Peppered isn't the word for it. Having them come in over you while shooting is an amazing experience - especially when they're really low (below 100 feet). Those bursts are literally streams of depleted uranium. Just the downpour of spent casings is dangerous - if you're looking up they can kill you.
The article still manages to carry this tone of wounded, superior dismay, doesn't it? The writer is so put off that this significant portion of the public should be so offended at AMERICANS spitting on the President in wartime, in a foreign country; and that they should rally for the troops AND their commander AND their country. Methinks these are the Iraqis who are going to be drawn and quartered, burned at the stake, hanged, spit upon and beaten to death by the free Iraqis so they figure what have they got to lose.
"The AN/GAU-8 30mm Avenger seven-barrel gatling gun, mounted only on the A-10 attack jet, is a 30mm, 7 barrel gattling gun used primarily in the air to ground role as a soft target killer and tank buster. This aircraft is used for close-air support in attacking ground threats such as armored tanks and vehicles, and also serves as a forward air control observer for sighting ground threats and directing air strikes against enemy targets. The gun, mounted in the fuselage nose of the A/OA-10 Thunderbolt, is produced by [ex General Electric] Martin Marietta Armament Systems.
According to some sources, the GAU-8 fires 1,800 rounds per minute, with the higher 4200 rd/min rate having been deleted in the 1980s. However, the A-10 can only fire in high rate, which is 3900 rounds per minute. Low rate went out with the use of the batelle gas diverting device, and although the A-10 no longer uses the batelle device, the limit on high rate only has remained, since it made no tactical sense to fire in low rate and have to spend that much more time on final to get the same number of rounds on target.
The gun fires a mix of both high explosive incendiary (HEI) and armored piercing incendiary (API) ammunition. The PGU-13/B HEI High Explosive Incendiary round employs a standard M505 fuze and explosive mixture with a body of naturally fragmenting material that is effective against lighter vehicle and material targets. The PGU-14/B API Armor Piercing Incendiary round has a lightweight body which contains a sub-calibre high density penetrator of Depleted Uranium (DU). In addition to its penetrating capability DU is a natural pyrophoric material which enhances the incendiary effects. "
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8.htm