Were Troops Poisoned? Vets Demand KBR Come Clean on Toxins in Iraq
James Gentry served his country honorably as a battalion commander in Iraq. Now, he is dying of a rare form of lung cancer. And he's not the only one. A troubling number of troops in Gentry's Indiana National Guard unit have bloody noses, tumors and rashes. And tragically, one soldier has already died.
New reports suggest these injuries may be the result of exposure to toxins at a KBR-run power plant in Southern Iraq. In 2003, James and his men were responsible for guarding that plant, and protecting KBR's employees. The soldiers were stationed there for months before being informed that the site was contaminated with a chemical known as hexavalent chromium.
Hexavalent chromium is a deadly carcinogen. It's the same toxin that Erin Brockovich became famous for campaigning against. James believes that it was the inhalation of this chemical that caused his cancer, and the other rare illnesses among the Guardsmen who served at the plant.
But this is not just some sad story about accidental chemical exposure. This is a question of responsibility. CBS News has uncovered evidence that KBR may have known about the contamination at the power plant months before it took any action to inform the troops stationed there.
If the CBS story is proven true, checks need to be written, contracts should be cancelled, and heads must roll. James signed up to serve his country, and he was told to protect KBR contractors. He did his job. But it doesn't seem like KBR did theirs. If the company neglected to take quick and decisive action, it must be held responsible for the months of avoidable toxic exposure that may be taking the lives of American servicemembers.
From burn pits to power plants, we are hearing more and more about troops who have been exposed to toxins while serving our country overseas. Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana has announced that he will reintroduce legislation to create a medical registry for military personnel exposed to toxins. That's a vital first step towards discovering the full extent of toxic exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is critical to preventing a replay of the Agent Orange situation after Vietnam.
We need real answers from KBR. And so far, the company has denied any wrongdoing whatsoever. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will stand behind our brothers and sisters in demanding accountability. The veterans' community will fight back, and we need everyone's help. Add your name to IAVA's petition, and tell KBR to come clean now. KBR must tell Congress and the American people what they knew, and when they knew it. James Gentry and his fellow soldiers deserve the truth.
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Perhaps I read the story too quickly, but I didn't see where the troops came back to be covered by the V
A for their cancers. The element of controversy would suggest they were not since the VA is not responsible to treat non service related medical problems.
Revising the law and funding the VA to treat all veterans for all medical problems would be a strong start toward a universal health care system. Such a program would cost but not so much more since it would mean so much less paperwork and fewer lawsuits.
Mr. Rieckhoff, first of all thank you for your service to our nation and for your service to the veterans of Iraq & Afghanistan, secondly, don't count on Sen. Bayh to be there for our veterans in a pinch. He'll be there for the photo-ops but he'll slither away when it's time for action.
Paul I appreciate your passion looking out for the troops...b
Honestly I'm not trying to be glib. But you can pretty much guarantee that Bush and his "old money" friends not only made a glut of cash off this war but will get away with it. And judging by Obama's attitude to "look forward". Nobody will be held accountable. Leaving the mess for everybody else to clean up. Which unfortunately includes "the troops".
The faster we rationalize this and prey that "final judgment" will come they're way the quicker we teach potential soldiers to think before they choose.
The privatization of Bush's war has been an abysmal failure on so many counts, and what make me so furious is republicans refused to hold any one accountable for so many crimes in Iraq that HURT OUR SOLDIERS..
I can't even wrap my mind around it. For the last eight years Republicans sold their souls to the dark side in the most egregious ways.
One reason they got away with it is because the MEDIA rarely made this a PRIORITY ISSUE and bothered to inform the American people. I can't imagine any AMERICAN would have put up with it if they had actually UNDERSTOOD what was happening. THESE ARE OUR SOLDIERS!
Thank you Paul for keeping this issue alive. I SAY start shouting it from the roof tops! Find others who will shout about it with you. THE MUST BE ACCOUNTABILITY ....LOUD AND CLEAR.
If we don't regulate coal fly ash storage in our own country produced by the power giant TVA and dozens of other energy companies because it would cut into their bottom line and upset the shareholders, why would anyone expect a company in a war zone to make this a high priority? Mission first, monitoring and cleanup last. As for munitions, every bomb, missile, grenade, land mine and bullet is chemically 'dirty' - they're not made out of flour and water, you know? Toxic metals, organic compounds, propellants, etc. all combine to create an incredibly lethal stew that taints air, soil and water alike.
I am sorry, but KBR knew that people would die from some of this. Just taking their money is not enough. The top guys who knew this and failed to inform the troops should surrender their freedom, if not their lives. This was premeditated, and that should make it MURDER.
I feel great compassion for the soldiers and their families. This is nothing new, though!
Ask the Vietnam Vets about Agent Orange!!!!
Unfortunately young people are lured into the military with false promises and with the belief
they are serving their country...
and powerful. Someday, maybe, the word soldier will leave our vocabulary.
Hurrah for kay628-well said!! Just turn on your tv to see how futile and outdated war is. But the power brokers want a permanent state of war (as long as their kin don't go).
Not to mention that for many (of the kids of working class people) soldiering is the only other option to unemployment.
I worry for these troops who have and continue to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq for they have a heavy and not too promising uphill fight.
Vietnam Vets and Agent Orange is right - took years for that to come to pass. But it left out those who did not actually step foot on land in Vietnam but were still subjected to Agent Orange illnesses (bluewater sailors) whereas someone who was on a flight enroute from/to somewhere else and deplaned for even a few minutes on Vietnam soil were covered. And, the government (read DoD) continues to try (and succeed in some areas) to take medical benefits from those who are now retired. Situation has been and will continue to be that once you leave the service (vet or retired) you are no longer of any use to them so you become invisible and are fair game. The military promises much but delivers as little as they can possibly get away with. Our Sentors and Representatives, with few exceptions, are of no help.
Very sad. Interesting that I just was just at change.org where the Obama team wants to know your ideas for change in America. The top I0 ideas will be presented in Washington. I voted and commented on an idea regarding END CORPORATE PERSONHOOD which means that corporations need to be held accountable when people are hurt because of corporate negligence. Please check out and vote for change so that these corporations must pay when something like what happened to these soldiers getting poisoned and no one is held accountable. I have tried for ten years to get our government to stop letting these companies make products that are not safe and there is nothing we can do about it. Check it out. I am very hopeful with this new administration. Linda
http://www
Thank you for this important suggestion, which I am going to take ASAP. No one in this past administration has ever expressed ANY critical views about this disgraceful and inhumane corporate "negligence" -- personally, I think it goes way beyond negligence. It is calculated disregard for human life on the part of overwhelmingly greedy corporations. It is intolerable, and this next administration must make it an imperative to prevent this from ever happening again -- AND go after criminal business cartels who are responsible for past murders.
I, too, have high hopes for this new administration, which is even now, actively soliciting input from the American public.
" personally, I think it goes way beyond negligence. It is calculated disregard for human life on the part of overwhelmingly greedy corporatio
And these are the same people preaching "reverence for life", telling working class women that they shouldn't abort their unwanted pregnancies, and spend instead a goodly number of years sacrificing to bring them up so they can become cannon fodder for corporate causes.
Who says they're not transparent?
P.S. to my slightly earlier comment -- let me add that we should hold those at the top echelon of the Bush administration -- and particularly the profiteer warmonger extraordinaire Cheney -- completely and emphatically responsible for putting American troops in additional deadly situations, such as guarding known poisonous areas. Not only is this a tragically bogus war, but after having signed up to serve in the military, our misled personnel are further exposed to this unthinkable, insidious toxin.
I hope this new administration will closely investigate, indict , and convict those officials in the Bush cartel, who ought to be in solitary confinement for the remainder of their loathsome existences. Perhaps they could do "community service" as part of their sentence -- and be in charge of sweeping the floors in a KBR plant.
Why is this surprising? Soldiers are considered an expendable commodity (especially during wartime), and are treated accordingly.
Especially if it's in the name of oil and money, I'm sorry, God and Country. I forgot the mantra of the religious right wing leading this country down the road to perdition.
I'm sure that this company KRB has its bean counters just like every other corporation has. Its all about the profit margin, how much profit their going to make after the payouts. How about the KRB employees, are they suffering from the same things.? If not than that means they knew of the dangers and protected their employees, but did'nt protect the millitary, If thats the case than a crime was committed and someone needs to go to jail. Maybe you need to start investigating it as a crime, than KRB will start taking notice.
There is nothing about this that SHOULD be a surprise to anyone...t
There has been a few CONGRESSMEN who tried to bring it to the publics attention the kind of crap Halliburton, KBR, etc....pri
The media paid NO ATTENTION. I watched it on C-SPAN and I was appalled at what I heard, and even more appalled that NOTHING happened as a result of the testimony that was given in Conyers hearings!!
Good luck.
The victims of when the U.S. intentionally exposed an entire brigade of troops to a nuclear explosion
haven't even been successful of even obtaining acknowledgment that it was 'unhealthy
This particular 'employer' doesn't have a very good record of caring for it's staffs.
Ahh... the efficiencies of the free market. Good thing there is no oversight of any of these contractors working in Iraq. Though my heart goes out to all veterens of any war, when are people going to realize that A) If you sign up for military service in this country, you are a pawn in a much larger game.(an expendable human asset)
B)You are not defending America, you will actually probably be decimating an overmatched local population and helping the leaders of our country steal that countries resources, either outright, or through some bogus government put in place by our leaders.
C)If you are lucky enough to make it through, you will have almost been gaurenteed to be exposed to some sort of illness, only to have the military deny the illness' very existence and stonewall or dismiss you as "out there" until 15 years later, a study will be published backing your original claims, but by then most of the exposed group will have probably died. Leaving little medical damages to be paid.
Wake up! war is poor people killing other poor people to benefit the elite
What no one seems to be making allowances for is gross incompetance ..the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing... war is a no win,all lose situation.
Do you really think the presence of hexavalent chromium is some kinda of "ooops" accident? I don't. Someone knew, just like Johns Manville knew asbestos was a carcinogen but exposed its workers and a whole town (Manville, NJ -- a place I know only too well) to it while staying mum and moving to Denver with people started to figure it out.
What I am waiting for is PUBLIC OUTRAGE ! Where is that?
We have to make sure the expense of caring for these injured soldiers and that they are compensated, comes from "KBR" !
Helping those soldiers should not only be paid for with TAX PAYER $$. HEARINGS have to be publically held and AIRED on TV and the specific people responsible for this must be held accountable!
These PRIVATE CORPORATIONS in Iraq have made HUGE PROFITS with TAX PAYER DOLLARS, by negligently cutting corners to do so.... while putting our SOLDIERS at risk!
If they are not held accountable, it will happen again. We have to say loud and clear...TH
KBR knew beforehand, and did nothing to stop the exposure to deadly substances. It's not that they were incompetent, it's that they were self-centered, intent on doing things cheaply and not well, and spurned any entity's ability to hold them responsible for their actions.
How do I know?
Have you ever read the internal messages from those companies? Try old news reports if you haven't. Internal Justice investigations. Pretty much any record of KBR in specific, and their sort of company in general, includes reams of this sort of malfeasance. This is only like the thirtieth time something like this has gone on (so blantantly) just during THIS "war". It was going on before, but Bush gave the contractors a whole new level of untouchability and priveledge, not to mention the "no-bid" part where the military was stuck with these compaines no matter how atrocious their misdeeds.
It is sad to see 50 so odd posts on this subject and over 700 for a piece on Lisa Bonets new son.
There is a reason that the military is called "the meatgrinde
TIME FOR CHANGE cannot be just a slogan!!!!!!!!!!!!! Support our Troops - stand up and help stop the military from poisoning them!!!!!!
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