The Ghosts of Desert Storm

[unhappycamper]

The Ghosts of Desert Storm
by Robert C. Koehler | November 29, 2008 - 1:53pm

Seventeen years and three wars later, the ghosts of Operation Desert Storm -- the cancers, the chronic headaches and dizziness, the fibromyalgia, the ALS and so much more that have stalked returning vets, whose medical claims have been denied, ignored, relegated to the paper shredder -- have just gotten a reality upgrade.

"The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time."

~snip~

For 17 years, the VA maintained that the strange, debilitating, sometimes fatal symptoms the vets of Gulf War I -- that quick little romp that routed Saddam's army and left America feeling so good about itself -- began experiencing was, to the extent that it was anything at all (or anything that had to do with the war), a mental thing, PTSD-induced. Vets learned that fighting the war may have been nothing compared to fighting the VA for treatment and compensation. It was a struggle that thousands didn't survive.

The Binns report estimates that more than a quarter of the GIs deployed during Desert Storm, around 200,000 of them, are suffering in some way from Gulf War Syndrome, and identifies two primary causes: pyridostigmine bromide, an anti-nerve gas medication all troops in the Gulf were required to take, and highly concentrated, DEET-like insect-repellents that were extensively used.

But the neurotoxic hell that is modern war cannot be reduced to two problematic substances. Many of the troops -- and, of course, millions of Iraqi and Kuwaiti civilians -- were exposed to a wide array of toxic chemicals, which the report did not rule out as contributing factors. These include: the smoke from burning oil-well fires; fumes from poison gas dumps blown up by the Army; anthrax vaccines; and the extremely fine radioactive dust of exploded depleted uranium munitions, which may prove to be the deadliest of all the poisons modern war leaves in its wake.


Rest of article at: http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/18938

[H2O Man]

1. Important article.

Thank you for posting this.

Nominated.

[SpiralHawk]

2. The BushCo Republicons have told so many lies about this to our US Veterans

And they have screwed over our sick and poisoned and maimed Veterans so badly and so consistently...it pisses me off no end the way the republicons have lied to, dissed and abused our sons and daughters who have chosen -- not the path of big-mouth Republicon Chickenhawkery -- but who instead have put on the uniform and actually served America with honor (or at least tried to in the face of all the republicon lies and propaganda about the WMDs and the rest of the Republicon Oil Profits Crusade).

Ptooooey on the Republicon Chickenhawks and their abuse of our US veterans.

Now that Dems have re-gained our Formerly Stolen Government from the Republicon Chickenhawk 'leaders', our soldiers and veterans will finally get the respect, the support, and the truth that they merit.

[lostnotforgotten]

3. The Republicans Epitomize Lax Accountability - Don't Like A Problem - Sweep It Away!

eom

[SpiralHawk]

4. The republicons have been trying to 'save' money by screwing our vets

so they can ladle that money out instead to their fatcat crony chickenhawk contractor intimates...

[JohnyCanuck]

5. K & R n/t

[JohnyCanuck]

6. It never dawned on them.........

Quoted in the report, according to Cox News Service, is Lt. Gen. Dale Vesser, acting special assistant to the secretary of defense for Gulf War illnesses, who said in 2001 that, while Saddam Hussein didn't poison U.S. troops, "It never dawned on us . . . that we may have done it to ourselves." (Don't you people ever fucking learn from experience? Is your head really so far up your ass you never heard of Agent Orange? /JC)

And M.J. Stephey of Time magazine wrote that the report "serves as a grim reminder that sometimes a soldier's greatest enemy is the government he or she is fighting for."

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/18938

[SpiralHawk]

7. "sometimes a soldier's greatest enemy is the government he or she is fighting for"

Commander AWOL

[JohnyCanuck]

10. but talking about exciting,

that time I pretend landed a Navy jet on an aircraft carrier with a great big Idaho potato stuffed down the front of my flight suit was quite exciting too.

[slipslidingaway]

8. Thanks...

"And M.J. Stephey of Time magazine wrote that the report "serves as a grim reminder that sometimes a soldier's greatest enemy is the government he or she is fighting for."

All of this is true, but the irresponsibility of the war establishment and the enabling media goes, I believe, deeper than the betrayal of our own troops. What are we doing to the world, not merely with our satanic weapons systems but with the unregulated toxic waste of war?

...Perhaps the Defense Department understands that if it ever begins taking responsibility -- and conceding liability -- for what it does, a moral and financial hemorrhaging will ensue that makes war itself impossible."

[Orwellian_Ghost]

9. K&R

[slipslidingaway]

11. Discovery Channel Investigates Gulf War Illnesses

http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2414

"A ground breaking report using the cutting edge science of Chromosome testing. The veterans and researchers have been pushing for Biomarker Research and this report shows that maybe they are making headway to push the leading edge of science.

Length of Part 1 is 9:13.Posted on YouTube here..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhvdkdMFVJQ

[MadMaddie]

12. Don't forget the mandatory immunizations

Many soldiers suffered after those shots.

[DustyJoe]

13. So Very Sad

that the ghosts of Desert Storm have to huddle in perpetual wait with the ghosts of Tet 1968. 40 years of Agent Orange and PTSD denials seem to stay perpetuated in the chaotic limbo of the VA system. Welcome to the long fight brothers, maybe with new leadership it will be better now, we can only hope and wait.

[slipslidingaway]

14. ....n/t