U.S. soldiers could be contaminated with uranium

[seemslikeadream]

WASHINGTON (PL).—Around 20 soldiers from the New York National Guard have undergone medical checks on their return from Iraq to see if they have been contaminated with depleted uranium, a substance used by the Pentagon in its missiles.

According to the New York paper The Daily News, the decision to run the tests was made due to pressure from the newspaper after four soldiers from the 442nd Military Police Company tested positive in tests carried out at the end of their mission in occupied Iraq.

In recent months those troops have suffered from symptoms ranging from nausea to blood in their urine, very similar to those presented by the contaminated men; however the State Department has done nothing about it.

The daily affirmed that soldiers from the 442nd Company contacted by The News expressed their frustration at the way the Army had responded to their illnesses.

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/abril/mar6/15uran-i.html


Returning GIs tested for exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq


The Associated Press

FORT DIX, N.J. (April 5, 2:39 pm ADT) - The U.S. Army is conducting medical tests on a handful of GIs who complained of illnesses after reported exposure to depleted uranium in Iraq.
Up to six soldiers from a National Guard unit based in Orangeburg, N.Y., have undergone exams at Fort Dix, and three of them remain there under observation, Fort Dix spokeswoman Carolee Nisbet said Monday.

"We are following up on this. We are on top of it. It's not something that has fallen by the wayside," she said.

Of nine members of the unit examined by a doctor at the request of the New York Daily News, four had "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from spent U.S. artillery shells containing depleted uranium, the newspaper reported Monday.


Depleted uranium, which is left over from the process of enriching uranium for use as nuclear fuel, is an extremely dense material that the U.S. and British militaries use for tank armor and armor-piercing weapons. It is far less radioactive than natural uranium.

According to a Depleted Uranium Information Web page posted by the Army, depleted uranium recently provided to the Pentagon by the U.S. Department of Energy contained trace amounts of contaminants like neptunium, plutonium, americium, technitium-99 and uranium-236.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3944801,00.html

[soothsayer]

1. Yep, been worried about this from the beginning

We caused all kinds of cancers there last time, and this time it's not just the Iraqis getting a dose.

There's a contingent of DU-ers here who don't believe it's harmful, but don't forget the US is one of the only places to use this banned weapon. We're uncivilized.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. This is just the beginning

Now tell me again, who had WMD's and used them against his own people?

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Good luck, the pentagon will deny this until kingdom come

much like agent orange.

[mot78]

4. Are we finally planting WMDs?

Only they're cruel enough to implicate our soldiers in this crap.

[seemslikeadream]

5. More than 9,600 Gulf War veterans have died. - Daddy's war

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, as of March 1, 2001

- 696,661 U.S. troops served in the Gulf War between August 2, 1990 and July 31, 1991 -- these are considered "Gulf War Conflict" veterans by the VA;

- Of the 696,628, 504,047 are separated from service and eligible for benefits through the VA;

- As of December 1999, more than 263,000 sought medical care at the VA;

- Of the 504,047 eligible veterans, 185,780 (36%) filed claims against the VA for service-related medical disabilities;

- Of the 171,878 VA claims actually processed, 149,094 (80%) were approved in part (note -- most claims are made up of multiple issues, if any one issue is granted, VA considers it approved);

- Of the 504,047 eligible for VA benefits, 149,094 (29%) are now considered disabled by the VA eleven since the start of the Gulf War; and

- Another 13,902 claims against the VA still pending.

- More than 9,600 Gulf War veterans have died.

- Conflict veterans are 51% more likely to have their claims denied than "theater" veterans (those who served in the Gulf since August 1, 1991)

http://www.ngwrc.org/Issues.cfm?NewsTopicID=29

[asjr]

6. If the Iraqis don't

kill our military the Bushes will.

[seemslikeadream]

7. Inside camp of troubles

By JUAN GONZALEZ

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER



Train shed at railway dept in Samawah where members of 442nd slept from June to August last year.

The soldiers of the 442nd Military Police never heard of depleted uranium before they went to Iraq.
They know only that inexplicable ailments have befallen them.

Last year, more than a dozen of the company's soldiers were transferred back to Fort Dix for treatment of a variety of maladies. Frustrated with how the military was handling their concerns, they gave extensive interviews to the Daily News about their experiences, and nine of them eventually volunteered to be tested by a team of experts headed by Dr. Asaf Duracovic.

According to the soldiers, most of them became sick last summer while stationed in ­Samawah, a town 150 miles south of Baghdad that was the scene of heavy combat in the first weeks of the war.

Their unit entered the town in June, following short stays in Diwaniyah, Karbala and ­Najaf. They pitched camp at a huge, dusty, vermin-infested train depot on the outskirts of town.

That's where, they claim, their problems began.

"One night, I had 10 or 15 people with temperatures over 103, unexplained night chills, all kinds of things," said Sgt. Juan Vega, the company's principal medic. About a dozen of the 160 soldiers in the company suddenly developed kidney stones, he said.


more
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/180340p-156689c.html

[deutsey]

8. Democracy Now also has something on this

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/05/1356248

A special investigation by Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News has found four of nine soldiers of the 442nd Military Police Company of the New York Army National Guard returning from Iraq tested positive for depleted uranium contamination. They are the first confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium exposure from the current Iraq conflict.

After repeatedly being denied testing for depleted uranium from Army doctors, the soldiers contacted The News who paid to have them tested as part of their investigation.

MORE...

[qb]

9. I'm glad the Army was pressured to do this testing now

Rather than stonewalling and denying these veterans treatment for years as they've shamefully done in the past.

[Moderator]

10. Discussion here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=462629