Thwarted Warrior: Depleted uranium and the mystery of sick and dying Gulf War vets

[unhappycamper]

Thwarted Warrior: Depleted uranium and the mystery of sick and dying Gulf War vets
by Robert C. Koehler | Apr 12 2007 - 9:54am

"It's not about me," Doug Rokke said, and only reluctantly rattled off his laundry list of symptoms: fibromyalgia, broken teeth, radiation-induced cataracts, gastrointestinal pain.

And I know it's not about him, any more than it's about you or me. "It." The war, the consequences. The environmental consequences are beyond calculation, and perhaps for that reason little discussed, never "debated." What does it matter that we went into Iraq on lies, faulty intelligence, whatever? Surely the most elaborately justified of invasions would not have been worth, well . . .

We know about the VA scandal, the great betrayal, but what almost no one talks about are the numbers. According to Veterans Administration figures from last November, 205,000 GIs who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, a third of the total, have sought medical care, for such problems as malignant tumors (1,584), endocrinal and metabolic diseases (36,409), nervous system diseases (61,524), digestive system diseases (63,002), musculoskeletal diseases (87,590), and mental disorders (73,157), among many other conditions. One of the largest categories is "ill defined," a.k.a. mystery conditions (67,743). In comparison, a relatively small number (35,765) have sought VA care for injuries.

The staggeringly backlogged Veterans Administration, which takes on average six months to process a claim and two years to process an appeal, cannot begin to cope with this onslaught of need and misery, but in contemplating the unconscionable lack of planning that resulted in this disaster, let's not forget to ask a more basic question: Why are all these GIs getting sick? And with even more urgent moral imperative, especially in the context of the invasion's justification, we must also ask: What about the Iraqis? Count on it, if our vets are sick, so are the Iraqis' children, their elderly, and they're making do with a shattered health-care infrastructure that makes our own look positively First World.

<snip>

Rokke, who spent 40 years in the military, retiring with the rank of major, is a veteran of both Vietnam (two tours of duty, serving as a B-52 crew member) and Gulf War 1. By then he had his Ph.D. and, as a specialist in preventive medicine, was tapped to head a crew that cleaned up the aftermath of Desert Storm. Their mission included readying U.S. tanks and troop transports destroyed by friendly fire to be sent back to the States, which meant, inevitably, breathing the toxic detritus of war, in particular the ultra-fine dust of exploded depleted-uranium munitions. Today, his entire crew is either sick or dead.


more

[Monkeyman]

1. The New Dam Agent Orange but worse

[donsu]

2. the medical stats on Gulf One deaths and illness is astonishing!

and is now seen in Gulf two vets.

and DU poisoning of private contractors and US embassay workers will continue.

the neo cons need to be in prison.

why the Dems won't arrest the neo cons is beyond me.

[babylonsister]

3. K&R. Helluva way to support the troops; we're poisoning them, and the Iraqis. nt

[Demeter]

4. And the World. The Wind Blows Everywhere.

[fed-up]

5. many stories were done after Gulf War I including Life Mag Nov 1995-here's more info

lots of old/new info on these sites-note-I did not give the presentation in first link those sentences are copied from the webpage

http://celebratingprotest.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/depleted-uranium/
Last Tuesday I gave a presentation on depleted uranium (DU) and the damaging effects of low level radiation.
I recommend the following links:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2004/12/iraq200412?printable=true¤tPage=all
Weapons of Self-Destruction
Vanity Fare, David Rose, December 2004
Men exposed to DU reported burning semen and women reported vaginal burning.


http://www.life.com/Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html
The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm
Life Magazine, Special Report, November 1995
Unforgettable story about Gulf War syndrome. Babies born with no arms, or no legs, or misplaced inner organs, some without thyroids, with two hearts or hearts on the wrong side, enlarged heads and abdomens, abnormal blood vessels, etc.


http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Trojan-Horse1jul04.htm
Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War
World Affairs, Leuren Moret, July 2004
What a title! This article has a lot of information and some pictures.


http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du.htm
Depleted Uranium Education Project
International Action Center
Contains many articles, including some opinions from Doug Rokke.




http://www.sierratimes.com/03/05/02/article_io.htm

http://www.sierratimes.com/03/05/02/article_io.htm
Death By Slow Burn -
How America Nukes Its Own Troops
What 'Support Our Troops' Really Means
By Amy Worthington - The Idaho Observer

http://du101.org/enroll/enrollment.html
Do YOU know someone heading for a war zone? Planning on enlisting? Or just returned? Your husband or son, friend or neighbor? Whatever the case, ALL American servicepeople, including National Guard members and their families, NEED the information posted here at dU101.org. Help them educate themselves of the possible dangers associated with depleted Uranium munitions – a toxic radioactive substance with a half life of 4.5 BILLION years. Y I K E S !
Download and distribute the 8.5" x 11" flyers posted below. NOW!


http://www.peaceworkmagazine.org/pwork/0102/010216.htm
Depleted Uranium -- The Real Story

Linda Weltner, a former Boston Globe columnist, is the author of Family Puzzles: A Private Life Made Public.

[Karenina]

6. What "mystery?" They've been POISONED.

As have their wives and their children been.