  It is shown that the radiological burden due to the battlefield use of circa
400 tons of depleted-uranium munitions in Iraq (and of about 40 tons in
Yugoslavia) is comparable to that arising from the hypothetical battle-field
use of more than 600 kt (respectively 60 kt) of high-explosive equivalent
pure-fusion fourth-generation nuclear weapons.
  Despite the limited knowledge openly available on existing and future nuclear
weapons, there is sufficient published information on their physical principles
and radiological effects to make such a comparison. In fact, it is shown that
this comparison can be made with very simple and convincing arguments so that
the main technical conclusions of the paper are undisputable -- although it
would be worthwhile to supplement the hand calculations presented in the paper
by more detailed computer simulations in order to consolidate the conclusions
and refute any possible objections.
