"It started after 1990. Before, we didn't see this case at all. Never, ever. Never, ever we see these cases" - Paediatrician Dr Genan Hassan

Following the claims from British servicemen and women that they have been made ill from exposure to weapons containing depleted uranium, the authorities in Iraq are making similar statement.

They say depleted uranium from Allied weapons during the Gulf War ten years ago has caused a big increase in birth defects and cases of leukaemia.

The claim has no proof but plenty of propaganda power

Rusting relics of the Gulf War lie scattered across the southern Iraqi desert. These tanks were destroyed by the advancing Allied armies.

But the people are being told that the artillery shells used by the British and Americans then have claimed many more lives since.

The locals stay away, believing these hulks are a source of deadly contamination.

The border with Kuwait is quiet these days, but nearly 10 years ago Operation Desert Storm raged here. Artillery and tank shells tipped with depleted uranium were used for the first time.

One of the heaviest metals, its density made it ideal for armour piercing.

In the hospitals of Basra, the number of childhood leukaemia patients is triple what it was a decade ago.

Doctors also report a sharp rise in birth defects. This mother had her neighbour look at her newborn first, so fearful was she of abnormalities.

Paediatrician Dr Genan Hassan told ITN of a four year old patient who died from leukaemia.

Dr Genan Hassan has seen many of her young patients die, and she blames the Gulf War. She said "It started after 1990. Before, we didn't see this case at all. Never, ever. Never, ever we see these cases."

In the last few days, Iraqi television has broadcast several reports blaming depleted uranium for health problems in the country.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry has called on the UN to put American and British officials on trial for war crimes.

The United States, however, has suggested that fault lies elsewhere, claiming that Saddam Hussein's troops used chemical weapons to suppress a rebellion in southern Iraq immediately after the war.

Government forces are also accused of dumping toxins to pollute food and water resources

. It will come as no great surprise to the West that the Government here has categorically linked depleted uranium and cancer, despite the absence of any firm scientific evidence.

With the tenth anniversary of the start of the Gulf War looming as far as the Iraqis are concerned, the whole debate over the acceptability of one of the Allies' weapons could hardly be more timely.