Major news outlets reported recently that the Pentagon is in the process of developing new nuclear weapons and tactics for use against U.S.-declared enemies such as Iraq, North Korea, Libya or China. One element of the planning calls for the development of low-yield nuclear weapons that will be capable of destroying underground bunkers built to protect an enemy's command and control centers.

Over the past decade, the U.S. military has used depleted uranium munitions in Iraq and the Balkans to destroy tanks and other shielded or "hardened" targets. Deep penetrating depleted uranium-tipped shells or war heads burn extremely fast and hot enabling projectiles to easily destroy heavily-protected targets

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Robert James Parsons whose article titled, "America's big dirty secret," appeared in the March edition of the French publication Le Monde Diplomatique. In the piece, based on the research of Dai Williams, Parsons reports on the U.S. military's unprecedented use of large quantities of depleted uranium in the war against Afghanistan and the possible public health disaster which it may produce for both civilians and combatants.

Related links

• "America's big dirty secret,"by Robert James Parsons, Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2002 (English translation)
• "Mystery Metal Nightmare in Afghanistan?" by Dai Williams, EOS Lifeworks Resource Center, England, Feb. 23, 2002, www.eoslifework.co.uk/du2012.htm
• Military Toxics Project www.miltoxproj.org
• Uranium weapons health warning, BBC Report on Depleted Uranium Weapons.
• U.S. Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons in Afghanistan, Between The Lines Q&A interview with Robert James Parsons, Week Ending 3/22/02

For decades, the U.S. government and American-based corporate media outlets have either ignored or relegated issues facing the African continent to the back pages. While there are exceptions, such as the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, or the current dispute over elections in Zimbabwe, American citizens know very little about more pressing concerns like the continent's deadly AIDS pandemic, ongoing violent conflicts and worsening poverty.

The group Africa Action has recently released its annual summary titled: "Africa Policy Outlook 2002," where a range of important issues facing the people of Africa are examined. Among these are the struggle to gain access to affordable medicines to treat Africa's exploding population that have contracted HIV or AIDS; the increasing number of nations unable to make progress in development due to a suffocating burden of debt to the World Bank; and deadly conflicts that still rage on or remain unresolved in Angola, Burundi, the Sudan and Congo.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, who assesses the devastating crises challenging the people of the African continent.

Contact Africa Action by calling (202) 546-7961 or read the Africa Policy Outlook 2002 report online at: www.AfricaAction.org