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Pentagon finally admits over 600 Americans exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq
Hotair ^ | 11/7/2014 | Noah Rothman
Posted on 11/07/2014 8:02:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind

A bombshell New York Times investigation revealed in mid-October that hundreds of American soldiers were exposed to chemical weapons while serving in Iraq.
Worse than that, the experiences of these soldiers was covered up by Defense officials during the Bush and Obama eras. Today, the Pentagon is finally acknowledging
that American servicemen and women did suffer exposure to chemical agents while serving in Iraq.
American troops were exposed to chemical weapons multiple times in the years following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, while the Pentagon kept their discoveries of the
expired or degraded weapons secret from investigators, fellow soldiers, and military doctors, according to a published report, The Times reported in October.
The New York Times reported late Tuesday that American troops reported finding approximately 5,000 chemical warheads, shells, or aviation bombs in
the years following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On at least six occasions, soldiers were wounded by those weapons, which had been manufactured before
1991. In all, the paper reported that 17 U.S. soldiers and seven Iraqi police officers were exposed to chemical agents during the war. The U.S.
government said its number was slightly higher, but did not release a specific figure.
This stellar reporting finally generated some acknowledgment from the Pentagon. On Friday, the Department of Defense conceded that, since 2003, more than 600
American soldiers have been exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq.
Having not acted for years on that data, the Pentagon says it will now expand outreach to veterans, The Times reported. One first step, officials said, includes a tollfree national telephone hotline [1-800-497-6261] for service members and veterans to report potential exposures and seek medical evaluation or care.
This report suggests that Defense Sec. Chuck Hagels prodding of officials to reexamine post-deployment debriefing reports yielded a trove of information about the
soldiers who believed they had been exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq.
Unsurprisingly, those veterans who did suffer the effects of exposure are not impressed by the Pentagons belated honesty.
Its too little, too late, said one veteran who was exposed while destroying Saddam Hussein-era chemical artillery shells in 2008. No one ever believed me. They
were like, Oh, that never happened.
Another soldier told The Times on the condition of anonymity that he was issued a gag order which legally forbade him from discussing the chemical artillery he
uncovered in Iraq.
Beyond the tragedy of soldiers being exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq is the absolute insult of allowing these service personnel to return home to a country where
many though believed they were making their experiences up. Some, like The Daily Beasts Eli Like, have alleged in their reporting that the decision to not
acknowledge soldiers exposures to pre-1991 chemical weapons was a political determination made inside the Bush White House.
Some of Lakes sources suggest that the Bush administration was simply not interested in re-litigating the WMD issue by 2006. According to The Daily Beast, some in
the administration found the reappearance of WMD so vindicating that they wanted the former president to deliver a press conference next to recovered chemical
warheads while wearing a protective suit. That theatrical idea was nixed not only because of the threat to Bushs safety, but because the White House had apparently
determined that the WMD argument had already been lost.
There are too many outstanding questions about this incident to not demand a thorough investigation. Upon the conclusion of an independent inquiry, a formal apology
is due to these soldiers who suffered horrible injuries which their country could not acknowledge.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: chemicalweapons; iraq; pentagon; wmd

1 posted on 11/07/2014 8:02:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind

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To: SeekAndFind

Our own govt proves again to be our worst enemy.

2 posted on 11/07/2014 8:04:37 AM PST by ex91B10 (We've tried the Soap Box,the Ballot Box and the Jury Box; ONE BOX LEFT!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe we sold them the weapons. Wouldnt be convenient for them to be used against us would it? Seems to happen quite frequently now.

3 posted on 11/07/2014 8:05:43 AM PST by refermech

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To: SeekAndFind

This isnt possible. The TV told us over and over and over that BUSH LIED!!!.

4 posted on 11/07/2014 8:07:10 AM PST by tcrlaf (They told me it could never happen in America. And then it did....)
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To: SeekAndFind

We have 3 sons who served 5 tours in Iraq from 2003-2008.

It seems like it would be helpful for the DoD to provide more details as to the dates and locations for the potential exposure, instead of just having an 800 # for people
to call, if they think they were exposed.

5 posted on 11/07/2014 8:08:20 AM PST by NEMDF

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To: SeekAndFind

uNPOSSIBLE. Back when I worked at a newspaper, one of my editors told me specifically that there were no WMDs in Iraq and that the guys I had talked to (in
private life, not professionally) that were there and had handled them were a bunch of liars looking for attention.
So this story doesnt even exist.

6 posted on 11/07/2014 8:09:31 AM PST by Norm Lenhart (Feet to the fire folks. YOU PROMISED!)
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To: SeekAndFind

This an obvious lie since the media and the LIB/DIMs have said there were no chemical weapons there. This is insanity writ large. There were no chemical weapons in
Iraq.

7 posted on 11/07/2014 8:39:09 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Remember... we have Karl Rove to thank for this, too.

8 posted on 11/07/2014 9:08:31 AM PST by Lake Living

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To: SeekAndFind

All hot air as no specifics on the agents that the troops were exposed to.

9 posted on 11/07/2014 9:17:28 AM PST by SandRat (<Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs sGoog evening Lauren... aid?)
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To: Lake Living

Remember... we have Karl Rove to thank for this, too.

Just what I was thinking. Sounds like Karl Rove has his fingerprints all over this.

10 posted on 11/07/2014 9:34:51 AM PST by Parley Baer

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To: SeekAndFind

And I will bet Veterans who tried to get proper compensation were stymied all the way by the Pentagon.
Why should anyone serve when they are going to get treated that way???
11 posted on 11/07/2014 9:43:30 AM PST by ColdSteelTalon (Light is fading to shadow, and casting its shroud over all we have known...)
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To: Norm Lenhart

"liars"
I have a few lib friends who stoutly refused to believe that Saddam EVER!!! had any WMDs. I told them about the murders of the Kurds by Hussein's chemical
weapons, and they looked me in the face and said it was all a CIA/gov. lie.
Now some of them want to move the goalposts and say Bush lied because he said we'd find ongoing WMD systems. We found labs and other places scrubbed clean
ahead of our military advance as could be predicted by the lag time between announcing the invasion and the actual invasion. Moved to Syria or destroyed.

I think many libs simply can't wrap their heads around the fact that Bush was right. Degraded or not, there were thousands of WMDs in Iraq that weren't destroyed.
12 posted on 11/07/2014 9:45:58 AM PST by driftless2 (a)
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To: driftless2

The same editor that told me that ALSO told me, in the same conversation no less, that the degraded WMDs he said that didnt exist to begin with, were no danger to
anyone.
When I asked him if hed put his kids in a room with them he called me a right wing nut job that wants children dead.
But we are the crazy ones. And the media, from local to national, are FILLED top to bottom with these people. If people had any idea how bad it really is, they
would not spend one nanosecond of their lives consuming MSM information. Because not one iota of it that sees print or video isnt twisted beyond recognition.
If the media tells you water is wet, stick your head in the bucket and check.

13 posted on 11/07/2014 9:52:56 AM PST by Norm Lenhart (Feet to the fire folks. YOU PROMISED!)
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To: ex91B10

You are talking about a government that sent the USS Ronald Reagan and its crew through the exhaust plum of three melting out nuclear reactors. At the time all the
Japanese could do was vent as the cores were melting out of their RPVs. The Reagan spent a few hours in the plum and the lawsuit involving hundreds of sailors
continues.

14 posted on 11/07/2014 10:05:20 AM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
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To: justa-hairyape

Plum = plume

15 posted on 11/07/2014 10:06:30 AM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
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To: Norm Lenhart

Even though the offcial lib oracle, the New York Slimes, has admitted Bush was right (but he was still wrong according to the Slimes "logic"), look for this to be
dropped down the memory hole.
Like all the libs who supported Clinton when he passed the Saddam removal act in 1998 (by any means necessary) and all the libs who declared Hussein had WMDs
pre-war, but then he didn't have them when we invaded Iraq, this announcement by the Slimes will soon be a non-event in liberal land.
16 posted on 11/07/2014 11:13:27 AM PST by driftless2 (a)
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