By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service

Exposure to a toxic substance at a water injection facility in Iraq has left U.S. soldiers in deteriorating health. The U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee conducted a hearing Monday to investigate what some Senators would describe as the Army’s lackluster response.

“The Army failed to provide proper oversight over KBR’s [military contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root] contract provisions that called for the contractor to identify, prevent and mitigate environmental hazards so as to protect the health and safety of workers and U.S. troops,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).

Another hearing was held last year to address how KBR had exposed its own workers and hundreds of U.S. soldiers to a highly toxic chemical, sodium dichromate, at the Qarmat Ali water injection facility in the Spring and Summer of 2003.

Four National Guard soldiers testified at Monday’s hearing and told the committee about their subsequent health problems.

Russell Powell, Former Staff Sergeant of the West Virginia Army National Guard said “I and many other soldiers and KBR workers had severe nosebleeds, coughed up blood, had difficulty breathing and nausea, and/or experienced a burning sensation in our lungs and throats. After a few weeks of being the facility, many of the soldiers around me began getting lesions on their hands, arms, faces, and in the nostril area.”

The sodium dichromate was described by all four men as a thick orange powder that often filled the air during windstorms. They said they were certainly aware of the substance but even after inquiring about its effects, were told it was only a mild irritant. Despite the dismissal of the substance’s harmful nature, the soldiers were consistently having health problems and finding it difficult to breathe in the facility and surrounding areas.

Herman Gibb, PhD, an expert on health risks associated with exposure to sodium chromate, testified that the chemical is considered to be a deadly carcinogen.

“Based on my experience working at the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] on risk assessments of hexavalent chromium and my study of chromate production workers, the symptoms reported by some of the soldiers who served at Qarmat Ali are consistent with significant exposure to sodium chromate,” Gibb said.

The soldiers stated that they continue to struggle with lingering respiratory, sinus, and other serious medical conditions.

Two of the four soldiers testifying were not notified until this year that they had been exposed to the carcinogen when they received a letter from their respective state’s National Guard under which they served.

By Courtney Ann Jackson- Talk Radio News

Since World War II, the success of American soldiers in actions abroad has preserved freedom for millions of people, according to former Republican Massachussetts Governor Mitt Romney. At a Heritage Foundation event Monday, Romney noted the upcoming 65th anniversary of D-Day and said American soldiers have shouldered the burden of defending freedom since World War II. The event was meant to commemorate those who served and to criticize the Obama administration for cutting funding from the Defense Department budget.

“Because of what America did in the 20th century, there are hundreds of millions of people around the world who now live in freedom-who, but for the price paid by the United States, would have lived in despair. I know of no other such example of national selfishness in the history of mankind. That is why America is the hope of the earth.”

The broad military plans of the Obama administration are also troubling to Romney, who was a 2008 presidential candidate. He is concerned that Obama will look to the military budget for the largest cuts in the process of reforming the financial system.

“ The right way to scale America’s defense budget is to add up the requirements for each of our missions, beginning with strategic defense,” he said.

He laid out other defense missions that he felt the U.S. should be focusing on such as: fighting and winning land wars and counter-insurgencies and providing counter-insurgency support for nations under threat from Jihadists.

“We cannot allow the economic crisis to conceal the very real threats to our nation’s security. We cannot ignore the intentions of competitors who would replace America’s leadership with their own, and set back the cause of freedom,” Romney said.

The demands of all U.S. defense missions involving U.S. soldiers are not covered in Obama’s planned cuts for the department, Romney said, do not equal budget cuts. He believes a $50 billion increase in the modernization budget is needed. He noted that Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has also repeatedly said that is a necessary increase.

He concluded by saying, “Providence has blessed us and trusted us to safeguard liberty; in a time of confusion at home and challenge abroad, let ours be the voice of clarity and good sense-confident in our cause, and faithful in the care of freedom.”

Senator Frank Lautenber (D-N.J.) discusses how Americans need to understand where their tax dollars are being spent, and praises the work of governmental audit agencies. But he is upset that KBR needlessly wasted American taxpayer dollars as well as endangered the lives of American soldiers. (0:38)

 

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This week’s escalation of violence in Iraq and the attacks on the Green Zone, American soldiers, yet again, are caught up in the middle of a civil war. As President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain inform the public about the progress of Iraq, Iraq experts tell all at a conference call today.

The speakers were Iraq War Veteran and Chairman and co-founder of VoteVets.org, Jon Soltz, senior fellow at the Center for Action Fund, Brian Katulis, from Democracy Corps Jim Gerstein and Karin Meredith whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, while serving his country.

Brian Katulis started off by saying that much of the things happening in Iraq the past year were temporary; however the division between the Shiite groups was and still is very sharp. During the summer, Iraqis experienced a vast amount of violence in the Southern part of the country, where 4 politicians were killed and the violence reached its breaking point in Karbala, where 50 Iraqis were killed. During the fall season, the armed confrontations declined, due to the ceasefire ordered by the Prime Minister Maliki. However, some low level clashes were seen during winter and spring. Katulis continues by saying that this week’s attacks were the worst seen this year.

Jon Soltz on the other hand urges the president to come forward and confess that this war was a mistake and a big failure. He continues by saying that this cover was a “domestic political plan.”

The third speaker, Jim Gerstein, talked about how the public is sure about their stands on the Iraq War and how eager the voters are to move on from the current administration and its war policies. He also mentioned that electing Senator McCain will no way be a change in foreign diplomacy.

Lastly, Karen Meredith talked about her fallen son, and highlighted the fact that noting has changed since 2004 and the clashes between different Shiites groups have become more violent.

 

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