The 'Agent Orange' of these occupations, that's literally as some of these soldiers are suffering from exactly the same extreme physical ailments of the same chemicals, and more, of the defoliants only this time they were sucking in smoke and air from these burn pits, as are the citizens occupied and especially downwind and the ground contamination left from the burns!
Ailing vets sue over smoke from trash fires in Iraq, Afghanistan
'You'd cough up black stuff, and you couldn't seem to catch your breath'
U.S. Army soldiers from the 23rd Infantry Regiment burn garbage at K-wal combat outpost in the village of Shakarat, in Diyala province, in this Dec. 24, 2007.
6 August 2010 Some 241 military personnel and contractors who became ill after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are suing a Houston-based firm, claiming they were poisoned by smoke from trash fires, the Washington Post reported Friday.
The claimants, who are from 42 states, are suffering from a range of conditions including cancer and severe breathing problems, which they blame on the thick, black smoke. The symptoms were reportedly nicknamed "Iraqi crud" by troops.
They are taking legal action against Kellogg Brown & Root, which operated more than two dozen burn-pits in the two countries, the Post reported. It used to be a subsidiary of Halliburton, which is a also a defendant in the case.
These were used to get rid of garbage including plastic water bottles, Styrofoam food containers, mangled bits of metal, paint, solvent, medical waste and dead animals by dousing it in fuel and setting fire to it, the newspaper said.
The paper said six people had died from blood-cancer leukemia and five others had the disease, while more than 12 had to use machines to help them breathe or monitor their breathing.
Snip
Not 'a scratch' from enemy
"It's tragic when soldiers come back and didn't get a scratch on them from the enemy but have some possibly life-altering problems because of burn pits," Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) said, according to the Post. Continued
The following was from November of 2008, I grabbed the video report as well as some of the information hitting the press at the time.
November, 2008 - Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns Tue, Oct 28, 2008 An open-air at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic aSenator wants answers on dangers of burn pits Sun, Nov 9, 2008 Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has written to Gen. David Petraeus, the new chief of U.S. Central Command, demanding to be informed about any pending investigations into health problems for troops expo
Burn pit fallout Sat, Nov 15, 2008 Disabled American Veterans has issued a call to all service members and veterans who think they may have illnesses related to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq: Contact DAV so they can collect data
The following here was from April of this year 2010, also grabbing the video as well as some comment and reports about.
April, 2010 - Keep in mind this was going on heavily during the previous administration and republican controlled congress, who weren't questioning anything even as members were visiting both theaters. It's like we never fought in wars of choice, as this wasn't the only extremely troubling issue. And while some actions have apparently taken place at in country bases apparently the practice continues. Danger To Troops, Whistleblower Testimony And Documents ShowAlso keep in mind, the soldiers aren't the only ones coming back and suffering from the physical repercussions, this is just one more huge issue, aside from the terror lived through, the innocents of the countries occupied will have as long term results of these invasions and occupations, along with so much more!American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from new ailments that have nothing to do with bullets or bombs or battlefield stress. It was, they believe, something in the air. As you might imagine, an army produces a lot of garbage. And the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan has burned tons of that trash since the beginning of the war. But these are not your average country trash fires. They are called burn pits and they are enormous, one was the size of several football fields. What's burned? Everything. Plastic to foam to batteries, computers and paint, even human body parts — you name it — it was stacked in these burn pits and set ablaze. Many times jet fuel was used as the igniter. Snip Now doctors studying these cases tell us they believe we could see thousands more become ill from the burn pits. The military finally closed the pit at Balad last fall, but soldiers and former employees of Houston-based KBR tell us the same practices are still in place at a number of burn pits in both war zones. Snip We're wrapping up an investigation into the burn pits and will have much more next Tuesday night May 4th at 8pm EDT on HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports." -->-->-->
The Country not only needs to get behind these Veterans it Must get behind and Fully Support them as this moves forward!
It ignored our brother Vietnam Vets, it's been ignoring the Veterans of Gulf War I and the Gulf War Syndrome/Illnesses, another this Country has to Finally come to terms with and help the Veterans of that conflict that are surviving, many have passed on quietly as the Country waged two more long running occupations and ignored the voices of these Gulf War I Veterans and these Present Veterans are once again being Ignored!
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