"If war again comes to Iraq, depleted uranium munitions will be a mainstay of the American arsenal. For years, the Pentagon has discounted reports that the shells and bullets, made of solid nuclear-waste byproduct and used for the first time on a large scale in the Iraq war, bore calamity. ... 'There just isn't any scientific foundation to draw a connection between exposure and the incidents of leukemia, other cancers or birth defects,' said Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of deployment health support at the Pentagon. ... Last month, the Bush administration, intent on launching those munitions again if war breaks out, accused Iraq of tricking the media into reporting on false links to depleted uranium arms and cancer deaths. ... Dr. Doug Rokke...worked...securing depleted uranium depots for the army. Today, Rokke ... has become an opponent of depleted uranium arms [3]. All of the soldiers assigned to the cleanup in Iraq have suffered chronic health problems, he said. ... 'When you go to war, you go to kill. The problem with (depleted uranium),' he said, 'is that it keeps on killing.' "