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An Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman said the reports of cancer among Nato soldiers who served in Bosnia and Kosovo backed up what Baghdad had been saying about the "disastrous consequences" of depleted uranium for people and the environment.
The spokesman, quoted by the official Iraqi news agency, said the use of such weapons in Iraq had caused an abnormal rise in cases of leukaemia and cancers of the lung, skin and digestive system, particularly among children.
He also blamed depleted uranium for the increase in congenital diseases and deformities.
Tribunal
"Iraq requests the creation of an international tribunal to put US and British officials on trial for crimes against humanity and the genocide carried out by the Americans and British in Iraq and Yugoslavia," the spokesman said.
 Cancer cases have soared in Iraq since the war |
He accused the two governments of "deliberately concealing" the effects of DU weapons "to mislead public opinion".
Leukaemia, which affects blood and bone marrow, was relatively rare in Iraq before 1990.
But according to the Iraqi Health Ministry, there has been a fourfold increase in the incidence of the disease since then - a figure that is now generally accepted by international agencies such as the World Health Organisation.
Gulf War Syndrome
Baghdad says US and UK forces fired more than 940,000 armour-piercing DU projectiles during the 1991 conflict over Kuwait.
Several countries, including Italy and Germany, want a moratorium on the weapons after a rash of leukaemia cases among former peacekeepers who served in the Balkans.
DU is used because it is so heavy, easily puncturing the armour of tanks.
On impact it vaporises, and can be breathed in.
More than 100,000 Gulf War veterans have suffered unexplained medical problems since they returned from the conflict.
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