I received the terrible news that a close friend of mine has cancer. He is only 32. There will be no cure for him. It's a death sentence. His cancer is caused by the radiation he was exposed to from depleted uranium weapons.

My friend lives in Belgrade, Serbia. When he was teen, he was forced to fight in a war he wanted no part of. Fortunately, in the three months he was in the war, he did not have to kill another. He was in reconnaissance. Unfortunately, he did not escape the cluster bombs, or the depleted uranium munitions. He was in the middle of all the radiation from these weapons. Many of those in his unit have already died from cancer.

I have to admit, I was pretty naive about our role and NATO's role in the use of these type of weapons. The first time I ever heard of their use was during Cast Lead. After my friend told me his devastating news, I spent the day reading about these weapons. I was shocked at what I read, and what is happening as a result of the use of these weapons.

NATO and the U.S. have used them in all their campaigns. They've been used in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and both Iraq wars. Israel has used them in both Gaza and Lebanon. They're being used in Libya. Worse, it's what is happening years after the use of these weapons. The cancer, birth defects, and other unknown illnesses that are alarmingly high as a result of the radiation exposure from these weapons. In 2009, at the Fallujah General Hospital, of the babies born, 24 percent were dead within seven days, and 75 percent of those dead babies were born deformed.

Why are we allowing the use of these monstreous weapons that affects the population and enviroment long after their use? What about our soldiers, or the NATO soldiers who are exposed to the radiation from these weapons? I read that a large group of Italian soldiers who were part of the NATO campaign in the Balkans have died from cancer caused by their exposure to the radiation. It's criminal and needs to be banned. Any country using these weapons should be brought up on war crimes.