518,739 Gulf Era Veterans Now on Medical Disability Since 1991

[Clara T]

“Terry Jamison, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs, at the VA Central Office, recently reported that ‘Gulf Era Veterans’ now on medical disability, since 1991, number 518,739 Veterans,” said Berklau.

http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/headsroll012605.shtml

And what about our soldiers? Terry Jemison of the Department of Veterans Affairs reported this week to the American Free Press that “Gulf-era veterans” now on medical disability since 1991 number 518,739, with only 7,035 reported wounded in Iraq in that same 14-year period. 

    This week the American Free Press dropped a “dirty bomb” on the Pentagon by reporting that eight out of 20 men who served in one unit in the 2003 U.S. military offensive in Iraq now have malignancies. That means that 40 percent of the soldiers in that unit have developed malignancies in just 16 months. 

    Since these soldiers were exposed to vaccines and depleted uranium (DU) only, this is strong evidence for researchers and scientists working on this issue, that DU is the definitive cause of Gulf War Syndrome. Vaccines are not known to cause cancer. One of the first published researchers on Gulf War Syndrome, who also served in 1991 in Iraq, Dr. Andras Korényi-Both, is in agreement with Barbara Goodno from the Department of Defense’s Deployment Health Support Directorate, that in this war soldiers were not exposed to chemicals, pesticides, bioagents or other suspect causes this time to confuse the issue. 

    This powerful new evidence is blowing holes in the cover-up perpetrated by the Pentagon and three presidential administrations ever since DU was first used in 1991 in the Persian Gulf War. Fourteen years after the introduction of DU on the battlefield in 1991, the long-term effects have revealed that DU is a death sentence and very nasty stuff. 

http://www.tnjp.org/DepletedUranium.html

[CrazyOrangeCat]

1. Damn. n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Who has WMD's and uses them as if they were handi

wipes??? Why the people who decry WMD's the loudest and use rumors of them to raze an entire frigging GD nation!!! Screw all of this, I knew this was causing problems 6 years ago while digging for info on the web... and only now does it come to the surface.... does anyone actually know how much self inflicted damage we have done to our country and the coming generations??? It probably never crosses their minds.

[mom cat]

3. And that is out of 580,400 total with 11,000 already dead...That is almost

everyone who served there, dead or disabled.

[FloridaPat]

4. This is the future of those in Iraq today. The folks in 1991 spent 6 weeks

in Iraq. Today they've spent 2-3 years. I told my senators and representatives that this was one of several reasons we shouldn't be invading Iraq again.

[MsLeopard]

5. K & R

Proud to give the fifth recommendation. This information needs to be known far and wide. It proves BushCo cares NOTHING about those used to do their dirty work. They're like the freaking mafia, using our military as their enforcers.

There must be a reserved circle in hell for these bastards! :grr:

Edit: can't spell

[stillcool]

6. OMG...

I had read about Iraqi's being affected...abnormal preganancies, and soldiers as well...but I had no idea. This is just incomprehensible. Talk about mass graves....

[SPKrazy]

7. This is terrible. Is SF Bay View.com reliable?

It sounds reliable.

My God, that is most of the Gulf War Vets that have been disabled by that war, and now what are the troops, and the Iraqi citizens going to go through?

I'm sickened by this news.

Bushco is truly a war criminal.

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. I thought at the time that being exposed to all of those burning

oil wells was going to kill those kids. I can't even imagine how toxic that must have been.

[stillcool]

9. The link above lists the sources used...

for the article...Truthout has it as well...


http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/4/5878

[appleannie1]

13. Google depleted uranium weapons

and you will find tons of articles. My cousin's son came home and fathered twins so deformed they did not survive. Military doctor said it was caused by 'something' he was exposed to. The only thing he was exposed to was American supplies and munitions.

[progressoid]

10. D.U. is this generations' Agent Orange.

[chat_noir]

11. from the VA site

Increasing Claim Complexity Prompts Quality Controls, Training

Each year, VA receives more than 100,000 new disability compensation claims. With improved benefits information and outreach, veterans today are filing claims for more conditions than at any time in history. By the end of fiscal 2001, VA expects to have 1,000 more employees working on claims than the 5,500 in fiscal 1999.

An example of this increased use is seen in veterans discharged since 1990, the "Gulf War era" group. With 15 percent of those veterans having a VA-rated disability, this rate is higher than that of any other war or peacetime-era veterans groups. Further, the number of disabilities per veteran (3.2) is also the highest for this group of veterans. Meanwhile, claims for undiagnosable illnesses in veterans of the Gulf combat theater push the limits of medical knowledge as researchers study the symptoms reported by veterans who served in the Gulf. At the same time, the policies governing how VA processes all disability compensation claims have become increasingly complex and time-intensive due to court rulings that expand VA procedures.

http://www1.va.gov/agentorange/page.cfm?pg=11

[Clara T]

12. I've also heard and read that the totals are lower than the reality due to

bureaucratic and processing tangles and delays.

And this:
The number of disabled vets reported up to 2000 has been increasing by 43,000 every year. Brad Flohr of the Department of Veterans Affairs told American Free Press that he believes there are more disabled vets now than even after World War II. 

    They brought it home
    Not only were soldiers exposed to DU on and off the battlefields, but they brought it home. DU in the semen of soldiers internally contaminated their wives, partners and girlfriends. Tragically, some women in their 20s and 30s who were sexual partners of exposed soldiers developed endometriosis and were forced to have hysterectomies because of health problems. 

    In a group of 251 soldiers from a study group in Mississippi who had all had normal babies before the Gulf War, 67 percent of their post-war babies were born with severe birth defects. They were born with missing legs, arms, organs or eyes or had immune system and blood diseases. In some veterans’ families now, the only normal or healthy members of the family are the children born before the war. 

    The Department of Veterans Affairs has stated that they do not keep records of birth defects occurring in families of veterans. 

http://www.tnjp.org/DepletedUranium.html

[Festivito]

14. 89% and rising? Could this be missed? Is this wrong?

580,400 GW1 soldiers,
325,000 permanent disability as of 2000, 56%
518,739 permanent disability as of 2005, 89%

This should be HUGH! SERIES!

This only leaves 66,000 soldiers without permanent disabilities.
Could the perm dis include spouses?

[Clara T]

15. kick for truth

[UTUSN]

16. & yet help-was-on-the-way and vets bought the line

I realize this link applies (mostly?) to career military? but it gives the lie to what the VFW and such believe---that vets "do better under" Repukes.

***********QUOTE***********
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politic...

Veterans groups accuse Pentagon of planning to cut health benefits
BY DALE EISMAN, The Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon hopes to reap billions of dollars to pay for ships, aircraft and other weapons by doubling or tripling health insurance premiums paid by military retirees and driving 600,000 of those pensioners out of the military medical system, a coalition of veterans organizations charges.

Groups representing more than 1 million military pensioners - those who served at least 20 years - are organizing a telephone and letter-writing campaign to block the idea if it surfaces in Congress or to persuade the Bush administration to abandon it.

The retirees say the proposal breaks faith with former service members and their families and risks alienating thousands of active duty troops who may see it as eroding benefits they expect in retirement.

Because promises of free or low-cost health care are part of the military's recruiting effort, new fees could be an obstacle to recruiting, the veterans argue.

"They sort of pit us against the active duty force," said Michael Barrett, a retired Navy commander living in Williamsburg.

************UNQUOTE*******