Weapon Foes Seek Arias’s Backing
An international group dedicated to the banning of depleted uranium weapons has sought the support of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and an outspoken proponent of arms control, reported Central America’s leading English-language newspaper today.
The group met with Arias and, although no concrete results were divulged, the President says he is in agreement with the group’s aims.
Depleted uranium is used in the making of anti-tank shells that will pierce armor, in the words of Tico Times reporter Blake Schmidt, “like a sword through flesh.” These shells, 1.7 times the weight of lead, produce intense temperature when they hit and were used in the 1991 Gulf War and then again more recently against Saddam Hussein’s tanks in the Iraq War.
Depleted uranium is cheap, being a byproduct of nuclear energy production, but retains 60% of its radioactivity, reports the paper, and the group’s spokesman, a former U.S. soldier, says that it is harmful to anyone around the shells. The U.S. Defense Department maintains the health effects are minimal.
The group would like Arias to present a resolution to the United Nations, taking advantage of the President’s worldwide prestige as a symbol of peacemaking.