, littering Iraq with even more DU debris.

[ With material from Dr. H. Caldicott, "A New Nuclear Danger", The New Press, 2002. ]

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Re: "GWS is the result of some desert bug"

An increased rate of births defects, immune system damage, and chromosonal abnormalities has been associated with exposure to DU during the Gulf War. Chromosonal abnormalities have also appeared in individuals who were exposed to DU during the more recent Balkan conflicts.

Unfortunately, the cause of Gulf War Syndrome is unknown, but several potential causes have been put forward. These include exposure to DU during combat and/or training exercises with live ammunition (in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, and even the US), reaction to immunizations intended to counter nerve and biological warfare agents, exposure to biological warfare agents, exposure to chemical warfare agents, and the better part of a dozen other potential causes. Since the source has not yet been identified, no effective treatment has been developed.

The strongest evidence to date suggests the syndrome may be caused by exposure to neurotoxins, including neurotoxin agents, drugs used to combat neurotoxins, pesticides that affect the nervous system (organophosphates), and, possibly, DU. It has been suggested that the syndrome is caused by the combination of agents, not a single one acting alone.

GAU-30 in the A-10 and the 30MM Hughs chain gun in the chin turret of the Apache 'copter and the 25 MM on the Bradly and maybe in the discarding sabot rounds on the M1 Abrams... if its a kinetic penatrator
it's most likely done with DU.

Yes, Baghdad is littered with it.