As the Persian Gulf War came to a close in 1991, the world saw a landscape forever changed by modern warfare and the use of environmental destruction to poison the land. Thousands of acres became submerged under lakes of oil. Pipelines were ruptured spewing millions of barrels of oil onto the landscape. Thousands of barrels of oil were dumped into the Persian Gulf as a result of attacking refineries and terminals along the of Iraq and Kuwait.
The effects of petroleum on the environment are well known in that chemicals in the oil increase the risk of causing cancer in people and can kill wildlife who mistake the shiny surfaces for water and die from poisoning. The desert environment is a very fragile one, where it takes years to recover from harmful treatment.
The US and other coalition members used depleted uranium warheads to attack their targets and thousands of shells are strewn on the Iraqi and Kuwaiti landscape; probably the single worst legacy of the war. It has been reported that children and adults have taken these shells, containing the radioactive materials, and fashioned them into toys and other useful implements. Many have reported having come down with mysterious illnesses.
The coalition also used numerous cluster munitions that spread explosives across the landscape, leaving thousands of tiny warheads waiting to go off in addition to landmines that were laid by Iraqis and coalition forces. Hundreds of Iraqis and Kuwaitis have been maimed and killed as a result of coming into contact with these live explosives.
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Part of the problem with the depleated uranium weapons is that children have taken the metal fragments and fashioned toys out of them. Doing things as children usually do, they have probably accumulated heavy doses of radiation and ingested heavy metals at the same time. The effects of radiation are well known, but given the poor medical care many of the affected areas receive, the extent of the damage is difficult to assess.
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