Six years after AFP first warned of the dangers of depleted uranium (DU), the administration persists in claiming there is no conclusive evidence that it is a silent weapon of mass destruction that may harm U.S. troops and the alleged enemy.

However, the British government has long since attributed birth defect claims from a 1991 combat veteran to DU poisoning, and studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents continue to confirm the likelihood of leukemia resulting from chronic exposure as well as the possibility of genetic, reproductive and neurological effects.

Vietnam veterans of a generation ago remember the similar symptoms that affected so many of them from their contact with Agent Orange. Some of their offspring carry daily reminders of what their future fathers inadvertently brought home with them and the eventual birth defects that were passed on.